RE: Electronic Court Filing TC May meeting plans

["Carol Geyer" <carol.geyer@oasis-open.org>]

John,

First, I'm very glad your TC will meet in conjunction with the Symposium. It's great to get OASIS members together for this annual event, and we appreciate your support.

 

With regards to the meeting fee, I respect your perspective, but please understand that hotel meeting rooms, a/v equipment rental, internet access, coffee breaks, and lunches come with a price tag. If you've ever coordinated an event at a large hotel in a major city, you know just how exorbitant those charges run. The $30/day meeting fee only covers a fraction of our costs--we rely on Symposium sponsors to make up the rest. If we had enough sponsorship revenue to waive the meeting fee entirely, believe me, we would, but we simply do not.

 

Understand too, that the Symposium is not a revenue-generating activity for OASIS. We set the registration, meeting, and sponsorship fees at a level that allows us to break even--nothing more.

 

Many TCs have expressed strong support for the meeting fee. They see a distinct advantage in having lunch and breaks provided, so they can work and interface with other TCs. They don't want to incur the transportation costs involved with meeting at a remote site, they don't want to leave the hotel for lunches and coffee breaks. In fact, they look to OASIS staff to provide more services--speaker phones and LCD projectors. They realize the meeting fee is essential in providing those services. They are also accustomed to paying (often much higher) meeting fees at similar organizations.

 

I'm glad your TC was able to secure meeting space at a local court, but I regret you see it as some sort of "voting with your feet" action. I hope you will trust that OASIS staff works very hard to meet everyone's needs to the greatest degree possible. We remain open to practical suggestions for how we can better serve the OASIS Electronic Court Filing TC.

 

Carol

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From: John M. Greacen [mailto:john@greacen.net]
Sent: Saturday, December 10, 2005 10:12 PM
To: jane.harnad@oasis-open.org; carol.geyer@oasis-open.org
Cc: patrick.gannon@oasis-open.org; Electronic Court Filing Technical Committeee
Subject: Electronic Court Filing TC May meeting plans

Our TC will meet in San Francisco in conjunction with the OASIS symposium.  However, we will not meet at the OASIS hotel and we do not seek your assistance with our meeting logistics.  We will find our own meeting space at a local court so that we will not incur the OASIS $30 per member per day fee.  We complained about this fee last year.  It is exorbitant and an unreasonable expense for governmental entities to incur.  OASIS is charging the same fee this year.  We are therefore voting with our feet.    

 

John M. Greacen

Greacen Associates, LLC

HCR 78 Box 23

Regina, New Mexico 87046

505-289-2164

505-289-2163 (fax)

505-780-1450 (cell)

john@greacen.net