Hmm. Maybe it's just me but volunteer my time, sure, put in my cash to get me from my place to speaking/demo place, depends on amount and how much I like doing the talk.<br><br>I do a beer talk at DragonCon. The time and materials I bring have a real cost to me. 15 gallons of homebrew has an ingredients price plus time and resources. I enjoy actually doing the talk(/show/performance) and feedback has been it's well received (and not just for the free beer). The 18% Monster beer was $130 for the 3 gallon batch I brought. The Blind Toad Stout last year (12%) was $145 for a 5 gallon batch (and a damn fine batch of ale it was!). My typical outlay for beer is between $200 and $300 for the 1 hour (that goes for 2+ hours) talk.<br>
<br>However in the past the Con provided a free 4-day pass for me and my son to get in and spend more $$ buying gaming stuff and attending robot wars and other things we like. Last year they did not even provide a one day pass for me to get in on the day of my presentation. Will I do it again? It's unlikely as I spend way more on beer parts than the cost of x2 4 day tickets 4 months in advance. <br>
<br><snark>DC "leadership" is OK paying real money to has-been actors from "Happy Days" and can't toss a free pass to a science track speaker who can PACK a 350+ person room every year.</snark><br>
<br>My wife does volunteer speaking on behalf of NASA/JPL (also shows up at DC). She has a fixed distance beyond which she just won't travel. A school wanted _her_ so the PTA picked up the tab for gas and a hotel room for her and the kids had a blast.<br>
<br>If you're being asked to present outside of a reasonable post-talk drive home, ask for a place to sleep from the receiving group and/or OpenSuSE. It's fair. It's often more fun to be put up at the home of the organizer than a hotel anyway. But it's also VOLUNTEER work and it's OK to say "no" when you just can't afford the cash outlay.<br>
<br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>-- <br>James P. Kinney III<br>I would rather stumble along in freedom than walk effortlessly in chains.<br><br><br>