North American Network Operators Group

Date Prev | Date Next | Date Index | Thread Index | Author Index | Historical

Re: Host for NANOG 14 & modified NANOG Business Model (fwd)

  • From: John M. Brown
  • Date: Tue Jun 30 18:17:28 1998

As the HOST for NANOG 12, I can tell you that the catering costs are
quite high.  Most hotels hold you captive to using THEIR food, THEIR
A/V and such.

For example (NANOG 12 Costs)

Power Strips were  $7 per day per unit  We used almost 30 powerstrips
LCD Projectors (Laptop to Overhead)  rent for around $300 per day per unit
Projection Screens rent for about $80 to $120 per day
Mic's rent for about $40 per day, plus the cost of the STAND and cable

Coffee is $20 per gal.
Cokes are $1.75 each
Cookies are $1.50 each
Lunches were around $20 per plate (at 300 lunches times two days)

Then there is the cost of the meeting space, tables, chairs
terminal rooms, break-out session rooms, etc.

Many things could have been improved at NANOG 12, but its important
to note that it was the FIRST real trial of getting the costs DOWN.

There is NO WAY iHighway could have done NANOG 12 at the previous costs
of over $70K.  We were able to do the show for less than $10K.  But
this was only possible by having companies like Bay, Cisco, Ascend,
RedBack Networks, Livingston, Critical Path and others help
foot the bill by "Sponsoring" various parts.

Personally I don't have a problem with having to pay $200 or $250 
for a NANOG event.  Heck I still paid my $150 and couldn't even show
up to NANOG 13, didn't ask for a refund either cuz I know Bill (MERIT)
had costs that needed to be covered.

PS:  If you go and BRING YOUR OWN equipment the Hotel's will still charge
you a butt load, read the contract.  And before anyone gets on there HIGH
HORSE
about were is the money going, let me say one thing. Host NANOG 14 and YOU
WILL
find out! ::)

[email protected]

At 05:37 PM 6/30/98 -0400, you wrote:
>	The one thing you're probally forgetting is hotel costs.

>
>	Rent enough space in a hotel to fit 500 people in.
>
>	You can't bring outside food into there, you need to use
>the hotel food.  (Or you can, but not in large quantities), unless
>you're going to bus everyone somewhere else.
>
>	I'd be interested in seeing the numbers also, but not in a
>"where the hell are you spending my money" sort of fashion.  these
>things have costs, how many hotel people were there to be our slaves?
>quite a few.
>
>	- Jared
>	
>On Tue, Jun 30, 1998 at 04:16:07PM -0500, James Rishaw wrote:
>> Speaking for myself, nobody else:
>> 
>> >From: "William B. Norton" <[email protected]>
>> 
>> >We expect the new registration fee will increase from $150 (which covers
>> >the percentages of the 3 NANOG staff) to between $250 and $300 which will 
>> >cover all catering and A/V costs.  This will reduce the local host's
>> >financial burden substantially and return the local host role to that of
>> >providing local logistics support, the terminal room, and Internet
>> >connectivity. 
>> 
>> Uhm.
>> 
>> My aunt runs a catering business.  *Good* weddings are $40 a plate.
>> Two days, $80. Average three snickers bars ($1 each) and 6 cans of
>> pop ($2) and you have a per-person food cost of $85.  Shirt $15,
>> youre at $100.
>> 
>> This would mean, at 500 participants @ $250, the A/V cost is roughly
>> $125,000.00 for two days?  Is ARIN running the A/V dept now?   *hides*
>> (Kim we love ya)
>> 
>> >We have also been fortunate enough to have companies loan us technology
for
>> >the event.  For example, Bay has loaned routers and hubs and Cabletron has
>> >loaned wireless equipment that folks liked so well. Many others have
>> >contributed too.  The point is, we expect this type of support to
continue,
>> >so the load on the local host will similarly be reduced by these generous
>> >community contributions. 
>> 
>> Registration costs just went from $100 to $150, now they're going to $250?
>> With a 250% increase in costs over less than a year, I'd like to see where
>> this money goes.. or even better, costs of previous NANOGs.
>> 
>> Not that I don't believe it, I just wonder.
>> 
>> -- 
>> jamie rishaw (dal/efnet:gavroche)           American Information
Systems, Inc.
>>                    Tel:312.425.7140, FAX:312.425.7240
>>        "Could you only justify a Pepsi, but took a Coke anyway?" -->
>> [email protected] to [email protected], after kimh took the last Coke at
NANOG 13
>
>-- 
>Jared Mauch  | pgp key available via finger from [email protected]
>Nether Net   | http://puck.nether.net/~jared/
>