And tickets have been available for roughly 3-4 months now ;-) If you were among the earliest, you could've gotten it at as low a price as EU 160 inc VAT. And even then this conf is run at a loss. (We're not in it for the money though, we want to grow and inspire the EU startup scene instead).
Who knew conferences were expensive like that right? We certainly didn't when first working on this, so I can't blame you that you seem surprised. The best way to explain/understand is by trying to organise a conf first-hand, it's definitely been an enlightening experience for us.
Just to give you an idea of what is involved:
- Rent an awesome venue for your awesome attendees
- Designing the entire conf
- 300+ Badges/lanyards/programmes/posters/etc...
- Website / Payment systems/checkin systems
- On floor staff of about 12 people for the entire day
- Hire camera folks for video registration
- Hire photographers
- Hire audio technicians and technicians to operate projectors etc...
- Flying over international speakers (and amazing speakers they are indeed)
- Provide lodging for those international speakers
- Organizing a speaker dinner
- Make nice food available for your 300+ attendees during the two lunch breaks.
- Have a nice party at the end with drinks and laughter.
This all culminates into hundreds upon hundreds of hours of work (if not thousands, I lost track somewhere along the line), and many tens of thousands of euro's. The only reason this doesn't reach the 6 figure mark is because of sponsors and the voluntary work we put in this. I hope that after hearing this, EU 300 doesn't sound that crazy anymore ;-)
There are similar events that cost 700+ EUR for one day. With 300 EUR (and 60 EUR student ticket), BubbleConf is already taking a loss in order to make the event accessible to a large number of people.
- entry points in education systems using dutch influencers.
- Cheap resources like specialised Housing
- Facilitate talent coming into the country with more information on how to set yourself up and who to talk to.
- Small enterprise and startup awareness campaigns
I'm an experienced visual designer working with startups for the last few years. I've just finished my 3rd Startup as a co-founder and now looking for some freelance or interesting opportunities.
An irish visual designer living in Amsterdam.
I have about 7 years experience from website/mobile to print. I have just finished up with my 3rd startup and need to rebuild my network (the joys of startup life).
I'm looking for new opportunities to get my teeth into.
moving from dublin to amsterdam the housing is a nightmare in general. But once you get the ring of it, you will be okay. There is more freelance opportunities but you need dutch working with the tax system.
It a relaxed transient culture in amsterdam and it takes time to break into circles.
And in general the weather is better than ireland.
Very true: "but you need dutch working with the tax system." Hell, even I have help with the tax-system. A small tip regarding housing: Visit the neighbourhood of choice after/around eight o'clock to get a feel of the streets.
If we can get the startup community in Amsterdam actively collaborating with each other I think Amsterdam could be as strong as any startup hub in Europe. Hence the mention of http://pitch.rs in the article.
Willing to work remote. Founder of startups and been CPO on other products and services from MVP to fully realised projects.
9 yrs experience. http://nephronim.com http://dribbble.com/nephronim
Contact me paul(at)nephronim.com