RailsConf Europe -- who's going?

August 01, 2006 · See comments

I missed out on the real RailsConf, so now I’m considering going to the Europe one, except it seems nothing’s happening: There’s no buzz, there’s no notice that it’s about to sell out, no sense of urgency.

Realistically, since all the material from the other RailsConf is available online, there’s really no reason to go other than to get to know people in the community. But that only works if other people are showing up.

The larger problem here is with European “light” versions of original US conferences. EuroOSCON is another. How do you get people to show up for these, if all the momentum is with the “real” one in the US? To me, that makes original European productions like Reboot much more compelling. Reboot gets to be its own thing, with its own vibe, and its own testicular displays.

So, back to RailsConf Europe: Can we get a show of hands? Which of the caboosers are coming? Core team? Other folks? Does the conference have a participants list? Head on over to the Caboose wiki and let us know if you’re coming—or if you’re just thinking about coming, let us know, too.

UPDATE: David responds on the Rails blog.

UPDATE 2: Ok, now that I’ve decided I’m going, my interest has shifted to where people are staying and when they arrive/leave. I’ve updated the wiki page to reflect this. Go update your entries.

blog comments powered by Disqus

Comments ↓

1 Thijs van der Vossen // Aug 01, 2006 at 10:27 AM

We went to EuroOSCON last year and although it was not bad it surely did not seem to have the momentum of the 'real' thing. I expect the same thing to happen to RailsConf Europe so that's the reason we won't be going.
2 Hartvig // Aug 01, 2006 at 10:34 AM

I still think it's weird that RailsConf Europe is a copy of the "original one" instead of the community making it's own event. As far as I can tell there's core team members in Europe as well, so why fly a bunch of offshore speakers instead of making an interesting and supplemental conference that might even consider making US railers coming as participants...? (and nope - I'm the evil .NET guy so I won't come ;-))
3 Lars Pind // Aug 01, 2006 at 10:38 AM

@Hartvig: I thought it was .NET that was evil, not you. But now I know. Thanks for the warning.
4 Nikolaj Nyholm // Aug 01, 2006 at 11:00 AM

Lars, I agree that it's difficult -- and perception is probably the most diffuclt part of that. Among other things I think that's it's a misjudgement by conference organizers like O'Reilly (EuroOSCON, which I am co-chairing for 2006 and must take the blame), RubyCentral (RailsConf Europe) and Good Experience (EuroGel) all use the 'euro' tag. Perception-wise this immediately brands a conference as a syndicate of 'the real thing' even though conferences like EuroOSCON and EuroGel (I have no feeling of RailsConf, thus the non-mention) are sinking in lots of resources, included European staff, to make them European events to the core. This year for EuroOSCON we are trying to look at what's unique about open source in Europe while of course not cutting the bonds to the US' open source scene and learnings from there. We will be looking more at the applications and implications of open source than open source technologies per se, something which we believe is needed to push European open source to the level were it impacts not just the open source coders and users, but every decision on open -- from media to policy to business. But yes, I agree that the attempt to 'syndicate' off of established conference brands like OSCON, Gel and RailsConf, probably creates the opposite effect by introducing 'competition' with the mother events. I hope this changes as we need more reasons to meet across Europe to bridge national, economical, cultural and technological borders. reboot (where I also have a vested interest), while great, won't cut it alone. /n ps. From the current confirmed registration list, I can guarantee you that there will be a lot of great people at EuroOSCON this year. While we're still learning there should be no reason not to join them and us.
5 Manfred Stienstra // Aug 01, 2006 at 05:27 PM

Don't forget that for most people going to RailsConf Europe will cost them around 1000 euros or more. I certainly don't have that kind of money lying around.
6 Lars Pind // Aug 01, 2006 at 05:40 PM

That's true, conferences are quite expensive to attend -- with flights, hotels, meals, and the entrance fee, it quickly adds up.
7 Paul // Aug 01, 2006 at 07:22 PM

Way, way, way too expensive. Conferences should be cheap, if not free. They should be more anarchistic and less about the corporate nature of it. It should be about communication, not powerpoint. I won't be attending anything that costs me a significant %age of a monthly income unless the ROI is better than what RailsConf is promising, simple as.
8 Christian Romney // Aug 01, 2006 at 07:29 PM

I'll be there!
9 Peter Cooper // Aug 01, 2006 at 08:13 PM

I'm not going because I'm Getting Real and know I can get a lot of joy for £700+ (cost of going down, staying there, and the conference ticket) and two days spare. :) All these people are online and easy to talk to there. The presentations will be online shortly thereafter, so it's really a £700 networking exercise.. and if I want to meet Rails coders, I'll go to Pizza on Rails for free (as I have done, it was great!). Seems like a large expenditure to hear lectures on things we're likely to already know, so spend your money wisely.
10 DHH // Aug 01, 2006 at 08:28 PM

Peter, it seems like you have problem with conferences in general. What you're describing is true for any open source conference out there. Yes, all the information will eventually be there. Just like most songs played at concerts are eventually available on an album. Somehow people still enjoy going to concerts and conferences. But sure, ~£500 for entry plus lodging can definitely be a lot depending on where you are in life or your professional career. I can certainly understand students or people still just dabbling in Rails on the side having reservations.
11 DHH // Aug 01, 2006 at 08:30 PM

And that's probably also how RailsConf US differed. The majority of the people there were using Rails in a professional capacity, getting paid to do the work. It's a lot harder to defend paying this kind of money out of pocket for a hobby (although lots of people still make that happen, if they care enough).
12 Lars Pind // Aug 01, 2006 at 09:16 PM

I've now bought my ticket. And I can reveal a little secret to the readers of my comments, which is that the early bird of price of £475 is still in effect, even though it says the price changes on July 30th. So hurry!
13 Damien Tanner // Aug 02, 2006 at 01:30 AM

I'm going, and I'm sure it's going to be great fun! But it's a simple fact, pricing is very important, however unconscious it is to people. The price is just over that point.. I'm surprised they haven't considered dropping it a bit. Nevertheless, I'll be there!!
14 Jarkko Laine // Aug 02, 2006 at 12:18 PM

I've always been one of those who's really active in the backchannel chats and thus has to replay the keynotes when back at home to learn anything. Does that make it not worth going to the conferences? Not the least. For me the conferences are all about the community. Sure, the community is on the net every day, but it just makes so much of a difference to meet people with whom you've spent days in and days out online for once face to face. For me the Chicago RailsConf was mostly about hanging around with "old" pals, meeting new people, spontaneously getting Caboo.se business cards and that kind of stuff. Sure, there were a lot of great talks, but very few people can concentrate 100% from 9AM to 10PM, so I refuse to feel sorry for "napping":http://www.flickr.com/photos/jarkko/177400227/ during the talks. If you think conferences are just for talks and that there's nothing in meeting the online community offline, that's your call. But I feel you'll be missing a lot. I do agree, though, that the price for the European RailsConf is over the top, esp. given that there isn't even a hotel deal like there was in Chicago. My hope would be that RailsConfs would remain mainly developer conferences even though O'Reilly is going to be involved from next year on. That said, I'm going even though my talk proposal was rejected, and I know quite a lot of other people from the Nordic are coming as well.
15 Peter Cooper // Aug 02, 2006 at 06:32 PM

The price is not the issue in an absolute sense. It's simply economics. Do I get more benefit from 2 days and £X spent on one thing or spent on another? In my case (and this should certainly be different for others) I can get more value investing all that elsewhere. I could afford to go (it's less than 2 days' consulting), I just have other things I can use the money for. If you can get more than £X benefit out of going to RailsConf, then excellent!
16 James M. // Aug 04, 2006 at 12:42 AM

Peter, I understand your point on the economics, I absolutely economically cannot afford to go. I paid the £475 because I expect way more value than the ticket price. Sure, I have learned a lot from low cost sources but as you know from pizza on rails (which I can't afford to travel up for) the community and networking is priceless. The larger the audience the cheaper the economics of staging a conference. Look at d.construct sells out instantly and has a ticket price of £75. If we (in the UK) stay away this year, you can bet there will be less appetite to take a risk and put on a 2007 conf in the UK... do you think DHH would bother to put his name to a conference that has a track record of being shunned by its target audience. Take the long view... go get a ticket.
17 Matt West // Aug 04, 2006 at 12:29 PM

Euro RailsConf is mentioned right at the top of the OnJava newsletter email from O'Reilly I got today, so hopefully interest might pick up now. I'm going and I'm really looking forward to it, even though its an expensive holiday for me. See you all there! Matt.
18 Alastair // Aug 07, 2006 at 11:30 PM

James, From reading various comments, it really isn't a case of people shunning the event, many people simply can't afford the £500+ ticket, myself included. I would be there in a second if I had that kind of money to spare but unfortunately I simply don't. I'd have thought that at this stage in Rails' life, any events put on would be priced low to encourage people to come along and participate. I can't think of a better event to attend when DHH etc. and the core team will be speaking. Unfortunately for me, it's the wrong time of year on a freelancers salary. Of course, I might always try and sneak in through the backdoor ;-)

Lars Pind

internet software, coaching, and entrepreneurship