I am pretty sure we could find speakers to fill this one more day. :)
So make it a week!, Monday, Tuesday - workshops - Wed - Fri WDS, Sat party/recover
Absolutely! Of course, the ticket price must remain the same. ;)
In all seriousness, I’m not sure how a 50% price hike would strike the conference-going market at large in these uncertain times. For my own part, I would almost certainly pay it.
Ooh I agree with a full week. Mind you I probably couldn't go but great for Sydneysiders and others that could make the full week.
While I'd LOVE for this to happen, it's difficult enough to shuffle workloads for a 2 day conference, let alone 3 days or a week.
Also, for those not in Sydney, this adds considerably to the associated costs for attending the conference (ie. accommodation).
With many organisations/businesses (including my own workplace) focusing on trying to reduce expenditures this year, I'm concerned that this may strain budgets and affect attendance numbers.
That being said - it would be AWESOME, wouldn't it?
Yes, it would be totally awesome, but, my inbox groans every year with people telling me
1. they don't have the budget for the reasonable amount we charge already
2. they want to know how much it would be to come for just one day, as they can't take any more time off work.
When we get a bit bigger again, I actually do think we could look at creating a more "modular" event, with different "themed" days that people could choose from. But with the size we are now, it kinda has to stay as two days of workshops and two days of conference.
Anyone out there from a large organisation: how many of your team could you let away from the office for a full 3 days?
I don't have a problem being away from the office for 3+ days as I usually spend the full week in Sydney when I'm there for WDS anyway. However I usually spend the extra days catching up with friends and family. With stuff like Webjam on the Sat night and the Port 80 get-together, I think there are plenty of external events to keep things going. Frankly I'm a little tired by the end of the week, so I think the conference itself is just right when combined with all the other stuff that goes with.
I'm in Sydney anyway that week, so filling all the days is a no brainier. Mind you as a freelancer I should be restricting it :)
Understand Maxine's view. Maybe we can extend it another way. Birds of the Feather Day, Power Web Geeks Panels or the like.
stay tuned folks in the coming weeks for an announcement that ties in with a lot of the comments here. In a sense we do have a 4 day conference - if folks choose two days of workshops.
There's also been the IA conference the weekend before WDS these last couple of years, which makes for more on, and of course, all the various formal and less formal meetups, jams and so on.
In terms of costs, it pretty much scales as a function of time - 3 days would increase costs pretty much 50%. I suspect that would impact attendance no small amount. And sponsors and exhibitors also feel that 2 days is more than enough for them, which is a consideration if we are to have an Expo (which has been really well received these last two years by attendees - if it hadn't been we wouldn't have done it again).
But, as I said, we are working on some concepts that we'll be announcing soon - stay tuned!
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