presenting/speaking at wordcamps/other type of conferences

[MiroslavGlavic]

I like to over-analyze things. Here is one of those:

I live in the far far away lands of Toronto Canada.
I have been asked to speak at a conference/event in Oakland CA.

For you non-North Americans: Toronto is at the eastern part of Canada (which is on top of USA), Oakland is in the American state of California which is on the west side of America.

So conference is a wed-sun. According to the schedule they requested I have speaking spots each day.

So here is my problems:

1) I went on expedia to check flights, shortest: 9hrs and 37 minutes, longest: 11h 57m

Times bellow are hh:mm

(A) Toronto-Detroit-Salt Lake City-Oakland (09:37) - seems nice direction as I am heading SW.

( Toronto-Minneapolis-Salt Lake City-Oakland (10:17) - Minneapolis is west of Toronto but north so I would be heading northwest then southwest to SLC and Oakland. So that pisses me off, then the extra 40 minutes as well.

(C) Toronto-Atlanta-Salt Lake City-Oakland (11:42) - this one feels the LONG way around, going South East then North East to SLC to finally Oakland.

(D) Toronto-New York-Salt Lake City-Oakland (11:57) - Going East then SW doesn't seem like it is productive time spending. I would go via JFK and I never liked security at that specific airport. This would like if I was going to Beijing: Toronto-London UK-Miami-LAX-Beijing.

$638.14 - Price for all of them (Economy). I could travel to Buffalo and it would be so much cheaper, but...

I am assuming the long times includes the hours waiting at switching airports.

These guys don't exactly have a lot of money and I don't mind travelling Economy.

My first speaking time is wednesday morning. So I would have to leave Tuesday and come back Monday morning (sunday has the after party and my last speaking time is sunday evening).

Now I will be going to the after party as I deserve beer.

What is a nice/polite way to ask for my flight/accommodation to be paid for?

I remember Lorelle (if you have to ask which Lorelle then...) came to WordCamp Toronto 2009. She lives NW USA. That is far far distance.

How do wordcamp organizers deal with out of towners?

The Oakland conference/event is practically begging me to come ( which is a nice thing for my ego ).

What do wordcamp speakers get out of travelling hours and hours and hours to speak at wordcamps across the continent?

I am not being cheap or greedy and I love to speak and I am not going to ask to cover meals, but $638+taxes+hotel/motel = $1,000+ which makes my wallet unhappy. I value my time too.

See? I told you I like to over-analyze things.

[chipbennett]

Have you asked them to consider consolidating your speaking to one or two days, rather than spread them out throughout the event?

[MiroslavGlavic]

No I have not. Thanks for the post. I will ask.

I have a grandmother across the bay in San Francisco, wed-sun would give me some time to visit her/have lunch or dinner with her.

I don't want to spend 9-12 hours flying and waiting in between at transit points to be there for a few hours in one day then spend 9-12 hours to come back.

Obviously I would do a better flight search.

[Jeffro]

I would ask that at least a third or half of the price of the flight can be paid for somehow or see if you can't offset the price by getting a WordPress commercial offering to sponsor your trip in exchange for links, mentions, and what have you.

If I were given that opportunity, I'd hope that most of the money to get there wouldn't come out of my pocket or else I'd say screw it. No way I'm going to sit in a plane for 9 hours during the day unless it's an opportunity of a life time. Those layovers are just links in a chain that increase the chances of a delayed or canceled flight. I hate them with a passion.

[Lorelle]

Sorry for the delay in responding.

I should write this up so concisely, if you are asked to speak at an event, your value to the event must be worth something. While most WordCamps, Barcamps, and similar events don't have much money, and are often constrained by rules that prohibit them from compensating speakers, but that doesn't mean they can't reimburse them. I've found that if they want a speaker bad enough, they will cover the minimum of costs associated with getting them there. For the least, they should cover airfare. They cannot cover time spent traveling, though they may cover meals and lodging.

I don't take my responsibility as a popular keynote and presenter at WordCamps or other similar events lightly. If they offer to reimburse me for travel and lodging, I accept, but I will not accept any additional money as this is my way of giving back to the community that has so richly given too much to me. So I work with them to make arrangements to stay with people in their homes and out of hotels (which I dread anyway). This has been an amazingly enriching decision as it has allowed me the opportunity to get to know people all over the world in a way that a hotel will never permit. It is also more in keeping with the WordPress Community feel.

It also saves USD $100-300 a day on the cost of my attendance at an event.

Look at the bigger benefits and compare them to what you would pay for the experience. Many people hand out $500 to thousands for two days with people they don't know to learn something they already know. A WordCamp is a chance to spend time with people you pretty much already know or at least have instantly commonality, to learn something you don't know or need to know more. For me, the experience of attending the event, learning the new, getting a new perspective, meeting the people, making connections, and seeing a new place is of much more benefit than the expenses involved.

[Lorelle]

I kept my promise: http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2011/04...ordcamp-event/

[Elpie]

If I were given that opportunity, I'd hope that most of the money to get there wouldn't come out of my pocket or else I'd say screw it.

I'm really glad to see this thread. I've been asked to speak at a WordCamp a couple of times now and had to decline both times. The first time, I was asked & added to the speakers list on their website before I had even seen the email. I felt incredibly guilty for turning it down

I actually wanted to speak and knew I had things to share that people would find valuable. The problem came down to cost. Not only were speakers not reimbursed, they also had to pay the registration fees. This meant that flights, 3 nights accommodation, meals and registration fees all had to be covered by me. I just couldn't afford it.

Going after sponsorship is an option but sponsorship opportunities in a small country are limited. I try to get sponsorship for international conferences but won't risk hitting up the same people too often.

I'd love to see something get set up for WordCamps. This is something the WordPress Foundation could do. If we had a fund that received donations, then had a panel to accept and assess funding requests we could alleviate the money barrier to speaking at WordCamps. Something like this could also assist the setting up of new WordCamps. Just a thought...

[Jeffro]

Hmm, sounds like something the WordPress Foundation is messing around with, especially as it relates to WordCamps. Whether it will branch out to speakers is up for grabs but for WordCamp organizers, I'd say is a safe bet.

[chipbennett]

I actually wanted to speak and knew I had things to share that people would find valuable. The problem came down to cost. Not only were speakers not reimbursed, they also had to pay the registration fees. This meant that flights, 3 nights accommodation, meals and registration fees all had to be covered by me. I just couldn't afford it.

I think a speaker paying the cost of his own travel and accommodations is a nice gift-in-kind for the speaker to give back to the WordCamp/WordPress community. However, I think asking a speaker to pay the cost of the conference registration is entirely a bridge too far. In fact, I think it's a rather douchey move.