bernd 30 Jan 06

Any chance you’ll create a DVD or online seminar of your workshops some time?
I really can’t afford flying to the USA for a single workshop (no, not even if you make that two). This would help us poor guys in the rest of the world a big deal.

Javier Cabrera (CSSelite) 30 Jan 06

hey!
I want to go! where you guys are coming to Argentina?
Just joking. Best luck with this second workshop Jason!

Brandon Eley 30 Jan 06

Why do you guys always have to do the workshops when I already have something planned and paid for!?!? Man, I reallyl want to get to one of these workshops one day.

Anyway, so by reading the comments in the survey you guys gave a sneak peak at Campfire?? How about a couple screeshots for loyal customers/blog readers??

ron 30 Jan 06

$895/person that’s funny…get real!

zx 30 Jan 06

$895??? have you already forgotten less=more!!!

ML 30 Jan 06

Isn’t it difficult to argue that something is overpriced if it sells out in less than 12 hours? Y’know, supply and demand and all that.

shocked 30 Jan 06

holy moly. Why not make a DVD so that those of us without an extra $895 + airfare + hotel can take advantage?

RT 30 Jan 06

There is a monumental difference between VALUE and COST.

Some would argue that $895 is a cost and others, based on survey comments from the most recent workshop, would argue that $895 is a tremendous value.

Personally, I believe one’s outlook on an issue like VALUE vs. COST is a telling sign of your outlook on most things in life.

Interpret that as you will …

Cheers!

ron 30 Jan 06

ML - it’s also not so difficult to find 60 suckers…

Anonymous Coward 30 Jan 06

they teach that in business school RT?

Mike Rundle 30 Jan 06

Compare that to the near $3,000 USD web 2.0 conference and I think you’ll see the value. $3k to listen to companies pitch their “too beta” products vs. Jason and the crew teaching you how to make the hotness. $895 is a steal.

JF 30 Jan 06

Thanks Mike.

RT 30 Jan 06

Anon Coward-

didn’t go to business school so I couldn’t tell you

Zack Gilbert 30 Jan 06

Thank god for awesome companies and a brother who lives in Chicago to help cut down on the costs.

Hey Mike, are you going to attend this one? I’d love to have a fellow RIT alumni in the crowd.

Bill P 30 Jan 06

I attended the workshop last week.

*** Disclaimer - my company paid for my fees ***

Was it worth the $695 - yes. Is it worth $200 more - yes again. The best course I’ve taken, even better than Kimball Data Warehouse courses (and that is a big deal to me). I would attend again, and I would recommend it to others.

I will defend 37S’s right to charge whatever they want. But there are risks to this (that JF and crew are probably well aware of)…

1. Ill will from the community (already visible). Although I don’t think many of the grumps are actually *interested* in attending.

2. Much higher expectations from attendees. Satisfaction, like value, is very relative.

3. Once the price goes up, it is difficult to bring it the price back down again when demand starts to recede (this is where DVDs sales come into play I suspect).

4. (This is the important one to me) The higher the price, the fewer individual “pay yor own way” people are able to attend. This IS important. I appreciated the discussion and questions from the non-corporate folks. 75% of the people I spoke with paid their own way. These are the people who (I suspect) had a great part in building up 37S.

The worst thing that could happen would be to get a workshop filled with predominantly ‘big shop’ folks.

My 2 cents.

Jeff L 30 Jan 06

I’m really interested in the comment in the survey results that said ” Emulate Drug Dealers”……wish I could afford to go, but I’ve already purchased my SXSW stuff. Are you guys presenting anything at SXSW?

Ethan Bodnar 30 Jan 06

yea that would be sweet if you put together a dvd. people would still come to the actual thing for the hands on, and meeting people, and other stuff. but i cant just leave school for a couple days fly out to chicago, find a hotel and pay for the conference.

Helen 30 Jan 06

People forget that if you work for a company that pays for continuing education that you don’t care what it costs to go to the conference because your company is picking up the bill.

Personally, I don’t think it’s worth spending your own money since you probably can get the same info. by reading this blog and some others (everything.basecamphq.com & loudthinking.com).

Emily 30 Jan 06

I went to the Building of Basecamp workshop last year and it rocked.

Yes, my company paid for it, yes, 37s can charge whatever they want and yes, it’s worth every dollar.

I’d love to go to another one just to hear it all again and hear the new stuff (and hear the first 10 minutes I missed because I was late and stuck in traffic! grrr). Reading the info in a blog post is not the same. The whole day got me so excited and inspired. How much is that worth? The workshop was a breath of fresh air compared to some of these things (plus meeting Jason and David and Ryan was fun too!)

Sign up now! Quit complaining.

Rabbit 30 Jan 06

Ah… I like this. The mood in the comments is primarily positive, and I think this speaks volumes in terms of the health of 37S.

People are spending substantial amounts to attend workshops put on by these cats, and the people that go are loving it. I should think that would shut up most of the nay-sayers.

I mention the “health” of the company because, believe it or not, I have actually contemplated… “Oh dear god, what would happen to Rails if DHH left 37S?!” I think I would cry. So I am very joyous to see the team is doing well. Hooray!

@ RT: Interesting perspective (esp. the part regarding one’s outlook on life) - I like it.

Brian Breslin 30 Jan 06

Rundle is right, $895 is worth it if you are serious about building your web software business. you don’t waste money listening to some guys spitting out cliches all day about how their perpetual beta will revolutionize the world in 2010. If you are paying for it out of pocket (as I just did), then it might be harder to justify (but easier than web2.0’s $3k price), but if your company is paying for it, its a no brainer.

Dave 30 Jan 06

I think the disconnect, for me anyway, is that I’m used to paying $9 a month for Backpack and the conference is $895. That’s cool. That’s inline with other conferences. I too would hope that an alternative delivery method shows up in the future. I could certainly come up with the conference price, but then there’s the flight, hotel, and time off that basically doubles my out of pocket. Gotta save that for the new MacBook Pro. My apologies for actually typing MacBook Pro….

MMI 30 Jan 06

I attended the conference when it was the Building of Basecamp workshop, and trust me it was worth the money. (well ok, my company paid for it) Really though, it was great. It really got me thinking about new ideas, and reinforced and articulated concepts I had already been thinking about. If you think $895 is to much, you don’t have to go. Obviously, with the rate these things sell out, not everyone agrees with you, however.

Ian Waring 31 Jan 06

I’d like to buy the book or the DVD. Well, the book’s on the roadmap but I can’t see a timeline anywhere ;-}

If the DVD was in the back of the book… well, yes please.

Ian W.

daibatzu 31 Jan 06

The book was supposed to be available in december. Still waiting. Hope you guys find the time to finish it soon.

RyanA 31 Jan 06

Impressive. 60 seats sold in 12 hours. Very impressive!

ChrisH 31 Jan 06

When’s the next conference?

JF 31 Jan 06

We announce one at a time.

Phil 31 Jan 06

19 hours? These are becoming less popular every day. Clearly, you’ve peaked :-)

Brandon 31 Jan 06

Maybe if you guys go up another $200 it’ll take a WHOLE 24 hours to sell out ;)

Don Wilson 31 Jan 06

I would mention something about the price of a conference based around an overzealous ideal, and if I had a company that was willing to throw away money I’d be all for it as well (just to meet the 37s crew), but from a single-person point of view (which is what most of your products are geared towards), the price is unobtainable.

JF 31 Jan 06

Don, over 75% of the people who attend our workshops pay their own way. They’re small business owners or new business owners looking to build their first product.

Ben 01 Feb 06

Don, your point about a one man shop not being able to afford it… We’re in a day and age where it’s never been easier to be in business for yourself..colo, hardware, open source, basecamp, rails… all free or pretty much next to free compared to 7 years ago….and so yes 895 bucks is a lot of money, for say a hot dog .. but if it saves you 6 months of mistakes and 1000’s if not 10’s of 1000’s of dollars in lost productivily/market opportunity.. well then its a bargain!

JS 01 Feb 06

I am a small business owner and am paying my own way. I look at this upcoming conference as an investment in my own future, so I don’t think the cost is prohibitive. I agree with previous posters in regards to the supply and demand aspect. If there is more demand then supply, then you up the prices until you reach an equilibrium. Basic economics.