Re: [pdxpug] Pg booth staffing at OSCON

[Josh Berkus <josh(at)agliodbs(dot)com>]

Daniel,

> We help make the conference happen so please treat us with
> respect even if we can't afford to pay are way in.

Huh?  How was I disrespectful?  Because I suggested discounts?

> As a committee members you are technically a volunteer with a free
> pass yourself!

Well, I actually have a free pass because I'm a speaker.  Presumably you 
could also get one as a volunteer in other areas like working the 
speaker room -- I don't know where ORA uses volunteers.

The vendor booths are seen as benefitting the vendor (or open source 
project) and not as benefitting O'Reilly.  Remember that ORA doesn't 
charge for access to the Exhibit Hall.

So, if there are specific sessions you want to get into, you can 
probably manage it, but not I nor Selena nor Gabrielle have access to 
any full conference passes.

> I would have really loved to attend as a regular conference goer, but
> that just isn't financially possible for me.  

Nor is it for a lot of people.  For whatever reason O'Reilly chose the 
route years ago of having a lot of free and heavily discounted passes 
for open source luminaries, and charging a lot to the *minority* of 
attendees who can pay.  You can argue whether or not this financial 
model was a good idea, but it's pretty well established now.

--Josh