--On Thursday, July 11, 2013 10:34 -0400 Phillip Hallam-Baker <hallam@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: >... > Using paid conferences as a profit center is a risky long term > prospect at best. Refusing to adapt the format of the > conferences to protect the profit center worse. Or adapting the format to attract more paying attendees, such a what we have sometimes called "tourists", with no real expectation that they will do work, because it increases the income. Still better than building a funding structure based on sale of publications, however :-( john