[OSList] $ and unconferences

Wed Oct 30 08:46:53 PDT 2013

Graydancer...Wonderful! All of my "public" events have always had a fee. A
whopping $25! In every situation that was more than enough, and in most
situations there was a surplus which usually ended up in the Access Queen's
Fund. Part of the secret is to choose a venue with local eateries close at
hand. The Open Space quickly expands to include the neighborhood, everybody
has what they want to eat, and financing is reduced to the minimum.

Harrison

Harrison Owen

7808 River Falls Dr.

Potomac, MD 20854

USA

189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)

Camden, Maine 04843

Phone 301-365-2093

(summer)  207-763-3261

www.openspaceworld.com 

www.ho-image.com (Personal Website)

To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of OSLIST
Go to:
<http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org>
http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org

From: oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
[mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of Graydancer
Sent: Wednesday, October 30, 2013 11:22 AM
To: World wide Open Space Technology email list
Subject: Re: [OSList] $ and unconferences

My first reaction is to burst out in hysterical laughter...

My unconferences are priced according to a formula: (cost of venue + lunch
(for expected attendance or venue capacity) + facilitator travel expense)
divided by number of expected/desired attendees. We then add on 15% per
ticket as a "cushion", and open ticket sales, usually between $30-$75 each.
Since the demographic I serve are used to paying several hundred dollars for
weekend conferences, the pricetag is only a barrier in the "If it's that
cheap, it must not be worth it" sense.

This has worked fairly well, with some exceptions that have been good
learning experiences. However, keeping the margins this close can tend to be
a bit nervewracking for the "boots-on-the-ground" organizers (usually
individual community leaders, not corporations or social groups) because
people don't always buy tickets until the last minute. For example, I'm
typing this from the Denver Airport on the way to facilitate my 53rd
Unconference this weekend, and we're still not in the black in terms of
ticket sales. However, I expect a surge over the next two days (and we may
even sell some tickets at the door). 

Out of the 53, only 4 have operated at a loss, and in every one of those it
was because the organizers chose to do things their own way (and spend extra
money) rather than simply trust the event to provide enough satisfaction for
the participants.

Currently, though, I've noticed that there is one major cost that could be
eliminated from these "GRUEs" as they're known. That's me. Because this is a
relatively new niche for OS (alternative sexuality & sex education) there's
a lot of people who will contact me and ask me to come and facilitate and
help them run it - with the result that I'm traveling way too much. I've
started successfully answering people with the "teach them to fish" analogy
- pointing out to them how much cheaper and easier it would be to run an
event that didn't need to pay for a flight, or work around my schedule.

Yes, I'm negotiating myself out of a job, but it's not that lucrative a job
anyway - and I find that it's just as rewarding to see and hear about people
in my community creating their own OS's as it is actually running one.

Gray

----

Blog: graydancer.com <http://graydancer.com/> 

twitter: @graydancer <http://twitter.com/graydancer> 

facebook: gray.dancer <https://www.facebook.com/gray.dancer> 

podcast: The Ropecast <http://ropecast.com> 

On Wed, Oct 30, 2013 at 9:42 AM, Steven Clift <clift at e-democracy.org> wrote:

We are experimenting with a $10 charge option to reduce no show
registrations (so we order the right amount of food).

We have a free lottery option which only kicks in if we go over capacity. We
also have scholarship and volunteer options to guarantee a ticket now.

See: http://citycampmn.org

Steven Clift - http://stevenclift.com
  Executive Director - http://E-Democracy.org 
  Twitter: http://twitter.com/democracy
  Tel/Text: +1.612.234.7072 <tel:%2B1.612.234.7072> 

On Wed, Oct 30, 2013 at 9:34 AM, Daniel Mezick <dan at newtechusa.net> wrote:

I'm sure this is very true. In theory, speakers are not compensated for
travel, lodging and so on. In theory this reduces costs.

I have had some people discuss with me this exact dynamic.

On 10/29/13 9:44 PM, Jean Richardson wrote:

Someone asked me a very interesting question tonight about unconferences,
and I thought I'd best bring it to this forum.  The question was are the
staging of unconferences ever motivated by the desire to make money.  I'm
not sure I've ever attended one that was-at least not a lot of money as in a
profit-making model.  

What is the general experience of folks on this list?

--- Jean

Jean Richardson

Azure Gate Consulting

~ Repatterning the Human Experience of Work

AzureGate.net

(503) 788-8998

<http://../../../../../../Documents%20and%20Settings/lisa/My%20Documents/CLI
ENT%20FILES/Jean%20Richardson/Jean at AzureGate.net> Jean at AzureGate.net

_______________________________________________
OSList mailing list
To post send emails to OSList at lists.openspacetech.org
To unsubscribe send an email to OSList-leave at lists.openspacetech.org
To subscribe or manage your subscription click below:
http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org

-- 

Daniel Mezick, President

New Technology Solutions Inc.

(203) 915 7248 <tel:%28203%29%20915%207248>  (cell)

Bio <http://newtechusa.net/dan-mezick/> . Blog <http://newtechusa.net/blog/>
. Twitter <http://twitter.com/#%21/danmezick/> . 

Examine my new book:  The Culture Game
<http://newtechusa.net/about/the-culture-game-book/> : Tools for the Agile
Manager.

Explore Agile Team Training
<http://newtechusa.net/services/agile-scrum-training/>  and Coaching.
<http://newtechusa.net/services/agile-scrum-coaching/> 

Explore the Agile Boston  <http://newtechusa.net/user-groups/ma/> Community.

_______________________________________________
OSList mailing list
To post send emails to OSList at lists.openspacetech.org
To unsubscribe send an email to OSList-leave at lists.openspacetech.org
To subscribe or manage your subscription click below:
http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org

_______________________________________________
OSList mailing list
To post send emails to OSList at lists.openspacetech.org
To unsubscribe send an email to OSList-leave at lists.openspacetech.org
To subscribe or manage your subscription click below:
http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20131030/d278de17/attachment-0008.htm>