Eighth International Rock Garden Conference, 2011

[Diane Clement]

Yes, Lesley, that seems to be the case: but I hope the form is simply badly written!
It is certainly not very clear.... but there seems not to be an option to pay a deposit for the Early Bird discount rate so I think they do want to get all our money as soon as possible  
No word either of cancellation rates, which is worrying. Quite a lot of info that I think folks would want to have not included.  
I may be too innocent, and I know that the AGS seems to find enough people who can afford their £2 or £3 thousand pound holidays, but are there really enough of those people to make a conference ( which will need hundreds of members to attend to make it a success financially) get off the ground?

I think it's saying that the deposit is the same whatever, then if you pay the balance by August, you get the discounted balance rate.  Does that sound right?
http://www.alpinegardensociety.net/sales/conferences/bookings/2011/Full+Conference+Delegate/60/

[Maggi Young]

Yes, Diane, you are correct... it shows the booking rate  for each type of booking, full  residential delegate , then the balance due for early payment. I was thrown by the fact that there is no section for the full rate after the discount is no longer open.
Some odd mentions of "overseas delegate" sprinkled around in there.... is there other info pertinent to that , do you think?

 Intro states " To qualify for these discounts, the discounted price must be paid in full before 31 August 2011." Yes! That would be much better! 

[fermi de Sousa]

Someone there must be reading this as it's now been amended to read "31 August 2010"!
It might be a good time to pay in advance from here as the Aussie $ is at its highest against the £ for ages!
cheers
fermi

[Maggi Young]

Someone there must be reading this as it's now been amended to read "31 August 2010"!

 

It might be a good time to pay in advance from here as the Aussie $ is at its highest against the £ for ages!
cheers
fermi

Is it? I was wondering about the various exchange rates.....good to know that may be advantageous  for some folks. 

 

[t00lie]

I know some Aussies and Dave Toole are going but not me I'm afraid. 500 GB pounds is about $1,300 NZ dollars at present plus twice that for return flights and that's just for 4 days. From this far away one would want to stay in the UK and hopefully in Europe too for about 4-6 weeks to make the costs worthwhile, so a massive total altogether. Looks like my NH travel days are well and truly over.

That's not correct Lesley
I'm not going .

Cheers dave

[Tony Willis]

As we could pop there for the day(we lived about 100 metres from the venue for 15 years) I thought I would take a look.

I did not know whether to laugh or cry at £150 each for the day.

Mrs W. and I will just settle for the one day bulb conference later this month in Birmingham for £25 in total.

[Lesley Cox]

Sorry Dave, I thought you were going to be seeing Maggi and Ian in 2011. Surely you wouldn't go the the UK and NOT go to the conference?

Our exchange rate is higher than for many years against the pound too, but still about 2 and a quarter NZ dollars to every UK pound.

[Maggi Young]

Lesley.... and everyone else: Dave is one of the Speakers at the SRGC Discussion Weekend in October 2010 ..... be there or be square!!  


 Birmingham Bulb Day Conference: Yes, that is fantastic value... but there are far fewer overheads for such an event.

For the 2011 event the costs negotiated for the conference facilities, speakers expenses etc must, to be fair, be shared between everyone attending   

[Maggi Young]

I see that there have been numerous adjustments and additions to the pages containing information about Alpines 2011 on the AGS Website.....so if you looked before and were confused , please do look again. http://www.alpinegardensociety.net/news/stoppress/th+International+Rock+Garden+Conference/236/      


I am sorry not to see any information so far about 'shoulder nights' at the venue...extra nights before or after the event..... many travelling  to the event will need those and that is another cost to factor in and one also needs to know what special rate has been negotiated (as one would hope has been the case)  and whether those are booked with the AGS or with the venue. I had this problem when trying to arrange a booking for the AGS Anniversary Conference last September... it seemed to be something that was just not in their radar... though we have found at SRGC Weekends that quite a high percentage require such bookings. Perhaps this is info which will "appear" at a later date?!  

[tonyg]

Hmm £500 for three and a bit days ... or £600 if I don't make my mind up by August.  £125 per day for a day delegate.  I'm with Maggi on the idea of spending the time in such good company but I'll probably spend the money on a trip to the mountains ... one thing for sure I cannot afford to do both

[Maggi Young]

I've just been looking at the cost for the Alpines 2001 conference in July  2001.......
the price for the full conference, residential delegate, booked by Aril 30th 2001 was £390 .... so not a huge difference for a ten year gap and yes, I do know that times are harder for many now, but over 500 folks were at Heriot Watt University for 2001 and it would be terrific to see a similar number in Nottingham.

When the cost is looked at in terms of ten years ago, it seems to me to be on a par with what you "could" have done with £390 then and £500 now, so let's not talk the event down unfairly on that score.   

[fermi de Sousa]

I didn't attend the 2001 conference so I can't say for sure but I think at the time the exchange rate was a lot worse for us and it would've cost around AUD$1200, whereas this time it should work out to less than AUD$1000!
I wonder if Otto remembers how much it cost him when he went?
cheers
fermi

[ichristie]

 Hi everyone, I am with Maggie and will go to Alpines 2011 so as I can meet up with everyone again enjoy some great speakers, great company and I hope some great plants at the one day show maybe even a bottle or two to share,  and some chocs for Maggie,  cheers Ian the Christie kind.

[Maggi Young]

I'm getting emails to ask if I know anything about cancellation  rates and so on...... whether one would lose only the depost or the whole amount if that had been paid.... sorry, I have no idea. I agree that it is very important to find these things out ..... when that amount is paid out eight months in advance there is the horrible possibility that something will do awry and one need to know what level of penalty will be levied.  I can only suggest contacting Pershore .
Likewise for the question of workshops and pre and post conference Tours ..... there is a lot we haven't been told. I do hope that there is something good still to hear!

[mark smyth]

The National Bat ^..^ Conference is often in Nottingham, York and other universities and costs half what the AGS is asking. That price includes all food and accommodation. Speakers are internationl also. Are they trying to make a quick massive profit?