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Posted on Jul 13, 2009 - 1:05am by John P. in Finance, Wordpress
I’ve had many people asking about what it takes to actually put together WordCamp Dallas, and there have been a lot of questions specifically involving the costs associated with the event.
I’ve been hesitant to share all the details up to this point for a variety of reasons including:
However, I’ve decided that in the interests of the community I will share as many details as possible so that others who are looking to put on an event of this kind will understand what it’s going to take before they attempt to do it. The last thing we need are surprises, especially where money is involved.
Keep in mind that the costs outlined here were to cover around 350 attendees, plus live streaming of the event to a few hundred more around the world. Also know that WordCamp Dallas 2008 had a similar outcome, but at around 65% of the values here.
Total: $20,800
Total: $15,570 ($10,970)
So, as you can see, there is about a $5,000 shortfall from the event, plus another $5,000 that needs to make it’s way through from the sponsor’s Accounts Payable departments. This can be handled a few ways:
The point of the math here is that an event of this magnitude needs a benefactor. There must either be a company or an individual behind it for decision making purposes, financial responsibility, and accountability. Attendees, sponsors and venue personnel must have trust in the entity standing behind it.
It doesn’t require a huge weekend long venue to get people together for a common interest. MeetUp.com will allow you to organize small groups of people and you could have Meet-ups at a home, restaurant, park, or some other reasonable venue.
There is no need to feed people, or by T-shirts, and indeed you can avoid the majority of the costs from this event. Assuming you can get enough folks together you should be able to attract a few speakers who are willing to come share their experience.
You can also always go the BarCamp route. If you’ve got a group of folks who can go with the flow, and you can forgo most of the niceties such as WiFi and power for everyone, professional A/V recording, tables and chairs for meals, etc. then you can put together an event at any old place that offers to accomodate you, and invite sponsors to contribute whatever it takes to handle the event without any money changing hands.
People have events like this quite often, but keep in mind that someone still has to take responsibility. So if you are going to organize the event you will be on the hook from a liability standpoint. I highly recommend an Umbrella policy from your insurance provider.
This year we didn’t have to do it, but last year we had to provide event insurance to cover the city for providing the venue. Event insurance for around 200 people ran about $500-600 as I recall. Be prepared to provide this for just about anywhere you go if you are planning on an organized event. For an example, see the Sacramento State University’s requirements.
Often times, certain venues will require that you use their catering service. This can really increase the cost of an event, so double check to make sure you want to go that route.
Finally, you are going to need a LOT of volunteers. You will need people to do all sorts of labor, otherwise you are going to have to pay out the nose for it. These things include:
That’s just the top 10. You may come up with more.
So, this post is not meant to scare anyone from taking on the challenge of organizing a WordCamp, but rather to serve as a sort of blueprint from with to start the planning. You can scale the various elements up or down as needed depending on the size, budget and type of people who will be attending.
As always, I’m happy to answer questions, or if you need someone to give a lecture and my schedule permits I’m always up for a good WordPress party. Cheers!
Wow John,
Thanks for the semi-detail break down of the behind the scene cost for running of these event, I had no idea it would cost so much… words can not express my level of gratitude….. Thanks SO MUCH for everything!
First, thanks to you and your organization team for planning the event. It was outstanding.
So, for those of us that attended the event, where can we give you donations to help cover the shortfall? If each of the 350 attendees gave you another $15, we could make up that difference quickly. I know from my nonprofit association work that typically, 20% of the membership/attendees will actually make up 80% of the revenue. So if 70 of us gave you $75 each, we could make up that difference for you so you’re not underwriting the event.
As a professional meeting and event planner, I can appreciate wanting to meet budget and was amazed the registration fee was not higher. I can’t be a sponsor but I can give more and it was worth more than $30! So where is your online donation link & site?
Also, I wrote about my WordCamp2009 experience from the perspective of a meeting and event planner. Tips For Planning An Unconference: Lessons Learned From The Trenches .
Thanks again John!
I’m sure the Dallas WordPress users group plays a part in helping out with WordCamp. Do they help develop sponsors (and speakers) throughout the year? If the group volunteered to do this with intention, it might relieve a lot of the last-minute monetary pressures.
The event exceeded my expectations in every way (again). Thanks for your significant personal commitment that made it happen.
Thank you, John – for providing all of this information. I’m sure it will be super helpful in getting other WordCamp’s up and running!
And thank you so much for all of your hard work and time and own personal money making this event so wonderful! It really, really ROCKED! I still can’t get over having seen all that cool research stuff – that was so awesome of you to get that set up! :)
That is really detailed. I never knew its so expensive to hold a wordcamp.
Maybe it need the sponsor to cover expend.
I have in this same event in Januari 2009 in Indonesia. It’s very interesting event, Matt can share the knowledge , vision and mission of wordpress.
Thanks for the insight into the costs of putting on the Dallas WordCamp. I was definitely surprised at the expense, and personally took a lot away from the event. I felt that the $30 fee was low myself, and think you could have bumped it up and still gotten an excellent turnout. Hindsight, of course.
If you cut out the T-shirts and interpreters, you would break even.
You saying about cutting out the interpreters is NOT very nice.
True, cutting out interpreter does cut a huge cost. Unfortunately, it also cuts out the opportunity for many people people to attend. The internet has opened up an opportunity for Deaf children, teens, and adults to make their voices known in ways that were previously unavailable-blogs, video phones, emails, all allow the Deaf population to talk to one another, share their thoughts and views, and communicate with people who would not have ever seen them or “heard” their voice without this technology. I think cutting out interpreters cuts out a vital part of the community you are supposedly trying to reach.
Make the tshirts a purchased item, because many people there will buy them anyway, but please don’t make the conference unavailable to many people who would love to be there by cutting out the interpreters.
How many people were using the interpreter at WC Dallas?
5-6 people.
However, we only confirmed the interpreters less than a week before WordCamp. One important learning would be to either commit to doing this from the very beginning, or forego it. We did not give the deaf community enough notice to make everyone aware of the availability.
John
Aaron, are you serious? Really? You’d rather leave a whole population of people in the dust just to save $1,600? It’s people like you who make life a whole lot harder for those of us with hearing loss. (I’m including culturally deaf and late-deafened, hard-of-hearing, cochlear implant users…many of whom still rely on interpreters). Someone mentioned you’re an attorney. I can not believe someone who supposedly knows the LAW would suggest such a thing. We’re in the year 2009, not 1959. Try living a day in my shoes, then you won’t be such a jerk. I promise.
Are you really joking that cutting the cost of interpreters will save the money? The way you speak like that is considerable as a discrimination against the Deaf, Hard-of-hearing, and Hearing-Loss People. As if you are trying to being a racist against the color people or a sexism against the one of a gender. In case if you haven’t noticed that there’s America with Disability of Act (ADA) which are required to provide the interpreter anywhere the Deaf people made a request.
Since I noticed that you are an attorney, in case if you are new to ADA, please go back to the law school where you get your degree from and relearn the law all over again while you are still at it.
I suggest that you should think twice before speak like that especially if you are an attorney.
Aaron Hall, FYI, You mentioned about cutting off the interpreter truly appalling me.
Thanks for a nice observation on make the event break-even. I would strong encourage you to be more careful what you just said. “…cut the interpreter out…” It is an oppressive statement. Please remember this in future or you will be slap with civil rights/disabilities discrimination legal.
The event was amazing, and yes, the ticket price could have been more. However, the goal of WordCamps is to make them affordable and the lower price is in line with the national averages and the goals and desires of the WordPress Community.
The cost of the interpreters is a tough one as “public” events are required by law to provide them, especially if requested. Like insurance, these are things you cannot avoid if you do such an event.
Some WordCamps, as John pointed out, can be less formal, with speakers housed in homes not hotels and everyone volunteering their time and energy, more Barcamp style. I’ve been to a lot of WordCamps that topped $3,000 to $5,000 max, including t-shirts and interpreters, much of the high overhead donated. They don’t have to be expensive.
I love the idea that many organizations and associations use which is to raise money all year long with various activities to help offset the cost of the annual event. That makes sense, and it’s fun to involve more people and have fun with the fund raising. Think of family events, pizza making parties, digital rummage sales, and all kinds of ways people can raise money to help offset the costs of their monthly meetings as well as the annual WordCamp. I love it!
Some great work done here for the second annual WordCamp, and a lot of lessons being learned by all. Thanks for sharing!
Very nice write up on your WordCamp orginization experience. Will look over it as I prepare for WordCampLA.
really nice work
Why was my comment for Aaron Hall deleted?
Jared,
I did not delete any comments off of this thread. It is possible that Akismet flagged something as spam if you used a word that triggered it. Feel free to re-post whatever it was; however, I’m getting very upset at the comments directed at Aaron, so if people don’t lay off him I will begin deleting freely.
This blog is not here to insult fellow participants, so if people want to put forth rational arguments about why private citizens should pay to subsidize the needs of others, then so be it. But I’m putting everyone on a short leash here.
John P.
Here’s a rational argument: The Americans with Disabilities Act. It’s Federal law. To refuse accommodation is a violation.
Jill, et. al,
The Americans with Disabilities Act (aka the ADA) has a very, very specific set of circumstances in which it applies. For God’s sake people! If it normally would apply to you I would think that you would study it and understand it!
Here is the link. READ IT! Especially before you talk about it as if you were an authority…
The ADA:
WordCamps are absolutely, unequivocally, and without question, NONE of these. And in case you want to quibble about the definition of any of those – don’t bother. If you follow the link they are all spelled out quite clearly.
As I’ve stated before on numerous occasions, the ADA does not apply to privately held events. Think about it logically. If I wanted to have a party at my house and invite a bunch of friends over, you expect me to pay for an interpreter for my deaf friend; install ramps for my wheelchair ridden friend; have the invites interpreted to braille for my blind friend; etc.? Impossible! No matter how much I love them all.
I believer that Hare had the best suggestion for us all. While the ADA is there to protect disabled people from discrimination in the PUBLIC, it is up to the community to find creative ways to be accommodated in private settings.
Deaf people specifically need to get organized, form local groups on Meetup.com, pool resources, and reward people who accommodate you with your business and goodwill. Being nasty and making idle threats with laws that do not apply will get you nowhere, fast.
Good luck,
John P.
Dear John P.
How insensitive of you to dismiss us deaf and hard of hearing people from those events. How would you feel if you or your family wakes up one morning to find out you or they no longer hear anything? And experiencing all those frustrations every day for the rest of your lives? Hearing people babbling and laughing and leaving us out of their conversations? Missing announcements about subway diversions or flight changes? Hearing employers not hiring highly qualified workers with hearing loss or some of them firing them to “resolve” communication issues? Trying to educate hearing people that hearing aids are not like eye glasses? Being asked stupid questions such as if we can drive or if we can lipread (with our hands extended with a paper and pen). It is not fun.
And how dare you to compare this educational event with a “private party” at home! Not just this event is educational, it provides valuable network with many specialists in the same field. It is even more valuable for people with hearing loss.
As for the law, you overlooked this part:
http://www.nad.org/issues/civil-rights/ada/trade-shows-and-exhibitions
Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination based on disability in places of public accommodation. Public accommodations include hotels, convention centers, stadiums, and other places of exhibition, entertainment, or public gathering.
In compliance with Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Trade Show, Exhibition, Employment Fair, or Other Marketing Event Operator (hereinafter “Trade Show”) is committed to providing individuals with disabilities an equal opportunity to participate in Trade Show events and equal access to the services, facilities and accommodations offered by Trade Show at the events. Trade Show will not discriminate on the basis of disability in connection with the operation by Trade Show of Trade Show events.
Probably it won’t be until you or someone in your family gets stuck in a wheelchair or loses hearing or becomes blind that you will finally understand all those frustrations we go through.
Lana,
Clearly you’ve failed in your research prior to making these comments:
What in the HELL do you want from me? And why did you decide to attack the only guy who ever subsidized interpreters for one of these events? You think I’m ever going to do that again now?
John P.
No, I have not been to your event, but as a deaf person, I share my feeling with other deaf readers who posted their comments there. I have had to fight for my accessibility for many mainstream events myself, and I am sure so have been the other 36 million of deaf and hard of hearing people.
It is your attitude that is the problem – whinning about “significant costs” for accessibility services and trying to tell everyone to get away from the FEDERAL law. It is not appropriate to quote those fees into our faces, either.
There are ways to get your expenses covered – by seeking a sponsor, for example. It is very common for conferences to get them. I have been to some conferences that had sponsors who cover for parties and alcohol. It would make them look much better if they had spent money on accessibility for more people, for example, than getting more people wasted all night.
There are also other services for the deaf and hard of hearing, called CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) that would have benefited not only them, but also non-native English speakers, those learning to read, those in noisy or quiet environments, not having speakers, etc. Also, transcripts from the CART could be put online to share with more people – that way killing two birds with one stone by solving the problems of getting transcripts for the increasing number of videos and podcasts.
You said it is not an “educational” event. Well WordCamp happens all over the country in different cities. If people are free to attend, then would you say that hearing people are free to come but we deaf and hoh can “only if” a host thinks they “can” provide communication services to us? No wonder why deaf readers here are really upset – this got me upset, too.
To wrap up this, I would like to mention that of all the expenses you mentioned, it’s the t-shirts were the major expenses at your conference. Actually, they cost about twice as much as interpreting services did. Hmm.. It makes me wonder if it was really worth to spend $3,500 for those shirts? I personally think it was not necessary and even a waste of money since not everyone is interested in shirts or “need” them.
I write this also because I am a fan of WordPress, its commitment to open source and accessibility. Therefore, l would not tolerate attitude of event organizers like yourself who are not sensitive to people with hearing loss.
P.S. This conference is also considered as “educational” and there are laws requiring full accessibility to educational resources:
http://www.nad.org/issues/education/other-opportunities
Entities that provide educational opportunities, other than public schools, colleges, and universities, also have a responsibility to make sure they are accessible to deaf and hard of hearing individuals. Deaf and hard of hearing consumers want to – and have rights to – participate equally in these educational programs. Use the information in this section to inform others or advocate for equal access to a wide range of educational opportunities.
And Aaron Hall is an attorney? I think I’m more appalled that people in Minnesota actually relies on him to defend them …
R-
As a Deaf person who attended Word Camp Dallas (and benefited from it greatly), I find some of these comments aiming as attacks appalling.
Mr. Hall’s comment should not have offended some of us; instead, it should have provided us with an opportunity to educate the general public as to why communication access is necessary. Not everyone is familiar with neither the ADA nor the importance of providing communication access. If we (as Deaf individuals) want people to understand our communication needs, then we need to help others reach that understanding through diplomatic dialogue.
Unfortunately, some of these comments are setbacks for individuals like me, and possibly aiding the general public’s resistance for needing to accommodate us in the future. Again, I think this is a perfect opportunity to provide feedback as to how we can maximize the use of interpreters for events like this. But I will give that opportunity to someone else.
Putting an event together is no joke. I would love to do something down here in the far south of Africa, as there isn’t much going on here in terms of search marketing and other internet / tech events. Would you be interested in a South African Safari working holiday at some stage, John?
Jac3q,
South Africa would be awesome! I’d love to come down and help put on a WordCamp! :-) But there have to be a group of willing organizers there, and the ability to spread the word to the local community…
John P.
There was a nice WordCamp down there last year, here’s a link:
http://www.wordcamp.co.za/
I do have to really applaud Wordcamp for providing accessibility for the deaf community. This is the first open sourced organization that I have heard that have gone that way and provided opportunities to allow the deaf community to get involved. Now granted some are offended by certain comments, but do keep in mind that the deaf community has been oppressed for many years and they want to be contributing members of society. So its understandable that we would feel that we can’t be contributing members of society if we are not granted accessibility.
Now off to another point – I do agree if the admissions was only $30.00 bucks I would have charged higher. Some other events from some other open sourced events charge even 100% more than what was charged so it would be feasible to charge alot more. I mean heck if I was getting a shirt and a couple other freebies to go along with it – then $75.00 to $100.00 would be alot more feasible. But it is all a learn as you go type of experience.
Now in regards to the interpreter situation, I hope it becomes a learning experience and in the future that ways can be found to help to meet in the middle ground where we all can benefit from this.
I agree completely with comments from other deaf people – there’s a lot of education needed to be done to spread more awareness to hearing people about us and make them more sensitive to our frustrations with oral communication barriers by providing the fully accessible services to us in forms of CART and/or interpreting services.