Re: [UG-ADMINS] php[world] Call for Papers

Hi Mariano,

I can not speak for every speaker in the PHP community, but I can tell you one thing: If I have the opportunity to speak in, say, Argentina, and at the same time I have the opportunity to speak in Washington DC, I will choose Argentina any time. I think many speakers have a similar interest. The chances of my going to Washington DC in the future are much higher because, as you point out, there are more conferences in North America than there are in the more remote regions. I’m sure opinions on this will vary per speaker, but I think that if you cover airfare *and* hotel, chances are high people will choose you.

So I’m pretty sure your arguments don’t always work. Sure, you might have some cancellations (especially when you clash with a major conference like ZendCon), but cancellations happen to every conference. I’ve had cancellations with conferences I’ve been involved in as well. Shit happens, and most experienced speakers will be happy to fill up an empty slot while they are there.

My main argument for looking at clashes per region is not ticket sales. It’s not the organizer point-of-view. It’s the attendee point-of-view. I’d hate to have to choose between two different conferences in my region. Whichever I choose, I’ll lose out on a lot of great content. 

As such, I wouldn’t be too worried. What’s more important is that you promote your call for papers to the right places to get more people to submit. If you receive the same 300 proposals some of the other conferences are getting, the chances of you picking the same ones as the other conferences are much smaller.

Sincerely,

Stefan


On 3 Jun 2014 at 21:23:44, Mariano Iglesias ([email protected]) wrote:

The thing is, conflicts should not be just about proximity. That's viewing  
conflicts from a ticket selling perspective (no offense intended). The  
conflict I'm most afraid of are speaker proposals.  

See, for conferences such as Argentina, New Zealand, Brasil, the odds are  
against us on several fronts:  

* For conferences such as Argentina which try to cover both flight and  
hotel for all selected speakers, each flight will likely cost them over  
1200k USD per speaker. It is important for us to grab the best speakers  
proposals we can get.  

* Remote regions do not have the crazy amount of conferences the US and  
Europe hubs tend to have. It is such then a once-a-year opportunity for a  
lot of programmers to listen to amazing talks and get to know the people  
who build the libraries they use. Ask Jordi Boggiano, who literally had  
fans following him and asking to take pictures with him in last year's PHP  
Conference Argentina.  

* Most speakers which are regular visitors to PHP conferences have quite a  
busy schedule. If suddenly there are two conferences within the same week,  
then it is most likely the further away conferences suffer. It's easier for  
them to submit to closer-to-home conferences: those conferences would  
likely take them less time away from work, as they dont have to account for  
+10 hour flights. Last year we had at least two speakers cancelling on us  
because they realized Argentina was far away (duh!) and Zendcon was just a  
couple of days away.  

At the end of the day, it is always the remote-located conferences that  
suffer. They don't only have to struggle with higher speaker reimbursement  
packages, but they have to juggle with a lot of complicated details,  
including Visas! I think it'd be in the best interest of the PHP community  
as a whole to help those communities gain momentum, and help them in their  
efforts. If this includes taking into account the VERY FEW PHP conferences  
that are in such places, then why not?  


On Tue, Jun 3, 2014 at 3:58 PM, Eli <[email protected]> wrote:  

> On 6/2/14, 11:28 AM, Mariano Iglesias wrote:  
> > Almost the same exact dates as PHP Conference Argentina:  
> >  
> > http://2014.phpconference.com.ar/?lang=en  
> >  
> > But clearly not the same region :)  
>  
> Oh, and actually, I'd looked at Argentina, and we made sure that we  
> didn't conflict. It is just before us. (Even though, yes, it's not  
> even the same region and I would expect little overlap.  
>  
> Actually through Argentina conflicts directly with True North. They  
> are both 'just before' php[world].  
>  
> Eli  
>  
>  
> --  
> | Eli White | http://eliw.com/ | Twitter: EliW |  
>  
>  
>