Conference Early Bird Rate to Remain In Place

In case you're not on our email list, here's some news we sent yesterday about how we're making attendance at thios year's 2009 Public Radio Programming Conference as affordable as possible.

Our Early Bird Deadline for registration to the 2009 Public Radio Programming Conference in Cleveland was set for August 1. Rather than institute an increase at that time, the PRPD Board has decided that we should help as many of you attend as possible, so we will hold that rate throughout the conference registration period, including walk ups.

We ask that you please take a few minutes to read the rest of this note for the whole story. We hope that by being as candid as possible, you will be able to make win-win decisions for you and for PRPD. The good news is that, as of today, our registration is on track with last year.

The risk in lifting the Early Bird is that the deadline has always resulted in a surge of registrations. To help alleviate that risk, we earnestly urge you not to procrastinate, to register as soon as possible. That will help us plan our conference venues, events, food, etc. and assure that we have plenty for everyone without overspending. But we didn’t want to promote the deadline ingenuously and then lift it.

One of the hidden issues in conference management is the fact that hotel contracts include room night guarantees – with penalties for falling short. We understand that money is tight, but we hope you’ll remember this as you seek to economize and urge you to book your stay at the Renaissance Cleveland as soon as possible. We have done all that we can to keep your costs to attend as low as possible. Here are some of the new features to make sure your trip is as economical as possible:

1. Airfare discount: If you are flying to Cleveland, you can get a discount on Continental Airlines.
2. Free Ground Transportation: Registrants will receive a free week-long pass on Cleveland Regional Transit. This includes completely indoor rail between airport and the hotel.
3. Most meals included:
   a. Breakfasts and Lunches provided (by NPR, PRI and APM) Wednesday and Thursday.
   b. “Heavy Hors d’oeuvres” at Tuesday evening’s ideastream©/WCPN opening reception and Thursday Rock Hall event.

The conference will be held September 15-18, with pre-conference workshops starting on the 13th. We are excited about the agenda, designed to help you make the most of your time and take home ideas that will help you thrive in a time of “more with less”.

And the evening events will be as entertaining as the content is enlightening.

Look forward to seeing you in Cleveland!