Where the hell did I get $280 from!! I’m sure the link to the hotel was showing me a price above $250???
Even so $169 still doubles the hotel bill and makes it unviable for me but am happy to apologise if I’ve put incorrect numbers into my posting above…
[quote=203905:@Patrick Delaney]Where the hell did I get $280 from!! I’m sure the link to the hotel was showing me a price above $250???
Even so $169 still doubles the hotel bill and makes it unviable for me but am happy to apologise if I’ve put incorrect numbers into my posting above…[/quote]
Unfortunately most cities (except Orlando and Vegas) are going to be in that price range if the hotel is going to be walking distance to things. We have heard people don’t want to rent cars, they want to be able to walk to bars and restaurants, etc.
A “must have”
[quote=203905:@Patrick Delaney]Where the hell did I get $280 from!! I’m sure the link to the hotel was showing me a price above $250???
Even so $169 still doubles the hotel bill and makes it unviable for me but am happy to apologise if I’ve put incorrect numbers into my posting above…[/quote]
Vegas hotels routinely hike up the prices for conventions. They go as far as offering rooms to gamblers from Los Angeles, but I remember outrageous Comdex room rates.
To be continued …
I find this to not be the case, at least for our size conference. When we were in Vegas we got a fantastic rate of $69/night whereas the published hotel room rate was over $120/night.
I agree. So, that means hotel rates in most cities are going to be around $200/night (because they have to be downtown or in an active suburb) unless we go back to Orlando or Las Vegas, which the majority of conference attendees have indicated they do not want to do.
Let me add on to this…
I never made visits to many conferences, but in September 13, 2001, I was suppose to attend a conference held by SUN. But the conference were reorganized, because of the 9/11 attack…
This was before SUN was encapsulated by Oracle and Java was still “created by SUN”.
This event was a total blast for me! It was in a conference centre in Stockholm. There were no cost, free food, amazing presentations and about 200 give a ways to each participant.
I would say, this conference was the complete opposite as the XDC. Still, for me as the participant, I am still thankful to this day that I attended! After this many years!
This conference were not hosted by SUN themselves. Instead, an agency, specialized in events, were hosting the event. It was a world wide tour with many stops, so in such sense, it was more as a circus or as touring the rock concert…
But still! SUN is a software company and so is Xojo.
Both companies need to attract developers to feed the business.
Just think! What would happen if Xojo was all for free? Not the hotel and the other expenses, of-course, but the other fees that is! What will happen!? How many visit XDC? From the photos, 200 people? Maybe a free conference will attract 800-1.000 people? In what sense will Xojo be the looser to attract the greater audience!?
At least, the audience will not be less if it’s free than if it’s a $300 “supporter fee” attached to the visit!
For me, it’s not possible to see such connection.
Also, I believe SUN, in 2001, had some contracts with subcontractors or partners. Why wouldn’t the same apply to Xojo!? There is a word for these companies, in English, as I can’t remember while typing… Simply, third party companies.
As for me, I really don’t mind such fee as the cost for hotel and flight will be still quite much.
But I was so much impressed of the Java Open conferee, back in 2001! It was so much valuable for me!
@Jakob Krabbe
And yet Sun is gone while Xojo persists how strange
I guarantee you, Jakob, there was a TON of cost involved in doing this … just nothing you had to pay but others (e.g., Sun) did. I would think that Sun Microsystems back then was orders of magnitude larger in size and resources than XOJO is today. Their ability to stage that event and absorb the costs to achieve the marketing benefits they did cannot realistically be compared to the current modern day XOJO business position. Perhaps (hopefully?) XOJO will grow to a large enough size sometime in the future that a conference like you attended would become a possibility … but for now, we’re talking apples and oranges. Think of it this way … Stefan Persson (business magnate) would find it quite a bit easier to invite me and others to Sweden for a week-long conference than Jakob Krabbe would … even though Jakob Krabbe might dearly wish to do so for the benefits it would bring him! ^^
Oh, we could simply have someone sponsor the room and everyone pays his own beverages/food and make it really low cost. But I actually prefer to pay for a ticket and have things included, because the ticket clearly a business expense.
I participated in one of these Sun grand masses back in the days. Nothing too big for them.
But remember, Java is in the top ten of the TIOBE index (actually number one lately), when as much as I am fond of, Xojo it is not even in the 100.
The resources Sun had versus Real Software was beyond comparisons.
I was poking around the other day on one of the hotels sites looking at hotels in Paris and found some really decent hotels in Sept / Oct that were not outrageous . My wife and I would like to go to europe
There are things like Quality Inns (part of the Choice Hotels group) that do have locations in many major centers (london paris frankfurt etc) that are 4 star or better
Many have conference facilities & rooms that are reasonable
Paris had a very useful web site
http://en.convention.parisinfo.com/events/our-members/conference-hotels
http://conventionbureau.london/venues
http://www.frankfurt-tourismus.de/messe/en/frankfurt/congress?reset=1
What I dont know is what would be good districts for a conference hotel with things to walk to vs not so good districts
I know if I headed for Paris I would like to be where I can easily walk to the Eiffel Tower and other attractions (maybe the Louvre?)
In London Buckingham palace, Parliament, Hype park and others
[quote=203945:@Norman Palardy]I was poking around the other day on one of the hotels sites looking at hotels in Paris and found some really decent hotels in Sept / Oct that were not outrageous . My wife and I would like to go to europe
There are things like Quality Inns (part of the Choice Hotels group) that do have locations in many major centers (london paris frankfurt etc) that are 4 star or better
Many have conference facilities & rooms that are reasonable
Paris had a very useful web site
http://en.convention.parisinfo.com/events/our-members/conference-hotels
http://conventionbureau.london/venues
http://www.frankfurt-tourismus.de/messe/en/frankfurt/congress?reset=1
What I dont know is what would be good districts for a conference hotel with things to walk to vs not so good districts
I know if I headed for Paris I would like to be where I can easily walk to the Eiffel Tower and other attractions (maybe the Louvre?)
In London Buckingham palace, Parliament, Hype park and others[/quote]
Paris is not a very big city, and it has an excellent metro network, so as long as you are close to a metro station you are fine.
There are no bad areas per se, as long as you are within the city (suburbs can be strange), but I would say that the closer to the river Seine, the more interesting the areas.
I am in favour of an European Xojo Con… And of course It would be great to see this Con in Holland… maybe somewhere close to a beach? ( and, I am selfish - close to an GA Airport perhaps?)
I agree, if all you want is a bed for the night, it doesn’t really matter where you stay if the metro is close by. Likewise with London or NYC - I usually stay in Queens as it’s far cheaper than staying on Manhattan. If the first thing you do in the morning is get on the Subway to go somewhere, does it matter if you get on the Subway in Queens or Manhattan?
Paris is absolutely gorgeous in September, my wife and I used to go every year until the kids came along and we started doing more family-oriented vacations in the States etc. But we’re going back next month - fancy a beer there Norman?
we usually travel by Eurostar and sometime we go to paris/brussels just for a day trip mostly for work.
We would not want to go by eurostar for the time being since all the problems with the eurotunnel and migrants.
Gavin is right about the metro/underground being so convenient in london and paris
Who is Stefan Persson? This man is not my friend, but if he invites you to Sweden you’d be a fool to reject…!! 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Persson_(magnate)
I’m a creative dude!
All is possible, with the right approach. It’s how I live and how I think and act.
I also redesigned some classic sayings in my previous life:
“You can’t please 'em all – but it’s fun to try!”
That’s how I code.
“The customer is always right – but not all the time.”
That’s how I code, plan my projects and think of the users.
I think the fee is fine. I’m not complaining.
But if Xojo wanted different, then, different is all possible!
I think Xojo shall make the conference any style they wish and simply don’t care about the voices on a forum like this.
As I wrote above, it’s not possible to please them all…! Some will like it, others not.
With the fee, people are unhappy, without the fee, people still will be unhappy, but for other reasons.
Same with the recordings. Why do they just upload to Youtube and share for all to use, to look at?
Because it’s a decision!
Look at TED.com!
Why do they send the speeches for free? Because the meeting IRL is the core of the business and to attract people IRL, videos are for free.
What does Xojo want? Attract new developers or only feed the current crow?
Xojo is not a small company. “Over 290,000 users worldwide.” You do the maths.
I’m not saying things are right or wrong. All I’m saying, with a different approach all is possible!
There are plenty of different companies hosting free event of all kinds, for any reason! It’s fun, how you misunderstand my post, on purpose!
Try see the red thread instead of focus on the errors! Please!
Nej men hej … Det förstår jag! Jag är inte tokig!
Inget problem … det gör jag!
Whats being discussed would more likely be a xojo USER organized conference that xojo inc could send people to
Dana’s stated several times that a European conference is too expensive to bring the entire company to
Probably wont be this year we get there
Next year maybe if theres an event to attend as we already have a big trip in the works - taking the train across canada and staying in a bunch of cities
Will probably take 3 weeks to do that