In 2020, I was a vocal critic of the Law & Society's decision to charge virtual conference attendees the same fee that would have been charged for the in-person conference. That led to a scolding by Penny Andrews, Kim Lane Scheppele, Jonathan Klaaren, and Anna-Maria Marshall who wrote (here) that:
Professor Crawford complained about the cost of a virtual meeting, because LSA Board decided not to offer everyone a partial refund. In fact, a virtual meeting is not free. The largest cost that goes into the meeting is the staff time that it takes to put the program together, which often involves multiple interactions with thousands of people. This year, the program will have been put together twice. One program had almost been completed for an in-person meeting that won’t happen. Now we need to see who will continue into the virtual meeting because that will require that the program be redone a second time to put newly orphaned papers onto new panels, to fill in gaps of chairs and discussants, and to work with the CRNs to ensure that their programs remain coherent. All that involves staff time. Plus there will be adjustments to the app, working out when people can attend the online sessions, updates to conference attendees and to the CRNs about how the program is coming along, and of course close support of conference attendees in the run-up to the meeting.
Um, I never said that the conference should be free.
I am pleased to see that the cost to attend the 2022 Law & Society Annual Meeting virtually is substantially less than the in-person conference fee:
Virtual attendance is not the same "value" as in-person attendance; the 2022 registration fee reflects that.
Virtual or not, Law & Society remains my favorite conference of the year.
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