Chasercon May Be Disappearing--Thank the Hills for their service

[JamesCaruso]

If it's anything like your usual cons, the special room rates are due to organizers buying blocs of rooms. Of course, use of banquet and conference facilities definitely cost money.

I would expect that if a speaker is traveling to deliver an address at a con, they are paid a speaking fee. That's the norm.

If that’s true about the speakers then that’s the group that should be looked to as contributors to the conference - i.e., they should be asked to contribute their time for speaking and get reimbursed just for their travel expenses. I have been part of a lot of business conferences where, unless it’s a well-known professional speaker, most panelists and presenters do it for free because it is a marketing tool for them to show expertise and build imminence with their target market/audience. I would think past speakers like Greg Forbes, Mike Bettes, etc. would be able to speak for free as a form of marketing for TWC. Some of the scientific researchers like Karen Kosiba, especially those that work for governmental agencies, should offer to speak for free as a public service to advance the science. Just like they might speak at schools, for example. Don’t get me wrong, maybe they already are speaking for free, I am just responding to the assumption that they are being paid a fee.


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[Jeff Duda]

I would expect that if a speaker is traveling to deliver an address at a con, they are paid a speaking fee. That's the norm.

Outside of having their conference fee waived, speaking fees are generally zero for meteorology conference invited speakers.

 

[B. Dean Berry]

Outside of having their conference fee waived, speaking fees are generally zero for meteorology conference invited speakers.

Yeesh. Meteorology needs a better agent.

 

[Dan Robinson]

That's the other thing about all of these severe weather-themed conferences. Many of the same speakers are invited to do the same presentations at multiple conventions.

 

[Jeff Duda]

Why? Meteorologists don't need to be rich. Science isn't an industry meant to create monetary wealth. It's about mining knowledge. Research scientists get paid mostly through research grants (called "soft" funding). That includes university faculty, who basically don't get paid if they don't secure grant money constantly. Operational forecasters get paid to forecast. Private sector meteorologists get paid to do whatever they can do to get people to give them money, but private sector business typically do not do much theoretical or R2O research and thus are not typically highly requested at conferences. There are some exceptions, such as RT, James Spann, and other prominent broadcasters. Those folks may ask for a speaking fee, but I suspect most of them do not - their love of the meteorology itself and the chance to preach to a crowd is probably enough reward.

The point is that, other than those few named exceptions, no one who would ever speak at a meteorology conference is dependent on speaking fees to get paid. In fact, most of those who give presentations (such as myself) pay full conference attendance fees and abstract submission fees.

 

[B. Dean Berry]

From a business standpoint, that is insane. I hear you on the ideology of science, but consider the audience. This is an audience that spends tons of money on services, gadgets, camera gear, computers, cars, the works. There is a large-scale opportunity to make money here. Silver Lining Tours and the like, they charge a fee for what they do. There are private mets that service large-scale clients. With some notable exceptions, including the late Tim Samaras who died conducting research, how many chasers are actually conducting research vs. trying to get footage for sales, or trying to get footage and photos for personal validation, or just doing it to do it?

While the mets may be in that mode of thinking, I would bet that most attendees are not. The simple fact that CC2017 had several prominent chase media brokers and an auto glass company as sponsors points to the obvious commercial nature of this beast.

The older I get, the more I realize that Dr. Jonas Miller wasn't actually a villain.

 

[JamesCaruso]

I agree with Jeff that for most speakers, preaching to the crowd is or should be its own reward. As I mentioned in my earlier post, that’s the way it is even in business, unless you are among the highest profile executives or somebody like a sports team owner or something (or a professional motivational speaker): we wanted speaking opportunities just because it helped us raise our own personal “brands” in the marketplace. That’s something any meteorologist should be concerned about for his or her career, whatever sector he or she participates in.

Dean makes a great point about the money chasers spend on other stuff. And there are chasers who have made lifestyle choices, purposely choosing lower paying jobs so that they can have the flexibility to chase when they want to. It is for these reasons that IMHO I think the free market should determine the fate of the conference. Charge enough to make it profitable, and if there isn’t enough demand at that price then maybe it has to be every two years instead of annual, or merge with another conference (as others mentioned, maybe there are just too many severe weather conferences now?) or, as sad as it might be, maybe it has to come to an end. But I don’t think it should have to be subsidized by donations.

 

[Stephen Levine]

Regardless of the forum it takes, I would like to see a forum of some sort, whether it be Chaser Con or another more local one, where storm hunters and storm lovers could meet and get to know one another. I've been to TESSA several times, and of course the talks are interesting. Social time afterwards have consisted of meeting at a restaurant and sitting at very large tables.I've never been to Chaser Con yet was planning to go next February. It would be great to see a meeting that provides good quality social time, including breaking into discussion/sharing groups based on specific themes. For instance, Your most scary moments, Chasing simply for awe and wonder, cameras and equipment, etc. Speeches and training/education are great yet for me a social networking and schmoozing time would truly be awesome. When we sit at large tables after a meeting, it's very difficult to get to know anyone besides our immediate neighbors, and in a noisy environment. I would enjoy leading a group sharing myself discussing chasing for awe and wonder

 

[Shane Adams]

What Stephen described above is what Chasercon was before it became Chasercon; just people getting together in a room and discussing various topics organically. It was much more intimate and accessible. I was fortunate enough to be invited to the very last "private" version of Chasercon at Tim's home in January of 2001, and it was hands-down a way better experience than any NSCC I've attended.

The reality is, the more people you introduce to something and the bigger it becomes, the harder it is to sustain, both financially and QC. It doesn't surprise me that this thing is on the verge of collapse; everything that once was in the world of chasing is being systematically erased, especially on the social level. We're struggling to get people in the comfort of their own homes to sit down and participate in event-specific chats geared towards chases they personally experienced. I have to wonder if the underlying issue with all of these things is simply waning interest.

 

[JamesCaruso]

Along the lines of Stephen’s post, an “unconference” format would be interesting https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconference

Participants generally propose there own small group sessions, which they lead, and other participants choose which sessions to attend.

 

[Jeff House]

I would love to be on the Sunday evening chats. However, even here in Eastern Time, it's too early. Child is not asleep yet. I believe the interest level is impacted by how busy people are these days, double career, more kid's activities, and work demands to be always available. Hopefully people are not picking stupid social media over a quality discussion here.

I'd almost rather do them during business lunch hour. Frankly most of us with professional jobs have the ability to do so during business hours. Students could do it between classes. Sure no time is perfect. Some jobs don't permit it business hours. Maybe experiment and see what times of the week interest is higher.

 

[Shane Adams]

The Sunday evening chats are left up for a full week; users can jump in at their convenience and add comments/join the conversation.