Any potential hosts for a very keen composter? House trained, likes washing up, free composting advice….

Could someone put something similar together for this conference please?

http://dc2009.drupalcon.org/news/drupalcon-dc-numbers-community-profit-and-sustainability

Personally I think the two are very closely related. One’s ability to pay will have a very large influence on one’s willingness to pay.

For instance for a £30k salaried professional the entry price is going to be a piffling amount not even worth thinking about. For someone for whom the cost is all they’ve managed to save for the past 6 months then their willingness is likely to be seriously reduced. They’re going to weigh up all the other possible ways they could spend that money and may well conclude that other things are a higher priority for them.

Josef said: “lots of people who have never organised events before assume that people are making loads of money by doing simple calculations like Steve did”.

Umm I haven’t assumed any such thing. Having been involved in organising quite a few events I actually assume the opposite: that few, if any people will be making any money out of this. And that some people will be working very hard in spite of this because it’s what’s they believe in. And I take my hat off to them because I know how much hard work these things are.

However if we’re to discuss whether the cost is too high or not some idea of how the costs are split would be useful. If the cost is too high for many people, as I suspect it is, then to plan future conferences more cheaply it is necessary to look at where costs could be cut, and what aspects would be lost because of this.

I for one am quite certain that no-one is making a mint out of it (lots of people who have never organised events before assume that people are making loads of money by doing simple calculations like Steve did – often without taking into account the many hidden costs involved in event organisation).

Most events do seem to actually loose money (as I believe last years conference did)

However, transparency is a wonderful thing and I like to jump in and sing its praise wherever possible!

Enjoy the garden!

Josef.

Secondly, lets be very careful about making assumptions about free venues and what £30.000 may be spent on. Why not ‘assume good faith’ as Josef suggested we did around his comments and assume that everyone working on the conference is doing the best they can and no-one is making a mint.

If anything, it is better for one’s peace of mind to trust and let go, or if that isn’t possible to remove one’s energy from a given situation and go off and do better. This is best done without a lot of noise.

Anyway, off to enjoy the garden – it’s free!

To be clear I’m not at all certain the venue is free. I just remember reading on this blog that Transition Network were “invited” to have their conference at the venue and I’m assuming that means for free. I should hope so. An invitation to spend a load of money isn’t much of an invitation in my book.

I’d assumed that most of the cost would be for the venue but the comment above says the venue is free. The other major cost of these types of events is publicity but I suspect that is done via the web – so also free. Another cost is food but no one can eat anything like £85 worth of food in a couple of days.

Given the above I’m curious to know how this phenomenal amount of money is being spent.

Lets try next year to organise a conference BY and FOR Transition Initiatives that ensures nobody is excluded due to lack of ability to pay for admission, yes?