D Con 07 videos

[Christopher Wright]

Alexander Panek wrote:
> On Mon, 10 Dec 2007 18:23:29 +0900
> Bill Baxter <dnewsgroup at billbaxter.com> wrote:
> 
>> To be a little less facetious, Brad's going to organize it again and 
>> Brad lives in Seattle, and his employer in Seattle graciously donates 
>> the facilities for the gathering.  Also Walter and Andrei are both in 
>> Seattle too.  Thus it is in Seattle again.
> 
> No offense intended, but this is a rather deficient argument. Even
> though I appreciate that it is being organized, I don't see a point in
> excluding a big part of the community by holding it in the US again.
> It's just not affordable to go to the US for most of us. I suppose the
> same applies to your situation.

It's a rather good argument: the people who absolutely must attend are 
all in Seattle, and there are free facilities there. If nobody else 
volunteers a facility and travel expenses for at least Walter, then they 
won't have a convention in their country.

Renting a facility to hold about a hundred to a hundred fifty people for 
three days... you'd probably spend a few thousand dollars or euros for 
that. (The Washington Convention Center in Washington DC, to take a 
Leftpondian example, would cost about US$1400 for the space, and 
probably a few hundred more for AV equipment.) Flying in Walter only 
adds a few hundred, though. Still, you'd have to charge attendees, 
probably in the range of $30 if you're not serving food, more like $40 
or $50 if you're serving food. Charging money cuts into attendance.

Of course, there's the question of how many people would attend, if the 
convention were in Europe or Japan. You'd get more Leftpondians if it 
were in the US, of course, and Leftpondians probably make up a plurality 
of the people here.

Moreover, holding it in Amazon means you get developers from a major 
organization wandering in. That's a decent advantage.