IDSA national conference - ridiculous registration prices!

Just saw the registration prices for the IDSA national conference that’s taking place in Arizona this year.

http://www.idsa.org/polaropposites/registration/index.html

I must say, the prices are ridiculous. I am a student, so I get the lowest ticket price, but even then, $450 is quite a bit to pay for it. For comparison’s sake, last year’s price was a much more reasonable $250. Am I missing something? Are rooma nd board included? I was really looking forward to going, and now I’m not sure if I want to.

I’ve never been to an IDSA national conference, only the southern conference in Savannah this year. Do you guys think it is worth it? I will be graduating in a year…

-Nour

I’ve always been given the impression that the national conference is better set up to handle professionals and graduates looking for employment, rather than students still in school.

The regional conferences are always more accessible and oriented towards students.

If you have the cash - go, but if not I don’t think you’ll be losing out by waiting till you graduate and going to the next regional conference.

I agree with cyberdemon. You will get just as much out of the regional conference as you would out of the nat’l.

Regional conferences also benefit students because theyre in the spring and theyre right around the time employers are looking to hire interns.

The national conference is better if you’ve graduated and had a few months to put your full portfolio together for employment.

This is the first year I have looked at going to nationals and due to budget cutbacks all over the place in the current financial climate, I was looking to pay my own way. Then I see the registration price of $995 for a pre-register…wow…guess I’ll have to get the e-bay going?

I also wanted to go down there, But I doubt there would be anyway for me to do so with 995 for registration plus probably 300 for hotel, and like 500 for the plane ticket, by the time I blew threw 200 on drinks and goofing off, (pretty standard for 4 nights of partying and such). Theres no way I could do that.

I thought it was reasonable in comparison to other shows I attend.
Consider the price of the main event as it relates to your travel and lodging costs.

Thanks guys. I think I’m going to see if I can manage it financially and then decide. I just thought I’d get to meet a lot more potential employers at a national event. Maybe I’ll just attend next year’s one right after I graduate.

If you get together with some other students from your school (maybe some or one professor(s)) you could write a proposal for some funding for the trip. We did this with some success one year for a regional.