After I wrote this post, my friend Stéphane (who headed the organisation of the Paris Web conference) remarked that this site didn’t really look like an event site — more like a “blog about organising a conference”.
It’s an event site. It’s just a bit… empty, sorry. I’ll be adding the expected pages shortly (venue, registration, programme, speakers, partners…).
This week is venue week. It’s venue week because I want to be able to tell the world that “yes, it’s certain, it is the 16th” — and also because I’ve heard you: you want to know how much Going Solo will cost (I don’t blame you) and I can only really fix that and point you to where you can sign up once we’ve settled a few details like The Venue. All sorts of things depend on the venue: what kind of visibility we’ll be able to provide sponsors (booths), exactly how many people we’re going to be able to accommodate, which of lunch or dinner will be organized, what colour bean-bags we need to find… and that’s just the start.
So, here’s a little summary of the venues visited today. (I’m not giving any names, to protect the innocent, though if you’re from Lausanne you can probably guess. Just guess in private, thanks.)
Venue #1 is the place at which I’d “pre-decided” to hold Going Solo. (Not sure if that was good English.) Somebody had told me about it, the location is ideal, so I thought — OK, we’ll do it there. All that without visiting or making sure it was free on the date (I just know their food is good because I’ve eaten there a couple of times.
Well, we had an appointment with the woman in charge of conferences. She showed us around but wasn’t overly friendly, I have to say (she seemed very much in a hurry, to the point that after 30 minutes she left with little ceremony saying she really had to go) — overall it didn’t really make me feel as they valued my business. Aside from that, the big hall is not free on our date, but they could accommodate us in a long seminar room. Unfortunately, no really nice break-out place and definitely nowhere to put booths for our sponsors and partners.
Other than that, it’s a modern hotel which looks really good, and it’s just a minute from the station.
The big hall is nice, and would be big enough for us to put a few sponsor booths inside the conference hall itself — but I’m not sure it’s the best solution. Add to that the rather cold “welcome”, we decided to pass.
Venue #2 was a much nicer experience. It’s also right next to the station, and though it’s slighly darker and older (in a stylish way) and not non-smoking (!), we were positively impressed with the very professional and friendly welcome we got. The woman who showed us around didn’t make us feel like we were using her time (although we just walked in without an appointment).
We could have a large enough conference room, a breakout area outside of it, and an extra, smaller room to extend the (rather too small) breakout area. With open doors and if we put thought into how we place booths and break tables, it could work. Their prices are competitive, too, with a “per head” seminar arrangement including sitting lunch with a choice of menus as well as the breaks. (As I discovered by going from hotel to hotel, this kind of arrangement is pretty standard, at least around here.)
Downside: to be honest, the slightly musty smell (carpets and smoke do not mix well, particularly after a certain number of years) — but I guess that could be taken care of with some ambient perfume 😉
Wifi is not included in the arrangement (also seems pretty standard). For a geeky conference like Going Solo (all those bloggers and podcasters and WoWers and Sypers — aware that Skype is P2P? — with iPhones and Palms and rabbits and Kindles) we clearly need to look for an external partner to deal with these matters. (Another headache looming up, I can feel it.)
Venue #3 made me go “wow”. They have a beautiful conference room, great food (I’ve eaten there before), a garden (May 16th could very well be warm and sunny here), and enough space surrounding the conference room to place 2-3 booths, maybe 4 — though there is not enough of this space as I would ideally wish for. I got a very friendly welcome, got a chance to discuss internet connectivity stuff with the tech guy who happened to be dealing with a stubborn window while I was talking with the events man.
I was also shown the hotel rooms — pretty posh, with a great view on the lake for some of them. They even have family rooms (a large room and bathroom with an extra smaller children’s room attached). Downside: a little more pricey (and the slightly tight “lounge space”, though if the weather is good we get the garden).
Choosing this venue would also mean that lunch would have to take place outside the hotel, for logistical questions, but we’d have dinner there (in the conference hall which doubles as a dining hall). It could be a nice arrangement too — I was planning to have one “meal out” (the evening one) anyway, Reboot-style.
Venue #4 I didn’t get to visit, but I’m putting it on the list because it could be an option. It’s not a hotel, but a kind of city hall (“Maison de Quartier”) just beneath the station. The local parish rents and uses part of it — the issue here is clearly one of standing, for a commercial conference. But I remember from attending a show there that there is a stage and a huge room, and that there is a dining hall just outside of it which would be perfect as a break-out area. I’d have to re-visit to make sure my memories aren’t toying with me — and if dates and all were OK, we’d still have to figure out if the “type of venue” would be a big issue or not.
Venue #5 is a little further away from the station (oh, what, a 5-minute walk). It’s a really beautiful hotel (the view of Lausanne from the 7th floor is just breathtaking).
Unfortunately, the large conference room is not that exciting. It’s big enough, that isn’t the issue. However, it’s a long-rectangle format rather than square, which means people sitting in the back would be really far from the speakers. It has quite a low ceiling, so that limits screen size (for the beamer). There is a nice big balcony with a beautiful view, but no space near the room to have a break-out area or booths — they usually serve the break drinks in the hotel lobby. If we wanted to place sponsor booths in that area, we would have to rent the hotel lobby too, which is not exactly cheap. (But it’s feasible.)
I was shown around by the hotel director, who was very nice and accommodating, even charming (it seems the quality of service I got this afternoon just increased as the day went along). This would probably be the priciest venue, particularly if we rent out the lobby too.
Venue #6 is not in a hotel either — it’s in the station building. So, location is fine — the windows are sound-proof, so you barely hear the trains (sound so faint the noise of fingers tapping on keyboards will drown it). I was shown two rooms (both pretty historical). The first is a little small, though it could probably hold us (but again, no break-out area or booths). The second is huge. We could most certainly place partner booths inside the conference room — but the problem would be that there isn’t really anywhere to go if somebody wants to flee the conference room. (Nowhere quiet to blog or chat in peace, for example — of course, I hope you’ll be listening to the great speakers I’m lining up with open eyes and ears, but I know that one sometimes needs a break.)
The restaurant would cover the breaks and probably lunch. As the person in charge wasn’t there I’m not sure if it’s available on the date, or exactly how much it would cost, but the approximate prices uttered sounded quite reasonable.
Venue #7 was a bit of a surprise. It’s a privately-owned hotel by the lake, and it doesn’t look too impressive from the outside (or from the reception area, which honestly, is a little dark). The owner came to show me around. They have a big hall (long-rectangle, sadly) with a hole wall of glass windows opening on the lake (that probably isn’t good English; what I’m trying to say is that there is a view straight on the lake, and the lake is 25m away). The view is absolutely stunning. I know we won’t be staring out of the windows during the talks, but it’s still a nice thing to have (I also brought you to Lausanne for the scenery…)
We could have the breaks in the café area outside the hall. However, no way to put sponsor booths there. We’d have to use the second, separate room a floor below for the breaks and place the booths there. Not ideal, again, but doable. (These booths keep coming up, don’t they? They are really important for sponsors/partners, right? It makes sense to me that they are, but I have to admit some confirmation at this point would be welcome.)
The pricing there is very competitive (both for the event and the rooms), and I have to say I personally like the touch of dealing directly with the owner. The conference hall is really very nice, and I think it should be possible to arrange the second room so that it’s a nice place to be during breaks.
I won’t tell you about venue #8, because I didn’t get to see the person in charge of events (he was busy), and I learnt afterwards from my logistics partner that she’d already called and were fully booked on our date. I also found the reception a little chilly, but maybe we were simply reaching busy check-in time.
So, there we are. Choices we have, but nothing obvious, for me. I thought afterwards that I should probably have taken my camera and snapped photos of all these places to show you :-). If you have any insight/input you’d like to share, the comment space below is yours.
I found myself wondering about a couple of things (things I thought were obvious, but which after visiting all these venues I’m questioning again):
There, you’re more or less up-to-date with what’s going on in my head on the topic. If you think I’m slipping into “excessive transparency” (as a few of you have hinted), feel free to let me know.
The LIFT conference is taking place in Geneva in a couple of weeks. Attendees are allowed to submit speech/workshop/discussion proposals. This is my proposal for an “Open Stage” — a 3-5 minute speech. It explains quite a bit of the spirit behind Going Solo, so I’m reproducing it here.
I thought becoming a freelancer would be rather easy: 18 months ago, when I quit my day job, the phone was almost ringing off the hook — and it seemed just magical that people were willing to pay me to do stuff that was so much fun.
That is, until I realised that I had to start thinking seriously about how much I was charging. Was it enough? Was it too much? How could I tell? Some people told me I was horrendously expensive, while others accepted my quotes so quickly I thought I should have asked double. I didn’t really know where to start.
Luckily, I had a few friends in the business. I mentioned my “how much do I charge?” problem — a bit timidly at first, but then with more assurance when I realised that they, too, were facing similar issues (or at least, had faced them at some point). “No, you’re not too expensive — you can charge at least this much!” “Look, here is how you figure out your daily rate…”
It didn’t make things easy as pie, but at least I wasn’t alone facing those issues (and the following ones) and I could benefit from others’ wisdom. That’s what communities are about, isn’t it? Soloists work alone, but actually need each other to collaborate on common projects projects or simply to share experiences and offer one another support.
There is a lot more to freelancing than doing the stuff we’re good at and passionate about. And there is a lot to say about this “business-y” stuff. It first really hit me when I was asked to go and give a talk about being a blogging consultant in Serbia a few months ago. People actually thought my story was interesting and inspiring!
So, when I started thinking about organizing events, I decided that the first one had to be for freelancers: Going Solo. The idea is to find the soloists with the best experience to share, and have them speak about it.
How do you fix rates? How do you close deals? Find new clients or help them find you? Deal with taxes? Find a balance between work and the rest of life? Adapt to the different kinds of clients you have? (I’ll share a tip or two I’ve learnt when I give my speech.)
I think these are questions all freelancers bump into at some point, and I want to offer people working solo or in very small companies the opportunity to firewall a day “off” to think about these issues and educate themselves about them in the company of those who have been “there” before.
If you’re coming to LIFT (and you should!) remember to keep an eye open for my Open Stage, and come and talk to me! I’m going to order Going Solo moo cards… very soon.
Oh. Sorry to disappoint you — not that kind of date. Yeah, just a calendar one. Before Christmas and end-of-year festivities interrupted my blogging about Going Solo, I wrote about the headache involved in picking a date for an event.
Over the last few days quite a few people have been asking me if the date I announced (May 9th) was “final”. My answer was: as final as it gets at this stage.
I met yesterday with my sales partner, and amongst other things, we double-checked the date. Two problems popped up: the first — and not the least — was that she would be in Africa on a business trip at that date. Oops. The second is that there are quite a few bank holidays around the 9th. The French are off on the 8th (victory WWII I think), and Monday is a bank holiday in Switzerland as well as France. Not mentioning that the previous week-end is a four-day week-end.
So, we looked at other dates. 16th May was good (there is even a possibly exciting collision with a music festival here in Lausanne in the evening — I’ll tell you more when I can) except for the fact that the Next08 conference is the day before in Hamburg. Well, the public isn’t exactly the same… so it’s not such a huge deal. My apologies, however, to the conference geeks out there who would like to make both of the events and who will end up having to squeeze travel in between.
So, please pull out your calendars, and scratch out 9th May (you’d written it down, hadn’t you?) and replace it with May 16th, the next Friday.
More news? Coming. I’ve been wanting to blog about the content I’m planning for Going Solo for quite some time now (always “tomorrow” — bad, I know) but “other stuff” seems to have developed a habit of getting in the way. No more of that, I promise. You can expect regular “Going Solo” news from now on — shortly on a dedicated blog which will be ready for public consumption as soon as I’ve imported all these posts and added a little content.
Aside from that, I met with a designer this afternoon to talk about visuals (a huge scary and opaque domain for me, I want to blog more about that) and we’re narrowing down on a venue.
Should I also give you some Going Solo updates via Seesmic, I’m wondering?
This was originally posted on Climb to the Stars. View comments on the original post.
When you organise an event, not only do you need a location, you also need a date. You know, things happen at the intersection of time and space.
A rough glance at the calendar made me choose early May, as it’s far away enough to give us time to put things together (some people have gasped at how short it was, but I’m sure we can pull it off), and it’s also kind of empty on the conference front. I’ve asked around and gone through upcoming, and that time of the year seems pretty conflict-free.
Then, the trouble starts. We decided to go for a one-day event to start with. This means that we expect people to fly in for a day, which… well, might seem “not worth it” to some.
My initial idea (which, after much detours, I’ve come back to) was to hold the event on a Friday, so that people could stay an extra day or two during the week-end to make the trip worth it. I even thought about motivating the local barcamp community of the city we’d be holding the event in to place a barcamp on that week-end.
Then, the headache started. Maybe Friday wasn’t such a good day after all, because with a week of work behind them and stuff creeping up to be dealt with before the week-end, we would suffer lots of defections. So, how about Monday? Well, Monday is usually a heavy business day, and people are all sluggish from the week-end, so they might drop out too. So I sent out a quick poll on Twitter, asking people what seemed the best day to organise an event for freelancers.
Needless to say roughly each day of the week and week-end was suggested, along with very good reasons for or against each one.
In the end, I listened to the voice of reason, impersonated by Suw, telling me there was no perfect day and that the most important thing was to put on a great event, with valuable content that would make it worth the trip for people to come, and that this would be the deciding factor for people rather than the place and day of the week.
In addition to that, I got feedback from a couple of tech event organisers who said that Friday could be quite good for one-day events. So, Friday it will be.
Let’s get practical: I’m looking at Friday May 9th, but before I set it in stone and we book a venue for that date, I’d like to know if you see any conflicts (1000 pairs of eyes are better than one). Is there anything with that date I haven’t thought of?
This was originally posted on Climb to the Stars. View comments on the original post.
When you decide to organise an event, other than having a good idea for the content/audience (ie, “what’s it about? what kind of event?”), two things you need to figure out quite quickly are when and where it’ll happen. This post is about the “where?” question.
My initial reaction when I took the decision to go ahead with this wacky “organising events” idea was somewhere along the line of “great! I’ll do it in Lausanne!”. A bit of a selfish reaction, as it makes things easier for me, and I really love Lausanne.
Next, I started thinking. Who is this event going to be for? Where is the highest number of people likely to come for my event? Maybe Lausanne is my favourite personal choice, but it doesn’t necessarily make business sense. From the start, I’ve thought of my event as European, with the idea to attract people from all over the continent. So of course, I expect attendees to travel — but there is always a high local population at events, as the absence of travel lowers the barrier to entry (cost, travel time, stress).
Well, quite possibly, the answer to that question (where is the highest concentration of freelancers in the tech industry in Europe?) would be “London”. On the other hand, London is horrendously expensive (isn’t it?), so, why not something nearby, like… Brighton? Cheaper, but still rather easy to get to.
At that point, I decided we needed a choice of cities, and we should check them out for venue options and hotel pricing, to see if anything stood out. Obviously, we’d need to pick cities which are easy to get to from other places in Europe. So, for starters… let’s look at London/Brighton, Paris, and Berlin. Paris is very close to London with the Eurostar, and Berlin (Germany) is cheaper than both London and Paris, but it’s still an Easyjet city. Because, if you’re in Europe, chances are you’re going to be flying Easyjet or some other low-cost airline. (I should think about asking them to sponsor the event, actually…)
So, armed with those three options (London, Paris, Berlin), I set off to Le Web 3 to start talking with possible sponsors, and also to bounce ideas off my friends and peers. To my surprise, quite a few people said “but why don’t you do it in Lausanne?” when I mentioned the location wasn’t set yet. So, I started thinking. Because even if Lausanne is a personal, almost emotional choice for me, it doesn’t mean it cannot also be a good business decision.
Let’s look at Lausanne as a possible city to host my event, with a cool business mind:
Check out:
So, here we go. Going Solo will take place in Lausanne, Switzerland — I’m looking forward to welcoming you all here in a few months.
Now tell me — did I do a good job of selling you Lausanne as a conference-city? 
This was originally posted on Climb to the Stars. View comments on the original post.
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