ITEA in Denver

[Hank74]

I wanted to ask any of you ITEA veterans as to what are the procedures to view this conference. For instance, if you only want to try out the new horns or speak to an exhibitor, do you have to register and/or pay a fee?

Hank74

[brianf]

This is always a problem with those who sponsor a conference and those who exhibit. As exhibitors, we want anyone and everyone to walk in the door. Sponsors want everyone to pay an admission fee plus charge the exhibitors. At some shows (Midwest for example) there are guards at the door refusing to let anyone in without a badge. You either cough up the money or (very commonly) find a badge somewhere.

As far as ITEC's, I have never seen anyone at the door checking for badges. Who knows what will happen in Denver, the admission is pretty steep! I am not exhibiting there.

[dwaskew]

Before this turns into an ITEA bashing (which has happened here before, sometimes justly, sometimes not) let me chime in on the costs.

Only the Army Conference allows us not to have to pay to enter. I assure you, Kathy B. is not getting rich, or even close to it in order to put this show on. When I hosted the ITEC in 2002, the fees were a little less, but not tons less. I went $20,000 in the hole. These things are expensive to put on, even having them on campuses--universities aren't free space anymore, and incresingly have rules regarding percentages of what may be sold during a conference having to come back to them. Even more $$ winds up out of the hands of the exhibitors which stinks, too.
I'm not saying it's cheap to attend, but compared to other "professional conferences" ITEC's are a bargain.

my .02 for this topic.

Dennis AsKew

[brianf]

Even more $$ winds up out of the hands of the exhibitors which stinks, too.

My balance sheet does not agree with this!

I have probably been to more tuba shows in the last few years than anyone else. My goal for a show is to break even - sometimes I do, sometimes not - it balances out. I don't sell big buck stuff, I represent myself and a dozen or so other small guys. These days no large music publishers go to brass shows and many do not publish brass music. This leaves it up to a number of micropublishers for the future of brass music. Every micropublisher has a problem, the main one is having their product seen. Shows should encourage them to attend.

Instead rates go up - table space at $25+ a square foot. Add shipping, hotel, transportation, meals and all that stuff, it's expensive. Yes, I do tricks to reduce costs, I usually fly for free, use Priceline and eat at Taco Bell but that does not always work. I have it easier than instrument dealers who have to pay a small fortune shipping horns and people in, then there is week out of the office.

I examined exhibiting in Denver. Sitting in a room five days (never going to a single session) is way to long, especially when it would be at a loss. I'm doing a lecture so I decided to fly in, do the lecture then head for the mountains! I'm minimizing losses and instead of sitting looking at the walls for five days, look at the Rocky Moutains and do a few train rides!

[Tom Holtz]

When I hosted the ITEC in 2002, the fees were a little less, but not tons less. I went $20,000 in the hole.

And you worked your tail off for six months, too. I remember that part. Wow.

[tofu]

Before this turns into an ITEA bashing (which has happened here before, sometimes justly, sometimes not) let me chime in on the costs.

Only the Army Conference allows us not to have to pay to enter. I assure you, Kathy B. is not getting rich, or even close to it in order to put this show on. When I hosted the ITEC in 2002, the fees were a little less, but not tons less. I went $20,000 in the hole. These things are expensive to put on, even having them on campuses--universities aren't free space anymore, and incresingly have rules regarding percentages of what may be sold during a conference having to come back to them. Even more $$ winds up out of the hands of the exhibitors which stinks, too.
I'm not saying it's cheap to attend, but compared to other "professional conferences" ITEC's are a bargain.

my .02 for this topic.

Dennis AsKew

Hello Dennis. I'm sure folks like you work your duffs off to put these things on. The only one I have been able to attend was the one at NU in '95 and it was really excellent. The thing that I personally feel is that ITEA (and I for one still feel the name T.U.B.A. was a heck of a lot better) never has really understood or come to grips with folks like myself who are amateurs.

At the ITEC in '95 I would leave work a few hours early every day and travel an hour plus by car to catch the last session if I could and then the evenings performance. I had to pay for the entire conference even though all I was able come to were the evenings concert.

I think ITEA is a little different than other professional organizations in that there is a significant number of folks who aren't professionals, but are in the organization. I don't know, but I'm guessing for instance that the professional traffic engineers don't have a significant number of amateur traffic engineers who attend their conferences or are out performing traffic engineering in public. Yet we tuba amateurs are out there performing and do benefit from these conferences.

I also know that for many of the pros who attend that their conference cost is completely or partially paid for by their employer. I'm guessing for most of us amateurs that is not the case. What I'm asking is for a la carte pricing that allows amateurs to attend what they can without a huge penalty for not taking the whole conference package. I think for a lot of us the only ITEC's we can attend is when they are somewhere in our neck of the woods and even then we have to work around work schedules.

Just thought you might appreciate some input from an amateur viewpoint. I can really imagine what a feat it is to put one of these on and I'm sure the days of universities indirectly subsidizing are long gone as they all look under every rock for potential revenues. I think ITEA should really try to understand that involving the many amateurs is beneficial for not only the amateurs but ITEC and the pros as well.

[james]

My issue is with the fess asked of those who are competing. Take for instance the 4tet....fees are $60 to apply, $660 for registration, $540 board(if you house 4 in a room at $90/night for 6 nights), at least $700 travel costs for 4 to Denver=$1960 not including food. What does the winning 4tet get?......$1,000. Why compete when it won't even cover expenses?

[dwaskew]

Well, let's see if I can respond to any of this coherently:

First, regarding the amatuer side of things: please believe me when I say that I understand what you are saying. My co host in 2002 was Bart Collins, (amateur player) and we provided more different types of opportunites for amatuers to participate than in previous ITEC's. Some of that has carried through.
I fully support the endeavors of the amateur, which is why I put on a summer chamber camp here at UNCG aimed at amateur and high school players. I even announced it here a couple of months ago. We keep the price of that cheap--$50 for 3 days. We can keep it that cheap mainly because it's viewed as a recruiting thing for the univerisity and I'm not paying over a grand a day for the few rooms we use.

The plight of the competitions vexes me. It's a drag. I've worked and worked on that side of things--was comp. coord. for 4 years--it's a tough one we're still (obviously) working on .

Regarding the cost factors. I'm going to go back to ITEC 2002 for reference on this one. Let's say we want to have an orchestra play for soloists just one night. OK, here, thats $19,500. Then, we also had the Army Band--not free, but $14,000. Now, let's stop for the big fancy conference stuff. Let's have a goodly number of recitals "just" with piano. to have a varied set of concerts, plus the competitions, we're talking about $11,500
for their fees, transportation, (as needed) etc. What about jazz accompanists? the after hours concerts are increasingly popular and pretty much requisite, now--we spent a total of about 7000 on that.
I can go on, and on, but even to have sort of a cut rate conference, the budget really is going to come in around $100, 000. Building rental consumes a great deal of that. Knowing that there are travel expenses etc., the host tries to keep costs down as much as possible. Even at that,
300 attendees for this year's conference is not going to break even on the cut rate budget I listed above.

It is for all of these reasons that the Exec. Committee, for the past 4-6 years has concentrated on making the regional conferences more successful, regular and predictable. The international is just that--international, varied, big time. It should cost more to attend, by it's very nature. The regionals are designed to showcase the more local talent, and increasingly, provide more interactive opportunities for the amateurs. We will be announcing the full regional schedule this summer, for next year. I think there are something like 12-13 of them.

if you have more questions, comments, statements, etc. please feel free to contact me at dwaskew@gmail.com

Dennis AsKew

[brattom]

The international is just that--international, varied, big time. It should cost more to attend, by it's very nature. The regionals are designed to showcase the more local talent, and increasingly, provide more interactive opportunities for the amateurs.
Dennis AsKew

Just out of curiosity I did this quick survey...

Conference (City) - Adult Rate/Student Rate

ITEC (Denver) - $295/$195 (6 Days)
ITA (Birmingham, England) - $165/$130 (4 Days)
ITG (Glassboro, NJ) - $225/$190 (5 Days)
IHS (Capetown, SA) - R2000 ($326)/R1800 ($293) (6 Days)
International Women's Brass Conference (Normal, IL) - $180 (4 Days)

At face value ITEC is on the higher end of the conferences but not out of the ordinary. It is also longer. ITEA also probably has fewer members (except maybe the IWBC - just a guess but could be wrong) so there is less the organization can kick in, if any. I think that ITG provided a TA while I was at UK to help run the 98 conference.

I have helped with 2 NABBA's, 1 ITG, 1 IHS, and 7 Army Conferences, and I have never heard of any music conference breaking even based on the registration $$. Advertisers, grants and exhibitors hopefully make up the difference. Often the universities kick in some money as well. Looking at the artist list, it looks like this conference will be very expensive.

These things don't pay for themselves!

Wish I was going...

Tom Bratten

[Mudman]

The International Trombone Association festival averages around 1000 participants each year. After one host ran the festival into the red by bringing in too many high-level performers, a separate entity, the ITF was created. This way if the festival is sued or runs into financial difficulty, it won't bankrupt the ITA.

The ITF covers all of the expenses of putting on the festival. The host site helps organize things, but isn't responsible for any of the costs. The ITF may even rent facilities from the host in some cases. The host no longer chooses the performers, but does help in the selection process by making suggestions.

A new addition to the festival involves bringing in student workers from around the world. These workers receive free tuition and room and board. Last year it made a noticeable difference in creating an even more positive attitude among staff as opposed to using only workers from the host school.

Performers are not paid, with the exception of accompanists and ensemble members who are not trombonists. A big expense is airline tickets for performers, along with hotel costs.

The main focus of the ITA in recent years is to bring in the absolute best performers in the world. There is less of an academic thrust, and fewer outlets for research or lesser-known performers. In some ways this is a good approach, as participants leave having heard only the finest trombone playing possible. Personally, I would like to see more seminars on teaching. Amatuers can participate in a massed choir that meets daily and which performs on a concert at the end of the festival. Participants used to be able to stay an extra day to perform chamber music in area churches.

The first ITF I attended was worth more to me than an entire year of school.