More thoughts about conference's fees

I've just subscribed to the mailing list and I can't insert myself in older
discussions, sorry for this new thread.

Last year me and my girlfriend participated to the Florence conference. We
paid 340€ (early bird, 100 for a lite ticket and 240 for a standard ticket).

This year we should pay 600€.

Now I read on this list that the prices are "comparable". I can't see how.
Maybe these prices are driven by the costs of living in Berlin and the
organizers have done their best, but I find them unaffordable. The fact
that other conferences cost more doesn't change much, and we should compare
the costs only between Europython editions (every conference has different
policies about volunteering/launches/etc.).

I suppose that the main problem is that the Berlin conference is "all
inclusive", with trainings included.
Last year I had an hard time choosing between the standard and lite ticket,
giving that if you follow a training, you miss the conference, and the
opposite is also true. But while I could gain something from a couple
trainings, my girlfriend, neo programmer, would just throw her money away.

This year I wouldn't pay for the trainings, because my last three year
experience tell me that I like more to follow the conference, but I can't
choose anymore, and my girlfriend neither. The result is a disheartening
huge increase in the cost of our participation.

We may ask for a discount for my girlfriend "because she's a woman and does
some coding", but we both find it immoral.

The result is that we will probably not participate (unless my boss is
struck by lightning (in a positive way)), quite certainly not her.

I can't see how beginners can justify such prices, and I don't think that
the Europython want to be for seasoned well paid pythonistas only.

On another note, I'm dubious that it's possible to offer trainings to
everybody. There must be a maximum number of seats and ratio
people/trainers to receive a quality teaching, and a free for all will
probably means early assaults to take a reservation, or loose the training.

I can only hope that these prices don't end up as a reference for next
editions, unless to set the top of the bar. I wish also that the trainings
will be optional again in the next editions.

Wish you all the best for the conference,
Riccardo Galli

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