Dear Mardene,

I think it is quite normal to pay conference fees if you are fully supported (lunch, dinner, accommodation, ...). The problem is that some conferences are very expensive. It depends where you are staying (luxury hotel or other).

With my best regards

Prof. Bachir ACHOUR

Dear Mardene,

registration fee usually paid for coffy brakes, and proceedings, and not for the acommodation and travel. Thus usually too expencive. If you present a paper you should have some advantage. But unfortunately this is not the case.

Best regard

Prof Osman Demircan

Dear Mardene,

Initially I find that the costs are very high, but then I found that it is normal to pay conference fees if you are fully supported (breakfast, lunch, cultural program, accommodation ...). The problem is that some conferences are very expensive.

I have already participated in two conferences in Europe (Germany and Czech Republic), and I had to pay all the costs of my pocket without any help from my university, participation fees, airfare and hotel (1400 euros ).

All these expenses paid from my pocket without any help from my university.

The most important was to meet the greatest experts in the field and present my work to researchers cited in my work (referenced a paper is good but the best is to meet and talk with whoever did this paper).

Extend the circle of knowledge and initiate research project is a result which you can see after your participation.

Best regards

I understand if I have to pay accommodation but to be asked to pay the conference fees is too much.  I have presented at conferences in my country (Jamaica) and I did not pay for the fees and they provided meals plus a little gift.   

Dear Mardene Rosalee Carr,

To meet the conference expenses it is essential to charge the registration fee. Yes, I do support in giving a call for reducing this amount genuinely by getting sponsorship. 

Afaq, I understand that conference fees are expensive but to ask a presenter to pay for their own registration is just downright crazy.   If the person is going to be presenting at your conference that you are charging other people to attend then at the very least you can do something for that person.   After all, I don't need to present my paper at your conference and if every one decides they are not presenting then who is going to come to the conference?  I have never paid registration fees for  any conference I have presented at and I am not about to start.  It would have to be a case where my institution pays for it.   

Dear Mardene ,

As you said very rightly, "if everyone decides not to pay registration thereby not presenting" There wont be a Conference in the first place!! It appears unjust to me to ask registration from presenters on whom the conference owes its existence.. 

Ofcourse the presenter is paying for his/her travel and accomodation and everything else, why not give him/her the benefit of registration.(as a recognition of his/her research work, which he/she is willing to share with the world)

regards

Rathish

Rathish thank you...that is all I am saying...we are paying everything else, cut us some slack since we are adding to your bottom line by presenting.

Dear Mardene

 I think that if the benefit of all. Congresses and events don´t have funding, so I think it is normal that all participants pay the fee.

Thank you

If you can afford, you should not mind because after all they are providing valuable recolonization for your work.  Organizing conferences is also very costly affair.

Good wishes

Hannah the operative word there is IF...the fact is many persons from developing or under-developed countries find it hard to come up with all of these fees because of foreign exchange and other things.  It is all well and good when you are working US dollars but when there are conversions to be made and you have to come up with hotel, air fare, and all the other items involved with travelling it then becomes a problem.   I am not going to put any stress on myself just so I can present at a conference because I can submit the same article to a journal for publication and get the same kind of exposure.

David there are many conferences that get sponsorship..in fact most conferences have some sort of sponsorship. I highly doubt that there would be any organization running a conference year after year at a loss.  

It is not a loss. I think the costs will be covered.

In Spain sponsor get to pay for the conference costs much by the economic situation. And teachers do not have the support of the university to host or attend conferences

Sincerely

I think that it depends upon factors specific to the particular conference/organization (e.g., size, financial status, members), history and legacy of the organization as well as whether you were contacted or invited to present or submitted a paper which was selected by reviewers for presentation. However it really does cost a great deal to attend conferences and many institutions/departments do not weigh regional, national or international conference presentations in an objective way for evaluation and promotion purposes.

I believe there should be support at least for the young participants from developing countries. There may also be some support for the paper presenters, especially for invited talkers, because they spend extra efford to prepare for the presentation and they also need some motivation.

I believe that what makes the conference colorful and alive is because of the presentations of those selected participants, therefore it is just proper that these presenters be free with this fee.

Quite a few conferences offer steep discounts to presenters from low-income countries. Otherwise, when one applies for a major research grant, the costs of attending conferences during the time of the grant should be included. Students can't get this kind of money, but their advisors do, and their departments or universities may have funding. That really depends on your advisor's luck with grants. The system certainly does offer a benefit to those living in wealthy countries, alas.

If conferences paid everyone who was speaking for attending, they wouldn't make money and would not exist, as much as I'd enjoy that system. Keynote speakers are usually given a stipend or free registration or something, since their presence is more important.

Beware of predatory conferences: they will send you email [spam] invitations to present, as though you were a keynote speaker, but will not offer you money. Don't respond to these emails! Like predatory journals, these predatory conferences are a waste of time and money and really do exist solely to funnel funding off of naive scientists. Only go to well-respected conferences organized by an association you are familiar with. Good conferences, like good journals, don't need to advertise: you apply to them, not vice versa. Set up some email filters to block the spam: anything from OMICS International or BIT Congress is fraudulent garbage, for example, and should be automatically deleted.

Scientific societies are non-profit associations, whose objective is to disseminate the knowledge and technological advances of a specific science in annual events and congresses, therefore all members and non-members that attend and participate in these events have to pay the annual support fee and the registration fee to the event to be able to cover the expenses of the organization of the event. Usually your institution pays the fees. This is how a scientific congress organizations work.