Tara, thanks for your kinds words. We try really hard to treat people like we want to be treated, so it made me smile to see that you felt taken care of

FOWA (Oct 3-5, 2007) is bigger than the Feb event (1500 people) plus an expo hall and three total tracks, so I wasn’t sure if we could cover everyone’s travel expenses (twice the number of speakers).

I regret that decision. I think what we’ll do next time is cut down on the number of speakers so we can still afford to fly everyone and put them up.

Thanks again for the kind words – made my day

My marketing budget includes the time and effort I put into the community: advocating microformats, openID, helping others with setting up their coworking spaces, helping out with barcamps, etc. Speaking at conferences is good because it helps spread concepts and helps people in the audience understand what is going on in the tech world right now, but it does very little for my business.

And, Dave, I am in demand. I actually hired an agent to handle the many requests I get to speak…about 2x per month right now. And that agent negotiates fees, which most organizers are happy to pay as they know that i will sell tickets. I wasn’t even going to negotiate my talk at Defrag through my agent, but I did want my airfare and hotel covered. Hardly mercenary. It turned out that on that same day I was being requested to speak at another conference where I’m not only being flown out and put up, but paid anyway. So, it’s probably for the best that Defrag doesn’t reimburse for travel.

As am I. Almost always, whenever I go to a conference it’s on my own dime. And, like you, I’m an independent consultant. That’s why I consider speaking engagements as an advertising and marketing expense. Its a way to get my name and ideas discussed in a wider community. I would only even consider asking for reimbursement (or more) if the conference were using my name as a lure to attract attendees.

But maybe I’m just not mercenary enough…

Now, i am happy for you that you can afford to give so much of your time and money to the ventures of others, but i am an independent consultant who has never had corporate dollars behind me. You make it sound as if asking for my travel expenses paid to Denver is asking someone to pay for a free holiday for me. I can assure you, sir, denver is not my idea of a holiday destination, especially in November…nor is speaking at a conference anything like a holiday. I happen to take such responsibilities very seriously. Like a job.

1) you can have all expenses paid
2) you can get an all-conference pass comped
3) you can actually pay to get in

I’ve done all three. It all depends on how much you care about the topic and the conference and what it’s worth TO YOU to get your message out.

You claim to understand the economics of organizing a conference, yet trash defrag without actually knowing anything about it or its organizers. I was also asked to speak there and had to decline because of a previous commitment. But had the time been available, I would have gone and would have spoken on my own dime. Why? Because its put on by good people, the topic is important and I’d like to spread my ideas to the likely attendees.

Like you, I’m a big fish in a small pond. You need to remember that, when moving to a different pond, even for a visit, it’s just like starting all over again.

If it’s not right for you – for whatever reason – fine. But don’t trash the people who are putting in the effort and don’t denigrate those who do participate.

You’ve already admitted that you didn’t read the form. Fine. We all make mistakes like that from time to time. But there’s a great deal of distance between that and therefore deciding that the conference organizer has dark motives.

If the two don’t compute, sometimes that means your operating system has a bug.