Previously I had blogged about the Software Development Best Practices conference. I was disappointed by the difficulty in finding out the pricing, and more frustrated that the pricing structure was confusing. So I thought I would compare it to another software development conference I have heard about. This one is the Business of Software conference. It is a Joel on Software conference. I found out about it while I was reading Joel’s blog (Joel on Software).I went to the Business of Software web site. Joel did not send me any print marketing materials for his conference. I clicked on the register link and got to the pricing page. In one sentence it stated the pricing:
The full price for the conference two-day pass is $1,795, but if you book before August 22nd then you can book for only $1,595.Now that’s what I call a clear message. There are only 2 options. And it is very clear what the 2 levels are. In addition, it was easy to find the page with the pricing. Now I would expect nothing less from Joel. He is a stickler for good design. Let’s move on to some other points that might influence my decision.
There were a total of 4 “famous people” speaking at the conference. These were Joel Spolsky, Seth Godin, Eric Sink, and Richard Stallman. These individuals are better suited to business than programming I would think. Then again that is what this conference centers around. This compares about the same with the Software Development Best Practices conference where I recognized about 5 names of the presenters.
To tell the truth I would rather go to the Business of Software conference. They came right out with a simple pricing plan. Now I just need to find out how to get my company to pay for the conference. I am already having my company pay for a week of XML training. We shall see how persuasive I can get.
