Updated at 2.27pm GMT 2.22pm GMT Small print alert - Departmental spending cuts George Osborne went into the autumn statement planning knowing that he had to find around £2bn to fund the giveaways announced at the party conferences: free school meals, the married couples' tax allowance and the fuel duty freeze.
Goldman points out that freelance writers often get into conferences free of charge, so make sure the conference organisers know why you are there and who you represent.
The NCAA lost control of college football broadcasting rights in a 1980s Supreme Court antitrust decision, which left the conferences free to negotiate their own rights deals.
People at unconferences seem to share problems and successes more freely than at formal conferences, freed from the restraints of suits, business cards and other people's expectations when they see a job title on a name badge.
What: Tolkien Conference; free, but registration required.
There will be a one-day conference (free for ticket holders) on Wednesday about the opera, its genesis and 17th-century England.
The 40 heads of state and 90 ministers who come to the conference free of charge are, of course, the headliners, but they are also doing the real deal making behind the scenes with each other - and with industry.
Planetarium Shows: "Santa Snork Saves the Seasons," weekends, 1 and 3 p.m.; " 'Tis the Season," 2 p.m. Today from 1 to 4 p.m., "George Washington and the Battle of Trenton: The Revolution of an American Image," a public conference; free.
Trailing by 61-58, Rutgers watched Gerry McNamara, who had hit all 23 of his conference free throws entering the game, miss the front end of a 1-and-1 with 42 seconds left.
Reporters looked on bemused when he began quoting a passage from the East German socialist poet Ernst Toller about "it not being seemly to mourn", but otherwise it was an admirably frank press conference, free at last of the platitudes and cliches that have too often been the norm in Labour's campaign.
Planetarium Shows: "Moonwitch," 1 and 3 p.m.; "Out and About in the Fall Sky," 2 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, through today; beginning Saturday, "Santa Snork Saves the Seasons," 1 and 3 p.m.; " 'Tis the Season," 2 p.m. Next Sunday, from 1 to 4 p.m., "George Washington and the Battle of Trenton: The Revolution of an American Image," a public conference; free.
