Each year's meeting presents different budget challenges. For example, meetings outside of North America carry a cost premium, those at a convention center carry space rental fees that are not incurred when all meeting space is at the host hotel, some venues have built-in union fees, some venues require busing costs, and some carry higher food and beverage costs. In the past, SVP heavily subsidized its annual meeting to keep registration rates low, but since 2009, this has no longer been possible in light of the economic downturn. [...]