Attending conferences away from home is not cheap. If we present, we may get funding, but if we just attend, it can be difficult to get funding that covers things like the conference fee, travel, hotels, food etc.
Using some average published costs (median US faculty / student wages for 1 week's work on a presentation; 1/2 of the published average US conference fee estimation; a token towards associated expenses - again based on published estimates), an international conference can cost @ $1,800, (+/- depending on the proximity to home, expenses incurred etc.).
The 'conference trail' is as busy as ever, but:
No, people simply could not afford to engage in so many conferences if they had to pay everything themselves. At my institution, there is a fund that provides every permanent faculty member a set amount each year that they can spend on conferences. I submit an application at the beginning of each academic year demonstrating that the conferences I want funding for are relevant to my professional development. Since I try to get an expanded version of every conference paper published, the publicity the institution gets from the published versions makes the support a good return for its money.
My guess? Some people would, most might not be able to afford the expenses.
Usually the expenses are covered by the employer (be some university or company). What the funder gets in return somewhat depends on the attendees' activities:
- Knowledge transfer beyond what can be acquired by reading some fancy paper (as there's the possibility to get into diret contact with the presenter).
- Knowledge acquisition in a very concentrated way.
- New contacts (be prospective customer, supplier, cooperator etc.)
As I've been funding most of my educational events on my own, there seems to be a substantial return. (Otherwise I might have long-since terminated this kind of activities.)
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