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Posted to modperl@perl.apache.org by Gunther Birznieks <gu...@extropia.com> on 2000/07/20 03:26:20 UTC

[OT]: Re: ApacheCon Europe - thoughts please ?


At 11:18 AM 7/19/00 +0000, Greg Cope wrote:
>Dear All
>
>As some of you are at a conferance at the mo and I am still at work ;-(
>I thought I'd ask about apacheCon Europe - although not strictly
>mod_perl there is a relevance - even if tenous.
>
>I've never been to an IT conferance like these -  and they appear quite
>popular. Especially the BOF's.

I can see why you are having trouble understanding why the expense is worth 
it if you've never gone.

>I am considering going to the ApacheCon Europe to see what's said and
>put a few faces to names and meet a few people.
>
>However, I've just seen the prices - I am not saying that everyone
>should do this for free or not be paid thier travel / hotels, but it
>seems a little expensive.
>
>Three days off work + threeday pass + other expenses + travel = 5% of my
>income (I am contractor - hence I pay for it all).

795 pounds for early bird special? Translates to about US$1400. That seems 
pretty reasonable for a 3-day conference. I've seen ones that cost more.

>Am I being a scruge or is this a fair reflection of the cost of going to
>an event ?  Will there be out-of-Conference events that

This is the fair cost and you are being a scruge. There are cheaper 
conferences around but they are usually grass roots, holed up in a 
university etc...

>non-conference-goeres can attend ?
>
>Thoughts from anyone ?

Yeah, you're being pretty cheap. :)

Well, I'm sort of kidding here. But the reality is that a conference offers 
a lot -- not just knowledge (then just attend a tutorial locally at Sun or 
someplace) but networking. The coordination of a conference is a huge task.

Anyway, most conferences do have a free vendor expo, but I don't think that 
it's nearly as good as going to a whole conference. If you really want to 
attend a conference for "free", why don't you contribute back to the 
community that has been helping you make a living and give a talk?

Let's put it this way, conferences are pure and simple a business expense 
BUT they are also fun. Don't go if it's not fun.

Then look at it like this... what do you pay to go on vacation? Surely it's 
the same basic formula minus the conference fee which by itself is less 
expensive than getting training the equivalent days at SUN. If you didn't 
go on vacation because it cost you 5% of your salary... OK then... that's 
your choice... then I guess I would find it hard to convince you that it's 
also worth it to go to a conference.

Later,
   Gunther

__________________________________________________
Gunther Birznieks (gunther.birznieks@extropia.com)
eXtropia - The Web Technology Company
http://www.extropia.com/


Re: [OT]: Re: ApacheCon Europe - thoughts please ?

Posted by Gunther Birznieks <gu...@extropia.com>.
At 06:59 PM 7/21/00 +0000, you wrote:
>Gunther Birznieks wrote:
> >
><snippage> >
> >
> > >Thoughts from anyone ?
> >
> > Yeah, you're being pretty cheap. :)
> >
> > Well, I'm sort of kidding here. But the reality is that a conference offers
> > a lot -- not just knowledge (then just attend a tutorial locally at Sun or
> > someplace) but networking. The coordination of a conference is a huge task.
> >
> > Anyway, most conferences do have a free vendor expo, but I don't think that
> > it's nearly as good as going to a whole conference. If you really want to
> > attend a conference for "free", why don't you contribute back to the
> > community that has been helping you make a living and give a talk?
>
>Would love to - but I regard myself as in the "no-longer a newbie, but
>not an
>expert" stage, and certainly not in the same league as the poeple whom
>are
>already giving talks.

Well, I think that high-faluting talks on the X-Factor of multithreaded 
Perl and how Objects can instantiate .3% quicker are moderately useful at 
conferences, but I think based on your posts here, you should at the very 
least consider doing case study talks (eg the reasoning behind your IPC 
Template system is very interesting).

At most conferences, I think you'll also find there is usually a talk for 
everyone from tech to business (it's not all tech). And different levels of 
tech talks.

Anyway, even if you find yourself ending up not doing a talk on the topic 
you submit, you might be able to turn it into an article. Articles and the 
like are surely useful to your CV as a consultant?  And of course, you 
usually get paid for an article which would pay some of the conference fee 
(article pay isn't quite as high as a conference fee usually though).

It is likely too late to do a talk submission and preparation for ApacheCon 
Europe, but it's not too late to start thinking about submitting something 
for next year for a conference you might want to attend whether it is 
ApacheCon or Oreilly PerlCon, YAPC, or whatnot.

Anyway, good luck with whatever you decide.

Later,
   Gunther


Re: [OT]: Re: ApacheCon Europe - thoughts please ?

Posted by Greg Cope <gj...@rubberplant.freeserve.co.uk>.
Gunther Birznieks wrote:
> 
<snippage> >
>
> >Thoughts from anyone ?
> 
> Yeah, you're being pretty cheap. :)
> 
> Well, I'm sort of kidding here. But the reality is that a conference offers
> a lot -- not just knowledge (then just attend a tutorial locally at Sun or
> someplace) but networking. The coordination of a conference is a huge task.
> 
> Anyway, most conferences do have a free vendor expo, but I don't think that
> it's nearly as good as going to a whole conference. If you really want to
> attend a conference for "free", why don't you contribute back to the
> community that has been helping you make a living and give a talk?

Would love to - but I regard myself as in the "no-longer a newbie, but
not an
expert" stage, and certainly not in the same league as the poeple whom
are
already giving talks.

> 
> Let's put it this way, conferences are pure and simple a business expense
> BUT they are also fun. Don't go if it's not fun.
> 
> Then look at it like this... what do you pay to go on vacation? Surely it's
> the same basic formula minus the conference fee which by itself is less
> expensive than getting training the equivalent days at SUN. If you didn't
> go on vacation because it cost you 5% of your salary... OK then... that's
> your choice... then I guess I would find it hard to convince you that it's
> also worth it to go to a conference.

Thanks - I'm having secound thoughts.

Greg

> 
> Later,
>    Gunther
> 
> __________________________________________________
> Gunther Birznieks (gunther.birznieks@extropia.com)
> eXtropia - The Web Technology Company
> http://www.extropia.com/


Re: [OT]: Re: ApacheCon Europe - thoughts please ?

Posted by Vivek Khera <kh...@kciLink.com>.
>>>>> "DH" == David Hodgkinson <da...@hodgkinson.org> writes:

DH> Gunther Birznieks <gu...@extropia.com> writes:

>> Well, I'm sort of kidding here. But the reality is that a conference offers 
>> a lot -- not just knowledge (then just attend a tutorial locally at Sun or 
>> someplace) but networking.

DH> Buying key people lots of beer in other words.

Or getting lots of beer bought for you... ;-)

The beer at Perl 4.0 was quite good!

Re: [OT]: Re: ApacheCon Europe - thoughts please ?

Posted by Greg Cope <gj...@rubberplant.freeserve.co.uk>.
David Hodgkinson wrote:
> 
> Gunther Birznieks <gu...@extropia.com> writes:
> 
> > Well, I'm sort of kidding here. But the reality is that a conference offers
> > a lot -- not just knowledge (then just attend a tutorial locally at Sun or
> > someplace) but networking.
> 
> Buying key people lots of beer in other words.

LOL

I was thinking that this may be cheaper ....

Greg Cope

> --
> Dave Hodgkinson,                             http://www.hodgkinson.org
> Editor-in-chief, The Highway Star           http://www.deep-purple.com
>       Apache, mod_perl, MySQL, Sybase hired gun for, well, hire
>   -----------------------------------------------------------------



Re: [OT]: Re: ApacheCon Europe - thoughts please ?

Posted by David Hodgkinson <da...@hodgkinson.org>.
Gunther Birznieks <gu...@extropia.com> writes:

> Well, I'm sort of kidding here. But the reality is that a conference offers 
> a lot -- not just knowledge (then just attend a tutorial locally at Sun or 
> someplace) but networking.

Buying key people lots of beer in other words.

-- 
Dave Hodgkinson,                             http://www.hodgkinson.org
Editor-in-chief, The Highway Star           http://www.deep-purple.com
      Apache, mod_perl, MySQL, Sybase hired gun for, well, hire
  -----------------------------------------------------------------