If you’re just going to get one thing out of this article, it’s this: Vegas is a bad idea for RailsConf ‘09.
Here’s the story. At the end of RailsConf ‘08, in Portland for its second year, Chad Fowler tentatively announced the location of next year’s RailsConf, saying something like “We’re not sure what you’ll think about this, but what about Las Vegas?” Upon which the crowd erupted in cheering, thereby supposedly confirming the Vegas idea. But afterwards, I talked to a dozen people who said they thought Vegas was a bad idea. And in the month since then, I haven’t talked to a single person who was excited about it. That’s how crowds work, I guess – the 10% of Rails developers who enjoy gambling, strippers, and steak applauded loudly, and the 30% of don’t have a strong opinion one way or another got swept up in the excitement.
Of course, it doesn’t really matter – holding the next RailsConf in Las Vegas won’t kill Rails, and won’t set the Rails community on a future of drunkenness, adultery, and gambling. I’m sure most conference-goers will fly in, attend sessions, have dinner, and hack in their hotel lobbies, just like any other conference.
But it’s still a bad idea.
DARE to keep RailsConf different
If you haven’t already, check out Giles Bowkett’s recent post on the situation. He talks about Ruby Central’s desire to “keep RailsConf weird.” What’s especially confusing, as Giles points out, is that the Vegas announcement came after DHH’s keynote, which said that we should get more sleep and use our advantages for good, not evil (in the form of hookers and fur coats). Charles Nutter made a similar point, saying that Rails + enterprise doesn’t have to mean steak and strippers.
As Giles puts it,
DHH is saying, “No hookers! Choose a life well-lived!” And RailsConf is like, “Screw Portland! We’re going to Vegas!”
Portland was a great place for a conference. Portland has great food & beer, cool hotels, the world’s biggest bookstore, and a dozen movie-theater-pubs. Every night after the conference, a thousand Rails geeks would descend upon the city’s first-rate brewpubs and coffee shops to meet people, eat and drink, and discuss programming, politics, philosophy, or whatever. $5.99 steak buffets just won’t be the same. I really enjoyed my twice annual trip to Portland, and would love to go back again. If Ruby Central wants to keep RailsConf edgy, it can’t do much better than Portland.
Of course, if we don’t want to do RailsConfs ‘09, ‘10, ‘11, and ‘12 in the same place, there is no lack of great cities to consider. What about Seattle? Boston? Austin? San Diego? San Francisco? New York? Kansas City? Toronto? Vancouver? Minneapolis?
Is RailsConf worth it?
So enough about Vegas. I get asked from time to time if RailsConf is worthwhile. My answer is: “Yes (I think).”
The first RailsConf was small(er), high energy, and novel. Rails was just on the brink of mainstream acceptance, which is a fun time in the life of a technology – it’s growing rapidly but is still edgy. The sessions were generally high quality, and the keynotes were excellent (Dave Thomas, Martin Fowler, David Heinemeier Hansson, Paul Graham, and _why).
RailsConf 2007 was a completely different conference, what with O’Reilly and 1600 attendees. Ze Frank was great, but the overall session quality was pretty weak. There were some great talks, to be sure; but there weren’t enough really deep technical talks, and some of the presenters didn’t seem to have really practiced. Things were probably set off on the wrong note from the beginning: Day 0’s 3-hour tutorials were mostly disappointing. Also, there seemed to be an abundance of non-programmer business folks, probably there to check out this new thing called Rails.
This year’s conference was quite a bit better. It had the same polished feel that O’Reilly brings, which is both good and bad. Keynotes were mixed. But mainly, the sessions were mostly really good. Whatever David Black, Chad Fowler, and Rich Kilmer did to improve the session quality, it worked. Interestingly enough, it seemed like the non-programmers were gone this year.
RubyConf 2007 (the only one I’ve attended) felt a lot like RailsConf 2006. It had a similar size, a similar venue, and somewhat similar atmosphere. Sessions were good, and I learned quite a bit. Most of the people there were Rails developers, but they were the ones who were interested in Ruby as a language and not just as the technology behind Rails.
So my answer is that RailsConf is worth it, as long as it follows the 2008 path. It will never look like 2006 again; big RailsConfs are here to stay. But 2008 was reasonably graceful for a big conference. I just hope it doesn’t fall into the 2007 trap, which will happen if it tries to cater to managers and the mainstream. It’s impossible to know what next year’s conference will look like, though I think the success of 2008 was a conscious rejection of some of the failures of 2007. And if you’re looking for something smaller and edgier, there’s always RubyConf, RubyFringe, and the regional conferences.
(Two updates.
First, the title of this article was ambiguous, so I changed it from “Just say ‘no’ to RailsConf Las Vegas” to “Just say ‘no’ to Vegas, RailsConf”. The title was supposed to say “Vegas is a bad idea for RailsConf,” not “Don’t attend if it is in Las Vegas.” If you decide not to attend because of the location, that’s fine – but I’ll consider being there either way.
Second, thanks to Chad Fowler and David A. Black for weighing in. Conferences are a lot of work, as Luke knows on a smaller scale, and I can’t imagine what kind of work Ruby Central puts into RailsConf each year. Especially when they’d probably be hacking. :) So thanks for the work, and the conferences that result.)
I’m a bit biased, but I live in Vegas and this would be great for me. There are plenty of places to hold the conference of of the strip so the temptation of “sin” ;) would be less. I hope it is held in Vegas. I will be coming for sure then.
No offense to Russ, but I despise Vegas.
It’s hard to get around without a car; there’s not much interesting to do unless you like overpriced shows, gambling, or strippers; and it’s hot.
There’s probably a dozen places I’d rather visit for RailsConf than Vegas (Jon lists a few), and if it’s held there, I’ll have to think hard about going, especially if I have to pay for it myself.
Hopefully, the organizers will re-think this idea.
I completely agree. I think Vegas is actually one of my least liked places on earth. I can definitely say that if RailsConf is in Vegas next year, I won’t be attending. Nor will I pay for or encourage my employees to attend. I’d look into RailsConf Europe or one of the other Ruby/Rails focused conferences around the country.
I suggested to the organizers that they consider a place with an Amtrak station, say Kansas City, Saint Louis or Memphis, especially with the price of fuel nowadays. (I also had a thought about going with someone to hack with for a day each way on the train.)
Speaking of other Rails conferences, I wonder if there is enough interest for either an alternate, or a smaller, regional version to make it worthwhile for someone to step up and do that.
+1 Boston, +1 Austin, +1 Nashville, +1 New Orleans
I completely agree. I think Vegas is actually one of my least liked places on earth. I can definitely say that if RailsConf is in Vegas next year, I won’t be attending. [..] I’d look into RailsConf Europe
It’s fine “retaliating” (or whatever it is) by considering RailsConf Europe instead of RailsConf proper, but Berlin makes Las Vegas look like a utopia. If you’re judging based on the city, RailsConf Europe is no solution.
Nor will I pay for or encourage my employees to attend.
Well that’s mature. My way or the highway.
Why not somewhere more central, instead of waaaay on the other side of America for me? Somewhere like Chicago, I mean, that is where rails was born right? Anyone can get flights there for really really cheap. Its like $70 for me from Nashville (opposed to the 200-300 to Portland).
+1 to Chicago, Memphis, St. Louis or any city that is a flight HUB and more central America.
And a big +1 to Nashville, my hometown.
Why not just let the attendees vote on it? like sign up now way ahead of time and get to vote? I mean its the American way right? (or at least it was the American way…)
Great post btw…
Peter: “Berlin makes Las Vegas look like a utopia”
Really? I’ve never been to Berlin but everything I’ve heard has been positive. What’s bad about it?
+1 anywhere but Vegas +1 fewer speakers, more group activities
I’m all down for it being in Vegas. It could even be held in Summerlin, or Henderson for all I care. The rails community here is so small, and it would be nice to expand the community and bring more awareness to this php/flash driven city.
I can agree with the “hot” thing, but 72 degree Air conditioned building is going to feel the same anywhere, unless the building is being cooled by a swamp cooler, and it’s humid outside. The point of RailsConf, isn’t to check out a new city, and spend money on shows and “hookers” or whatever. You should take that time to meet new programmers from all over the country. I think Railsconf should be floating. 1 year in one city, the next year in a different one. This gives more opportunity to those who can’t normally go.
I can say with certainty that I will not be traveling to Vegas for RailsConf. I am not a big fan of Vegas unless I am going there just to get real freaky (then that’s a different story). RailsConf for me is not a party and a chance for me to lose my money at the tables. RailsConf is about learning and getting to know other developers. I love Portland (That’s where I live after all), but I would be down with some other cities.
BTW, thanks to the Vegas rails community for voicing their opinions. Nothing personal, of course, and maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised if the conference ends up there.
If railsconf was to be held in vegas, I could get a conference room with Emerald At Queens Ridge, which is no where near hookers, or the strip or anything bad. Get a discount, and people can stay at the RedRock hotel, or Mt Charleston where it’s nice and cool.
Honestly, Vegas is more then “strippers” and “steak dinners” and “black jack tables”. It’s a normal city like any other city. Anyone who thinks that coming to vegas means you have to go to a strip club, or go to a casino and gamble is an idiot. Plus, all the best hookers and blow are in Pahrump!
As Sean said, “RailsConf is about learning and getting to know other developers”. It shouldn’t matter where you are when you do this.
I agree with taelor. Do it in Chicago, I place that a lot of people can fly to in 2 hours for cheap. Austin would be cool too.
I understand that people do (and always will) have opinions about where we hold our conferences. I don’t expect everyone to be happy with them. There is, however, a lot to consider when putting one of these on other than where would be coolest, etc. Personally I’d love to do one in Memphis or New Orleans. It’s just easier said than done.
Our goal, btw, is to move RailsConf every two years. We move RubyConf every year (by design) so we can make it easier for people to get to it and so we can vary the environment a bit. For this reason we likely won’t go back to Chicago any time soon since we started there.
Whatever city we choose, we’re going to lose some people because they don’t want to go or can’t go there. That’s OK. It’s been that way since the first RubyConf. But there’s nothing symbolic about Las Vegas. We’re certainly not considering going there for strippers and gambling. We would be going there despite the strippers, etc. which make up that side of Las Vegas’s persona. To us, it’s a location with lots of cheap flight routes and tons of meeting and hotel space. It’s logistically just about perfect.
I’m glad you felt that 2008 was an improvement over 2007. We definitely worked hard and made some specific focused decisions about the program and it looks like it paid off. We also have the ever-increasing advantage of the Rails community getting smarter, more experienced, and more diverse. I think most of the credit for the program this year has to go to that. We got tons of excellent proposals, so it was hard to even narrow down into one huge conference.
@chadfolwer +1
Vegas is a great town when it comes to catering to conferences.
People really need to get over the “steak and strippers” bit. There’s a whole lot more to Vegas than that. Heck, go see Hoover Dam. Go see Ka. Checkout Caesar’s Palace or the Luxor – they’re fun just to walk through (and will take you longer than you think).
You would definitely want a hotel away from the strip, though – too expensive, and the traffic is bad. But away from the strip? No worse than any other major city as far as I could tell.
If you really want weird, then I vote for RailsConf: Pattaya. >:)
Jeremy says, “The point of RailsConf, isn’t to check out a new city…”
I respectfully disagree. I spend a lot of money to go to conferences…probably too much. It’s part work, part vacation. If the conference is held in a cool city, I can extend my stay and have fun too!
And don’t forget the after-hours events. Those often the coolest part of a conference. A place like Portland makes that easy. Some hotel in the ‘burbs means you’re going to be sitting around at the hotel bar drinking $7 Bud Lites. Woohoo.
Chad—I agree on finding a venue with direct flights from all over the country (and world). I just hope it would be someplace more interesting than Las Vegas.
Wrote my $0.02 WRT conferences ad nauseum here
Short version: Leaving Portland sad. Leaving O’Reilly good. More hacking, more soul, less talking heads, more conversation.
Hell no, I won’t go to Vegas.
I dislike almost everthing about Las Vegas. Quite likely I will no longer attend RailsConf should such a choice be made.
-1 Boston and Chicago: Love those cities, but they’re expensive as @#x%x!
+1 Los Angeles (LA Convention Ctr has stupid-cheap rates, or did), SFO/SJC, Seattle, or Portland again.
+2 Orlando, Atlanta, Raleigh-Durham, Kansas City, Austin, or some other non-west-coast location with reasonable airfare and room rates and a good vibe.
And seriously, consider Orlando.
When I heard RailsConf would be in Vegas, the chances of my attending immediately dropped to about 50%. Now that I hear from so many other folks that they don’t like Vegas either and may not attend, it’s rapidly crossing the 25% mark.
Last year I turned down a paid speaking invitation to stay in the Venetian (very, very nice) for four days. That’s a free trip to Vegas to stay in one of the spendier and nicer hotels. Why didn’t I go? Because I attended the previous year with Tom Enebo and we got stuck paying $8 for bottles of Sierra Nevada and eventually ended up having goddamn Chipotle for dinner one night because we were fed up with the price of everything. Later I was informed that that conference has moved out of Vegas, and I can now consider attending or speaking again.
I understand the need for a venue that can handle a lot of people, but why is Vegas the answer? There’s dozens of cities that can fit the bill. Hell, even Portland would have worked…there was room to spare this year. And as far as community-building, I think Portland was great…lots of good restaurants and brewpubs, easy transit and hotels near the venue, and plenty of places to land for hackfests and meetups. Vegas? We’ll be dodging tourists, gambling addicts, and pimps handing out escort service phone numbers. Any place reasonably-priced for side events and large dinners will either be shitty, shitty buffets or far from the venue. Oh, and don’t forget to rent a car, or you’ll be taking a goddamn taxi everywhere. Teh suck, truly.
Perhaps someone should organize an anti-RailsConf or a RubyWebConf that’s inclusive of all web frameworks, preferably somewhere in the Midwest that’s cheap and two hours from everywhere. St Louis? Minneapolis? I’ve been spending the better portion of my life trying to stay away from Vegas, and I don’t think RailsConf will be enough to bring me back.
I know Chad and company are doing what they think is best for RailsConf, and I’ve got a lot of trust in them, based on their past performance. I bet RailsConf 09 will be great.
But, yeah, I’ve avoided Vegas my whole life, and there’s not much – not RailsConf, definitely – that could get me to go there. Portland is a hacker’s dream town: quirky and actively positive about intellectualism. A conference extends past the conference center (hopefully), and I’ll miss Portland dearly.
I have not heard one person complain about Portland. I also have not talked to one person that would have a problem if it were in Portland every time. So, why move it?
Maybe I could be talked into moving around is a good idea. But Vegas? I can think of about a dozen more fun places to visit. I am with Luke in that I like to make conferences part work/ part vacation. If it is Vegas then it will be in and out only. I could not make it this year. If it is Vegas next year I will probably still go but I will not leave the hotel much, if at all.
@Luke Francl
No offense, but you sound like the typical Las Vegas tourist.
Re: Difficult to get around without a car…
You’re going to have to clarify that statement. Are you attempting to walk everywhere? You do realize we have cabs, just like any other major city, right? In fact we have limos, too. Often the limos are cheaper than the cabs. You can always rent a car, too.
Re: ... there’s not much interesting to do unless you like overpriced shows, gambling, or strippers…
Las Vegas has a wealth of community and “things to do” outside the strip. We have a Natural History Museum, Sunset Park with year-round events, several art museums, Bonnie Springs ‘Old Nevada’, Hoover Dam, legal 1/4 mile racing every other Friday night at the Las Vegas Speedway during the summer, First Friday amateur and professional art shows every month, etc.
Re: It’s hot.
Yes it is. Bring shorts. Keep hydrated. Stay inside.
In summary…
The primary argument I see being slung is that Las Vegas is a pit of purgatory. Sex, drugs and gambling—can’t let Rails be seen there ‘lest our precious community be labeled outsiders; untouchables.
Think about your roots before you go slinging mud on someone’s home.
Rails and Ruby are still seen by some in the corporate world as a toy. Does that bother you? Do you really care what a Java or PHP developer thinks of your framework? I hope not.
You use the framework because you love it; because it makes the task of building beautiful, useful websites a joy. The fact that some people consider Rails a ghetto doesn’t phase you, because you know better. Chances are other developers are jealous, scared or simply ignorant.
So please, don’t be the Java developer to my Ruby town. It’s just tacky.
Why not Washington, DC? It’s on the east coast, for a change. It has three airports, a ton of hotels, frequently hosts conferences and has a vibrant Ruby and Rails community. And there is a ridiculous amount of stuff to do, outside of the conf itself, that isn’t the least bit sketchy.
Ick! Vegas is so far from where i want the rails community to be. It’s the worse of generic conference towns with ugly glitz. Worse than holding your conference in Duluth in January.
Hell, next year caboose conf will have to be held in another city cus you just can’t pull off the open unconference in Vegas.
+1 for Boston, Philly or DC
Peter: “Berlin makes Las Vegas look like a utopia”
That’s just plain weird. Berlin is a great city with something for everybody. Vegas is .. well, depressing to say the least.
The comedian Rita Rudner started her routine, the night I saw it, by saying something along the lines of, “No matter where you’re from, Las Vegas is the opposite.” I think that’s a great (and funny) way to sum up the city.
As Chad says, there’s literally no such thing as a conference city (or conference cruise ship, or conference mountain retreat) which will make everyone happy. For better or worse, the only thing one can do is try to rotate the unhappiness. Of course, we look at it in a positive light: we’re using our conferences as a way to provide interesting travel opportunities, and we like the fact that so many of them take place in different places and have memories associated with specific cities.
Those of you who don’t like the Vegas plan: please try to see it this way. If we go to your favorite city, there will be people who aren’t happy with it. I know this for a fact, because I’ve been co-organizing one or more conferences a year since 2001 and that’s how it is. There’s no universally perfect city that we’ve overlooked. We’re not on a quest for the one perfect city, because there isn’t one.
And keep in mind that we may in fact go to your favorite city at some point. Washington, DC was mentioned above; we had RubyConf in Chantilly, VA in 2004. We do scour the land for cities, believe me.
And if you believe nothing else I’ve said, please believe that Ruby Central has a space between “Ruby” and “Central” :-)
Please don’t consider this an attack, you are free to your own opinion, of course, but are we so devoid of personality that our community is defined by the 5 days a year we spend in a city to gather?
The way I see it, logistics is the only problem to answer when choosing a venue. We make or break the festivities when the conference is taking place, the only way the city itself will do that to us is if we let it.
If anything, the real problem with vegas would be the cost of incidentals… the beers, the food, the transportation. That’s a legitimate concern, in my opinion.
David: appropriate spacing added. I’ll believe you on that, and on your other point, that it’s impossible to please everyone with a venue.
Chad et al: I understand that Vegas is set up for conferences. I’ve never been to a conference there (really, I’ve only spent a few days there, so I’m certainly no expert). What would a LV conference be like? Convention center in the suburbs? Convention center on the strip? Hotel ballroom? Would attendees need a rental car (or taxi) to get around?
Everyone: thanks for (mostly) keeping this conversation civil. Let’s be a user community that thoughtfully voices our opinions, and not a community that bitches and moans when we don’t like something.
In the interest of unity I would go along with a change of venue if it can make everyone happy. However, I find the morality argument off putting and illogical.
Besides Vegas, Portland, Oregon is one of the biggest stripper club towns in the United States. There’s at least two within walking distance of the Oregon Convention Center. If someone lays out $1000 to $2000 to attend RailsConf and ends up spending all their time with the strippers then that’s on them. Nothing about the venue is going to change that. We are not paying O’Reilly a big chunk of change for morality.
I was planning on going to RailsConf, but not now. Not Vegas.
Why not Boston?
Wow, I’m just amazed at the reaction to going to vegas. I would have never though that this many people would be so passionate about a city.
@Scott, in regards to the cost of the beers, all I have to say is $1.75 drafts! Ahh yeah!
Well, honesty, I still feel the “point” to RailsConf is to learn more about Rails and talk about Programming and get to know the community better, I could care less which town it was in. If I can afford it, I would go to po’ dunk BFE if I had to.
Being in the Marines, I have been to more damn cities then I would ever need to go to normally, and I can say that if your broke, every town is just as boring and lame as the next.
@Daniel & Russ, guess we’re not loved :)
@Daniel Waite and others
I loved Portland because I can get around for free and explore downtown. And getting to the hotels from the airport was really simple. And the train/buses/etc. made frequent stops. In the southwest things tend to be more spread out and into the urban sprawl where you have to have a car to get around. Taxis seem to be the major transportation in Vegas, and those can get expensive, especially these days. I won’t be going it it in that area of the US, i would just like to be able to get around without renting a car because i’m under 25, or paying for taxis
+1 for Toronto! I’m totally biased however …
Montreal would also make for an interesting location. It’s unlike any other North American city.
I for one would just like to say thanks to Chad Fowler and the rest of the team that put on RailsConf 2008. You guys did a great job and I will do my best to attend the conference next year regardless of city. You have a tough job and no matter what city you choose someone will say “I’m not going to RailsConf next year because you’re having it in XYZ”. Las Vegas is nice because it’s relatively easy to get to and it’s cheaper to get to than most other cities. I really think people need to lighten up on all the complaints including the stripper stuff. Sheesh – what city doesn’t have strippers? I’ve probably been to Vegas 15 times in my life and I’ve never been to a strip show… Hmmm… What a minute – I guess I’m way overdue…
Jon, glad you wrote this blog entry! I agree, NO to Vegas. I think Vegas is one of those things people would cheer in such a situation as was had at RailsConf this year. But, I couldn’t agree more, the actual usefulness and reality of having RailsConf in Vegas seems terrible. I think Portland is great (one of my favorite cities), for many of the reasons folks have already stated. Vegas would be a distraction, and just doesn’t seem appropriate – is that atmosphere what you go to RailsConf for? If you want to go to Vegas, go to Vegas, but don’t devalue RailsConf by having it there. Oh, and Vegas isn’t “weird,” it’s just Vegas, heck, it’s probably pretty mainstream all things considered.
If it can’t be in Portland, there’s many other great places, as also stated. I didn’t think RailsConf this year was as stellar as some. The tutorials were mostly a waste IMHO, but maybe I chose the wrong ones. The sessions were a mix, but I don’t think they were strong enough consistently, that it puts into question my attendance. Go the next step and take RailsConf to Vegas, and I’ll pass. I don’t mind Vegas itself, been there several times, but it’s just not what I’d go to RailsConf for. What they’re doing for RubyConf in Orlando later this year seems better. Yes, it’s sort of an all-in-one resort and so on, but my interpretation is that the idea there is to actually facilitate the socializing, the impromptu gatherings of conference attendees, and generally facilitate an even deeper experience for the conference topic at hand.
RailsConf may be too big for that particular setup, but already there was CabooseConf and the frequent (to my ear) grumblings about lack of time to talk to other attendees and so on. Casinos and strip clubs aren’t going to facilitate that.
So, RailsConf folks, please consider strongly that this is a technical conference that (hopefully!) people are attending to share knowledge, learn more, socialize with their peers in that setting, and so on. I love going out, eating great food and drink and so on (and Portland is very good for that), and think that needs to be a part of it, but Vegas simply doesn’t seem like a solution.
How about making RailsConf cost about $150 for everyone? When tickets cost as much as they do, most of the people who attend are there because they got their company to pay for it.
What about the rest of us? Really, anything over $200 is absurd.
Vegas is nice b/c it’s a cheap airport for everyone to fly into from around the US.
+1 for Boston +2 for Austin
I’m not terribly interested in going to Vegas.
However, I’m devastated at the idea of not making an annual trip to Portland!
It’s become my 2nd favourite city behind Toronto, and made RailsConf something I look forward to all year. Ground Kontrol, Powell’s, free transit, Upper Playground, Voodoo Doughnut, Dante’s, Shanghai Tunnel, Ace Hotel… plus it’s just a beautifully weird, kooky place.
Having now organized RubyFringe, I can say that having O’Reilly involved to handle the heavy lifting and logistics is a good thing. I don’t think they get involved with speaker selection, anyhow – that’s Chad. So if O’Reilly goes, remember that they’d have to be replaced with someone else. If No Fluff wanted to get involved, that would make me happy. However, there’s a lot of downright shitty conference promotion companies out there, folks. This might be a “devil you know” kind of situation.
+1 Portland!
I would really like to go to Portland again. I like it there. I understand the desire to move it around so I would suggest Seattle, DC, or Monterray, CA.
I probably won’t attend if it is in Vegas.
Steve
Portland has several things going for it: - Good and inexpensive beer - Good and inexpensive public transportation
Las Vegas has neither of those benefits. Nor does it have Powell’s!
I am rather unsure about Vegas… was this a way to strike back at the CabooseConf people?
Ron E: rumor is that RailsConf ‘09 will feature a free CabooseConf track, so I don’t think they’re striking back at them.
Pete: I think you’re right about the “devil you know”. O’Reilly is probably better than most.
Ronald: $800 may not be cheap, but it’s pretty affordable compared to many conferences. Look up NFJS, Business of Software, OSCON, Etech, and most others. I think the cheapest pay conference I know of is Webmaster Jam Sessions, and even that starts at $250. Other than BarCamp/free conferences, are there really $150 conferences?
Vegas is a convenient location since you can get a cheap flight there from just about anywhere. There are also lots of direct flight options. This year was my first year attending Rails Conf and I have to say that I didn’t think the location was all that.
The conference center was 15-20 minute walk from the hotel and there were no restaurants or amenities within walking distance. Yeah the downtown was great but not convenient.
Let me guess. You live in Portland! LOL Anyways, wherever it may be I am showing my support.
-1 Las Vegas +1 Portland (just figured out the best places outside of the conference)
Actually, the hackfest angle in Portland could have been better (thanks to Railsconf organization for setting up plenty of on-conference-site hacking areas—though you could not hack their until 2am which was the complaint…). Las Vegas is bound to be worse since people will not likely be in the same hotel. Hotel prices and deals for conference spaces seems like people will be more spread out. Perhaps this is just pessimistic thinking…
Charlie mentioned me in his response and I can only concur that reasonable restaurant options are always a decent cab ride away (plus spendy) and the beer for some totally mysterious reason is heinous (this could just be my last two trips there and not knowing where to go—which is stark in contrast to Portland).
The drunk tourists walking around with plastic Eiffel towers in their hands is also a bit much to take after the first two hours…It makes you almost want to hide in your room…Thankfully, the conference reduces that exposure for most of the day.
To Chad and David I have a fair amount of sympathy….It is hard to organize a conference. I just think more people probably dislike Vegas as a tech conference location than most places (hell I would even go to Charlotte before that—sorry Charlotte). To say no one will be happy with any location is much different than many people will be unhappy with a location….I think that is my key argument.
Thanks to Jon for raising the visibility of this…
-Tom