DEF CON Ten == $75

[The Dark Tangent]

So we have finally decided on the price for DEF CON TEN. It's $75 smackers.
I added up all the costs, plus all the new things we wanted to do with the show this year, added a fudge factor, and came up with $100 number. Then we started planning. After going over everything we all realized that we could not change DEF CON that much in one year, and that it would take two or three in reality. Because of this we had to go back and decide in what order to make changes, and what those changes would cost. After doing that last week we came to the conclusion that for $75 we could start almost everything, and then build on it for next year.
While we already have a list of things that will be new, updated, or fixed for this year, I'll leave that for the official announcement. I'm finishing it up now and hope to have v.1 on-line this weekend. Once v.1 is done, it will get updated bit by bit as things change.

[converge]

what took the hit in cutback?

[noid]

what took the hit in cutback?

Nothing. I was against the 100 price tag from the minute it was posted. So were a lot of folks. So rather than just keep it at 100 and see what happens, we sat down and got out the calculator and pen 'n paper. We made a list of things we wanted to do with Defcon. We figured out how much this costs (much to the suprise of our detractors, Defcon actualy COSTS money to put on, quite a bit of it). We then figured out the total cost to put on the show and then were able to figure out how much to charge. It may suprise ya'll to know (especialy those that bad mouth us) that we, the defcon staff, dont just rubber stamp what DT says. We discuss it, we fight about it, we work it out so everyone is happy. I have always been against price increases at Defcon, I screamed when it went from 40 to 50 and I hollered when it went from 50 to 100, so believe me when I say that I'm all for the 75 dollar price tag. I helped come up with that number. The original 100 number was just a ballpark estimation, 75 bucks was what it came down to when we did the exact math. Every year we face increased costs. Our insurance goes up, we need more space, we want to provide more things to entertain. My crew wants to get paid, ya'll want more air conditioning for the roof tent, we want to do cooler badges, the hotel wants more insurance, etc. Would you like to see better or more high profile speakers? Would you like to have more space so you dont have to sit on top of one and other? This all costs money. By increasing costs as little as nessecary we hope to provide everyone with the best experience possible. Sorry this turned into a rant, but the cost of Defcon has been a serious issue with me. I remeber being 18 and riding to Defcon 1 in the back of my buddies CRX with 40 bucks in my pocket for the weekend. I remember what a signifigant ammount of money 25 dollars is to someone who's 15. Thats several weekends worth of lawn mowing, or washing mom and dads car several times. So, any time we increase price, I know exactly what kind of felt impact it will have on the bulk of our attendees (16 - 21), so I try to do my part to keep costs inline. I know that 75 dollars is a pretty signifigant ammount of cash, but believe me after sitting with DT and the rest of the staff and working this out, its the bare minimum required to provide maximum benifit to our attendees.

[russ]

Cutback

To condense what our dear friend noid said, nothing has taken a cutback, as much as we're now able to cover our costs and provide a few extra things. It won't be as much NEW stuff as we had originally hoped, but it's still a definite increase in "cool factor" for this year.

[converge]

right right... maybe wrong wording on my part i was curious what other coolness we are delaying ourselves the pleasure of experiencing by cutting back to the $75 (yo noid!.. good expl., i think a buncha people needed to hear that) just tryin to steal a peek at the new ideas.... poke ya l8r

[astcell]

extra $25

You can always keep it at $100 and raffle off dozens of laptops as prizes with the extra $25 per head....