I'm currently in the Roll Your Own Web Conference panel. The panelists here are:
My notes (not direct quotes):
Fried: Out-teach, don't out spend.
Livingstone: Keep it small and personal, don't worry about sponsorship. iStock charges between 1 and 200 dollars for their conferences.
Meyer: Try to teach what you've learned, share solutions.
Zeldman: If you're making a loss, what's the motivation?
Livingstone: It's about building engaged users. More about marketing and community building for iStock.
Zeldman: What about location?
Sherrin: Holds conferences at home in Sydney. Mostly local users showing up. Cheaper venues are better, users as generally satisfied. Universities have wireless networks, etc. and are low cost.
Zeldman: How can you make sure venues understand your needs?
Meyer: Had problems with this in Philadelphia. Was quoted $300 per user for wifi at one venue. Start with vistor and convention bureau website for the city. A conference usually costs about $10,000 (100 people).
Fried: Chicago is great for conferences. Paid $5000 for 60 people at a University of Chicago owned venue.
Ditmore: Do a minimum at the bar for a cheap venue. Get a sponsor for parties, food, etc. Geeks will figure out a solution to technical problems. Give volunteers a free ticket.
Livingstone: Go abroard, if you have attendees all over. Got a great deal in Slovenia. Language barriers, customs are issues.
Zeldman: Who works with sponsors?
Ditmore: Have several levels of sponsorship for Webzine conference. Many sponsors are previous attendees. Be creative in asking for sponsorship. Adobe was first sponsor, they hated the event, but the conference got the money. People enjoy the small conferences more than the big ones.
Sherrin: Many companies will only sponsor if they get stage time.
Fried: You can definitely do it on your own. You don't necessarily need sponsors.
Zeldman: How do you set the price?
Fried: Supply and demand. Raise the price till you stop selling out. The higher the price, the higher the expectations.
Ditmore: Even at $22 for the webzine conference, she still gets people asking for free admission.
Meyer: Stigma attached to making money off of conferences.
Sherrin: Offers scholarships for her conference.
Zeldman: What about speakers?
Ditmore: Try getting new speakers, new topics.
Sherrin: Fame is important, so attendees can justify the cost, but lesser known speakers can often provide insights no one else can.
Fried: People from 37signals speak themselves.
Chris: (of Bar Camp) What about people with day jobs. He puts together grass roots style conferences together for less than $2000.
Zeldman: Who's actually thinking of doing a conference? [80% of audience raises hands.]
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Posted by: kgarpdfuep at August 5, 2007 5:02 PM