This page covers membership benefits, the fees for membership and method(s) of subscription. The contents of this page are the decision of the Board of the Society, and may be subject to change by Society meetings. For more general information about the Society see About Us and the Constitution. The fees were reviewed by the Board of the Society. It was decided (December 2022) that no fees will be charged for 2023. At the Annual General Meeting in 2023, it was agreed no fees would be payable for the foreseeable future. Members of the SDL Forum Society can become members as individuals ("Personal Members") or through their employer/University ("Employee Members"). In the latter case the employer is a "Corporate Member". BenefitsIn addition to the benefits from the promotion SDL and MSC by the Society, Members have received the following benefits: 1. SDL Forum Society events - discount pricesMembers used to benefit from a discount on the SDL Forum fees and SAM (System Analysis and Modelling) conference fees. However, the last few (SAM) events have been treated as MODELS workshops with fees paid through MODELS and no discount has been given. 2. Evolutionary development of SDL standards and methodsAlthough the ITU-T publishes the Specification and Description Language and Message Sequence Chart Recommendations as standards, it recognizes the SDL Forum Society as an organisation that is involved in the evolution of the languages and associated methods to meet changing needs. The ITU-T has therefore agreed that the Society can distribute versions of the standards to members free of charge. Members can also be invited to participate in standards meetings and have access to documents discussed at the meetings, including draft versions of new and revised standards.
3. Discount copies of Forum proceedingsThe proceedings of SDL Forum and SAM events used to be published by Elsevier Science and then from 2001 by Springer. Since 2020 they have been published as a MODELS workshop by either ACM or IEEE. For publication through Elsevier Science and then from 2001 by Springer, the Society made a bulk purchase of the event proceedings at a special price in advance of the event. The discount price was about 35% (a 65% discount) of the publisher's price. All delegates at the Forum received one copy of the Forum Proceedings from this bulk purchase included in their delegate's pack. Members could reserve one or more extra copies of the event proceedings at a special discount price (based on the bulk purchase price plus postage and packing) by placing an order with the Society one month in advance of the event. After the Forum any copies from the bulk purchase remaining were sold to Members at the special discount price, based on the bulk purchase price plus postage and packing and payment by credit card. Proceedings currently available from the Society are shown on the proceedings page. Alternatively contact the admin of sdl-forum.org for details. 4. Updates on SDL Forum server contentMembers get positive email distribution about changes to the services offered. 5. Email addresses at sdl-forum.orgCurrently to stop spam, emails are only accepted from specifically allowed domains (essentially to allow emailing to lists from addresses on the lists). Previously members were offered a free virtual POP email address at sdl-forum.org, but with the current limitations this is no longer practical. 6. Other benefitsThe Board will consider any other suggestions from members for benefits, such as information available only to members. Membership, Term and FeesThe fees are currently (December 2022) under review by the Board of the Society, but it has already been decided that no fees will be charged for 2023. The following applied prior to December 2022. The Membership fee covers one year's membership. Membership becomes renewable on the 1st of January every year. A Member joining after 1st January in any year will pay fees according to the initial fees table given below. Student fees are as listed below. (A signed verification is required from a member of staff that the person is a bona fide student.) Alternatively there is a special category of membership for University Departments that covers all members of staff and students (but excludes any related profit making business). The Board may (at its discretion) waive fees for other students and other special cases. Subject to the Board's discretion, certain other non-profit organisations may be granted membership fees at the University rate, though the membership category will be reviewed from time to time. All fees are subject to variation. For Corporate Members the fees are at the discretion of the Board and based on the the number of "SDL users" (where "user" is someone that requires SDL knowledge for a significant amount of their work). When applying for membership the estimated number of "users" is stated, but the Board has the right to make its own assessment and decision about the fee payable.
As the Society is registered in Germany and holds German bank accounts, all fees are in Euros. Payments under 160 Euros from other countries should be made by credit or debit card or through our online payment system, because otherwise bank charges absorb too much of of the fees, except payment by cheque from German bank accounts. Larger payments can be made by other methods by arrangement. Initial feesTo align membership to 1st of January renewal dates, an initial membership fee paid in January to September covers the months up until the end of the current year. To avoid administration and banking overheads, an initial membership fee paid in October to December includes membership for the following year. The fees payable are therefore given by the table below.
Corporate MembershipA Corporate Member must provide the Society with the list of Employee Members that will directly participate in Society meetings or benefit from membership. Each attending Employee Member on the list can vote just like any Personal Member. A Corporate Member must nominate one of its Employee Members to be the contact point and must provide an email address for contact. Employee Membership ceases when leaving the employ of the Corporate Member, or if the Corporate Member so requests. Applying for MembershipTo apply for membership use our registration form. If you are applying for Corporate Membership, the Board will decide the size of organization (but please provide your own opinion), and you will then be contacted about payment. Once payment has been received Membership is effective. |