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Conferences are inadvertently excluding many attendees from foreign countries

arunraghavan.net

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Re: Conferences are inadvertently excluding many attendees from foreign countries

#81

Post by reshlo »

ghaff wrote: post #71
reshlo wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe fewer people being able to attend in person will force more conferences to take accessibility seriously. WWDC seems to have taken this to heart, for example.

In general (it's complicated and it's not as simple as have a video camera in every session) tech conferences are doing a pretty good job of getting session content online these days. And, yes, Apple invests at least as much as anyone. It's not really a replacement for attending a conference live but it's a mostly inexpensive (money and time) way to get exposed to a lot of the formal content of a conference.

> It's not really a replacement for attending a conference live but it's a mostly inexpensive (money and time) way to get exposed to a lot of the formal content of a conference.

This is something that has troubled me about in-person conferences for a while: they are inegalitarian. If they’re not really about the content, the only people who get the true benefit are those already privileged enough to be able to attend. That means the purpose of in-person conferences is to compound inequalities. We should not have them.

Re: Conferences are inadvertently excluding many attendees from foreign countries

#82

Post by bkor »

bloak wrote: post #41
ur-whale wrote: post #27

From the map at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_requirements_for_Indian_c... looks like Mongolia and the Caribbean are optimal places to organize conferences.

> looks like Mongolia and the Caribbean are optimal places to organize conferences The colour scheme of that map is attrocious, but perhaps you have a better monitor or better colour vision than me? I think Mongolia is "Visa available both on arrival or eVisa", which is presumably not as good as Kazakhstan's "Visa not required", for example.

> "Visa available both on arrival or eVisa"

That just means that they're taxing the arrivals. Turkey and Indonesia (for my country) switch between requiring a visa on arrival and not needing one. That's tied to lower/higher tourist numbers. If the number of tourists drop too much the visa on arrival is removed. That this is linked is the explanation I read in an Indonesian article on why they were removing the visa on arrival for my country.

The only slight annoyance might be that sometimes they want you to pay that "visa" in (crisp) USD, which means getting USD.

Re: Conferences are inadvertently excluding many attendees from foreign countries

#83

Post by i_no_can_eat »

vinay_ys wrote: post #77
i_no_can_eat wrote: post #25

There is another side to this. Whenever I have organized conferences, I end up receiving lots of requests for invitation letters, typically from researchers in India, for Visa purposes. I absolutely understand this, and I have always done my best to accommodate these requests. But this is time-consuming, and it is very annoying when those researchers (who are sometimes also scheduled to speak) never show up, and neve…

[flagged]

> Painting an entire country as large and diverse as India with just one brush dipped in personal anecdotes is just flawed and biased thinking.

I don't think that my comment did that. I'm precisely acknowledging that such bias already exists, and that the situation is indeed unfair.

Re: Conferences are inadvertently excluding many attendees from foreign countries

#84

Post by i_no_can_eat »

nirbheek wrote: post #78
i_no_can_eat wrote: post #25

There is another side to this. Whenever I have organized conferences, I end up receiving lots of requests for invitation letters, typically from researchers in India, for Visa purposes. I absolutely understand this, and I have always done my best to accommodate these requests. But this is time-consuming, and it is very annoying when those researchers (who are sometimes also scheduled to speak) never show up, and neve…

Very strange that this is your experience, because IME as an Indian who has to apply for Schengen visas 4-5 times a year it's actually easier to get a visa for tourism than to attend a conference or for business. You need to supply fewer documents for a tourist visa, there's lesser scrutiny, and in many countries you're more likely to get a longer-duration visa (6 months rather than exact duration) for tourism than f…

Very interesting to know, thanks. Let me then ask: if getting a tourist visa is simpler, is there any problem in asking for a tourist visa even if your intention is attending a conference?

Re: Conferences are inadvertently excluding many attendees from foreign countries

#85

Post by [deleted] »

LastWeekendWas wrote: post #76
FirmwareBurner wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The four designated State Sponsors of Terrorism are Cuba, Out of curiosity what's the latest terrorist attack sponsored by the Cuban state?

Severely embarrassing the US government? Or maybe just providing free high quality heath care to all its citizens? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Cuba ; The World Bank acknowledges that Cuba's life expectancy at birth exceeds that of the United States

[deleted]

Re: Conferences are inadvertently excluding many attendees from foreign countries

#86

Post by Khaine »

murphyslaw wrote: post #53
niea_11 wrote: post #26

> in the US, whether you are permitted to enter and how long you may stay are determined by the person at the border I don't believe this is specific to the US. The agent at the border always has the last decision on whether you can enter the country even if you have a valid visa and travel documents.

I've also noted that issue. I know of several people at my former job who traveled to the San Jose office and were turned back for some inane reason that had never been an issue before that time. US Border Guards have extreme latitude and they seem to like their power a bit too much. Problem is that a single rejection forces you to go through the Visa process instead of the Visa-free process for the rest of your life…

It also occurs if you visit countries the US doesn't like such as Cuba or Iran.

Visited Iran when sanctions weren't in place, no ESTA for you. You get treated like a criminal, and have to pay more money for a proper visa.

Re: Conferences are inadvertently excluding many attendees from foreign countries

#87

Post by localplume »

LastWeekendWas wrote: post #76
FirmwareBurner wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The four designated State Sponsors of Terrorism are Cuba, Out of curiosity what's the latest terrorist attack sponsored by the Cuban state?

Severely embarrassing the US government? Or maybe just providing free high quality heath care to all its citizens? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Cuba ; The World Bank acknowledges that Cuba's life expectancy at birth exceeds that of the United States

[dead]

Re: Conferences are inadvertently excluding many attendees from foreign countries

#88

Post by aerique »

LastWeekendWas wrote: post #76
FirmwareBurner wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The four designated State Sponsors of Terrorism are Cuba, Out of curiosity what's the latest terrorist attack sponsored by the Cuban state?

Severely embarrassing the US government? Or maybe just providing free high quality heath care to all its citizens? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Cuba ; The World Bank acknowledges that Cuba's life expectancy at birth exceeds that of the United States

Not a particularly high bar.

Re: Conferences are inadvertently excluding many attendees from foreign countries

#89

Post by danpalmer »

i_no_can_eat wrote: post #25

There is another side to this. Whenever I have organized conferences, I end up receiving lots of requests for invitation letters, typically from researchers in India, for Visa purposes. I absolutely understand this, and I have always done my best to accommodate these requests. But this is time-consuming, and it is very annoying when those researchers (who are sometimes also scheduled to speak) never show up, and neve…

Could it be that their visas are rejected? I could understand not wanting to tell someone that I can't attend their conference because their country doesn't want me there, not exactly a nice thing to think about or admit to others.

Re: Conferences are inadvertently excluding many attendees from foreign countries

#90

Post by brightball »

I just finished running the Carolina Code Conference this weekend and I do want to comment on this part:

> But if you’re in my position, you need at least 2-3 months between the first and the last step. If your attendance is conditional on speaking at the conference (for example, if your company will only sponsor you if you’re speaking), then you need a minimum of 2-3 months between when speakers are notified and the conference starts.

There are a lot of moving parts here. As an organizer you need your speakers confirmed 2-3 months out so that you can announce them in time for people to buy tickets. Confirmed meaning informed, accepted and able to travel. If there’s a risk of visa questions impacting travel then it’s prudent to have a backup plan such as presenting remotely. You don’t want to have to change speakers especially if people may have bought tickets anticipating the presentation.

It’s really complicated.

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