We’re pleased to announce that we’ll be talking at WordCamp UK yet again! The final details will be announced over at the official WordCamp UK site.
In the meantime, a lot of times you hear the debate over whether or not it’s worth attending and speaking at this type of unconference. They’re relatively casual affairs, full of quite geeky types willing to give up a weekend for the software they love. It’s not like a ‘proper’ conference with paid speakers, high ticket prices and exclusive networking opportunities. It’s grass roots stuff. It can be good fun too. You won’t get lots of free drinks from Microsoft, or a free development smartphone. You may get a couple of USB keys and a pen knife, and often a nice t-shirt, but that’s it.
But there’s a very easy business case that we can present.
The Numbers
Our first WordCamp, we didn’t take part but sponsored. We didn’t get any significant business from the event.
Our second, at Cardiff, we didn’t sponsor, but I gave two talks. We generated some £15k of business directly in the following year, and around £15k since.
Our third, in Manchester 2010, we both sponsored and took part, with us giving two talks and a retinue of five interconnect/it team members getting involved in workshops. We’ve so far directly generated around £30k of business for us and our business partners.
Our margins are decent enough, but let’s just say that so long as attending costs us less than £5k an event, we’re up on the deal. And as clients tend to stick around, it’s even better than that.
Not Just Sales
Any good company worth their salt is on the lookout for talent. We always need good people, and a WordPress event like WordCamp is a cracking recruitment opportunity. So even if you’re not talking, it could be an opportunity to find that perfect WordPress job, or to hire that fantastic WordPress enthusiast to help run your corporate blog.
So Go
But don’t just go – if you have an interesting story about how you use WordPress, you can generate interest about your company, you can find good people, and you can make sales. It’s amazing value for money, and don’t let the low ticket price make you think it isn’t a ‘serious’ event. It’s just not run for profit. It means it’s not exclusive, of course. And you won’t find many decision makers with multi-million pound budgets, but the community is all about efficiency.
So go, as soon as the tickets are available, book in. If you can help, even better – you’ll get more out of it.
See you there!
