[EuroPython] More thoughts about conference's fees

[Samet Atdağ]

I completely agree with Riccardo Attilio Galli. But I know Berlin is not
cheap. On the other hand, I'm going to skip 2014, because there are all
other costs plus conference fee is expensive.

I paid all my costs for Europython 2012 by myself because the company I
worked for didn't have any kind of conference support. They even didn't
allow me to go, so the conference week was cut off from my annual leave.
That was another cost I paid to go to Europython.

So there were two major costs (except my holidays) : (plane tickets +
hotel) and registration fee. I used to live in a fairly close country to
Italy, (Turkey) so plane tickets were around 200-300 EURO. If we ignore daily
expenses (like food, beers etc.) half of all costs would be the
registration fee (which was around 300 EURO).

I talked to a lot of people in EP2012 and there were only a few people
paying the costs. Others were supported by their companies.

If the tickets were 400 EURO in 2012, I couldn't even afford it. I even
couldn't afford a full ticket(300 EURO), I had been pursueing my masters degre
e

in 2012
, which allowed me to buy a student ticket (115 EURO).

Then PSF kindly paid my costs in 2013 for PyCon. This year PyCon will be in
Montreal, I can't attend because of dates. And I can't attend Europython
because I'm not supported  by any company, I missed early bird tickets and
400 EURO is not cheap. I want to attend Python conferences. But if registration
fees are expensive, it'll be like a private party, less number of people
will show up and probably individuals not supported by any company will
miss the fun. I'll miss the fun.


Sorry for my English (and if I mis-remember the ticket prices, numbers etc.)

Samet Atdag



On Thu, Feb 6, 2014 at 6:33 AM, Riccardo Attilio Galli <
riccardo at sideralis.org> wrote:

> I've just subscribed to the mailing list and I can't insert myself in
> older discussions, sorry for this new thread.
>
> Last year me and my girlfriend participated to the Florence conference. We
> paid 340 EURO (early bird, 100 for a lite ticket and 240 for a standard ticket).
>
> This year we should pay 600 EURO.
>
> Now I read on this list that the prices are "comparable". I can't see how.
> Maybe these prices are driven by the costs of living in Berlin and the
> organizers have done their best, but I find them unaffordable. The fact
> that other conferences cost more doesn't change much, and we should compare
> the costs only between Europython editions (every conference has different
> policies about volunteering/launches/etc.).
>
> I suppose that the main problem is that the Berlin conference is "all
> inclusive", with trainings included.
> Last year I had an hard time choosing between the standard and lite
> ticket, giving that if you follow a training, you miss the conference, and
> the opposite is also true. But while I could gain something from a couple
> trainings, my girlfriend, neo programmer, would just throw her money away.
>
> This year I wouldn't pay for the trainings, because my last three year
> experience tell me that I like more to follow the conference, but I can't
> choose anymore, and my girlfriend neither. The result is a disheartening
> huge increase in the cost of our participation.
>
> We may ask for a discount for my girlfriend "because she's a woman and
> does some coding", but we both find it immoral.
>
> The result is that we will probably not participate (unless my boss is
> struck by lightning (in a positive way)), quite certainly not her.
>
> I can't see how beginners can justify such prices, and I don't think that
> the Europython want to be for seasoned well paid pythonistas only.
>
> On another note, I'm dubious that it's possible to offer trainings to
> everybody. There must be a maximum number of seats and ratio
> people/trainers to receive a quality teaching, and a free for all will
> probably means early assaults to take a reservation, or loose the training.
>
> I can only hope that these prices don't end up as a reference for next
> editions, unless to set the top of the bar. I wish also that the trainings
> will be optional again in the next editions.
>
> Wish you all the best for the conference,
> Riccardo Galli
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
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