When I was commenting on the call for papers last night I thought it looked like Borland was reducing the benefits to speakers, but I wasn't sure. Nick Hodges sums up some of the changes from previous years.
Dr. Bob has already confirmed he will not attend since he cannot afford it, and a number of other speakers have suggested they may not attend, or may attend and not write. I don't know how often I talk to people who attend sessions based on the speaker and not the topic. Especially when Mark Miller still spoke at BorCon, he was often referred to as the "Master." If enough of the headliners make a public enough of an announcement that they will no longer be attending then Borland may have a hard time getting people to attend.
Although I have seen other conferences where they charge the speakers for the privilege of presenting a paper at the conference. I think for a general industry conference that would work, but where BorCon is all about supporting and promoting Borland tools - your presentation is required to revolve around a Borland tool - that seems like it wouldn't be a logical progression.
Having spoken at BorCon in 2003 I concur with Nick and Craig's assessment about the amount of time it takes to prepare a session. I was surprised how much time it required. Lots of research up front, then you constantly update things since the technology changes so fast.
I am still debating if I will submit abstracts or not. Just submitting abstracts is a fairly large undertaking.
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