Conference Budget

FORGE’s programs, services, and publications have always been free to the public. So some people are surprised we are charging what seems to them to be high fees for conference registration. Where is the money going?

It is actually impossible to tell in advance exactly how much a given conference is going to cost. You never know how many people will actually attend, and whether they’ll sign up in advance at a lower cost or just show up at the door. Some costs vary directly depending on the number of people who end up participating: food costs, for instance, or the number of people needing childcare or American Sign Language interpretation. Other costs also vary, such as the number of program books and T-shirts needed. Income also varies. In addition to the number of conference registrants, it’s difficult to tell in advance how many vendor tables and program book ads will be sold, or how many foundations or corporations will contribute.

That said, we’d like to share our initial budget guesses. These costs and our estimated attendance are what we based registration fees on.

Hotel fees. Hotels and conference organizers strike unique bargains each time. In our case, we have guaranteed that our participants will rent a certain number of hotel rooms per night, and that we will spend at least $30,000 on food for conferees. If we don’t hit these thresholds, we can owe the hotel up to $30,000 in room rental fees. That’s why it is so important for people who can afford hotel rooms to make sure you stay at the Four Points Sheraton and make sure your reservation is credited to the FORGE Forward Conference. On the other hand, if the conference ends up with hundreds of participants, we could end up owing quite a bit more than $30,000 in food costs. Other hotel costs include: audiovisual equipments for plenaries and workshops; “incidentals” like ice; hotel rooms for keynote speakers and entertainers and key volunteers. Minimum budget: $33,000 +.

Intensive presenters. Unlike many transgender conferences, the FORGE Forward 2007 Conference is also strongly advertising to professionals and non-trans people living within commuting distance of the conference. Partly for that reason, we recruited professional trainers to offer full-day Intensives. Although many of these Intensive presenters are donating their time, we are reimbursing most for their travel costs (airfare, hotel, etc.). Depending on whether the individual presenter has a job that will pay them while they are training at the Intensive, we are also paying some professional fees to trainers. Budgeted cost: $16,000

Keynotes and entertainers. FORGE Forward 2007 is committed to representing our community’s many diversities and to recognizing that many of our community’s leaders and members have reached a professional level in their transgender/SOFFA work. We are therefore at least paying expenses (and, in many cases, honoraria) to our keynoters and entertainers. Budgeted cost: $ 18,000.

Accessibility. Another FORGE Forward 2007 commitment is to accessibility. That means paying for childcare, American Sign Language interpreters, free snacks in the hospitality suite, etc. We have also budgeted at minimum of $5,000 for scholarships. Minimum budget: $ 20,000+.

Conference supplies. T-shirts, program books, registration packets, signs to direct conferees to the appropriate rooms, etc. Minimum budget: $6,500

Publicity. Multiple national mailings, ads in other conference program books, flyers distributed at other conferences, etc. Minimum budget: $7,000

Other. Credit card fees, online registration processing fees, special events programming costs, office supplies, routine phone and photocopying, insurance, security, pre-event community meetings, etc. Minimum budget: $6,000

Staffing. There is no budget line for staffing, even though we will be offering discounts to onsite volunteers and presenters, in recognition of the value of their work. If the conference ends up making a profit, it will be used to seed a fund for future FORGE projects, including paid staff time and additional events and conferences.

Total minimum budget: $106,500