Ask HN: I want to organise a conference and I have some questions | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: I want to organise a conference and I have some questions

3 pointszensavona4 comments

This is mainly directed at people who have been involved in the organisation of a tech conference before, but I am open to anyone's opinions on these things:

1. Are/how are speakers usually compensated? I have no idea if or how or how much compensation is normally given to speakers. Also, are all speakers compensated the same? Is this negotiated on a per-speaker basis? Is travel assistance provided?

2. Are at least a few main speakers and sponsors usually organised before the conference is even announced? If so, is it seen as acceptable to just contact people you know of and say something along the lines of "hey, I really look up to you and your work, would you like to do a talk at my conference about X?" if so, is it normal to suggest a subject?

3. (for past organisers only) What are the things which caught you off guard on the day, or things you didn't think of (or brushed off as minor details) which turned out to be a big deal?

Thanks

Conferences generally start out small, without compensating any of the speakers and without providing travel assistance.

But, then that really depends on your starting budget, and not providing travel assistance will keep you from getting some speakers.

It also matters if you're trying to make money off the conference, are are just doing it for fun. Obviously, you have to convince people you are going to provide $500 worth of value if you charge $500. If you're charging that much, however, the keynotes probably expect to at least get some travel assistance, if not a cut.

I think cold calling a few potential keynotes isn't a bad thing, especially if you're willing to provide travel assistance. If your not, and depending on who you are contacting, cold calling a completely random "semi-famous" person might not go over well.

Thanks for the tips, for the sake of this advice the intention is just to start another good regular conference in Australia (there is a serious lack, and the few which do happen are very well received thus far).

Don't use PayPal to get the registration fee. These kinds of events are very risky for PayPal and they will probably freeze your account. Two previous "horror" stories:

* How PayPal could have killed an independent conference (aralbalkan.com) (109 points, 551 days ago, 65 comments) http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2877404

* PayPal Hates Conferences – Especially OpenCamp (openca.mp) (115 points , 953 days ago, 49 comments ) http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1491485

Thanks for that, even more reason -not- to use PayPal. I've had some bad experiences myself and know enough people who have to not risk something of this scale for their relative convenience.

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