We have sold over 90 tickets to Business of Software this year – the first 100 tickets are available at the Early Bird Price of $1,595 saving $900 on the ticket price. One of the most common questions we get asked is how can we get there on the cheap? This is hard. This is a small event and the costs are high.
We try to keep the cost down but if you have ever organised an event in a venue of the type that we run BoS in, you will know it ain't cheap. We have also never had sponsorship for the event as we have wanted to maintain a degree of independence that this allows us. We also don't pack the event to the rafters. This means you get to spend time with the speakers and other people you want to meet. It is not the best way to make money on a conference however.
While the talks are pretty amazing (here is my take on last year), the real value is in the interaction possible between the participants and we believe that this will offer the right organizations significant return on investment. We want to make this an even stronger element of the event this year. The things that you can learn and teach others are the real sources of value and inspiration to you.
We are also trying to build the community of people who can engage with Business of Software – you can join us for example this Wednesday to talk live with Peldi, CEO and founder of Balsamiq. You can chat with him live on 23rd March at 10.00 PST, 13.00 EST, 18.00 CET. See his BoS talk from 2010 here and then tweet questions with the hashtag #BoS2011.
We will make a few tickets available to startups closer to the time but these will be awarded on a competitive basis.
The only way that you could guarantee a discounted ticket is to purchase an Early Bird ticket. This currently offers $900 off the ticket price though there are only 9 places left. The price of tickets goes up the closer to the event we get. My colleague, Anna is keeping a list of potential people who might be available to help at the event and this is also a way of getting involved but we have lots of applicants for a few places. If you want to be considered, it would be great if you could let her know what sort of experience you have and/or how you feel you might be able to help us in the run up to the event. Please contact her at Anna@businessofsoftware.org with your details if you would like to help.