I got a named email, citing a recent publication of mine, & inviting me to present at a conference. At the bottom of the email was 'Please do not treat this invitation as spam - you have been approached because of your recent cited publication, and your eminence in the field'.
Not so sure about the eminence, but as I was directly related to the field & am quite well published, I asked for more details. The reply was vague. I sought clarification, & was told the paper was up to me, the topic was not specified, and all this was mine for only $899 (just submit your registration at xxx).
I replied that if I was genuinely being invited for my 'eminence', then at least it should be an expenses paid trip with a set topic/aim ... at which they reduced the charge to only $599.
* My point:
The conference was a big, internationally noted event, representing one of the USA's prominent professional groups. Their fee revenue alone for the event will be in the millions, so if they were serious in their invitations & image, then why let their organisers 'spam' people? I can live with the constant notifications, but commercially motivated 'fake' invitations from a respected professional body?
Tell if me I am being naive or old fashioned .... is this acceptable or normal professional behaviour for a national institution?
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