Is Conference Pricing Out of Control?

Is Conference Pricing Out of Control?

on Sep 13th 2011 with 86 comments

You’ve surely experienced the letdown of registering for a conference, only to find that it costs $1,000 (or more) to attend (not including travel expenses). Isn’t that a bit extreme for two days worth of training? Then again, is that the only way the conference organizers can cover the high cost of planning such an event? Let’s see…

We’ll put the economics of organizing such an event to the side for the time being, and instead focus on the practicality.

Who can afford to spend $1,000 (for the ticket alone) on attending a two day event?

Here’s the thing; unless you’re quite wealthy, or happen to work at a company that will cover the bill (most likely the case), my guess is that most of us simply can’t afford a random luxury weekend like this. Don’t feel badly; it doesn’t mean you’re not dedicated to your craft if you’re not able to fork over $1,000 to attend a conference. In fact, I’d argue that you’re a better person for taking such a stance, while ignoring the incessant conference-specific hash tags on Twitter.

A $1,000 price tag for two days of lectures is exorbitant to the point of being vulgar.

Are you Receiving $1k Worth of Education?

This is the first question you should ask yourself before deciding to attend any conference that charges a high price tag: “Will I receive $1,000 worth of education?”

A common mistake when attending a conference for the first time is assuming that you’re going to drive (or fly) home having greatly increased your understanding of a particular subject.

If I can be so bold, though, you’ll likely find that this is not the case. Oh sure, you’ll come away with some neat new tips and tricks, but if your sole purpose for attending a conference is to “train,” then your money is much better spent elsewhere.

For half the price – $500 – I can give you a stack of books and resources that will teach you the bulk of what you need to know to succeed as a web developer.

In the defense of conferences, training is not their true focus. They’re much more geared for networking (and dare I say, vacations). If you do prefer training, then attend a workshop, which will be a fifth the cost, and five times as educational.

A free open source community cannot survive without a touch of the commercial side to even things out.

The talented Remy Sharp hosts workshops for roughly £200 – a far more appealing price tag. Remember, teachers shouldn’t be expected to work for free. I completely get that. The notion that everything in our industry should be free irks me a bit. A free open source community cannot survive without a touch of the commercial side to even things out.

Let’s use the Tuts+ network as an example. We post roughly 40 free in depth tutorials every single week. The only way we’re able to offer that level of free training, though, is to supplement the sites with an optional Premium program that offers courses, video tutorials, etc. for $19 a month. These extra funds not only allow us to commission higher level, and more in depth tutorials, but they also provide us with the means to continue our primary objective: provide free education to the community. This simply would not be possible without our Premium program.

Notice that our core goal is an admirable one. It’s not to make each editor and the company as rich as possible (though we wouldn’t be against it!). Instead, we want to change the landscape of education entirely. Our asking price is reasonable. I cannot say the same for some conferences, though.

Are These Conference Organizers Bad?

All this begs the question: are conference organizers, who charge these rates for a weekend event, bad people, or, at the very least, money hungry? Well, who are any of us to judge? That said, however, let’s consider a few points…for both sides of the argument.

300 Attendees

Assuming the $1k price tag that I’ve noticed around the web, let’s imagine that 300 people attend. That seems to be a reasonable figure, though I could be wrong. At this rate, the conference organizers will gross $300,000 for a weekend conference. This undoubtedly is a huge sum; however, we of course must consider the huge costs involved in planning this sort of event.

  • Rent the facility (certainly not cheap).
  • Pay airfare, food, and shelter for each speaker. This can add up, if they have around twenty speakers.
  • Pay each speaker. For many conferences – generally those which focus on open source platforms – the speakers offer their services free of charge (other than expenses). However, for a conference that charges $1,000 a ticket, the speakers most certainly receive a paycheck.
  • Design and print the t-shirts, banners, and programs.
  • Provide breakfast/lunch each day for all attendees.
  • Purchase advertisement spots in magazines and on the web.
  • Optionally arrange for an after party, with free drinks (usually two)
  • While many conferences are volunteer based, there will likely be staff involved.
  • Rent A/V equipment and wifi
  • A reasonable paycheck for the organizers. They shouldn’t be expected to work for free.
  • Surely, plenty else that I’ve missed…

All of the above considered, though, do these expenses add up to $300,000? According to many conference organizers, the answer is yes. Of course, my personal response to that is, “If you require $300,000 to organize a modest two or three day conference, then maybe you’re reaching too high?”

Assuming the organizers are honest people (which I’m sure they are), this must imply that the true cost of organizing an event is indeed expensive enough to the point that a $1000+ price tag is paramount. In Andy Budd’s response to this posting, he provides some first-hand reflection on the real (and expensive) cost of organizing a risky conference. These costs demand a large price tag in order to break even, it seems. But, at what point is the cost too high for the buyer? I’d vote for a cut-back, modest conference for $300 — that is, if I was paying for the event out of pocket. Nonetheless, these large events continue to sell out.

What’s Wrong with Profit?

All conferences are not created equal, so let’s assume that a handful of organizers are making a good chunk of change. Is there anything wrong with that? Absolutely nothing. As fellow author Jeremy McPeak put it: “…The web is becoming the platform of choice; so demand dictates the price.” Jeremy is certainly correct; demand 100% determines the cost. Why charge $1 when you can get $2?

The various $1k-charging conferences that I see promoted on Twitter so frequently more often than not sell out.

Maybe that’s what, as buyers, we should decide for ourselves; just because you can… doesn’t mean you should. Is the goal to push the web forward, or to make money? When you charge such an exorbitant price tag, you ensure that the huge majority of those, who would pay the ticket price out of their own pockets, won’t come…regardless of whether or not the expenses involved in arranging the conference warrant the price.

Perk vs. Investment

Companies offer conference trips as perks. In their eyes, they are investing in their staff. What’s $1,000 to a successful company? From the eyes of the staff member, he gets a fun vacation and the chance to network and learn a bit. Win win.

I can’t help but feel, though, that this is somewhat unfair to those who must pay the entry price themselves. I’d wager that these are the folks who are most hungry for knowledge, yet the price tag virtually ensures that the doors are closed to them.

The Question

If it costs a buck, then it’s worth a buck, right?

Perhaps it comes down to this single question: are some conferences simply an excuse to get your company to send you off on vacation, so that you can network with your internet buddies, and, again, learn a bit? The companies will blindly pay the cost, so why not charge four figures?

We associate value with cost. If it costs a buck, then it’s worth a buck. The same must be true for conferences, right? But here’s the thing: some of these conferences are sold under the umbrella of “pushing the web forward.” To me, though, it seems that they’re much less concerned with education, and more with making money. When all is said and done, that’s not a bad thing. Who could blame them?

I suppose you must decide for yourself if this is the sort of conference you want to participate in. Why are WordCamps generally only $50? The upcoming jQuery conference in Boston is $299 – a bit more, but still appropriately priced and reasonable. Airfare must be paid, staff must be compensated, food must be purchased.

The going rate is $1,000 because people will pay it.

My guess is that the true difference in cost stems from the fact that conferences like jQuery’s are less focused on making money, and more on raising jQuery’s awareness, teaching one another, and adding some funds to the project as a whole. Further, other than expenses, speakers don’t receive payment. For some other “professional” conferences though, this is not the case, and likely accounts for the increased cost. Your favorite internet celebrities don’t come cheap – nor should they. These guys have spent their entire adult lives acquiring the necessary skills to teach you. That demands some level of compensation. It all comes down to, however, whether or not this compensation comes at the cost of a huge price tag that you likely can’t afford. Then again, maybe such an event wouldn’t be possible with a cheaper ticket price. I find this hard to believe, but, it’s possible. As noted above, though, the going rate is $1,000 because people will pay it.

Each of us is entitled to his own personal opinions. To my eyes, $300 is reasonable; $1000-$2000 is vulgar. This is especially true when there are countless community driven conferences that are equally fun and educational. But perhaps these professional conferences aren’t priced for you and me; they’re priced for the companies you work for. They’ll be footing the bill, right?

 
Enjoyed this Post?

Subscribe to our RSS Feed, Follow us on Twitter or simply recommend us to friends and colleagues!

By

Rollover to read this author's bio or click through to see a full list of posts by this author.

I'm the editor of Nettuts+, and love making the process of building for the web as easy as possible. Also, I'm finishing up my latest book on Laravel Testing! If you want be friends, say hi on Twitter.  

Plus Premium
 
 
Note: Want to add some source code? Type <pre><code> before it and </code></pre> after it. Find out more
Newer Comments →
  • http://ferrante.pl ferrante

    One of the solutions might be going to Poland and forgetting about too high prices – for $300 you can even get 3 days of conference – http://falsyvalues.com or http://front-trends.com.

    • http://www.jeffrey-way.com Jeffrey Way
      Author

      There are lots of reasonably priced conferences. Those are the ones we should support, I think.

  • choise

    thanks for this. you’re totally right.

  • http://www.koloria.com Andy Gongea

    I would argue that the price should be relevant to the information provided. But a conference is not only about the info you receive but the people you have the chance to meet.

    Networking and socializing with some of your colleagues during conferences is a pretty priceless thing I would say. Who wouldn’t be happy to talk for 5min with people like Zeldman, Santa-Maria, Veen, Croft, or Nettuts’ Jeffrey Way.

    To reply to the price point, I would increase the top price for a conference to $400 so that the organizers would leave the conference with some cash. Other than that, nice topic.

    Cheers!

    • Ben

      I went to confernces that cost me $100 and I met, Bill Clinton, Dick Cheney, Bill Gates, Jackie Chen, the snowboarder dude, all for $100.

  • Alex

    I totally agree – I was excited for the “Future of Web Design” conference until I found out it’s $1000 to register.. I went to CICON and I’m going to WordCamp Philly and each is less than $100 and CICON was awesome; I actually learned a lot.

  • http://ralphwhitbeck.com Ralph Whitbeck

    The venue is not cheap but is not the most expensive. A 300 person venue is actually quite cheap and easy to find.

    It’s when you go beyond that when things become exponentially more expensive.

    When I first started helping with jQuery Conferences we were doing 300 people. Venues were donated to us cause that was easy to provide.

    But demand and selling out quickly made us up our numbers. With that it became very hard to find venues that were reasonable.

    Here is some pricing/details you missed.

    - Venues provide catering and they provide it at their costs only. No outside venders.
    - Coffee costs as much as $1000 a pot. <- not a typo
    - A/V equipment rental and technicians on staff <- same as food most provide at their pricing. You could buy this stuff at these prices.
    - Wifi rental and IT staff
    - Typically conferences provide breakfast and a snack in late afternoon again
    - Typically there is some kind of after party
    - Name tags, lanyards
    - video recordings

    We try to price our tickets at cost and supplement other activities with sponsorships. But I can see how some conferences will charge $1000 especially if they are expecting more then 500 people. I really don't think $1000 is that high honestly. I recently spoke at a conference where the ticket price was $2100 and it was a week long 12 tracks of speakers and activities from dusk till midnight. It was unreal.

    • http://www.jeffrey-way.com Jeffrey Way
      Author

      Hey Ralph –

      Thanks for chiming in. I agree that a 5 day conference is an entirely different discussion. I was speaking more about weekend conferences. But despite the extra expenses you note, the jQuery conference is still priced reasonably. That means it must be doable at that rate, right?

      My main issue is that they’re sold on the idea of pushing the web forward…but then they limit admission to, more or less, only those who have a company that will foot the bill for them.

      • http://ralphwhitbeck.com Ralph Whitbeck

        I think it’s doable for us because we pull in extra revenue. The training classes are a huge way for us to put this stuff on at a reasonable expense. Our donors, like nettuts in the past, are very gracious and love jQuery. We also have volunteer conference organizers who rock in putting this on every time.

        I think it would be easy for a conference to price a ticket at $1000 if they didn’t have the help getting more revenue in. $1000 is not far off in my opinion in what we offer.

        Traditionally, Boston can be in the red for us. Last year we just about broke even.

        San Francisco we make money and that’s because of the Venue donations we get from MS. We use that money to help pay for Boston.

        I guess the point I am making is $1000 although high for us to pay it’s not that far off to actual costs if it’s anything comparable to jQuery Conference.

      • http://www.jeffrey-way.com Jeffrey Way
        Author

        Good to know.

        I guess, from my perspective…I would not pay $1000 or more for a weekend conference, unless the company I work for (Envato in this case) would pay the bill.

        I can’t imagine that I’m alone in thinking this. But, like I mentioned in the article, maybe these sorts of conferences really aren’t meant for those who would pay out of pocket. There are certainly enough companies who will pay the admission price for their staff.

    • http://www.brucephillips.name/blog/ Bruce

      I’ve helped run some very large conferences in major cities at large conference sites including resorts. We’ve never come close to paying $1,000 for a pot of coffee. I think that’s a huge exaggeration.

  • http://oddnetwork.org haliphax

    The food is always buffet-style, catered, and dry as hell. Also, I certainly wouldn’t mind paying less if it meant I didn’t get so much useless swag that just winds up in the back of my closet, anyhow (i.e., tote bags, towels, t-shirts, pens, coin purses [??! why do they always give away coin purses?], etc.)…

  • http://www.casabona.org Joe Casabona

    Great piece and you raise some interesting points. As a freelancer I’m always discouraged by the price of these conferences, though I do understand that in a lot of cases, some company is footing the bill.

    I always appreciate the educational discount, but in a lot of cases it’s not really helpful ($1000-100 is still $900).

    Maybe there should be a freelancer’s rate; but then again, how can you prove that you’re a full time freelancer?

  • http://davejlong.com Dave Long

    I have to say that the $1000 price tag on a lot of conferences is very steep, especially when I’ve got to board a $300-$500 flight to get there and pay $100-$300 a night for a hotel. I have been noticing, at least in the Adobe Community (Flash, ColdFusion), that a lot of cheaper weekend conferences are popping up. We had RIACon last month which was a wopping $100 to attend, NCDevCon this weekend which I think is down to $60 and RIAUnleashed coming up next month which I think is around $120. As a freelance consultant, those are the price tags I like, especially combined with very fair hotel prices in the areas.

  • http://staticfloat.com Patrick

    Yeah, well i would never pay 1000$ for single day. If my company would pay for me and thinks its worth to attend the conference than ok, but with own money? Well maybe if you’re rich.

  • http://www.wdonline.com/ Jeremy McPeak

    To expand upon what I tweeted (and wanted to tweet, but 140 characters isn’t the correct medium), not only is Web development growing in demand, but it’s becoming the development platform of choice. We hear about Web-based apps on mobile devices (as opposed to their native development language/platform), and with //Build/ today we’ll learn more about Microsoft’s (rehashed) HTML/JavaScript strategy for the desktop.

    The audience for Web-based conferences is changing. Corporate types are going to have to build Web-based applications, and I think conference organizers see that. Now, I could be way off the mark with that comment. I’ve never had to organize a conference and see what costs are involved, but I can’t help but think that has something to do with it.

  • http://cheekymonkeymedia.ca Rick

    I absolutely agree with the costs of some conferences being ridiculous. $1-2k for networking is not going to fly for a lot of companies, although the big ones won’t blink and eye. I have faith though that the market will eventually force organizers to lower the bill any which way they can.

    • http://www.jeffrey-way.com Jeffrey Way
      Author

      Maybe…but that’s the thing. These conference sell out. So there’s no shortage of people willing to pay the admission price.

  • http://www.jakefolio.com Jake Smith

    I have to agree that $1,000 is a bit steep for a conference, especially for a 1 – 2 day conference. There was a conference that came to Dallas that I was really excited about, until I saw their “early bird” pricing was $1,000! I lived 10 minutes from the conference and felt the price was too much, even though I wouldn’t have to pay for hotel and air fare.

    I helped organize a 120 person conference here in Dallas, http://lonestarphp.com, and we were able to break even for $70 a ticket.
    Things to consider:
    - We were not for profit
    - We were a 1 day conference
    - We had a catered lunch, which was actually really good.
    - We had an after party.
    - We did NOT have to fly in pay for hotel for our speakers, because they were local.

    If at all possible, never have your conference at a hotel….they will absolutely rake you for money. As Ralph said earlier, they force you to use their in house catering….charge a “service fee” on top of the already outrageous price….and coffee is stupidly priced.

    I believe a not for profit conference can be accomplished, with speaker travel expenses, for about $300 – $600 a ticket. If the conference is FOR profit, then I can easily see them charging $600+.

    Biggest Costs for a conference:
    1. Venue, especially if catering is required.
    2. Speaker travel, especially if they are an international speaker
    3. Tech equipment, you think that hotel wifi is going to stand up to the nerd power that is flowing through it? Guess again!

  • http://zerp.ly/DesignerOnDuty Sergei Tatarinov

    Well said, Jeffrey.

    I just saw this conference website earlier today – http://registration.frontend2011.com – and got mad once I saw the price tag of 1240 USD (6990 NOK) for 2 days, without master classes, in other words only for networking and no real training. “Are you serious?”, I thought, what could a conference possibly offer to justify this price tag? Oh and don’t you forget the 25 % VAT you will have to pay in addition to it all.

    As much as I want to, at the moment I can’t afford to fly out to the conferences around the world, for many reasons, but I will be able to in a couple of years. Now this makes me wonder, should I start saving up for the tickets right now, because obviously the prices are going to double or triple by that time.

    Now let’s look at the OFFF conference that took place in Barcelona last June. I’d been planning to attend it for more than half a year, but couldn’t make it and I still feel sad about it. If you never heard of it, go check the OFFF website out, and take a look at the speakers list and the program. http://www.offf.ws/2011

    Now, look at the prices: http://www.offf.ws/2011/?page_id=21. 90 EURO for 3 days. What up?

    Or another one – Build conf – 5 days pass for 225 GBP: http://register.buildconf.com.

    Let’s hope there will still be conferences like these in the future.

    • http://alexklimok.com Alex

      Now that you mentioned networking, I do believe it may be the perception of meeting great people which drives others to pay so much money to be in the circle of those who they look up to. All in all, it may not be so much about the content, but about the speakers who are there. People will pay big bucks to shake the hand of a president, so how is this any different?

    • Mariusz

      It is a bit different for Norwegian conferences, mostly because Norway is a ridiculously expensive country and Oslo is a wildly expensive city. On the other hand, if you’re in Europe you have four conferences in Poland – aforementioned Falsy Values and Front Trends, SparkUp (http://sparkup.pl) and the brand new Front Row (http://frontrowconf.com) that cost around $200-300 for two-three days and usually have great speaker lineups as well.

  • Tommy M.

    I think a more curious, yet just as relevant, question is not can these organizers plan a 300-person event for around $300,000, but rather, can Envato afford to give authors a better share of a product they are 100% responsible for (From idea, design, implementation, maintenance, support, and updates)? Other much smaller online marketplaces give authors a much better author rate. Would Envato be willing to release its earning for the Envato marketplaces?

  • brian

    I agree with most of what you said but completely disagree with one point, when you say, “I can’t help but feel, though, that this is somewhat unfair to those who must pay the entry price themselves. I’d wager that these are the folks who are most hungry for knowledge, yet the price tag virtually ensures that the doors are closed to them.”

    I feel a little perturbed by this. Because I was able to score a job at a larger company that allows me to go to these conferences, I now have lost my hunger for knowledge and drive to better myself? If I wanted to go to jQuery conference at one point, later get a job that will pick up the tab on it, I magically no longer want it as much? Do you honestly believe that? I assume you are writing out of frustration and don’t quite mean it as I read it, but it still seems as though you are upset at those who can go simply because they can go. That isn’t fair or right.

    • http://www.jeffrey-way.com Jeffrey Way
      Author

      Hey Brian –

      No, that’s not what I meant. If it was, then I’d be putting myself in that pot as well.

      What I mean is that, once you’ve been working professionally in the industry for years, you don’t likely have the same level of hunger that somebody fresh out of college might. At that age, you want to learn anything and everything. But after some years, this tends to subside a touch for some. Of course this doesn’t apply to everyone.

      That’s all I meant. :)

  • w1sh

    Read a free e-book. Send the $1000 to starving kids in Africa. Never been to a stupid conference and don’t plan to.

  • http://michaelhenken.com/ Mike Henken

    Maybe you should start your own conferences then jeffrey :)
    I would pay to come.

    Have you ever thought about teaching online classes (Like through skype conference)?
    You have a great method of teaching and if you did offer something like that, I would be the first to sign up!

    • w1sh

      Yeah I might do this too depending on what was covered.

    • http://myfacefriends.com Jehnee

      +1

  • stev

    As Sam Goldwyn said, “Include me out”.

  • Seed

    Symfony2 tutorials now!

  • RogerTheGeek

    The best bang for your buck is to find and attend local user groups in whatever technology you use. Most people only take away three or four new ideas from conferences. After sitting through four or five sessions a day, how much information can you retain? You need the reinforcement of repetitive sessions to really learn. Conferences give you little tastes of things and then you have to figure out how to retain the ideas for use back at the farm.

    I would struggle with $1k registration for a conference even if the company was paying. It comes out of my training budget which needs to be used for real training. Thankfully, I am in an area (Research Triangle Park in North Carolina) with a wealth of technology user groups and local conferences like NCDevCon, IndieConf, InfoSeCon, CarolinaCon, ClojureConj, and others.

    The people making money on conferences are mostly the venues.

  • http://mena.com Mena

    Conferences are for networking and plenty disappointing if you are looking for more.

  • http://www.michaeldambold.com Michael Dambold

    I went to a student conference in 2007 that was fairly cheap to attend. I was in the same lecture halls as Margo Chase. I would have easily paid $2000 had that conference required such a fee. If the speakers are veterans I would not hesitate to pay. If the speakers are generally unknown, I don’t believe I would do the same.

  • http://www.jeffmsmith.me Tharnid

    I have never been to one of the major conferences. I volunteered for an Adobe Flex event a couple of years ago and so I have an idea of all the work involved with setting a conference up. I have always said that I would go to one of the multi-day conferences if I could get an employer to pay for it…until then…I will stick to the local/regional events.

  • http://www.justforthealofit.com/ TheAL

    While I cannot vouch for the quality of these conferences, since I can never afford to go to one, I would still…wait…I guess that basically sums up my dilemma. I can never afford to go to them.

  • http://ufomuffin.com Mela chupas

    I think these events are just for the entertainment experience, kinda like paying to see the stars.
    All this information can be obtained online anyways. Some presenter talked about responsive web design?, well cool, it’ll be all over the web anyways.
    Most people that attend, have the extra money, need motivation to do anythink, and definitively don’t have the conviction to read a whole book.

    • Fede

      Mela Chupas? Really, Really, really?.

      No me parece que ponerse un Nick tan poco feliz aplique en estos comentarios.

      “Mela Chupas” translate “Suck my Dick”.

  • http://egnaro.com Rick Mason

    I think one thing to keep in perspective is that these things do not scale evenly. As pointed out earlier, 100-300 people can usually be accommodated by smaller, cheaper (maybe even free) venues. 1000 people takes things to a whole new level. You end up with venues that have unionized employees where you are stuck and required to pay for all their services – food, av, etc. Also costs rise quickly as you add multiple tracks and more days.

    Check out some big name speakers and their agent websites. Many bigger names start at $10k and I’ve been quoted up to $60k for some. And then they often still want first class travel on top of that. This is certainly a small group but that one headliner that was the deal closer to get you to buy the ticket to the event can cost a handsome sum.

    AV is expensive. In the design world many speakers now demand HD projection. The cost of this for a single large room can easily run over $5000/day – not including the cost of the onsite technician to keep it all running.

    Also in need of consideration is whether the organizers are doing this as a once a year thing in their spare time or as their living. Many events come and go because after a few years the organizers realize that it’s too much work and making them little or no money. If you are organizing events as your sole income then you need to turn enough of a profit to pay yourself and likely a few staff.

    There are lots and lots of factors that go into these events. I don’t doubt that there are some that are simply in it to make a profit, but I know first-hand that there are many that run events in the $500-1000 ticket range who are in it because they are passionate about the content of their events and doing everything they can to keep the ticket prices as low as possible.

  • http://www.webmaster-source.com redwall_hp

    Have you seen the pricing for WWDC? It’s expensive enough that hobbyist/small-business developers generally can’t justify the cost, despite the large amount of training sessions that you won’t find anywhere else. (I love that Apple puts videos online after, though.)

    I have to wonder if part of the price for that is because of the tech journalists and bloggers who flock their for the annual keynote held there (and then proceed to complain about the overly-technical and “boring” bits of the announcement)…

  • Daquan Wright

    This is an interesting thought Jeff, I don’t really think about it.

    Do I think it’s wrong? Not really. I think their price is based on their speakers (who may charge a lot per hour), the food, the rent, the lighting, etc.

    I wouldn’t pay $1,000 – $2,000 for it, simply because there are plenty of resources around and people for me to learn from. I don’t have it like that.

    With the advent of Google/Twitter, there’s really nothing you can’t learn. You get podcasts from speakers online as well.

    If it was $300, I’d go anytime.

  • http://sidesix.org Dan Avery

    Seems like no matter what the profession is the “big” conferences are $1,000 +. I’ve bought the one day, vendor hall only ticket to SIGGRAPH a few times because LA is close and what you can see in the vendor hall is usually pretty cool. But I always wondered why the conferences were so expensive. Sure it’s a way for speakers to add to their income and I don’t know a single person who lives off of her creativity that doesn’t need that. Ralph Whitbeck’s comments help me more fully understand the pricing once a conference becomes popular.

  • http://www.belowthelion.co.za StickyScissors

    Great morning read. My thoughts exactly. I’ve yet to attend a conference because the price tag never seems worth it to me… Friends tell me they learn lots, but REALLY? Buying an e-book or following some tutorials, I guarantee you, will be more beneficial in your learning process. Even the conferences I see aimed at students are often helluva expensive ad over-priced. However, there is always something to take back home after listening to guest speakers/industry professionals talk about their craft and way of thinking.

  • http://joshangell.co.uk Josh Angell

    Thanks for this Jeff – really helped me to see the whole conference thing in a different light. I’ve been feeling a bit annoyed with the whole thing for a while as I want to add to how I learn, but couldn’t afford to spend this kind of money on it!

    I think the workshop type model looks really interesting and will look into the ones Remy runs.

  • http://www.freshclickmedia.com/blog Shane

    I think the two main pulls are networking and the chance for web designers and developers to meet or listen to their heroes in person. The well known industry names presenting are rock stars to the many geeks that attend (no malice is intended here.)

    I haven’t been to a paid web design conference, but have attended a Microsoft-run event that was free. I actually found that much of the content was familiar to me, having been an avid reader of books and blogs.

    Their training value is diminished almost to zero if you read blogs and books IMHO.

    However, it does raise an interesting point. I have nothing against such conferences as such, but are they something that envato might do in the future?

  • http://www.neilrpearce.co.uk Neil p

    I couldn’t agree more! I got really exciting about attending one of the big ones back in March this year and I soon got deflated when I saw how much it would cost me!

    Why does it cost so much? None of the speakers are getting paid are they? I believe their travel expenses and possibly accommodation are but not their actual talking time.

    It’s like we have to pay through the nose to stand shoulder to shoulder with people that are no better than the rest. They are just eager to speak out about what they know and how they do what they do and it always makes me wonder if these organizers are treating these speakers as some kind of rock star and that’s the reason they bump up the price.

    It’s a shame because unless I win a high paying project, I will never be able to afford any of the big conferences :o(

  • http://www.jasonhead.com/ G. Jason Head

    My wife and I have been organizing web conferences & workshops for the last 4 years in Pittsburgh. We ran Flashpitt for 2 years, and this year will be the 3rd year we have run Web Design Day. In between we also have 1-off workshops with speakers from out of town.

    The 2 years we ran Flashpitt, we held it in a hotel. Hotels will do everything they can to get as much money out of you as possible. Food is a big deal – most will not allow outside food & beverage – and their service is really marked-up. It’s comparable to room-service prices for your 300 guests. They also will charge ridiculous rates for Wifi – with the worst part being that 90% of the time, the hotel wifi will simply not be able to handle 200-300 web folks. (One year our network was down – they sent a janitor to try to fix it!)

    We took the lessons we learned from Flashpitt and applied them to our most popular conference, Web Design Day (http://www.webdesignday.com/).

    It’s a smaller conference which is limited to 100 people. It is designed to bring in a few speakers from out of town, plus highlight a few in-town speakers. We try to have speakers who have some connection to Pittsburgh. However, in our 3rd year, it’s starting to get difficult to keep this plan.

    The first year we put this conference on, we charged $40. Forty! Looking back on that, I have no idea how we pulled it off. I lost a total of $18 on the conference that year :) The second year, our price increased to $75, and this year the price is $120.

    Yes, our price has tripled in 3 years, but $120 for a full day web conference is quite frankly, a steal. We still have people complaining about the price, but that comes with running a conference. The way I see it, if you are not willing to pay $120 for a full day, local conference with some fantastic speaker, you are not really our target audience. Personally, I think $120 sells us a bit short. Pick a larger city other than Pittsburgh, and this conference could easy go for double or triple the price.

    The biggest question is why has our price increased?

    The first year, $40 was more of an experiment. The conference is aimed at local talent – so we wondered if people would be willing to pay for it. We learned that year that *yes* they will support a local conference.

    The second year, the price went to $75. Mostly because the year before, we based our price on our specific budget – with pretty much no room to grow. Sure, we only lost $18 the first year, but there were a lot of things we simply couldn’t afford to do, or take care of at the last minute – simply because we didn’t plan for it or have it budgeted. Last minute items include things like a speaker that needed to rent a car, catering costs that fluctuate, etc.

    This year, we’re at $120. Why another increase? Well, same reasons as last year, plus we learned a few things, and frankly, demand.

    You need to treat your speakers as awesome as possible. Most people have no idea the amount of work that goes into organizing a 45 minute talk about a topic. It’s a few weeks of preparation, plus it’s done outside of their working hours. It’s stressful to put together a presentation! And even the best speaker gets nervous in front of people, it’s human nature. Most importantly, if you treat your speakers right – you’ll have a good reputation in order to attract other speakers. Also, speakers that travel leave their homes/families to come to your conference.

    Organizing a conference? That’s a huge job – and stressful as hell. It costs a *lot* of money to do this. If you don’t sell your tickets, or find sponsors to offset your costs, you can be left with a couple thousand dollars as a personal expense. No one wants that. The organizers of a conference take on a big risk to put on an event like this.

    I can honestly say we don’t organize conferences & workshops for the money. Some people may think that is stupid – and you may be right to an extent. But it really doesn’t bother me much. When we organize our events we aim to put on the best event we can at the most reasonable price we can. Of course we look to make a profit but that’s not the main goal – and usually any profit made goes towards next years conference, or a workshop, etc. At the end of the day, we didn’t lose our shirt, made some really awesome friends and learned a ton of cool stuff about the internets.

    • http://www.jeffrey-way.com Jeffrey Way
      Author

      Thanks for your thoughts, Jason! $120 is a great deal. I’d never complain about that. :)

      • http://www.cedricve.me Cedric

        Nice topic ;)

  • http://www.css3files.com Christian Krammer

    So true! Unfortunately the company I work for doesn’t pay for such “activities”, but that would be the only chance for me to attend. I never, never, never would pay anything more than 100 Euro – at the most – myself for such a conference. So at the moment one that costs 500 Euro, or more than 1000 Euro like Frontend 2011, is by far out of reach for me.

    Apart from that the last one is just profiteering in my eyes. Of course it has very interesting (and expensive) speakers and Norway is a very expensive country too, but why not make the conference in another, cheaper country or invite only speakers that are cheaper or fewer at all? Web conferences seem to be very classy these days.

  • http://Www.abigailgorton.com Abigail Gorton

    Don’t confuse the value return of true networking and the pleasure of following. If I ‘meet’ an industry idol that I follow at a coference it is a pleasure but will it bring me any business? Probably not. On the other hand, if I meet a regular graphic designer and end up building a site they designed, then that was networking with a real payoff. For the self-employed, we also have to consider the billable hours we miss by being at the conference. If I am truly networking, and eventually getting new clients, this is usually worth it. Harder to justify the cost if I am ‘just’ learning.

  • ben

    Conferences are way overpriced and overrated.
    $1000 for a conference is half of college semester tuition in some states. There are conferences that cost 3K or more, like Adobe MAX.

    In a conference you don’t receive a training certificate. You get educated to some extent, depending on the conference, and meet some people. But apart from that, it is not worth the big money.

  • http://seelooh.com/ Chris Luongo

    I’m young, (20) and still in college. So as you can imagine i’m dirt poor. The only time a conference actually comes through Atlanta it’s $1,000+ – it’s just simply not affordable, out of question. I think they need to make these conferences more friendly to people of all backgrounds. Younger kids who are new to the industry and could use as much networking and information as they can.

    I hate the pricing of these things and because of it, I have never been to one. Honestly,I don’t ever plan on spending more than $400 to go listen to people talk about stuff I could find anywhere online. Plus too many of these conferences give off those “internet marketing conference – 1 million to freedom!!” type conferences that cost $2000 and swindle you. I’m not saying some web design conferences are swindling us, it’s just….$1500 for a ticket to hear a few people talk about HTML5 and javacsript…

    I’n an economy like this I honestly can’t say its feasible to spend $1,500 on a ticket for something that doesn’t seem to have a HUGE impact on one’s self or career.

    Lower the pricing so people can go!

  • http://www.brucephillips.name/blog/ Bruce

    I agree that conference registration prices have gotten way out of hand. I was going to register For Spring One (http://springone2gx.com/conference/chicago/2011/10/register) but the cost for 2.5 days of sessions is $1,675. That’s way beyond what my company is willing to pay.

  • http://clagnut.com/ Richard Rutter

    Whether or not you feel conferences are worth the example $1000 to attend, you are massively overplaying the potential for and likelihood of significant profit. The kind of conference for which you pay $1000 to attend is expensive to put on. Their nature means that they are held in relatively expensive venues and have professionial (ie. paid) speakers.

    It’s interesting that you didn’t investigate your numbers further than relying on your instinct. For a start, a three day conference for 300 attendees in a decent hotel venue (in a city such as London) will set you back $100,000. And then you have speakers costs (including travel and accommodation remember) plus wifi (a per-head cost in a hotel) plus transaction fees (at least 5% of the turnover) plus A/V, plus programs and lanyards. Remember you also have to factor in the time spent in organising the event. It all adds up very quickly. Yes you can organise conferences in cheaper cities, cheaper venues, with no food or wifi and with free (so generally inexperienced) speakers, but you couldn’t pretend to provide the same experience.

    I also question your comparison with Remy’s workshops. I know Remy well and his workshops are excellent, but £200 is $316 at current rates. And that’s for one day, so the cost is comparable with the $1000 2-3 day example you use. Yes the question still remains, does Remy’s workshop represent money better spent than at a conference? That will of course depend on the workshop, the attendee and the conference. I, for one, am not willing to generalise.

    • http://www.jeffrey-way.com Jeffrey Way
      Author

      Hey Richard –

      This article isn’t really about the expenses involved, from an organizer’s point of view (though I have linked to Andy’s article in the post for reference). It’s about whether $1,000 is a worthwhile expense for John Doe developer.

      In reference to Remy, I’m not implying anything, other than the fact that he offers workshops for around £200. And, in my opinion (though I must admit I’ve never attended one of his workshops), I would propose that your money is much better spent with him than it is on a conference. Of course this is only true if your core goal is to educate yourself. No networking, no parties, etc.

  • http://www.geektopia.me Shaun Dunne

    There are a couple of great UK Confs that I try to go to – Remy Sharp’s Full Frontal is a must go and thankfully I work for a company willing to pay for it – however I think the £130 price tag is reasonable for it.

    I think that Carsonified have done a great thing with the FOWA/FOWD/FOM stuff. Whilst nearly £600 is very steep for someone like me they offer all their videos sent out by email for about £114 – so it’s almost just as good as being there…almost.

    There are also a lot of meet-up groups run here in London for people to share knowledge and I attend most of them. Someone comes and gives a talk / presentation and everything is free – the organizers just use sponsors to offset the costs.

  • Ryan

    Kind of hilarious that I was checking out the conference list over at Smashing and got sticker shock from conferences that I had expected to be more affordable since they weren’t as well known as other…. wow was I wrong.

    Conferences are completely over priced for what you get out of them and to be bluntly honest when compared dollar for dollar the $9 a month I spend here goes a lot further than $1000 at most conferences. As much fun as traveling is, I really hope people start playing it smarter and putting more education on the net.

  • http://www.lindanisbett.com Linda

    I completely agree. The only way I can ‘afford’ to attend these conferences is by volunteering at the ones that are located in my city. Keep in mind I love doing it and it is a lot of fun, but the average person and students coming out of college (who need the networking experience the most – and learn – which I use this loosely) are not given the opportunity to.

    Also, not all conferences are created equally. Just because one year you had a fab time – it doesn’t mean that you will always have a good time. I’ve had this experience most recently where I attended a conference and all I could think about was the macaroni and cheese I was going to make that night. YES, it was that boring. All around me I could see excess money being spent on stupid items (thank you for coming items handed to guests of the conference) which most people who attend these conferences throw out anyways… I know because their in the garbage’s throughout the hotel. I think to myself “thank goodness I never paid for this”.

    I would much rather have substance over spectacular. What I don’t understand is how they can get away with calling it a conference when really its a popularity party provided to the leaders in the industry and you are being blessed with the opportunity to mingle with them – at a cost!

    I use to attend Microsoft Silverlight Conferences in Toronto where I would learn about what other people are doing with XAML and Silverlight. Learning different ways to implement features etc. The cost FREE!!! And we also got free pizza and a drink. I’ve gone to jQuery contests and also some HTML and CSS seminars. Although most were also free – some had a minor expense of $5.00 per session to assist with the cost of the facility. I learned more from these ‘mini-conferences’ which are true conferences than any other seminar I’ve attended where the bill was $1,000 +. I mean common guys really!!! Even the student prices are crazy – and with most of the conferences being held in the states you’ve increased the price tag to almost $4,000 + for anyone outside the USA.

    I also agree that there has to be a balance but from my experience – if these ‘conferences – or networking parties’ brought down the bling a bit – then they can open their doors to a wider audience which in my opinion is what it should be all about.

    Okay I will shut up now :S

  • http://clearleft.com/ Andy Budd

    Sadly there’s a lot of complete nonsense being talked in this article and the follow up comments. It’s not a surprise mind, as I suspect none of you have actually run a conference or done the finances. Thankfully I have, so if you;re interested to know how you can run a $1,000 conference for 300 people and make a loss, check out this article and the follow up comments.

    http://www.andybudd.com/archives/2011/09/theres_a_lot_of_nonsense/index.htm

    • http://www.jeffrey-way.com Jeffrey Way
      Author

      Complete nonsense from the folks who want to attend these conferences, but can’t? How nice.

    • http://www.neilrpearce.co.uk neil pearce

      @Andy – no disrespect to you mate as I know what you have done for the industry over the years, but I have talked to many people over the last two years and EVERYONE is saying that they cannot afford to buy a ticket – but believe it is worth going.

      I would love to go to a conference, I really really would – but I cannot not afford to go, simple as! It’s a shame but it’s reality and no matter how expensive and stressful it is to organize and run a conference, you will ALWAYS have many many people unable to afford to go. So, us little people, we don’t talk nonsense ( as you kindly put it), we tell it as it is my man!

  • http://blog.lastrose.com LastRose

    What I’ve seen done once before, and think is great idea, is tiered levels. break the conference into parts and charge for those parts.

    just being there is free,

    3 speakers – x$
    7 speakers – x$
    all speakers – x$

    afterparts – x$

    that way people can look at the conference agenda, and decide that maybe they don’t want to see the whole thing but Jeffrey Way is speaking, and 2 other guys you really want to hear, so you go in for the 3 speaker bundle.

  • http://www.wpbeginner.com Syed Balkhi

    This really depends on the quality of the conference, people who are attending it, exclusivity etc. I go to a lot of conferences (mainly blogging, entrepreneurship and marketing related), but the goal is never to learn. The goal is to network. Sure I always do learn new things, but the amount of deals that have worked out from those conferences, I don’t think I regret paying huge price tags.

    • http://www.jeffrey-way.com Jeffrey Way
      Author

      I think you’re spot on. But what if you could get the same experience for a fifth the cost at a different conference?

      • http://www.wpbeginner.com Syed Balkhi

        I’d love to go to a conference that can get me the same experience for a fraction of a price… But I hardly think that will be possible…

        Example conference I was invited to attend: Summit Series (Cost I paid around $4.5k)

        Location of the Conference: Cruise from Miami to a private island in Bahamas (3 day) -> all inclusive

        Exclusivity: The entire cruise was filled with entrepreneurs… nobody else. The conference was INVITE ONLY!

        Some notable folks that spoke: Peter Thiel, Russell Simmons, Richard Branson, Tim Ferris, Gary Vaynerchuk, Jessica Jackley, Peter Diamandis and many more…

        In attendance were CEOs, VCs, Engineers… just about every creative mind of some sort…

        Entertainment: Pitbull, Kn’aan, The Roots, DJ Irie, and much more.

        Can you get something like that for half the price???

        There are a lot of shit conferences that think they are worth 5k ticket price… but as an attendee, you have to think about the value.

        I personally think that you learn more from talking in lounges or in the case above, on the beach… rather than sitting in sessions. The coolest secrets come out during bar talks or during a volley ball game rather than sitting in someone’s session.

  • Peter

    $1000 for a weekend conference is high, but not as bad as the 1-day SEO conference I went to that charged…. wait for it…. $1120 for a day.

    And even at that it was better value than the last $300 one-day conference I went to (conferences are more expensive in the UK it seems), where I and my colleague knew more than the speakers…. not good when you’re correcting the guy up front.

  • http://www.webmentor.cr/ Marco

    It’s expensive as hell, but then again, what are the options? To move them somewhere cheaper? (ie, to South or Central America for conferences held in the United States). I bet the costs of flying the speakers is MUCH lower than the inverse, but I doubt this will happen.

    I can’t afford $1k to go either but if I could, I would, mainly to network with people. Also because you never know what idea you might get. Sites like Nettuts are great, but information is so scattered due to the huge size of this site, that sometimes going to a conference is a nice way of squeezing some stuff in.

    You forgot one detail btw. These conferences have sponsors, right? I mean, the money in that isn’t mentioned in your original article.

    Great read by the way.

    • http://www.jeffrey-way.com Jeffrey Way
      Author

      Hey Marco –

      I didn’t reference sponsors because that likely accounts for a very small percentage of the cost to the organizers.

  • http://www.jeffrey-way.com Jeffrey Way
    Author

    One thing I do want to clarify is that I’m not stating that people shouldn’t go to these flashy conferences. If that’s how it came across, I apologize. My primary point what that you don’t need to feel bad (and not one of the cool kids) if you can’t afford to go. Many of the people who DO go only do so because their company (rightly) pays the bill.

    You can go to cheaper, community driven conferences that are equally engaging and fun.

  • http://www.enchantcrm.com/blog Dan

    It’s a tough business the promoters of the conference have to be sure they will make money. They have to pay for the venue, staff, speakers, catering, advertising etc Run a couple at a loss and they are quickly out of business. A lot of people just go for the networking not the actual education remember, so there is that aspect as well.

    I do agree though, there should be more cheaper conferences, but there are alternatives like local meetups. Would be good if there was a solid resource of stuff under $1000.00. The great thing for education is there are bad ass people like Jeffrey Way teaching way better stuff online for free or a very low price (how’s that for sucking up).

Newer Comments →