How do i tell the organizers that i won't be attending a conference if the only reason is that we don't have any ground-breaking new results and so my supervisor feels that it is a waste of money and time to go?
The conference is spie opto, and by submitting an abstract you supposedly agree to attend... My abstract got accepted.... However my supervisor thinks we can just "ignore" the event, that is we wont submit a paper or attend. the manuscript deadline has passed already, the conference is end of january. is there a correct procedure how i could slip out of this? what should i tell the organizers?

Have you ever been invited to a birthday party that you don't want to go to ?

Bought a top and then thought.. why on earth? and had to pretend it was from your Grandmother who is a bit batty, and colour blind etc

Think of an excuse... an easy simple excuse.. less explanation is more realistic, an elaborate storyline looks like just that, a story, so keep it simple.

Other demands, conflicting appointments, you could even tell them the truth that you are deferring your paper as your work requires further crafting. I would disagree with your sup though, ignoring just seems like bad manners to me.. whereas lying, white-lying, is definitely ok.

Chuff

I had to do this once when abstract was selected and then the main reason was that I didn' have funds to cover the registration fees and travel expenses and so on...so I just said that I'd like pull out cos these were my reasons!

AJ

I think it's bad form not to contact the organisers and tell them you won't be there. You may well be submitting to them in the future and people have long memories... It also ensures that your paper is not called once the conference is on and somebody annouces to all present that "so and so was due to present now but doesn't seem to be here, so we'll move on". Keep the excuse simple and vague but I would let them know if it were me.

Agree with the others. You should definitely get in touch with them, the sooner the better. Just tell them that you are very sorry, but your paper needs more results.

(And please don't lie to them. In the last two years I've been helping to organise a postgraduate conference at my uni. We received an abstract from a PhD student last year and the year before that as well who pulled out both times in the very last minute. His excuse? His dad has just passed away. Both years just 2 days before the conference...)