The ATA Chronicle - January/February 2022 - 13

spent on items such as inperson
division activities,
clerical work, equipment
rental, insurance, and the
like. Hosting an online event
eliminated them all, which
is why our overall expenses
were so much lower.
The upshot is that the
virtual conference generated
$490,194 in revenue, while
incurring only $184,220 in
direct costs. In short, it more
than paid for itself. Plus, this
surplus has covered most of
the allocated overhead. Once
the figures from June 2021
are final, the expectation is
that the event will have at
least broken even and may
have made a slight profit.
Turning our sights on
this year's conference in
Minneapolis, the biggest
financial concern has been
planning and budgeting for
yet another unprecedented
event. We learned a lot from
the 2020 virtual conference,
but unfortunately, hosting an
in-person event with a virtual
component is essentially a
new undertaking.
FIGURE 4
Annual Conference
Revenue
At the organizational
level, ATA has been
doing a pretty good
job of adapting to
the new normal, all
things considered.
For years, we have
Registration: 431,134 * 88%
AST: 36,469 * 7%
Corporate Sponsor: 14,000 * 3%
Exhibit: 8,205 * 2%
Virtual Conference: 1,106 * 0%
noted that when an Annual
Conference does well
financially, ATA does well
as a whole. This year is no
different. We know that
attendance is down and
expenses are up. That's not a
recipe for financial success.
But the Association prudently
manages and invests its
money for just this type of
scenario, where so many
factors are out of our control.
We will likely take a hit from
this year's conference, but
once again, ATA will learn
from the experience, which
should be helpful in planning
future events.
For starters, we not only
have all the normal inperson
expenses mentioned
above but also a set of
additional costs related to
streaming this content to
virtual attendees. In addition,
with the uncertainty caused
by the pandemic, it has been
unclear how many people
would actually register to
attend in person, how many
would watch from home,
and how many might choose
to skip this year's event
entirely. As it turns out, this
last variable has proven to
be the hardest to estimate
and the most significant for
ATA's bottom line.
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FIGURE 5
Annual Conference
Expenses
Overhead Expense:
51,513 * 22%
Audio Visual: 106,222 * 45%
Experient: 24,500 * 10%
Conference Mgt Software:
20,000 * 9%
Honorarium: 8,480 * 4%
Division Activities: 7,800 * 3%
Travel and Lodging: 7,352 * 3%
Miscellaneous: 3,800 * 2%
Postage: 2,619 * 1%
Preliminary Program:
1,352 * 1%
The Budget and Beyond
ATA has an annual operating
budget of roughly $3 million.
It varies somewhat from year
to year, but that figure is
what the Association needs
to operate in its current
form. Membership dues are
budgeted to provide the
lion's share (61%) of these
funds, with the Annual
Conference (26%) and
Certification Program (10%)
making up much of the rest.
Like many membershipbased
organizations, ATA's
total membership has been
slowly declining over the past
10 years. Efforts have been
(and continue to be) made
to reverse this trend. In fact,
American Translators Association 13
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