bitShares Developers Conference: What's it worth to you?

[unimercio]

Great idea to hold this conference.  Let's put the instructional content onto the forums and website to make DAC creating accessible to all.  Even if readers aren't going to make a DAC, they will graps bishares' power and can suggest DAC launching to an entrepreneur friend.

For numerous reasons involving time, BTC price falling, risk, and ROI we have opted to postpone this conference and focus on producing the same educational content for our website.    We still believe that such a conference is needed and are looking for partners in the industry who may want to take this on for us.

Our thinking is that we will simply meet with people by piggybacking on existing conferences.

understandable

[bytemaster]

Great idea to hold this conference.  Let's put the instructional content onto the forums and website to make DAC creating accessible to all.  Even if readers aren't going to make a DAC, they will graps bishares' power and can suggest DAC launching to an entrepreneur friend.

For numerous reasons involving time, BTC price falling, risk, and ROI we have opted to postpone this conference and focus on producing the same educational content for our website.    We still believe that such a conference is needed and are looking for partners in the industry who may want to take this on for us.

Our thinking is that we will simply meet with people by piggybacking on existing conferences. 

[CryptoVape]

Great idea to hold this conference.  Let's put the instructional content onto the forums and website to make DAC creating accessible to all.  Even if readers aren't going to make a DAC, they will graps bishares' power and can suggest DAC launching to an entrepreneur friend.   

[unimercio]

We are in the early stages of planning a bitShares Developers Conference to be held this summer in Las Vegas.  The conference would aim to bring together developers, entrepreneurs, and investors to create new DAC's.

The content would feature sessions taught by the founders of Invictus, industry leaders, and specialists in areas necessary to launch your own bitShares DAC. It would be three days, (one evening reception and two full days of content), and breakfast and lunch each day would be included.  The aim would be for attendees to come with their idea and leave with the tools, connections, and funding to make it a reality. 

So, my question to the forum is: What price point would a conference like this be worth? I know many of you have been to conferences from a $300 bitcoin conference (Miami) to a $2100 Microsoft Developers Conference.  Where on that spectrum would you think would offer a good value to price this event?

Discuss...

 +5%looking forward to this... has the Vegas venue been announced?

[blackbeard]

Any more updates on details? I'm trying to get some travel plans set up but it's hard to plan given the sparse details provided so far

[bitcoinba]

For what is worth, I think Vegas in July is a bad idea for a location. I am afraid that the choice in Vegas is a poor one logistically, and although it may seem like Vegas offers some glitz or glamor value, I really think it is unnecessary for this topic and the goal of this conference, and furthermore will just add distraction and extra expenses.

My votes: New York or Miami

[toast]

Very interested in subsidized travel to spend time with BTS core devs. I have 4 months of free time this summer (between graduation and work, so no income) and I think it would make a big difference in terms of how quickly I could build up relevant skills / knowledge for DAC development

[AdamBLevine]

Can we not make this donation based? The ideal solution would be to make it free for everyone to attend. The more people that attend this event, the fast adoption will happen.

Brian and I discussed various pricing options, including having it be entirely free.   Our conclusion was that even with a free ticket, the expense to attend (hotel, travel, food, etc) was already 3x even a $300 ticket fee.  Our conclusion is that anyone willing to pay $1000+ in travel expenses would consider a $300 ticket fee to be insignificant in the economic calculation on whether or not to attend.   

We will probably be spending more than we earn in ticket sales to produce the best conference in Bitcoin history... so I think a scholarship program for people who deserve to be there given their ideas, but are unable to afford it.   This really must be done on a case by case basis.

Didn't you already raise funds for this with Angelshares?  If you're concerned about expense I don't really understand the choice for Vegas or frankly putting on "the best conference in bitcoin history".   Either cost matters or it doesn't, don't skimp on the next generation of talent to keep more budget for Bitshares Babes.

We believe that AGS donors expect us to make responsible business decisions with their donations.  Part of that involves putting on events that at least partially pay for themselves.  Standard marketing industry best practices do involve giving away free T-shirts and sponsoring "fun" events that the more fiscally conservative technocrats among us might find "unnecessary".  We'll leave that to the marketing professionals.  On the other hand, we are challenging all of our department managers to run their departments in the black.  That is one of the practical controls that keeps things from running amuk while allowing each manager the freedom to ply his or her skills to the max.

Cost matters.  Performance matters.  Balance matters.

Nobody suggested making the event free, I just was asking if the point of the AGS "buffer" wasn't to enable the growth and benefit of the ecosystem that would lend itself to a robust sponsorship program where you guys get to choose interesting projects/individuals to include.  The ticket price paid by normal attendees subsidizes the more interesting, resource challenged individuals.

I agree cost should matter which is why putting on "the best conference bitcoin has ever seen" in las vegas doens't make a ton of sense to me.  If you're really going for maximum impact per dollar, Spend the money flying interesting people into virginia for workshops at an expanded HQ.

If the point is to grow the ecosystem and have a good time, vegas makes sense.   I am aware of the developer conference we're piggybacking, just not that that convinced of its value.

[thazel72]

If the goal of the conference is to market the idea and find talent to help you pull this off. Why would you not hold the event in New York or Silicon Valley instead of Vegas.

From my understanding the idea of AGS and PTS is to reward early financiers with shares of all future DACs. As an investor in both I would vote to make the conference either as affordable as possible or in a location that is next to free. We would maximize our outreach and make the value increase because of adoption. I would even donate the equivalent of my ticket price in Crypto upfront to cover any costs to make it as close to free as possible. The more people that adopt the idea, the more DACs will be created, the faster humanity moves forward, the more we all win.

[Stan]

Can we not make this donation based? The ideal solution would be to make it free for everyone to attend. The more people that attend this event, the fast adoption will happen.

Brian and I discussed various pricing options, including having it be entirely free.   Our conclusion was that even with a free ticket, the expense to attend (hotel, travel, food, etc) was already 3x even a $300 ticket fee.  Our conclusion is that anyone willing to pay $1000+ in travel expenses would consider a $300 ticket fee to be insignificant in the economic calculation on whether or not to attend.   

We will probably be spending more than we earn in ticket sales to produce the best conference in Bitcoin history... so I think a scholarship program for people who deserve to be there given their ideas, but are unable to afford it.   This really must be done on a case by case basis.

Didn't you already raise funds for this with Angelshares?  If you're concerned about expense I don't really understand the choice for Vegas or frankly putting on "the best conference in bitcoin history".   Either cost matters or it doesn't, don't skimp on the next generation of talent to keep more budget for Bitshares Babes.

We believe that AGS donors expect us to make responsible business decisions with their donations.  Part of that involves putting on events that at least partially pay for themselves.  Standard marketing industry best practices do involve giving away free T-shirts and sponsoring "fun" events that the more fiscally conservative technocrats among us might find "unnecessary".  We'll leave that to the marketing professionals.  On the other hand, we are challenging all of our department managers to run their departments in the black.  That is one of the practical controls that keeps things from running amuk while allowing each manager the freedom to ply his or her skills to the max.

Cost matters.  Performance matters.  Balance matters.

[AdamBLevine]

Can we not make this donation based? The ideal solution would be to make it free for everyone to attend. The more people that attend this event, the fast adoption will happen.

Brian and I discussed various pricing options, including having it be entirely free.   Our conclusion was that even with a free ticket, the expense to attend (hotel, travel, food, etc) was already 3x even a $300 ticket fee.  Our conclusion is that anyone willing to pay $1000+ in travel expenses would consider a $300 ticket fee to be insignificant in the economic calculation on whether or not to attend.   

We will probably be spending more than we earn in ticket sales to produce the best conference in Bitcoin history... so I think a scholarship program for people who deserve to be there given their ideas, but are unable to afford it.   This really must be done on a case by case basis.

Didn't you already raise funds for this with Angelshares?  If you're concerned about expense I don't really understand the choice for Vegas or frankly putting on "the best conference in bitcoin history".   Either cost matters or it doesn't, don't skimp on the next generation of talent to keep more budget for Bitshares Babes.

[bytemaster]

Can we not make this donation based? The ideal solution would be to make it free for everyone to attend. The more people that attend this event, the fast adoption will happen.

Brian and I discussed various pricing options, including having it be entirely free.   Our conclusion was that even with a free ticket, the expense to attend (hotel, travel, food, etc) was already 3x even a $300 ticket fee.  Our conclusion is that anyone willing to pay $1000+ in travel expenses would consider a $300 ticket fee to be insignificant in the economic calculation on whether or not to attend.   

We will probably be spending more than we earn in ticket sales to produce the best conference in Bitcoin history... so I think a scholarship program for people who deserve to be there given their ideas, but are unable to afford it.   This really must be done on a case by case basis. 

[thazel72]

Can we not make this donation based? The ideal solution would be to make it free for everyone to attend. The more people that attend this event, the fast adoption will happen.

[AdamBLevine]

Whatever you charge, make sure you have a large grant program that lets people with interesting projects or ideas submit for free tickets subsidized by the cost of the others.

[blackbeard]

What about making price proportional to how many PTS/AGS you have?

I'm interesting in going (Been planning a trip to vegas)

IMHO a lot of corporate events are way overpriced and wasteful, so I advocate the smallest price needed for sustainability

[sschechter]

Ok I will do that when I get home from work.  It will be in a few hours

[bytemaster]

bytemaster,

I have a DAC idea that I've been working on that would fit well under the BitShares brand. It introduces some new concepts, including my attempt at a solution to a modular problem that can be applied to other DACs in this space. A demand for this product already exists in the mainstream and unlike other crypo coins who unfairly get criticized for facilitating black market trade, this DAC would actually help to eliminate black market activity from its field. I am not ready to publicly announce this project, but I would like to get the ball rolling before the conference which is months out. If this community doesn't build this project, someone else will. Oh yeah, and most importantly, I'm willing make PTS and AGS holders the majority shareholders.  Can I PM you and explain my idea in more detail?

Thanks,

Scott

Send me a PM.

[sschechter]

bytemaster,

I have a DAC idea that I've been working on that would fit well under the BitShares brand. It introduces some new concepts, including my attempt at a solution to a modular problem that can be applied to other DACs in this space. A demand for this product already exists in the mainstream and unlike other crypo coins who unfairly get criticized for facilitating black market trade, this DAC would actually help to eliminate black market activity from its field. I am not ready to publicly announce this project, but I would like to get the ball rolling before the conference which is months out. If this community doesn't build this project, someone else will. Oh yeah, and most importantly, I'm willing make PTS and AGS holders the majority shareholders.  Can I PM you and explain my idea in more detail?

Thanks,

Scott

[bytemaster]

I will most likely be attending this conference.  It seems to be that a reasonable expected cost would be from $500-$1000, but I guess this all depends on the agenda and the value provided. Any idea on when we can find out more info?

We will be releasing a lot more info in the weeks ahead.  Brian is aiming to provide a lot more value than existing BTC conferences but we will probably price it in the $300 to $400 range so that we can get as many people as possible. 

We will let you know soon.

[sschechter]

I will most likely be attending this conference.  It seems to be that a reasonable expected cost would be from $500-$1000, but I guess this all depends on the agenda and the value provided. Any idea on when we can find out more info?

[oco101]

If Bitshare X it's gonna work. The developers conference entrance fee will be priceless

[super3]

Might be useful to make a chart of the previous conferences and their prices.

[bytemaster]

I am from Australia and would like to make the conference. Under $1000 would be ideal. What is the approximate date?

July 18 to 20th, Vegas.

[johncitizen]

I am from Australia and would like to make the conference. Under $1000 would be ideal. What is the approximate date?

[sang]

I'm in for the $500-1000 range. I'm a Vegas local so I could potentially be a resource if needed.

[toast]

I have no reference for price point but I would pay for discussion time with members of I3 if you sold it as premium

[rysgc]

Sounds good. What would be nice as well is to have a developer portal somewhere where people can find videos, tutorials, dev kits, forums etc for DAC developers. In most cases that would suffice so you talk about new things and advanced methods at the conference.

[MktDirector]

We may also add an evening session after the first full day for a networking dinner, depending on how many speakers we have teaching.   

[rysgc]

Between 600 / 1000 sounds fair to me being that it's 2.5/3 days including food. But it highly depends on the actual content as well of course.

[MktDirector]

We are in the early stages of planning a bitShares Developers Conference to be held this summer in Las Vegas.  The conference would aim to bring together developers, entrepreneurs, and investors to create new DAC's.

The content would feature sessions taught by the founders of Invictus, industry leaders, and specialists in areas necessary to launch your own bitShares DAC. It would be three days, (one evening reception and two full days of content), and breakfast and lunch each day would be included.  The aim would be for attendees to come with their idea and leave with the tools, connections, and funding to make it a reality. 

So, my question to the forum is: What price point would a conference like this be worth? I know many of you have been to conferences from a $300 bitcoin conference (Miami) to a $2100 Microsoft Developers Conference.  Where on that spectrum would you think would offer a good value to price this event?

Discuss...