http://www.pubcon.com/premium-rock-star-package-for-las-vegas-2014
I miss the olden days in the UK
:'(
Only $5k. You should go.
Mackin, if you went as a "rockstar", it'd be such a craw in Tabke's ass...*laugh*
>$5k.
Very much the opposite of the original spirit.
Pubcon is a completely different event these days. Pubcon is a business and as far as I know it is pretty much entirely how Brett makes his living and plans to send his little one to college, which is going to take quite a few of the $5000 seats.
Old: "Pub" because everything happens in the Pub.
New: "Pub" is for "publishing" because it's a web publishing conference. I'd guess 5% of the attendees know what the "pub" originally meant.
Old: single-person or small shops and affiliates looking to share under-the-radar and colored-hat techniques.
New: agencies, large shops, in-house SEOs and managers and mid to large businesses looking to learn what other large businesses are doing.
Old: meet people face to face that you know from Webmasterworld.
New: most people have no idea what Webmasterworld is and nicknames like tedster, oilman and stundubl mean nothing to them. Most people on Webmasterworld have no idea what Pubcon is. They are almost as separate as seobook.com and MozCon... almost.
Old: People go for the one tip they get by getting someone drunk enough at the bar. They pay for the trip with the added income from implementing this tip.
New: People go for industry "best practices" and they pay for the trip by submitting an expense report to their employer.
The latter point is crucial. The simple fact is that the vast majority of income comes from people who have to submit an expense report and they have to show a session-list to their manager and argue that there will be valuable training. In fact, this is why for some years I could get my wife to go - her company thought it was worth it to send her, but they're all about seeing what sort of sessions and training she would have access to, rather than what she would learn in the bar (especially since she hates bars!)
I think all of that is a reflection of the industry as much as the conference itself. Still, there are enough familiar faces that I enjoy seeing everyone... and remembering Tedster for the fine man he was.
Going corporate, I'm might have the employer pay for Vegas this time. I miss the travelling and good ole company.