If you didn’t attend this year’s XDC, it’s hard to explain what you missed. It’s not so much the sessions that will soon be available anyway (always useful), but the interaction with your fellow developers, trading ideas, and generally talking about common things that you just don’t get to do during “normal” life. It’s my fourth year, and each has been better than the last.
I hope to see you all next year.
It has been a weird week not being there, after having been to the last 4.
And you were missed. Next year?
Probably not. The difference between attending as an employee vs as a guest is dramatic. While the conferences were the highlight of my year previously, l really didn’t enjoy last year’s.
I stopped attending the FileMaker conferences because of the $1300 price tag and the direction they are going in, but mostly the price. I’d probably go if it was priced better as it’s around 85% of our business. They try to make it ‘spectacular’ and I could care less as it’s a waste of money. I just want a clean safe room with good cell phone reception, a comfy conference chair, and a table for my notebook / gadgets.
I appreciate that Xojo has their feet on the ground!
I do think it’s hard for students and hobbyists to attend, but I don’t know how to make it easier for them and not punish the rest of us. Maybe 50% for first timers? That might not cover the cost of them being there though.
Realistically, unless the conference was local so they could go home at night (no lodging or transportation cost) , the overall cost could still be prohibitive, or at least very hard to justify, for most who don’t make a significant amount of money with Xojo.
[quote=184262:@Karen Atkocius]Realistically, unless the conference was local so they could go home at night (no lodging or transportation cost) , the overall cost could still be prohibitive, or at least very hard to justify, for most who don’t make a significant amount of money with Xojo.
Yeah that’s hard because we do not make money on XDC. We try to keep the cost of registration low and if we had to give away passes for less than our cost we would have to increase the price for everyone else to attend and that might price out some people.
I think the price for xdc is ok, my problem is the transportation fee from overseas…
As a full-time student, taking off finals week to attend would have been suicide. Summer in Austin is probably not all that great, but at least it wouldn’t conflict with (most) students class time.
@Dana Brown When I did calculation there are two parts. One is cost per person and one is common cost split over persons paying it.
So if a speaker gets 50% off I would assume that those 50% are the real cost per person. And the other 50% the normal guests pay are to cover extras and cost for Xojo engineers.
Giving away e.g. 10 student tickets for half price (at cost per person) for people applying and meeting some criteria sounds good. Especially if you can get some students interested that way to learn about Xojo and get in touch with companies who could hire them later. You could have a few extra people on the show, but not loose anything from regular attendees.
I would have liked to attend to the XDC this year, but had no time. Like Hal, I do not need much luxory for hotel room or spectacular and expensive shows on a conference. I like it clean, personally and in a friendly spirit. The evenings planings you have done sounds great.
[quote=184312:@Christian Schmitz]@Dana Brown When I did calculation there are two parts. One is cost per person and one is common cost split over persons paying it.
So if a speaker gets 50% off I would assume that those 50% are the real cost per person. And the other 50% the normal guests pay are to cover extras and cost for Xojo engineers.
Giving away e.g. 10 student tickets for half price (at cost per person) for people applying and meeting some criteria sounds good. Especially if you can get some students interested that way to learn about Xojo and get in touch with companies who could hire them later. You could have a few extra people on the show, but not loose anything from regular attendees.[/quote]
We do offer students a discount. I spoke to several who considered attending but were not able to cover the cost of travel.
I wanted to go this year but I spent 4 days in Vegas a couple of weeks ago at the NAB Convention for work, and there was no way I could justify another trip for a few days so close to that one, and survive the wrath of my kids etc 
I’m hoping next year…
I think Austin was a great place for the conference. This was my first XDC Conference and I have never been to Austin (or Texas). My wife and 22 year old son joined me at the conference, and we all enjoyed the city very much. I’m sorry that I had to miss the evening events so that I could spend time with the family. I would have liked to meet more of the attendees - but even so, it was a great event.
Being a new Xojo user, I think the most amazing part was seeing just how far you can go using Xojo - as far as my imagination can take me. I think the conference had insight for people at every level, although, maybe in the future, you could have different tracks - for newer users and for more advanced users. I think that would attract more people new to Xojo, like myself.
I believe an activity designed to help people meet others would be a great benefit (not just for new users) - maybe something other than a lecture format. For example, break the conference up into smaller groups and have each person explain a little about how they are using Xojo. This would give people insight into different types of applications that Xojo can be used for. People could ask questions on how they overcame certain obstacles and would also allow attendees to get to know each other a little better. Just a thought.
The evening events are an excellent opportunity to meet everyone & talk outside of conference sessions.
I’m just leaving now after having spent Fri evening & all day Saturday with Xojo users (literally all day)
I can’t tell you how many times they said that was an extremely valuable part of coming to the conference.
I thoroughly enjoy it as well and it is one reason I rarely leave immediately after the conference.
Maybe the answer is in the recording of the sessions? It seems that it’s not just the conference ticket, it’s the airfare and hotel as well. So if the sessions will be available for students at some low fee, it would help them grow into attending.
Sorry I missed you. I left for NYC Saturday morning.
I know I have taken to not leaving until late Saturday or Sunday after the first conference I attended. It seems a lot of attendees do this.
Something to think about for next year