They have found out and are bemoaning it.
https://blog.xojo.com/2023/03/07/no-we-dont-have-plans-for-a-xdc-2024/
That we do not have to discuss. It is shaming that they want to sell the videos for tons of $$ in the beginning instead of opening it with streaming. Or doing a streaming event. It is a small company with not that many employees. They could do as a zoom event also. No problem. Costs nothing and everybody which wants to participate can participate. It is a bad idea not to handle it so.
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Yeah some of the things that ARENT mentioned in that post
Previous XDC hotels have seen more than 150% increase in cost per night
Sure. They always seemed to pick VERY expensive hotels. XDC London is that way as well (at least there are inexpensive options nearby) When Bob and I arranged the ARBP events we selected a very inexpensive hotel and it was still well attended. Ask @bkeeney or @Stretch327 about Atlanta
And we may host more meetups like the one Dana hosted in London in November and the one Geoff hosted last month in California.
Those are nice ways to turn a personal trip somewhere into a business expense
Personally without dev staff at these they arent going to be âtechnicalâ sessions - just ones to get together say hi and talk
XDC was, for me, always a time when users couldd get face to face time to talk to a product developer
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Come and meet our marketing people - XDC adequately replaced 
I AM in Germany right now so maybe we should visit ⊠
What town, if I may ask?
Weilheim
South & west of Munich
Nice region, especially in spring!
The map says its a 4 hrs drive from my place 
Enjoy your stay in 
!
I was just thinking about that: he MUST be in Germany or at least Europe at the momentâŠcanât be different. The time he is posting is abnormal for NPalardy 
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I think Norman had a decent WeiĂwurstfrĆ«hstĆ«ck today 
Bier FrĂŒhstĂŒck
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Atlanta was fun and inexpensive. We held it at a Holiday Inn adjacent to the airport so it was easy to get to. Very few people rented a vehicle. The hotel itself was fine as Holiday Inns go - had free breakfast, bar, and meeting rooms. What else did we need? We brought our own microphone and plugged into their sound system and IIRC we brought our own projector and I recorded sessions with my own video recorder. Once the conference was done all ARBP members and attendees got the videos for free.
We did an inexpensive lunch and organized a âsoul foodâ restaurant experience that, if memory serves, was cheap and âinterestingâ. I think the staff was amused that a bunch of pasty white middle-aged guys (and a few wives) decided to go to their restaurant.
The flip side is that I spent a lot of time and attention to organizing that conference. Itâs not a slam dunk to do that as there are contracts to sign and payments to be made well in advance. I had lots of help from folks on ARBP and devs that lived in Atlanta (think Kevin Cully did some site visits to vet the venue). Then lining up speakers is not a slam dunk either. We did only one track so it was much easier to coordinate but then since we were mostly pro users we focused on topics that we all tended to gravitate to.
Those were the best of times. Those were the worst of times. But Iâm glad we tried. Too bad the message we tried to impart to Xojo were lost.
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Indeed a lot of time & effort went into it
But it didnt have to be expensive for attendees nor did it need to be in a 5 star hotel to serve the purpose
It was fun !
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Anecdotally, the âexpensive event and venueâ is a too good explanation why there are no young devs 
I donât know why you all find it surprising that Xojo would book XDC in a high end venue. I mean seriously⊠The people that DO pay the outrageous prices to attend just subsidize the rooms/meals for GP, Dana etc. âŠ
Thats a given
They need flights and such
Depending on how many rooms they expect to block book may/may not be and additional expense (sometimes hotels comp you a few for a block booking)
BUT that was true in the holiday inn in Atlanta as well as far as I recall and it still wasnt $700 per person to attend
I dont recall if I paid for my own flights or not
Either way, expensive venues are NOT required - and since most of the time people are in sessions, or talking with other attendees, an expensive room isnt needed
Nor is a 5 star hotel with all the expensive amenities it brings with it
Folks have asked at the wind up sessions nearly EVERY year for as many years as I can recall âCan we go some place not quite so expensive next year?â
And that feedback is always said to be âtaken into considerationâ or something like that
And you see where they are holding the London event
@DaveS, @npalardy,
Itâll take about 30 paying attendees to cover the cost if they haul the entire Xojo team in. With less attendees Xojo has to subsidise the event. I guess thatâs what we see here: https://blog.xojo.com/2023/03/07/no-we-dont-have-plans-for-a-xdc-2024/
Certainly no money can be squeezed from it anymore.
Yeah without knowing the costs of flights, discounted room rates, etc its hard to gauge how many people need to go to make it so there are not out of pocket expenses for Xojo
Dont forget that speakers are also paying less (up to 50% off) so they may/may not also be part of that expense equation
I dont think I ever knew what their break even point was in terms of attendance
Not that it matters
They could probably switch things in many ways to lower the cost to attendees
But they dont/havent
That says something
For me it always seemed like
We hear your request. But we dont really care. Weâll do as we please. Next !
The hotel, lunch, and the soul food place were all perfect.
Iâm glad to hear that. No one complained about the venue, or the food. The only thing that ticked us off a bit was that the bartender wouldnât keep the bar open just as we were getting started.