At 11:06 AM 2/20/01, you wrote:
>One of the interesting things I learned from the articles I've read
>about the TED conferences is that Wurman doesn't pay any speaking
>fees, even though many of the speakers could command $30,000 -
>$50,000/event, and even though Wurman himself charges $3 - $4
>K/ticket.
Chris, we don't pay Extro speakers, and never have, though we pay varying
amounts of speakers' expenses, depending on their level of interest and
wealth. If we had to pay speakers we would be bankrupt, since we don't
charge $3 - $4,000 like Wurman, or even $2 - $3,000 like many business
conferences, or the $595 that Foresight charges for the Senior Associate
meeting (not including $250 to become an SA) or the $675 + tutorial for the
main Foresight conference. Even covering expenses for speakers not in
California is difficult enough. [Contacts for possible corporate sponsors
are very welcome!]
I like your suggestions. I am already employing your first suggestion to
some extent. For instance, last night I talked to one of the three "fathers
of artificial intelligence" -- John McCarthy -- and increased his interest
by letting him know that we could probably also get his friend Marvin
Minsky to come along too. This works especially well for Extro-5 since the
sessions include 2-4 main speakers together rather than a series of solo
speakers.
>Ask attendee's to give
>a short biography describing their accomplishments, and a photograph.
>Put them up on the Extro conference sign up page so potential
>attendees can see who they will have the opportunity to meet if they
>decide to attend. Same thing for Extropy members
I like this idea too, though I don't know how many people would want to put
up their information. If we provide a simple template to make it easy, it
might work well. I'd like to hear what others think of the idea.
BTW, additional Web pages for the conference, including an updated Program
and some initial speakers will go up this week.
Onward!
Max
_______________________________________________________
Max More, Ph.D.
max@maxmore.com or more@extropy.org
www.maxmore.com
President, Extropy Institute. www.extropy.org
Senior Content Architect, ManyWorlds Inc.: www.manyworlds.com
_______________________________________________________
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