The Cost of Attending Web Conferences

For a few years now I’ve wanted to attend one of the many web conferences that take place throughout the year but I have yet to do so. The one thing that has always prevented me from attending has been a simple one, the cost.

I’m not going to name any conferences or argue about the costs of holding a conference. I know nothing at all about the cost of actually holding such an event so I am not complaining that ticket costs are too high and need to be reduced.

Total cost

What concerns me is the entire cost as a whole of attending a conference. Ticket price is one thing, but then you usually need to add on accomodation and travel, and of course you spend money while you are there. This can easily add up to €600 – €700 which is a lot of money for one event.

I know that it can be aruged that the experiences and contacts that you can gain from attending such events are well worth it, but I’m sure that many developers can only afford to attend one in an entire year, and how do they choose?

I’ve also observed on Twitter many people talking about how many conferences they are attending in a particular year. I do always wonder where people get the funds to be able to do this. I know that some are lucky enough to have a company behind them that can afford to send it’s developers on such excursions, but for those who don’t, I seriously ask, how can you afford this?

First conference!

I hope to attend my first conference in November of this year when Beyond Tellerand is held here in Düsseldorf, where the major cost for me will be the ticket. This alone makes it affordable for me. I also know that there will be many people who will travel from all over the world to attend, possibly their sixth, seventh or even tenth conference of the year.

Your thoughts?

I’d be very interested in hearing your opinions and experiences on this, especially from those who are able to attend many web conferences in the one year.

Perhaps web developers elsewhere are simply paid really, really well and I’m missing a trick.