Cost considerations for conferences

So we have identified the conferences that fit’s our business strategy and the people we aim to meet. So let’s look at costs:

• Cost of attendance: Usually there is training, courses or workshops available. Consider them an optional add-on, but there just might be a great opportunity to get into a detailed topic. Coaching for Testers and Scrum Master training are some great offers in it self. For the comparison below I will look for 3-day conference only.
• Flight: In comparing GOTO and OREDEV, I have made the assumption that I was living in Berlin, Germany. To rule out the advantage that GOTO have of being in my home town. OREDEV recommends landing in Copenhagen, while for most people outside Denmark probably would prefer Aarhus Airport, where connections are required. So it depends
• Hotel I will recommend staying in the same hotel as the speakers and the conference, not only for the ease of getting ion touch and hanging out late, but also for the simple facts of local travel costs. A hotel away from the conference will cost taxies etc, and will easily eat up the savings on the hotel bill. Still if you have a specific town in place – work the numbers to see the differences.
• How many days? For a 3 day conference I would probably do 4 nights: one day arrival  – 3 conference days – one day going back. For longer trips definitely the travel day in the end, for shorter trips I’d leave right after the last conference talk / session. I will always insist on arriving the day before the conference to settle in.
• Transport from and to the airport I would compare to be approximately the same in both locations.
• Consider other local travelling Will there be a need to make trips outside the conference location?
• Cost of meals and drinks (outside hours) are probably the same on both conferences. Still if you have an invite for a special dinner, you might want to vector this in too.
• Missed billed hours: Going to conferences means that your company earns less money in the short run, actually it’s a sunk cost. Not only for the conference total cost, but also for the hours that you cannot bill. Consider if you can add in billable hours or shorten the trip to make up for billed hours or similar deadlines.

	Oredev	GOTO
Conference pass	€1537	€1895
Flight	SFX-CPH €50	TXL-AAR €290
Hotel, 4 nights, near Conference	Comfort Hotel €391	Scandic aarhus city €246
Transport to-from airport	Same	Same
Meals and drinks	Same	Same
Transport locally	Same	Same
Missing billede days	Same	Same
Cost	€1978	€2431

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Disclaimer: GOTO Aarhus 2013 is sponsoring my attendance as a blogger.