Any software conferences worth a damn?
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My employer is deciding on budget for their minions (including myself of course) to attend conferences next year. If I want to have any hope of going to one, I have to justify what my employer will get from me if I go. If you've been to any software-related conference within a few hours' driving (or flying) distance from Indy, then please, write a couple sentences about it, as well as how much it cost you or your employer.
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@lolwhat The big conferences are usually awful, but the small ones (25–75 attendees) are good since you can hear all the talks and really get chatting to people in the breaks. The cost of them varies, depending largely on the venue (a very complex negotiation often involved there) and the degree of sponsorship and so on. Figure on around $100/day as a ballpark figure (less than half that is very cheap, more than double that is very expensive). Plus accommodation and travel. Some conferences also organise training unlinked workshops; that can be a total mixed bag but the best is often both challenging and really awesome so it can be worthwhile.
Which one to go to? It depends on what you want. I go to two a year on my own money, mostly for the chatting to people in the breaks.
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@dkf said in Any software conferences worth a damn?:
$100/day as a ballpark figure
Whoa, where are those? I'm seeing at least $200/day in registration fees, at least the ones I've found.
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@lolwhat It depends a lot on the venue. It depends a lot on the venue.
One of the conferences I do costs €50 for 1½ days over a weekend. It usually uses university rooms as a venue, or a larger corporate meeting room (that's what happened this year). The other uses a hotel, and cost somewhere in the $100 to $200 per day (can't look it up right now) for 2½ days (and there's 1 or 2 tutorial days first) running over a week.
The cost is a very complicated thing. The venue is a huge factor. (Which side of the Atlantic probably isn't such a big factor, except perhaps in terms of what people think is appropriate. Or maybe not? I don't know in general.)
