I think you propose a black and white world where things are free or not, profit or or non profit, and there’s nothing in between. Reality is very different- just look at what the employees of non-profit organizations like the Red Cross, or even your local church get paid to do the work they do. Even in the most charitable organizations, the purest 501 (c) (3)’s, you still pay the chaplin, or church secretary, or nurse at the Red Cross blood bank, or some of the administrative people running the soup kitchen, even if volunteers help make these organizations run as well, week to week.

This is not to say that Podcamp is a religion or anything else- it’s just getting you to acknowledge, hopefully, that there is a world where non-profit and paying people to administer an event and make it happen exist. (which is NOT the case for Podcamp Boston 3- the administrators are still doing it on a volunteer basis).

There’s an infinite amount of gray here, and making a Podcamp easier to run does not turn it into a business bent on squeezing every last cent out of attendees. That is simply a ridiculous assertion. I can see where you might fear that happening, but why not look at Podcamp Boston 3 as an experiment to see if this model works for Podcamp, just like every podcamp to date has tweeked the model a bit to suit the individual community need(s)? We’ll see if it flies or if it fails, and then we’ll have the answer as to whether a low cost conference is worth the price of admission.

Also, if people do not step up to do an event for free then this is an indication that the event is not appreciated and should simply cease. Adding money into the mix does nothing to change this. You should either do PodCamp for the love of it (and the tremendous benefit you get as an organizer) or simply close it down.

That, to me, is the ultimate decision to be made, Otherwise you are simply turning a PodCamp into a business and should recognize that fact.

Douglas

Speaking as someone who has organized many podcamps to date, the volunteer hours put in to each one are enormous and are done for the love of the community. yet fewer and fewer podcamps will occur if the community is big on complaining but short on actual action and doing the work required to put them together.

The community can be very quick to critique, but very short on volunteering to make events happen. If you want community and you want free, then you have to make it happen. All events are not free, even if there is no admission charge.

I think Podcamp Boston is trying to get people to invest in the community and to act as co-sponsors of the event, and I think that will show which attendees think podcamp is worth their time and money, and which take it for granted.

Here’s what I responded at [chrisbrogan.com]:

Douglas – moneymaking? We have an open ledger. It’s absolutely NOT money making. We’re raising well over 2/3 of the money from sponsors within our community who want to talk to engaged people. $50 has nothing to do with the money. It has everything to do with making sure people have an excellent facility, with great opportunities to collaborate, in a setting that we think will work out nicely. The venue, as displayed in the open ledger (a requirement of PodCamps), is the lion’s share of the cost.

COULD we do it somewhere free or really cheap? Yep. But again, people aren’t footing that bill. Our sponsors and community are.

$50 is a commitment to attend.