Conference Error in Your Favor Collect $225 | Hacker News Reader

Conference Error in Your Favor Collect $225

madisonruby.org

68 pointsjremsikjr12 comments

Kudos to the organizers for being selfless, but I actually think it's okay to recoup some money for the countless hours and unexpected $$ you WILL put into things at the last minute.

In other words, this might be a huge hit for everyone except the burnt out organizers. Good luck!

We did do our homework and took inspiration from your blog post about putting on, either Future Ruby or Ruby Fringe, I forget which at the moment. I appreciate your concern and pointing out that conference organization is often a thankless task. We've been working on the conference for better than a year and continue to learn lessons that can only be learned in the first year.

This is not a decision we made lightly or without any contingency.

We are doing the same thing for ErlangCamp. We realized we could lower the price point, so we did, as well as retroactively lowered it for those who already had ordered.

Don't know how widespread this sort of approach is, but I applaud it!

It's just as fine of a line that you have to walk with a product. We had more we wanted to do but, do we need more? At the end of the day we, as a conference, _need_ to get people together to talk and spread information.

Also, it's just the right thing to do.

I wholeheartedly applaud this. It makes the "student discount" less necessary too.

I think this will help me get a few more people to show up, too.

Student discounts are always necessary. I will definitely miss being able to ask for this, as even a small amount matters to students just starting to break into tech.

The MathsJam event in November is £165 (pounds sterling) with a 10% discount for early-bird (before August 15) and 10% discount for the unwaged. That covers lunch on Saturday and Sunday, dinner, accommodation, breakfast, tea, coffee, biscuits, squash, and all sessions.

Just thought I'd mention it in case anyone is interested. November 12 and 13. http://www.mathsjam.com

Numbers are limited, we have 50 rooms (of 100) already reserved, and 32 paid for already.

ADDED IN EDIT: Wow - a downvote. Do people think this is inappropriate for HN? It's in a submission about conferences, and pricing thereof, and I thought people might be interested in another data point. Not least, I thought people on HN might actually be interested in the event.

If I'm wrong I'll happily delete the comment, but I'd love to hear your reasons, rather than just getting a drive-by downvote.

I believe a link to a related event would be borderline appropriate here.

Your comment is an annoying, longfrom ad for a conference: 1) in a difference place 2) on a different topic

If you delete this spam and make a new submission on this topic, there'd be no reason for me or other HNers to object.

Your comment came too late for me to delete this, but I have now submitted a new item, along with a commentary as to why I made my comment here.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2806370

Bother - correction - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2806709

You're wrong.

Your event sounds like a great event and is likely to be interesting to HN readers. That's fantastic! Make a post and have it voted up. The issue I see is that your comment is completely unrelated to the post except for the fact that they both happen to be conferences. There is no comparison to the posted conference, likely, because it would be a difficult comparison. The two events have different topics, currency, culture, and locale. Your post is clearly intended solely to generate interest in your event.

I don't have the ability to downvote but, I would likely have done so with the opportunity. This story is sliding off the front page so, no need to delete it now.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com