Help make a free Ruby conference a reality

If you attended the Ruby Hoedown last year, then you’re aware of my plans for this year, but in case you super lame and skipped it, here’s the low down: Nashville, TN. August 7-8. And the cost? $0. I wanted to run the Hoedown as a community event, and now that there are plenty of high quality conferences out there, I wanted to kick up the community aspect a couple of notches. Now, if I’d made some cuts from last year (namely a few BIG items that sucked up the great majority of the budget), then I could do what I wanted. Unfortunately, it looks like my bigger sponsors are unable to support the conference again this year, so it’s looking more and more grim for the Hoedown.

But, I still really want to make this happen. So I’m turning to you. I’m asking the community (and businesses in the community!) to sponsor this one. I need a minimum if $15,000 to make this happen. I really need more if it’s going to be done well, but $15,000 will pay the basic costs for a venue, sound, and basic promotional materials. What’s the money going to? Well, since it will be free, I’m anticipating a large spike in attendance, and once you get above something like 50-75 people, venues start costing a lot. I’ve picked out a nice venue in the middle of downtown Nashville that will hold 350 people classroom style, and something like 500 conference style. I’d like to stick to the downtown area because there’s a lot to do (one thing that’s sort of plagued the Hoedown for the past 2 years). Unfortunately, it costs $5,000 a day. I’m actively looking for alternatives, but many places are actually far more expensive than that and those that are cheaper are not desirable.

If you’re a business and want to chip in some money, e-mail me at jeremymcanally [at] gmail [dot] com and I’ll figure out some way to get your name out at the conference on a banner or the bag or lanyards or something (heck if you chip in enough, I’ll even add your name to the conference and/or name my first born after you). If you’re an individual, I’ll be listing your name in the program, but if you have a message you’d like to put with it, then get it to me somehow. I’ll add it in. And since I’m opening the funding up, I’m going to open the organization up the community a lot more this year. I’m taking a note from the GoGaRuCo playbook and setting up talk selections on something like UserVoice. I’ll keep the books wide open on the website.

If I don’t reach my mark, fair enough. I can’t afford to put that much money into it (especially considering I’m still about $3,000 in the hole from last year), so it won’t happen this year. I’ll donate whatever money’s been put in to Ruby Central to fund other conferences, and enjoy watching those conferences be awesome. But I really think we can do this.