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Developer Conferences on a Shoestring

Over the years the number of developer conferences seems to have multiplied so much so that there seems to be one on every day of the week. But many of the big name developer conferences charge north of 1000GBP/EUR/USD to attend their spectacles. So why would you attend a developer conference and can it be done on a shoestring?

Why attend?

Recently Ryan Riley asked that very question on Twitter:


There were some great responses:





Seems like there some great reasons why you'd attend.

Where does your money go?

Most speakers don’t charge to talk at an event, although many events will cover their travel and accomodation. Costs wise this leaves hiring a venue, refreshments, organization and advertising.

Unfortunately the balance sheets of most big name events are less than transparent, although Greg Young may be about to change that:


Can I do it on a shoestring?

As well as charging for tickets, many conferences receive money from sponsorship. For some conferences this, along with the sterling efforts of volunteers, covers some or all of the cost. Others offer great early bird discounts for those who book well in advance, meaning you can go to a conference without breaking the bank.

Here’s a selection of keenly priced events I’ll be attending over the next half year or so:

Conference Location Date Cost
Functional Kats Dublin, Ireland 12 Sep 25EUR
DDD East Anglia Cambridge, UK 26 Sep FREE
Bristech Conference Bristol, UK 15 Oct 50GBP
CodeMesh London, UK 3-4 Nov 499GBP
Build Stuff Lithuania 18-22 Nov 420EUR
F# Tutorials London, UK 7-8 Dec 195GBP (early bird)
nor(DEV):con Norwich, UK 25-27 Feb ‘16 55GBP (early bird)

 

Do you have any reasonably priced conferences you’d like to share?

Comments (3) -

  • Viv

    7/13/2015 11:13:19 AM |

    I'd like to recommend SwanseaCon (www.swancon.co.uk) if I may?

    Early bird tickets were only £250 and the conference was created because there's none being run in Wales and ones closer to London are £800 and upwards! There are discount codes floating around Twitter offering 50% off full price tickets.

  • Phil Nash

    7/13/2015 3:56:26 PM |

    The ACCU conference (Bristol, UK - usually in April). http://accu.org/index.php/conferences
    £535 for the early bird tickets for all four days. World class speakers.

  • Kristian Hellang

    7/14/2015 3:34:50 AM |

    Leetspeak! I think it's around 200SEK. http://leetspeak.se/

Comments are closed