4 days in Boston, 60+ speakers, and 4,000 designers.
I have a 15” Powerbook, Canon Digital Elph, and a large travel coffee mug. Beginning this Sunday night, May 18, I’ll be blogging live from the 2008 How Design Conference at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, Mass. USA.
My first event: Networking Kickoff (aka breath mints and business cards) at 4:30pm followed by the Opening Keynote by Jeremy Gutsche of Trendhunter.com at 6:30pm.
Stay tuned.
People got mortgages to pay. Especially the people at HOW magazine, magazines are dying. Don't believe me? Ask the people there about their numbers. You would think that the advertisers, design annual fees and the ridiculous 14.95 toll an issue would be enough to sustain them. You gotta be rich to buy anything in this field. Thank god for "the internets" and sites like SpeakUp. We're attending a conference every time we read a post or discuss an issue here and it's all sans the $1075 fee.
Then again HOW's "Tips for convincing your boss to send you to the how design conference" IS pretty convincing. Check out #4, "You'll get lots of other free stuff, like a T-shirt, tote bag, breakfast every day, drinks and snacks at the parties..." Wow...free shit! that's after you pay them the $1075 of course.
On May.16.2008 at 04:45 PMConferences are expensive for a few reasons, the least of which is that many attendees go on the corporate dime.
That said, they really should be part of your operating costs. Figure them in to your overhead as continuing education.
A trend on the web side is BarCamp. We just had our MN one a few weeks ago. It's a conference that happens locally and is set up to be absolutely free...a conference 'of the people by the people':
Locally they've been really wanting more visual design folks to get involved.
On May.16.2008 at 05:14 PMAs Darrel notes, there are many reasons that conference prices are so high, including securing the venue, staff, printed materials, audiovisual equipment, etc.
The price, relative to other expenses like coffee or even fonts is indeed high, but conferences provide a unique context in which to experience design, and having attended many of them, I can say that it is an unparalleled experience. It's immersive and intense. I have never been able to come back with a bullet pointed list of things I learned, I just feel that I did, and that I connected with other designers that I would otherwise not be able to.
It's an investment. To some it's worth it, to others it's not. And the price is usually warranted. Cheaper conferences suffer from being, well, cheaper, they can't invite top speakers, or get the best venue, or provide a general sense of an "event". Plus, if you really want to attend a conference, you can always buy the early-bird registration which is a few hundred dollars that you can save, you can buy your plane tickets way in advance and since the conferences are in well-inhabited cities, it's quite likely that you know someone there that would be willing to provide a couch.
If there is a will there is a way.
Also, it's no secret that conferences are the biggest money makers for organizations like HOW or AIGA, which allows them to perform for the rest of the year... Specially helpful when the industries like magazines are suffering.
On May.16.2008 at 08:26 PMOh, and god speed, Doug. Thanks for the effort of sharing your experience with the rest of us.
On May.16.2008 at 08:28 PMDoug, Looking forward to hearing about the experience. I'm on press and heading in...
On May.18.2008 at 07:51 PMDoug, I do and I don't envy you. When Adrian and I did this a few years back it was a ton of work (but totally worth it). I am still looking forward to going to a large design conference and just soaking it all in.
Just beware. Don't post any audio or video of the conference. HOW will be all over you.
On May.19.2008 at 05:04 PMI agree that conferences are totally cool… the couple that I have been to have always left me inspired in some way or another.
Darrel, if you could get my company to figure the costs into our operating expenses, that would be great!
So - for me personally, it is definitely worth it to go to conferences - but I would venture that few people at my age (27) can afford it themselves. A better question would be, how do you sell it to your creative director? I'm interested to know how other people do that.
On May.20.2008 at 08:54 PM
I'm curious to know - really - how many designers out there are able to even think of going to a conference this expensive. It's got to be close to $2k with conference fee, airfare, and hotel... I love conferences but rarely do I get to participate. Anyone else out there wonder why the fees seem so exorbitant?
On May.16.2008 at 03:35 PM