Monday, February 23. 2004

Well things are getting back to normal here at coggeshall.org, so I thought I'd start things back off again by sharing my opinions on the numerious PHP conferences I've attended as a speaker. Seeing as I'm trying to make plans for upcoming conferences, I think this is as good as time as any.

The thing that is bothering me when it comes to conferences is how much money I end up spending out of my own pocket in order to go do a job (speak at the conference) as a speaker. I mean, its usually not a huge amount of money, but I have to wonder -- if it us speakers which are the centerpiece of the conference, why is it that we are putting money out of pocket at all? I'm not talking about making money, I just think speakers shouldn't end up dropping anywhere from $200->1000 dollars (not including personal expenses like eating, etc.) to go speak.

I've spoken in the past with others speakers about this, and the standard response I get to justify why we are paying is "Well, conference XYZ isn't making any money so they can't afford it." Although I completely understand that concept, I have to wonder how these things aren't coming out ahead. Every one of them has tons of sponsors (and when I did a little research, its not cheap to be a sponsor either), and each individual attendee can pay thousands themselves just to attend -- and that's not even counting tutorial sessions that cost extra. This is especially curious when you consider how the Vancouver conference was able to charge a mere $150 CDN or so, take care of all of its speakers' travel expenses, host one of the best conferences I've been to, and from what I've heard actually come out ahead in the end. Perhaps other conferences should look to Vancouver PHP and follow their lead -- if they can do it why can't the others?

I guess if I don't like the situation I can always stop going to conferences and giving talks.. I doubt many people would miss me anyway ;) I guess as long as I see a value in it beyond the conference itself (going new places, seeing friends, etc.) then its worth it. However, if I'm completely off-base here, I'd love to hear why.