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

[email protected] (Michelangelo van Dam) Wed, 4 Jun 2014 09:17:51 +0200
Newsgroups	ug.admins
Message-ID	<[email protected]>
I’m sorry, but I have to agree with Stefan. Remote conferences are more appealing to speakers, even the travel burden will be double or tripple. But I think that language is a bigger barrier to overcome, or at least the fear local people at remote conferences won’t understand English. Even for our conference PHPBenelux, people are a bit frightful as they think our conference is in a language they don’t speak or understand. And let’s be thruthful here: if it’s not explicitly stated on the website that the conference is in English, you will not get as much proposals in because speakers want to enjoy a couple of talks as well, or at least being able to have interesting conversations with the audience.

And yes, there are many conferences to go to nowadays, but I see a high number of conferences in October and November. The fall is too apealing for everyone because weather is good for in- and outdoor leisurements. We decided to kick off the year in January because that was the “free” month (before Skiphp stepped in a week before us), even though temperatures were low and weather conditions completely unpredictable. And we still had all sorts of activities indoors and out, ensuring everyone had a great time. But this requires planning and most of all “out-of-the-box” thinking.

I see organising a conference a challenge like solving complex programming challenges: you cut it into processable pieces, analyse all the pieces and come up with a solution, even if the solution is not as straight-forward. How can remote (or in this case isolated) conferences stretch out and bring focus to them? I don’t know, but the solution might be in a spot you haven’t looked into yet.

Good luck to all conference organisers and I’d like to see how we as a group of community leaders can streamline the whole conference planning. Because we’re all aiming for the same goal: bringing PHP and best practices to the local developers.

Michelangelo


On 04 Jun 2014, at 00:57, Brandon Savage <[email protected]> wrote:

> I certainly see your position, Stefan, but I can also see the position of organizers that are concerned that they could lose out on some submissions, particularly if those submissions are highly sought-after speakers.
> 
> For example, Davey Shafik can only be in one place at one time. So can Rasmus. If they're speaking in the US they can't be speaking in Argentina, NZ or somewhere else. Meanwhile, conference organizers want to get as many top flight speakers, both to teach their community and to offer the biggest draw for sponsors and ticket sales.
> 
> Now, some speakers (like Rasmus) won't be caught dead at a commercial conference, like php[world]. But if you asked me whether or not I wanted to speak in DC* or in Argentina, from a flight time and travel perspective, DC would win for me, and many other US and European-based speakers.
> 
> Brandon
> 
> P.S. A pet peeve of mine is that php[world] isn't *in* DC, it's in Virginia. Most DC conferences actually aren't in DC, in fact.
> 
> Sent from my iPad
> 
>> On Jun 3, 2014, at 1:02 PM, Stefan Koopmanschap <[email protected]> wrote:
>> 
>> 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 |  
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
> 
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