San Francisco loses 2 big conferences • Hacker News Board

Re: San Francisco loses 2 big conferences

#31

Post by LeafItAlone » Sat, Jul 08, 2023, 5:53 PM UTC

MisterSandman wrote: post #25

CoastalCoder wrote: post #5

Anyone know the reasons for the cancellations? I didn't see that in the article.

Meta cancelled altogether, so that is probably just a cost-saving measure (Meta isn't doing too well rn). RedHat moved their conferences to other states in the US, but still plan on holding future conferences in SF. Which, to me, also sounds like a temporary cost saving measure. I highly doubt it's because of safety or homelessness, if that was the case then they wouldn't be commiting to hold future conferences in SF…

What makes you say Meta isn’t doing well now? 2022 was rough on them, but 2023 seems to be treating them well.

https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/META/

Re: San Francisco loses 2 big conferences

#32

Post by jboy55 » Sat, Jul 08, 2023, 5:56 PM UTC

MisterSandman wrote: post #26

benatkin wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More expensive and a pain to go to the conference. I guess that's a big part of why they're attempting to extend CalTrain to Salesforce Transit Center at a ridiculous per-mile cost.

To clarify, this is speculation, neither the articles nor the companies have said anything of this sort. RedHat have moved their conferences to Florida, so I highly doubt cost is a big reason. Florida itself is much cheaper, but a decent chunk of RedHat employees live in Cali, so flying them across the continent is not that much cheaper. EDIT: I was wrong, RedHat is mostly east coast, I'm sorry.

Hasn't RedHat been headquartered in Raleigh since its inception? I knew a few people who moved out there for RedHat from the Bay Area.

Re: San Francisco loses 2 big conferences

#33

Post by reaperducer » Sat, Jul 08, 2023, 5:57 PM UTC

netfl0 wrote: post #6

I was only assaulted once at my last conference there (2023).

I was only assaulted once at my last conference there

I was only assaulted once the first time I was in Vancouver, BC.

What's your point?

Re: San Francisco loses 2 big conferences

#34

Post by AlbertCory » Sat, Jul 08, 2023, 5:58 PM UTC

MisterSandman wrote: post #26

benatkin wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More expensive and a pain to go to the conference. I guess that's a big part of why they're attempting to extend CalTrain to Salesforce Transit Center at a ridiculous per-mile cost.

To clarify, this is speculation, neither the articles nor the companies have said anything of this sort. RedHat have moved their conferences to Florida, so I highly doubt cost is a big reason. Florida itself is much cheaper, but a decent chunk of RedHat employees live in Cali, so flying them across the continent is not that much cheaper. EDIT: I was wrong, RedHat is mostly east coast, I'm sorry.

Denial. No one's going to be honest about not having events there.

Re: San Francisco loses 2 big conferences

#35

Post by CydeWeys » Sat, Jul 08, 2023, 5:58 PM UTC

DebtDeflation wrote: post #30

I've been to tech conferences in San Francisco (Moscone specifically), Vegas, Orlando, Chicago, and Boston. While I'm not ordinarily a fan of Las Vegas, it is hands down the absolute best place for conferences, logistically. It's a 10 minute Uber to get from the airport to the strip. Tons of hotels on the strip. If the conference is at one strip hotel and you are staying at pretty much any other strip hotel, you can…

Definitely not true that you can walk the length of the entire strip in ten minutes. The strip is not super great for pedestrians because you have to keep walking up, around, and through various escalators/bridges/casino entryways. The strip would be much more pedestrian friendly if they closed the main street to cars and let you simply walk at ground level in a direct line.

Anyway, it takes over an hour to walk from one end of the strip to the other. You really do need to pick a nearby hotel, not any strip hotel. And no idea what you're talking about re: walking underground. That's not true for most strip hotels.

But yes, on your overall point, I agree that Las Vegas is a good spot for conventions.

Re: San Francisco loses 2 big conferences

#36

Post by waihtis » Sat, Jul 08, 2023, 5:59 PM UTC

DebtDeflation wrote: post #30

I've been to tech conferences in San Francisco (Moscone specifically), Vegas, Orlando, Chicago, and Boston. While I'm not ordinarily a fan of Las Vegas, it is hands down the absolute best place for conferences, logistically. It's a 10 minute Uber to get from the airport to the strip. Tons of hotels on the strip. If the conference is at one strip hotel and you are staying at pretty much any other strip hotel, you can…

Fully agree.

It's such a pain to Uber back and forth multiple times a day to Moscone (can never get a hotel close by since the prices are beyond insane during large conferences), plus that's about 100 USD of Ubering daily if you do the back and forth twice

Re: San Francisco loses 2 big conferences

#37

Post by gotaran » Sat, Jul 08, 2023, 5:59 PM UTC

There’s a lot of (admittedly warranted) shade been thrown on SF here over the past two days.

But putting that aside, I feel sad that remote work + the tech downturn means that employers have slashed all conference travel budgets. Conferences were a great way for me to meet professionals outside of my workplace. Even if it was just an excuse to get drunk and party, I think the industry benefitted as a whole from the networking.

Conferences in 2023 are just sad. The vendor/prospect ratio is way off, and you can really feel the tension on vendors’ faces. Some of these today make RSAC and BlackHat look like stodgy academic conferences.

Re: San Francisco loses 2 big conferences

#38

Post by stubybubs » Sat, Jul 08, 2023, 5:59 PM UTC

User23 wrote: post #28

stubybubs wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

West Coast city stuff then. It's everywhere. I'm convinced there isn't any kind of immediate solution to these problems. Not that we should give up on mental health and addictions treatment. I just think the solution is way broader. Reduce income inequality, improve schools, keep up the drug treatment so the children of people with drug problems stand a chance, better research about when opiate prescriptions are appr…

This approach sounds a lot like treating a heart attack with diet and exercise. Sure diet and exercise are great, but they’re not what’s indicated while you’re keeling over. First fix the acute problem and then look work on reducing recurrence afterwards. And of course there is an immediate solution: remove the people violating the social contract from society at large. It’s up to the people of San Francisco to eithe…

That's just it, I don't think you can do that. The equivalent of acute treatment for an MI in homelessness would be coralling them elsewhere or removing them from the city and replacing them with known good humans harvested from elsewhere.

Probably how NYC recovered from the 70s and 80s is instructive, or the decades long overall decline in violent crime in major cities. SF for all the crap it gets is still near an all time low in violent crime. Was it acute treatments, or did general conditions just change?

Re: San Francisco loses 2 big conferences

#39

Post by dboreham » Sat, Jul 08, 2023, 6:00 PM UTC

DebtDeflation wrote: post #30

I've been to tech conferences in San Francisco (Moscone specifically), Vegas, Orlando, Chicago, and Boston. While I'm not ordinarily a fan of Las Vegas, it is hands down the absolute best place for conferences, logistically. It's a 10 minute Uber to get from the airport to the strip. Tons of hotels on the strip. If the conference is at one strip hotel and you are staying at pretty much any other strip hotel, you can…

They still have smoking though.

Re: San Francisco loses 2 big conferences

#40

Post by karaterobot » Sat, Jul 08, 2023, 6:00 PM UTC

> SF Travel said Red Hat is scheduled for events at Moscone in 2026, 2028, 2030 and 2032.

Maybe they'll cancel those too, but it's worth noting that Red Hat and Meta have not said anything like "we're done with San Francisco", they just both backed out of a conference booking at around the same time. Could be a coincidence. We don't know. Feels premature to draw conclusions though.