Membership required to present?

[pyramidstuds]

I found an interesting conference, and feel my thesis research would be a great fit for a panel. The panel for which I would submit has the following requirement: "Those accepted must be members of [insert association name here] to present." Only a couple of panels have this requirement, the majority do not.

Can anyone explain this to me--I am new to academia/conference presenting, and wonder if this is common in some disciplines? Is it worth it to pay for membership? For context, I'm in anthropology, but my area of research is highly interdisciplinary; this is a language conference, and the student membership cost is $35 annually.

Should I apply, see if I am accepted, and cough up the $35 thereafter?

And again, I am just curious about the requirement and whether it's common.

Many thanks!

[Hope.for.the.best]

I am not sure how common it is to require conference participants to be members of the organizing association, but it is not unheard of. It is more common to charge members a lower registration fee than non-members.

If the conference fits your thesis topic and you wish to present there, then it's worth getting the membership. The opportunity to present (poster or oral) and network with others is definitely worth the money. You can choose not to renew your membership after a year. In this case, you just pay $ 35 once.

Probably have a chat with your advisors and see what they think. It's possible for them to cover the membership fee if they think it is a conference that you should present in.

Edited March 29, 2019 by Hope.for.the.best