Report on the Eighth IEEE workshop on Local and Metropolitan Area Networks

Numbers

Paid registrants 113
Paid patrons 6 (5 at DM 5000; 1 at DM 2500, recruited < 1 week in advance)
Gross revenue ~$44000
Profit ~$9200

Positive Points

Technical program

Very strong; residential networking (2 sessions) very interesting; the 15-minute format worked well, and in the case of some speakers 15 minutes seemed like a long time; Andres Albanese and Malathi Veeraraghavan organized on short notice a panel debate during the second half of the Wednesday 2-hour lunch break, to openly discuss a number of points that had surfaced during the week; it was well attended and highly interesting, and well organized.

Poster session

Very successful; direct interaction very stimulating; much more successful than we expected

Attendance

We had nearly full attendance at most of the sessions; there were 3 presentation sessions plus the poster session on Monday, 3 presentation sessions plus the boat ride on Tuesday, and 4 presentation sessions on Wednesday; even at the last session on Wednesday we had between 60 and 70 people.

Demographics

We continue to attract a highly diverse group with especially high representation from smaller countries; being in East Germany and close to Eastern Europe fostered great attendance from there; we believe that our demographics are an asset in that we are serving the profession well and also bringing more people, with more interesting viewpoints, into the IEEE and TCCC activities. We reward enthusiastic participants or well-represented countries with invitations to serve on the program committee and help organize future workshops

Social program

No-cost cocktail dinner Sunday evening, drinks at poster session Monday afternoon, banquet Monday evening, and 6-hour boat cruise and barbecue Tuesday afternoon and evening were all paid for by our patrons; all had unlimited free drinks including alcohol; all were open to free participation by spouses and accompanying family members. These fostered a high level of interaction and enjoyment and kept participants at the workshop site

Meals

All except cocktail dinner and boat barbecue were in the hotel restaurant; all had a wide array of truly fine foods in a buffet; dishes were labeled in English; every meal had fine vegetarian options; tables were ordinary restaurant tables seating typically 2-6 people which fostered many intimate conversations, something that round tables seating 9-12 prevent; so everyone felt very food-satisfied.

Hotel

We highly recommend the Hotel Mercure in Potsdam; it is run by a French chain and was perfect for our meeting. The setting in Potsdam was ideal for a nice view of the river and short walks by the river or main square, but sufficiently far from any nightlife or Berlin to greatly reduce the temptation to stray from the workshop

Future plans

We selected the next workshop's general and program chairs the night before the workshop started so we were able to announce the new leadership and hosting country at the banquet on the evening of the first day; this was in contrast to previous years in which even at the end we did not know what would happen next, and thus it contributed to the sense of success and excitement that in fact permeated the workshop

Negative Points

Technical program

Most speakers did not leave much time for questions and the session format left no time for panel discussion afterward, hence the motivation for the lunchtime panel on Wednesday. To allow more time probably means to have fewer speakers on the program, which will reduce attendance, since 3/4 of the attendees were speakers. If attendees are the only source of revenue, this can be quite limiting; if you have patrons, it's less of a problem.

Poster session

We had a couple of people grumble that they were not in a presentation session, and one actually left the workshop in a huff and did not present his poster; this should have been no surprise since the program was publicized weeks in advance; he was a local, though, and known to be temperamental; we did not refund his registration or facilities fee.

Financial matters

We kept the registration fee low ($175) to cover mainly the advertising, proceedings printing, keynote-speaker honorarium, program committee, and miscellaneous expenses, which was good. We bundled the lunches, coffee breaks, and meeting-room fees into the hotel room fee, but inevitably there are those who do not stay in the hotel and for these we had to charge a facilities fee; we did this as a single fee (DM 180) covering all three days; in only two cases did we pro-rate this. We basically had to turn around and give this fee to the hotel as we were charged on a per-head basis for the lunches and coffee breaks; this all turned out to be a big administrative headache for us (though we did come out ahead financially) and the amount we collected will be viewed by the IEEE as revenue, 10% of all of which we have to make sure we return as profit. In the future I would try to get the hotel to handle the facilities fee directly.

Neutral Points

Currency

We collected registration fees in either U.S. dollars or Deutschmarks; those paying by credit card could pay only in dollars. This use of two currencies worked out pretty well but took some juggling.

Co-chairs

We had two workshop co-chairs, one in the U.S. and one in Germany; it was easier to get a credit-card arrangement and to deal with the IEEE from the U.S., while it was imperative to make the local arrangements where the workshop was held.

What we learned

Patrons

Having patron money made a huge difference for the workshop, in that it allowed us to put on a lavish social program, include family members, and create social bonds and intense technical discussion by giving the attendees no reason to leave the scene for food, drink, or entertainment. It also made the workshop seem like a successful one rather than one run on a shoestring, and it allowed us to keep the registration fee low, which is important! It was not that hard to get patrons, especially after having gotten the first one, because then we approached competitors who wanted to be included. We made sure to give our patrons personal attention and include them in all activities, and also made sure that their needs were met; our policy of not announcing a patronage or putting their logo on our website until we had received their money was the right one.

Credit cards

This is the first year we used them, and they cost us several hundred dollars in fees (plus $600 for the little terminal) but people used them for 75% of our transactions (and we get to keep the terminal). Since it is so easy to pay by credit card, we were able to get authors' registrations before printing the proceedings and we also got very good estimates of our attendance, which was helpful in planning our meals, excursion, gifts, and facilities needs. We used Card Service International and would recommend them.

Advertising

Advertising in IEEE Communications costs us around $2000 per workshop and we doubt that this is what prompts most attendees to attend (we have not done a survey yet but intend to), but we feel it is important at this point to advertise there because it sort of puts us on the map and in the big leagues since so many people see it (and not all the new little ones) there.

Venue

Being close to a major airport but not in the middle of a city helped bring people to the workshop and keep them there nearly all the time.

Meals

People like a variety of food (not set menus), and small tables to dine at.

Ninth Workshop

When: Spring 1998
Where: Canada
Chairs: Terry Todd (McMaster University), Malathi Veeraraghavan (Bell Labs)
Program Chair: David Skellern (Macquarie University)

Tenth Workshop

When: Fall 1999
Where: Australia
Chair: David Skellern

A Final Thanks

Thanks to the TCCC for your sponsorship and continuing support.
Written by Daniel Pitt; last modified: November 22, 1996 by Henning Schulzrinne