**Python 10 Registration Fees**

[Michel Sanner]

Dear Barbara,

I understand that the conference should not be a financial burden for the 
organizers. However, it seems to me that it is unfair to charge the same amount 
or people contributing to the conference and people who are simply attending 
without contributing in any other form than paying their registration fee. 
Contributors invest time into writting a good paper or organizing a session. It 
is my opinion that good quality papers increases the "return on investment" for 
attendees.
By changing Fortec's policy onthis issue, IPC would encourage the submission of 
papers thereby increasing the competitivity and the quality of the conference.

Cordially,

-Michel

> X-Sender: bfuller at colossus.foretec.com
> Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2001 17:48:41 -0500
> To: sanner at scripps.edu
> From: "Barbara B. Fuller" <bfuller at foretec.com>
> Subject: **Python 10 Registration Fees**
> Cc: Albert Vezza <avezza at foretec.com>, David Ascher <davida at activestate.com>
> Mime-Version: 1.0
> 
> Dear Michel:
> 
> David Ascher forwarded your question regarding registration fees for 
> authors of papers accepted for presentation at Python 10.  Unfortunately, 
> Foretec Seminars, Inc., the organization that produces the International 
> Python Conferences, is unable to offer reduced registration fees to authors 
> of accepted papers.
> 
> Over the past few years, Foretec has produced the Python conferences at a 
> financial loss in order to support the growth of the Python community, and 
> in the hopes that the conference would also grow and one day become 
> profitable.  I am sad to say that the conference is a long way from 
> profitability, and Foretec has lost a *significant* amount of money on the 
> previous events.
> 
> Attendance at Python 9 exceeded attendance at Python 8, and we were hoping 
> to see another growth spurt this year.  However, the downturn in the 
> economy, the bursting of the ".com" bubble, and the events of September 11 
> have all but dashed our hopes.
> 
> I sincerely hope that you and your co-authors are all able to attend Python 
> 10.  However, if that is not possible, then I encourage at least one of you 
> to attend and present your paper, which has been nominated for the Best 
> Paper Award.
> 
> We appreciate your participation and support of the conference, and thank 
> you for your understanding of the situation.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Barbara B. Fuller
> Conference Coordinator
> Foretec Seminars, Inc.


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Michel F. Sanner Ph.D.                   The Scripps Research Institute
Assistant Professor			Department of Molecular Biology
					  10550 North Torrey Pines Road
Tel. (858) 784-2341				     La Jolla, CA 92037
Fax. (858) 784-2860
sanner at scripps.edu                        http://www.scripps.edu/sanner
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