Economics of a popular science lecture

Alexander Sergeyev , a scientific journalist, the moderator of the club of scientific journalists, shared his thoughts with the TRV-Haw about how the lecturer’s remuneration could be arranged.

- Do I have to pay the lecturer the fee?

- This question itself, in my opinion, serves as a sign of the abnormality of the interaction of science and society. Any work must be paid. What is a scientist, giving a public lecture, differs from a musician who performs with a concert? You can also understand if the lecture is read for free as part of official duties on behalf of the authorities. But if a third -party organization agrees with the scientist, then it is very strange on its part not to offer a fee for this.

But this simple picture is often violated by scientists themselves, refusing to take a fee for their performances. Some since Soviet times, they have been “embarrassed” of money. Others think that for saving the country from ignorance, normal heroes should not take money. Still others are ready to even pay themselves, if only they would be given to tell the public about the painful. All this is convenient for organizers of lectures, but contradicts the interests of those scientists who want their work to be paid.

It is time to understand that a public lecture is a job, for someone an episodic, and for someone regular. And the dumping undermines normal financing of this work. But what if for every scientist who agreed to give a lecture for free, there are a couple of who did not want to act in the gift or at dumping prices? So the big question is, is it so contributed to the rejection of the fee of the Enlightenment.

- Should lectures be free for listeners ?​

- I think that tickets for a lecture are completely normal. A lecture is the same service for the public as a musical concert or film screenings. But here we must take into account two points. Firstly, the demand for a lecture, of course, is lower than for easy entertainment. And secondly, this cultural genre has been revived in recent years from almost complete oblivion, into which it plunged in the 1990s. Therefore, it is completely natural that at first, a free visit of lectures was useful for attracting attention to them as a phenomenon. The expenses covered the sponsors, which this charity educational activity contributed to the branding.

However, I believe that now the public is ready to take on part of the expenses related to the costs of organizing popular science lectures. It is unlikely that anyone in Moscow is frightened by the price of 100-200 rubles for a month and a half lecture. Another thing is that with rare exceptions, the fees from the public will not cover all expenses, and in addition, the official sale of tickets is associated with additional organizational and accounting difficulties and costs. From here the idea arises to use not such a straightforward approach.

- What are the alternatives of ordinary tickets ?

- Everything can be greatly simplified if the organizer of the lecture does not take the functions of a monetary intermediary between the lecturer and his listeners. Instead of selling tickets in advance, conducting accounting money, paying taxes, checking tickets at the entrance and, finally, write out a fee, you can simply invite visitors to thank the lecturer for his performance. This is the so -called post -factual payment, analyzed in detail in Alexander Dolgin’s monograph “Economics of Symbolic Exchange”, where he indicates that in the field of culture it is more natural to pay after listening to the performance, when it is already clear how much it liked, when it is still quite possible by disappointment.

A person who really interestingly spent an hour and a half and leaves vivid impressions, is unlikely to refuse to put a feasible amount in a transparent box at the exit. It is only important to set the correct intonation, clearly and openly telling the audience before the performance that the lecturer does not receive a fee from the organizers, but everyone who liked his performance may personally express his gratitude in cash or written form (they may not all want to pay, this is not imposed). Before you dissolve the audience about this, you need to remind you again.

Moreover, you can tactfully hint in the amount by comparing a lecture with a visit to a cinema or a small concert. The box at the exit should be pleasant in appearance, and something should lie in it in advance, so that no one feels uncomfortable, lowering the first bill. It is even better to put two boxes - on different sides of the door so as not to create delays. Such little things, like the selection of words, are very important. They must be thought out in advance and specified from time to time.

When discussing this topic on Facebook, the opinion that one of the scientists could insult this form of fees. Everyone, of course, can be, but neither temples nor charitable foundations disdain voluntary donations. Here you only need to raise the question correctly. And so that there are no misunderstandings with lecturers who fundamentally do not want to take money, it must be clearly established that in case of refusal, the amount of the amount is transferred to charity in the field of popularization of science on the choice of a lecturer (or organizers, if he did not express his opinion).

In addition to the already noted getting rid of transaction costs, this method of organizing payment of payment has the advantage that provides measuring feedback with listeners, helping the lecturer and organizers understand how much they managed to live up to the expectations of the public.