Brandon Weaver Apr 29, 2023

One thing that is non-obvious to a lot of folks, and is the reason I'm not jumping to restart a conference over here:

They cost a _lot_ of money, and it's real easy to bankrupt the person hosting them if you're not careful.

My goal is to help build a sustainable ecosystem that can foster conferences for decades to come, not a few years until the current leads burn out.

I believe Ruby Central plays a crucial role in helping to make this a reality.

Show threadBrandon Weaver Apr 29, 2023

The other half of this equation are the people.

You have to have a critical mass of attendees to make a conference a reality, and that means consistently attended meetups and events to prove that mass.

You also need organizers and volunteers capable of leading that large of a group. It's not trivial to head up a 1500+ person conference, and we need to acknowledge that.

Show threadBrandon Weaver Apr 29, 2023

For me I believe this starts locally through meetup organizers, and organically grows from there.

Meetup organizers become local conference organizers over time, perhaps eventually even regional ones and expanding from there.

That takes time, and we need to cultivate and invest in those leaders.

Show threadBrandon Weaver Apr 29, 2023
I'm not saying it can't happen, but that we want this to be sustainable and carry on for generations beyond the initial organizers, and that investment is constant and ongoing.
Show threadNoel RappinApr 29, 2023
@baweaver so, one thing that happened in many places was that the original meetup/conference organizers burned out and for whatever reason there was no succession.
Show threadBrandon Weaver Apr 29, 2023
@noelrap Yeah, that's one of the biggest issues: there's very rarely a succession line or people ready to take up that mantel next.
Show threadRichard SchneemanApr 29, 2023

@baweaver @noelrap I’ve seen this in action. At lone star there was a handoff but then the person who took over quit after one year.

With keep ruby weird we didn’t have anyone knocking down our door and also were protective of the brand. It’s really hard to give up something personal if you don’t know how well it will be implemented.

I would recommend a one day, single track conf for anyone looking to start.

Show threadRichard SchneemanApr 29, 2023
@baweaver @noelrap One semi-surprising element: there’s very little in it for the conference organizers. Less recognition than speaking. Definitely not a financially motivated act. You don’t even get to enjoy your own conference because you’re there running it.
Show threadRichard SchneemanApr 29, 2023
@baweaver @noelrap lots of the long running confs have secondary drivers. They’re consultancies looking for work (and have a plethora of people on hand) or they’re a book publisher or they have external funding or motivation some other way.
Show threadChelsea Kaufman
@Schneems @baweaver @noelrap Succession planning is difficult but possible with the right structure. I also totally agree that it’s hard to turn over something that you put so much work into but my hope is if I go into it with that intention it might be easier. There’s a lot of us on the Ruby Central board who are looking at these things with the long term sustainability in mind as we build more systems.
Apr 29, 2023 at 3:35amWeb
Show threadLucian GhindaApr 29, 2023

@Chels @Schneems @baweaver @noelrap

Thank you all for this thread and writing.

As someone now just starting to organize a #Ruby conference, I did not think about all these points.

They all feel very true to me!