I’ve received several inquiries from folks who want to pick my brain on event organization and planning. I’m producing a series of short videos; each one will address a particular area of event organization.
Based on my experience in producing WordCamp Portland as well as volunteering at other events, I offer some thoughts on general event size, scope, and schedule considerations:
This is the first of several videos I’ll be producing in the next few weeks. Stay tuned for more topics including facilities, sponsors, financial management, speakers, volunteers, ticketing, registration, and more.
Why have I run WordCamp Portland for the last couple of years? Perhaps it’s because I’m crazy. Or perhaps it’s because it’s a chance to bring together and get to know a whole bunch of really smart people. In our first year we tapped into a lot of local talent that was mostly unknown to many of the PDX tech scene “regulars.” We also had the UX lead for Automattic show us a preview of the next version of WordPress. RSS guru Marshall showed some of his power tools to an overflowing-into-the-hallway room.
This year, we’ll have Matt in attendance, along with Micah who is quickly becoming one of the most-known speakers on trust and influence. We’re going to have an e-commerce expert from Texas. Oh, and one of those Cheezburger guys. But those are all out-of-towners. I’m equally excited to feature local folks like performance expert Jason Grigsby talk about optimization and designer Tyler Sticka show how to make beautiful portfolios using WordPress. And with a title involving bondage, I’m curious to see what Cami and Dr. Normal have up their sleeves…
Sure, WordCamp is a ton of work. But there’s something to be said for the connections and inspiration.
I suspect I’ll post more thoughts on running a WordCamp in the weeks to come, but I recently ran into an interesting situation that’s one of those little things that doesn’t come up in the obvious list of things to do or considerations for these types of events. How does one prioritize the expenses and weigh that vs. the (limited) amount of sponsor dollars?
Some of the event costs are fixed and mandatory (facility) or directly related to the number of participants (T-shirts), but others are variable and need to be prioritized. When it comes to food, there are a lot of options from cheap to fancy, with all sorts of options in between. I want to provide a nice meal experience for the participants, along with a reasonable supply of beverages. Other expenses are entirely in the “optional” category but are nice to have. There is a strong desire in the community (both locally and worldwide) to have sessions recorded or even better, streamed live.
The community would benefit from the streaming, but one could make a darned good argument that the first priority should be to the participants who are paying to attend the event in person. Last night I sat at my desk considering whether we’d be able to afford streaming, or whether to provide better quality food for the participants. There’s no one “right” answer. I think we have things arranged for this year’s event, but this is but one of many such choices to be made.
Ah, to have one of those trees that grows money for WordCamps…
