If you attend tech conferences, how many of them would you voluntarily pay more for *after* the event is already done, just to make sure that it is more accessible for *other* people next year? It's one of those.
@glyph let's be clear, this is not a viability question. We broke even on tickets and sponsorships, but we didn't increase our reserve. We're doing this because we don't reach the audience we want – the young and impressionable, and people who are shut out of other tech events by not focusing on access. Is it worth us trying very hard to make a special event if only the chosen few get to attend? Probably not.
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