Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Paying to present



Greetings everyone. It has been a while since I’ve last posted, but
something recently has been bothering me. I have a situation that I would
like some input on the topic and possible ways of addressing it, if any. I
may be in the wrong or may not…I just want to hear what everyone has to say
about it.

About a week ago, I was at a science conference as one of the presenters. I
was there just to present. Shortly after I arrived, I was told that I
needed to pay before I presented. I was told that I needed to register
before I could present and the registration fees were $140.00. I tried
explaining that I’m just here to present, not do anything else. It
apparently didn’t matter, so I paid and presented.

Granted, I believe my school will reimburse me, but that is beside the
point…especially considering the financial situations many of the schools
are in. What bothers me was that I was one of the few science teachers
presenting and sharing my experiences and ideas to help aid other teachers
at their own schools. I spent a huge amount of time and my own personal
money to prepare so that the teachers will leave with a lot of materials
that they could use immediately in their own classroom. On top of that,
driving about a 100 miles, my school having to pay for a sub, I even had to
find someone that I could stay with, rather than staying at a hotel, so that
I could make it more affordable for my school to allow me to leave and
present. A couple of months earlier, when I was filling out the information
about wanting to present and the details of my presentation, there was never
any mention on the form of payment. So to arrive there, eager to present
and share my information, and to have someone tell me right before I present
that I need to pay them…it just ticks me off!

Is this a common practice? If so, then I question whether or not I’ll
present again…especially for them. To me, it seems like common sense if not
common courtesy, if someone is coming out of their way to present at a
workshop/conference, you don’t make them pay. If anything, you give them
some sort of compensation/tokens/free meal for doing so. To me, it is like
having a guest speaker at a graduation commencement and right before they
get on stage and give their speech, you tell them there is an entrance fee
of $$$ into the building.

Everything earlier aside, my workshop went very well. My workshop was how
to teach the concepts of flight (using inexpensive materials). The room was
pretty well packed, but everyone was able to leave with all sorts of
handouts, plans (hovercrafts, wind tunnels, ornithopters), gliders,
solarballoons, boomerangs, etc. I had several teachers that attended my
workshop tell me that mine was the most worthwhile they’ve attended. When I
inquired what they liked about it, the general statement was that I wasn’t a
salesperson trying to sell their product, instead I had materials that they
could find at their local Wal-Mart, experience how they worked, and actual
things for them to take home to use immediately at their school. For
example, I showed one of the workshops how one of my classes built a wind
tunnel that listed for over a $1000.00 in a catalog and how we built the
same thing very easily with materials around the house (total cost was
$1.50).

So I don’t know if I’m just griping over nothing or what. In my mind, if
you want to attract more people to a science teacher conference, you make it
worthwhile for those who are coming to present (especially if they are
teachers)…this could also be a reason why the numbers have been steadily
decreasing.

Thanks for listening to my griping,
Dwight Souder
Ashland, OH
HYPERLINK
"http://www.crestview-richland.k12.oh.us/HS/Faculty/Souder/myweb4/index.htm";
http://www.crestview-richland.k12.oh.us/HS/Faculty/Souder/myweb4/index.htm


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.611 / Virus Database: 391 - Release Date: 3/3/2004