NANOG costs

Wed Apr 10 02:48:58 UTC 2002

We used to pay $150 or so to attend NANOG conferences.
 Why are we charged $300 now?  Where is our $150,000+
going?

Inflation?  

Are we paying for the salaries and RIPE attendance of
MERIT employees, and to what tune?

Conference space is free or greatly subsidized in
return for room blocks.  Connectivity, terminal rooms
(who uses those anyway?), operational support, and
hardware are all no-cost items to MERIT.

Continental breakfast costs $8k to sponsor.  Morning
or afternoon break costs $6k.  Lunch or dinner, $18k. 
 Beer and Gear is $6k per vendor, and has been booked
solid for the last ten NANOG conferences.  That's a
lot of money right there.

So what are we actually paying for, the t-shirts?  Are
we subsidizing other MERIT money losers?

With IT and engineering budgets shrinking, and
unemployment on the rise, should MERIT be obligated to
  share with us a more detailed financial accounting,
or is this none of our business?

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