[nycbug-talk] Student Discounts

[Peter Wright]

> Practically all professional organizations have them.
> Certainly, a "User Group" organization such as the New York City BSD
> User's Group should as well.
> I don't just ~worry~ that the cost is prohibitive for CUNY students. I
> know.
> I think the logic is upside down to say that Columbia students should
> get a discount and other students (particularly CUNY, being by far the
> largest college student body in NYC) do not.

Columbia has donated this space to us gratis.

> It's not as if a discount would flood us with students.
> It's more like we're locking them out.
> I'm very disappointed.

I'm not sure I understand your logic here....How are we locking them out?

> I realize the conference is incurring more costs this year and that
> those need to be recouped but this isn't a killer; this isn't the way.

OK, what would another option be?

> All this assures is that we won't have any other student's except
> Columbia students.

still...not really following your logic here....

> I suggest we reverse ourselves on this and give all New York City
> students $50 admission at the door.
>
well, if you want to go this track (and assuming that we can find a donor
that is willing to help us cover the costs) why limit it to NYC students? 
How about a general student discount?


> I can only suppose we're specifically gunning for the prestige of
> holding the conference on the Columbia campus.

Sorry  bzzt...wrong!  Columbia was originally (several years back) the
only location we could find that would host our BUG for free.  That was
for the Kirk talk.  We tried CUNY locations, NYU, NY public library, YMCA,
etc.  None of these locations where free...or appropriate locations for
this talk.  Columbia was the only place that was willing to host us for
free.  They have continued to do this for us, and I'd actually have to
thank them for that.

> They're certainly not the only place we can find a sponsored location.

If you can find strong commitments from people please let us know.  But as
mentioned above we where not able to find anyone to house us in the past.

> For future reference:
> The Auxiliary Enterprises Corporation of BMCC has previously allocated
> funds for exactly this type of community activity.
> And, of course, there's BMCC Association, Inc. and the SGA.
> BMCC is the home of Tribeca Theatre. The Theatre is actually "free,"
> though the theater crew and security run a couple of grand.
> That is what the Aux Ent funds offset.
>

If this is the case we will have to look into that to see if it's an
appropriate location for us to hold special events and Con's.


> Of course, it's too late to take that into consideration this year.
> Next year, remind me in August and I'll test the waters.

Better yet, let us know when you have a some contacts and solid leeds and
we as a orginization will hopefully come up with something good.


> I've been a member of the board of directors of each of those
> corporations. I know exactly how they work and who we would need to talk
> to.

Board members of where...BMCC?

> Of course, as with all things, there is no guarantee.
> All we can do is beat our drums and see if they're up for dancing.
> That is, if we can live without saying, "...it's at Columbia"
>

I really don't understand what you have against Columbia.  The real goal
of the Con is to create a forum where like minded people can gather and
see some execellent lectures and share ideas.  As mentioned before
Columbia has given us space in the past and continues to do so.  It was
not the first place we wanted to go (back when kirk came to NYC several
years ago) but the did hook us up when we needed it.  I happen to like the
facilities at Columbia - I know others (including you I assume) do not.

In any event, student discounts are a great idea.  Yet, the sad truth is
we tried to make this econimically viable for everyone involved (how about
the 20 year old hacker that can't afford college for example).  Including
the people volunteering thier time/money/effort to get this thing off the
ground.  That's right, it's not free.  So, no we are not trying to block
students from attending (or anyone for that matter) - far from it. Yet at
the same time we have to ensure we can continue to throw these con's in
the future.

-pete


-- 
~~oO00Oo~~
Peter Wright
pete at nomadlogic.org
www.nomadlogic.org/~pete
310.869.9459