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August 23, 2005

Cheaper to Host than Attend

It's becoming cheaper to host your own event than attend one. And it's really cheap not to host or attend with all the remote participation and podcasting options out there.

With the right social software, you can promote, coordinate and self-organize events with near zero cost. Location does matter, but not for everything. Now cost can be a good thing, as some events are better with a little exclusivity, but inclusive options provide alternatives that help the ecosystem as a whole.

A more wild thought is that event models almost correspond to the three modes of production identified by Benkler:
* Firms and contracts: invitation is the barrier to participation
* Markets and prices: price is the barrier to participation
* Commons-based peer: reputation is the barrier to participation

Think about this for a minute, even if you are not in the conference business, and expect an explosion in events and venues. Easy group forming is creating the same disruption for the event market as personal publishing has for media.

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Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Cheaper to Host than Attend:

» Convergence and Procreation from J. LeRoy
Over the last several months, there have been several concepts floating around that I'd like to tie together this morning. In the end, they all reveal something important: People's expectations in relationships are fundamentally changing. This is proba... [Read More]

» Social Software Disrupting the Event Business from pc4media
I've been screaming this for a solid year and half now. Been doing it for 3. Glad to see someone as smart as Ross has verbalized it so well: It's becoming cheaper to host your own event than attend one. [Read More]

» Events becoming cheaper to host than attend from Monkeymagic
Ross Mayfield makes a simple, but blindingly good pointIt's becoming cheaper to host your own event than attend one... Think about this for a minute, even if you are not in the conference business, and expect an explosion in events... [Read More]

» Unconferencing, Long Tail of Conferencing? from Ton's Interdependent Thoughts
Piers points to a posting of Ross Mayfield, making a great point: It's becoming cheaper to host your own event than attend one. This is a point well worth elaborating upon. It is what the BlogWalks Lilia, Sebastian and I... [Read More]

» Behold the unconference from Face2Face Meetingsnet
Traditional event organizers should be keeping their eye on this trend, as outlined by Ross Mayfield and expanded on by Ton and Rich at the TSMR blog, among others: The unconference. Ross points out this painful truth: With the right social software... [Read More]

» Ross Mayfield's Weblog: Cheaper to Host than Attend from Dealio
Ross Mayfield's Weblog: Cheaper to Host than Attend ... [Read More]

Comments

Whe're on...Check out citycita.net. People will be able to create, host, and manage their own events for free .

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  • Ross Mayfield is the Chairman, President & Co-founder of Socialtext, the first wiki company and leading provider of Enterprise 2.0 solutions,
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