Dear DPS Members,
I wanted to reach out to discuss the registration rates for this year’s meeting. The DPS
Committee recognizes the impact of relatively high registration rates on our member’s ability to
participate and has made a concerted effort to contain costs. However, we were unable to bring
rates down due to several factors discussed below.
As has been the case in past years, our registration rates are determined by a few guiding
principles:
- The DPS should not plan to make a profit on the meetings but should budget for the
meeting to roughly break even. - Attendance should be assumed to reflect the historical attendance at DPS meetings.
- Virtual attendees should not subsidize in person meeting costs like food and facilities.
The biggest of several unknowns when setting registration rates is how many people will attend,
and what will be the split between in-person and virtual participants. To estimate this, we
considered historical data for three previous meetings that were not joint with EPSC. The typical
size of DPS meetings means that we are too large for a low-cost university campus venue and too
small to take much advantage of economies of scale at conference venues.
Once the number of participants is set, we estimate and scrub the cost of the meeting services.
Inflation has continued to erode purchasing power in 2024, and that is true for meeting costs as
well. To achieve our goal of a revenue-neutral meeting we have set the registration rates at
roughly 3.5% above last year’s rates, except for the regular and late full member rates which
remain the same. We continue to keep the virtual registration rates as affordable as possible to
improve meeting accessibility and to support those aiming to reduce their carbon footprint. As
reported at last year’s members meeting, the costs of the hybrid meeting in 2023 were covered by
the virtual registrations at close to 95%, and we expect the same this year.
As was reported last year, our registration rates have been roughly in line with inflation over the
past twenty years. In 2022 rates jumped above inflation due to increased venue costs, COVID-19
mitigation measures, and the introduction of hybrid meeting options. Even with these higher
registration rates, we lost money in both the 2022 and 2023 meetings. We therefore cannot lower
the registration rates without putting the Division in a difficult financial position. Our approach
therefore was to plan for a balanced budget while still providing an excellent meeting
experience. Although the venue costs in Boise are lower, and the meeting is one day shorter, the
estimated participation dictates the rates that can balance the meeting budget and preserve the
financial health of the Division.
We continue to prioritize keeping student registration low and encourage students to take
advantage of the Hartmann Travel Grant. In addition, the Underrepresented Minority
Communities in Planetary Science Travel Grants are available to support the participation of
students, scientists, and other space professionals who are members of underrepresented racial
and ethnic groups. Information and an application for both grants can be found
here: https://dps.aas.org/news/dps-travel-grants-application/.
The LOC, SOC, and VOC have been working very hard to deliver an excellent hybrid meeting
this fall in a beautiful, walkable city. Please consider encouraging your institution, project team,
or organization to sponsor an event, if not a full exhibit booth
(https://aas.org/meetings/dps56/exhibitors-sponsors). I hope to see many of you in Boise or
online this October.
Carol