Going Solo

When I chose Friday as the day to do Going Solo, it was with a sneaky ulterior motive: make it possible to hold a BarCamp in Lausanne right behind it. Now, for some reason, BarCamps in this part of the world tend to be one-day events (I still haven’t really figured out why — what’s wrong with the whole “camp” aspect of running off somewhere for the week-end?) — so that would bring us to Saturday, May 17th.

I’ve mentioned this idea to a few people already, and the response has been pretty good. Particularly if you’re coming from abroad, you get to maximize your geek-feed for the trip. (Not that Going Solo is particularly geeky, but you see what I mean.)

Now, here’s the issue. Much as I would like to be the driving force behind this BarCamp (it’s “my” idea, after all), I’m already spreading myself really thin simply organising Going Solo. There’s no way I can be the person who “makes sure” the BarCamp happens.

So, the questions:

• what do you think of having a BarCamp-day right after Going Solo?
• do you think you would participate in this BarCamp (speak, or simply attend)?
• would you be ready to help organise it?

(Please leave a comment, it will help evaluate how much interest there is for this — and make it visible! Whatever you say in the comments is non-binding, so fear not…)

Obviously, we need some local people amongst the organisers, if only to deal with issues like the venue. I don’t know how available EPFL would be (with Balelec the night before), but I have another idea or two up my sleeve if that doesn’t work out.

So: is there interest for this? how shall we make it happen?

For those of you who do not know what a BarCamp is, it’s an unconference. That means that it’s a rather informal gathering of people in one place with wifi and conference/session rooms. At the beginning of the day, the people who want to present something, hold a session, make a demo take a spot for it in the programme grid (first come, first served). So there is no predetermined programme — it’s very much a peer-to-peer atmosphere.

The organisation happens in a similar way: obviously, a venue needs to be found, the date has to be set (done), and somebody has to keep an eye on the wiki page that people use to sign up and announce sessions. All the rest is optional: a Barcamp can be very bare-bones, or it can include a party, sponsors, T-shirts, whatever.

I’m quite a fan of Seesmic, though I use it irregularly. Yesterday, I gave a little news about Going Solo in video format, so I thought I’d share it with you here too.

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.480716&w=450&h=380&]

Many of you have taken advantage of the special Earlier Bird price of 300 CHF (a quarter of the available tickets sold in under a week!) — but if you missed it, don’t fear. You still have approximately 3 weeks to take advantage of the Early Bird price of 400 CHF (instead of 600).

You’ve understood: this is a devious ploy to entice you to register before the “last minute”. It’s important for the organisation of the conference to have as many people register as soon as possible, because it means we know how much revenue to expect from the ticket sales (it also allows to sort out things like catering comfortably in advance, too).

So, don’t wait (because once it’s gone, it’s gone): register before March 16th to get 200CHF off your regular 600CHF price!

Finally! My open stage video from LIFT08 is online, which isn’t too bad given the slight hiccups surrounding the open stage videos, isn’t too bad.

[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8270350768335569204]

Here is a copy of my preparation notes, including a short bit I missed out. (The video is on Facebook too.)

If you haven’t done it yet, you should also check out the two interviews I gave about Going Solo during the conference.

The internet industry is fast-moving and as such, generates a large number of freelancers. These soloists often choose this path by passion for what they do rather than because of their solid business skills.

Going Solo is an event for European (and other) freelancers and small business owners, which will address the business side of freelancing in the web world.

Opening registration is a moment of truth for an event. And Going Solo has passed the test. I’ve had mainly positive reactions on the pricing (even students telling me that with the Earlier Bird discount, it was student-affordable), and more importantly, people have actually been registering. Well, yes. That’s the whole point, isn’t it?

If you’re thinking about registering, or might know people who are, I’d like to draw your attention to the fact the 300CHF Earlier Bird discount closes at the end of this week-end. It’s still “just” 400CHF after that instead of 600CHF, but it would be a pity to miss the deadline, wouldn’t it? So, now would be a good time to blog about Going Solo and tell all your friends about it.

To be perfectly honest, the pricing structure has one main aim: encourage people to register early so that there is money available for the inevitable event expenses — and so that I know where I stand regarding the general budget. Don’t wait until the last minute! I also like the idea that I can, during a short time, offer a price which is on-a-budget-compatible (if even students are telling me it’s affordable…)

Talking of blogging, I’d like to extend many thanks to all of you who blogged about Going Solo. There are some great posts in there — and if you do blog about the conference, let me know so I can add you to this growing collection of links. You’ll be in very good company! So far, we’ve had coverage in English, French, Dutch and German — which, as you can imagine, makes me doubly happy.

Update, 21.02.08: the open stage speech video is online!

Unfortunately, we have no idea when my open stage speech video will be available. I guess this shows you why it’s always better to attend events rather than rely on technology to give you second-hand access to them. For those of you who didn’t attend my speech (because they weren’t at LIFT, or because they arrived too late on Thursday, well… I can only say I hope the recording is not lost and will surface at some point. (Let’s say “it’s complicated”.)

I was interviewed at least four times after my speech, and I’d like to point you to two videos which are online — and are, in my opinion, pretty good 🙂

First, my friend Robert Scoble caught me off-guard on Qik:

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.477534&w=425&h=350&fv=]

Then, Nicolas Charbonnier did a really nice interview of me with his HD camera. I can’t embed it here, but you should head over to techvideoblog.com and watch it there. (Maybe I’ll stick it on YouTube or something later on.) Third time lucky — thanks for insisting, Nicolas: I said “yes, later, not now” the first two times he approached me. I’m glad we did it!

Watch my interview by Nicolas Charbonnier about Going Solo:

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ud4b1RQYPtE]

In other news, registration is working (yes! people are actually signing up!) — be sure to pass the word around so that your friends don’t miss the Earlier Bird discount (only until this week-end).

This is a pretty exciting (and scary) moment for me: registration is now officially open! You can head directly over to the registration page proper over at our partner Expectnation‘s.

I’d like to give a particular shout-out to Edd Dumbill, one of the pairs of hands behind Expectnation, for his very responsive and patient help while I wrapped my brain around registration processes and setting up the system. Thanks, Edd!

Once you’ve registered, don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and put a badge or logo on your site. And talk your friends into coming too!

Welcome to my major pre-LIFT headache: setting the final price for Going Solo.

Let me start by saying this: whatever price you choose for an event (or a product, or a service), it will always seem way too expensive to some, just right to others, and too cheap to a lucky bunch. So, there is no way to please everybody.

As I mentioned in my last post, Peter Hogenkamp was of great help here, by pointing out that there are different types of events. Different events also cater to different audiences, and that’s also to be taken into account.

• Free or almost free: this is why we like BarCamp and other unconferences. There is little or no barrier to entry (if there is a fee, it’s there to cover small costs such as lunch, etc.), no commercial interest, and lots of interesting people. Price tag is 0 to a few tens of €.
• Affordable: these events can be commercial or not, but what they have in common is that they aim to be “affordable”. Think LIFT or reboot. Not necessarily cheap, and in some cases, expensive — but “affordable”. As in “I can afford to go”. Now of course, not everybody will be able to afford such events. Price tag is in the few hundreds of €.
• Expensive: these events are commercial, and usually target a more corporate audience. In many cases, one expects that employers are going to be paying for these, rather than individuals. Price tags are around 1000€ or more (TED is $5000 6000, I’m told).

So, Going Solo does not aim to be cheap. However, it would like to be affordable. People might go “ew, that’s expensive!” — but then look at the programme, think a bit, and decide that it’s worth the investment.

And trust me, if you’re a freelancer, it’ll be worth it. The stuff you’re going to hear about at Going Solo is going to help you run your business better, and be more successful doing the work you love. More cash or more free time, it’s your choice — how much is that worth for you?

I know there are varieties of “training” offered to professionals — learn how to network, learn how to pitch, learn how to sell yourself: how much would those be worth to you?

I’m aware freelancers are not usually rolling in money (being one), and that many of you will have to add to the price of the conference the flight or train ride to Geneva/Lausanne, and maybe a hotel. That unfortunately didn’t help my headache go away.

The way I set the price for Going Solo is by looking at my budget (yes! I actually have one!): if I count conference expenses, not including salaries for those working on the event, an attendee costs a little less than 300 CHF. Even those, like staff members, speakers, or partners, who will not be paying anything. They still cost that much.

Salaries? As I mentioned when I announced I was getting into the event business, the whole idea is that organising events like Going Solo will be worth my time, financially. I’m putting four months (and that’s rather short notice compared to other events) of hard work into this, and so are other people. So, salaries. “Profitable” comes after that — when the expenses and salaries are paid, is there anything left to reinvest into the next event?

So, enough talking, let’s get to the meat. Here’s the pricing (currency converter if you need it):

• Regular ticket: 600 CHF (approx. 375€, £275, US$545)
• Early bird: 400 CHF (approx. 250€, £190, US$365) — until Mar. 16th
• Earlier bird: 300 CHF (approx. 190€, £140, US$270) — until Feb. 17th

A few comments:

• Find the regular ticket a tad expensive for your budget? Be sure to not miss the Earlier and Early Bird prices. (You only have this first week after registration opens for the Earlier Bird price.)
• Register this week and you actually get your ticket half-price!
• We’re charging in CHF, as most of the spendings for the event will be in CHF. It also saves me sleepless nights worrying about market fluctuations.
• I initially wanted to give a discount to members of the LIFT community during the first week, but decided not to discriminate like that and to give it to everybody. Hence the “Earlier Bird” pricing of 300 CHF for everybody this week.
• Organising an event like Going Solo requires cash. That cash comes (initially) mainly from registrations. This is why you get a very interesting discount if you sign up early — the pricing is designed to encourage early registrations. So… in case this wasn’t clear: register early!
• PayPal takes a significant cut of the registration fee, so if you choose to pay by credit card through PayPal an “online surcharge” of 20CHF will be added. You can pay by banking transfer for no extra fee, but that will depend on how much your bank charges you for these transactions (mine doesn’t charge me anything). I’m not very happy to do things like this, but it’s preferable to raising the price of all the tickets to cover the handling costs.

So, here we go. Next step is opening registration (in a few hours!)

This is a case of “why on earth didn’t I do this before?”

Going Solo now has its very own Twitter account. Hurry up and follow!