Just got back from an In-Person conference, as a vendor the cost was $8K, up from $6K for the same thing last year so a 30% YoY increase. The $6K last year already felt like we were being gouged. I may end up cutting back and going every second year. For 3 days if we rented a 30" screen and a stand it would have cost $2.2K and $350 respectively - I brought my own monitor and stand. Other vendors buy monitors each year and donate it to charity and there is a charity rep that goes around collecting monitors and other 'single use' items. It was a very large conference and I understand the need for an actual hotel / conference venue but the hotel costs were rough as were the built in food / drink options. Since these are often a bit out of town we have to get Ubers to leave and that costs at least $20 each way. I think next year we'll go grocery shopping first thing and avoid the restaurants. Vendors are expected to shout a round or two at the end of the day at the hotel bar. Simple cocktails like an Old-Fashioned were $25. It's likely that the conference will still be a net-positive for us but we're hearing a lot of other vendors complain about the costs and suggest that they too will switch to alternate years.
Why Aren't People Going to Local and Regional In-Person Events Anymore?
51–60 of 96 posts
Re: Why Aren't People Going to Local and Regional In-Person Events Anymore?
#52I'm in several local groups. The hardest part to keep a community going is that someone needs to step and be the consistent force to keep engaging in conversations. At some point, it ends up being a full-time job.
Re: Why Aren't People Going to Local and Regional In-Person Events Anymore?
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Conferences, announcements, etc all happened virtually and things were largely fine. Sure things like networking were lost (and the associated drinking), and while that was valuable was not necessarily the marketed reason for the events. I haven't heard anyone say that things were fine. I and colleagues have participated virtually in ML conferences during covid and people almost unanimously said it was mostly usele…
The problem with all this is that you’ve only shown that socializing is fun, not that the amount of ROI you or the company is getting from events is positive. I’d rather have fun and socialize in ways that have nothing to do with work, and I think younger generations feel even more strongly about that. The way I see it is that corporate cultures have completely given up on investment in employees. No more tuition rei…
I think it's a broader social problem. People also socialize less in private as well. Atomization, mobile entertainment etc.
> The way I see it is that corporate cultures have completely given up on investment in employees. No more tuition reimbursement, no more certification reimbursement, you’re a hired mercenary. They are telling employees straight to their face that they are replaceable temp workers who had better start using AI as much as possible or else they’ll get fired and be replaced with AI anyway.
Chicken-or-egg of course, but employees also tend to job hop much more than before (again, understandable if they can't get a raise otherwise), making investment less rational for companies. It's a self-feeding cycle. People used to work for multiple decades in the same place before that. But probably some MBA books derived that this is bad, because they become too crucial and too unique, bus factor things, you need more fungible cogs than that.
Even in friend groups people are flakier, romantic relationships are treated as more disposable etc. Of course all these have a flipside, they didn't happen without reason. A general shift away from a "high-trust society" model.
Re: Why Aren't People Going to Local and Regional In-Person Events Anymore?
#54In my social and meetup circle, COVID coincided with all the organizers of my favorite meetups reaching the age where one generally starts to slow down, have kids, and possibly move out of the city for more space and calm. At that point they had all been running their meetups for 5-10 years, so they were also established in their careers and didn't NEED them anymore. So while keeping an existing meetup running pre-CO…
Plenty of folks moved out for cost of living savings too, both organizers and attendees alike. With many roles having turned remote and rock bottom mortgage interest rates, mid-late pandemic was a rare window of opportunity and many recognized that.
Yes, though many are now stuck with a deteriorating situation in a place with not a lot of actual career options.
Re: Why Aren't People Going to Local and Regional In-Person Events Anymore?
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
> At that point they had all been running their meetups for 5-10 years, so they were also established in their careers and didn't NEED them anymore. This is what turned me off of the local meetups: They had become a means to an end for career advancement. Both for the organizers and presenters. The meetups I enjoyed the most in the past were full of people who enjoyed the subject matter. In the 2010s it turned into a…
Technology meetups are just going to inherently be about networking for jobs, IMO. The self-interest is just not alignable. * Noob goes to event to learn and network. * Journeyman goes for networking and hopefully learn a bit but mostly doesn't get much out of it. * Expert learns nothing. Goes to network / advertise. * Meetup is sponsored by local recruiting firm. Meanwhile the local knitting group is * Work on the p…
You basically want a makers meetup.
* Come discuss problems you are having with your code
* Join in a Hackathon to see if the group can make progress on a predefined issue or project.
* Learn a new language, everyone pulls a language from a bucket and sees if they can make Game of Life. Limitations require that at least one person there that knows the language enough to help with getting someone going
Re: Why Aren't People Going to Local and Regional In-Person Events Anymore?
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
It seems like the education system is making a lot of progress there, though.
I have no idea what you even mean. Education system in what sense? What do you mean by "progress"? What do you mean by "there"? Do you mean teachers somehow making sure that kids socialize in ways that aren't "hallway-track-y"? I genuinely can't decipher this comment.
Sorry. I meant compared to 25 years ago when I was in school, there are now tons of programs and special statuses and institutional accommodations that students can be granted to level the playing field based on things like diagnosed anxiety.
In my day, I’d be called a little bitch and to put up with it.
Re: Why Aren't People Going to Local and Regional In-Person Events Anymore?
#57The world needs BBSs again. That was the best source of local meetups back in the 90s.
Re: Why Aren't People Going to Local and Regional In-Person Events Anymore?
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
Technology meetups are just going to inherently be about networking for jobs, IMO. The self-interest is just not alignable. * Noob goes to event to learn and network. * Journeyman goes for networking and hopefully learn a bit but mostly doesn't get much out of it. * Expert learns nothing. Goes to network / advertise. * Meetup is sponsored by local recruiting firm. Meanwhile the local knitting group is * Work on the p…
You basically want a makers meetup. * Come discuss problems you are having with your code * Join in a Hackathon to see if the group can make progress on a predefined issue or project. * Learn a new language, everyone pulls a language from a bucket and sees if they can make Game of Life. Limitations require that at least one person there that knows the language enough to help with getting someone going We had one of t…
"Let's create something on the fly right now" events, just like the knitting group! Sounds like a winning plan. Just need to hook the local recruiting companies to fund the office space. :-)
Re: Why Aren't People Going to Local and Regional In-Person Events Anymore?
#59Do you know the reasons why people (including you) don't want in-office jobs? Now multiply these reasons by 10. Instead of 1 hour commute, have an airplane travel or a couple hours drive. Instead of hours in a cubicle, have an hotel. And now add more expenses and crappy food. Sure, the "social interactions" in a pub might be more pleasant than the "water-cooler side chat" but they won't be much more productive. Socia…
I myself am full time remote
and look forward to attending one annual tech conference.
For me it feels like a nice event. Being related to my career, learning something new from passionate people and stepping out of my comfort zone a bit, all while not having to think much about work.
Re: Why Aren't People Going to Local and Regional In-Person Events Anymore?
#60I see two things which may have an impact: 1. Conferences require travel budget, which in tech companies (from what I hear) is being repurposed to build out AI capacity. Really, everything is being squeezed like this it seems. 2. A lot of folks only go to cons to network - which also means finding better jobs. There might be some connection between cons and turnover.
> 1. Conferences require travel budget, which in tech companies (from what I hear) is being repurposed to build out AI capacity. Really, everything is being squeezed like this it seems. > 2. A lot of folks only go to cons to network - which also means finding better jobs. There might be some connection between cons and turnover. 1 and 2 are related, at least in my experience. Sending people to conferences was really…
Yes, it boils down to a trust issue. People on both sides of the table pressing the defect button over and over.
Realistically, conference attendance is a perk, and should be understood as such and accepted. Of course to a shareholder breathing down the neck of the business admins, it's unsqueezed slack in the system that has to be better justified than that. And realistically the employee would go, attach a few extra days, maybe skip a day of the event, but still feel some kind of duty (what a quaint word) to make use of the actual conf too.
It's an arms race where both sides are saying, if you don't give a shit, we don't give a shit.