I was chatting with @zandy earlier who is heading for Europe to live the nomadic life. Naturally, I suggested to him that he consider attending Steemfest II the first week of November, as the first Steemfest was a such a memorable event for me (thanks @roelandp!), and as such I fully plan to attend Steemfest II with my team, @agoric.systems (We'll be coming out of stealth soon).
It was at this point I learned that the November 1st to 5th dates for Steemfest II conflict with devcon3, as he intends to attend devcon3 as a speaker on behalf of MKR.
So naturally, in the spirit of healthy competition and light hearted fun, I decided to stack the two conferences up against each other in a Battle Royale!
Price
If last year is any indication to the pricing we'll see for Steemfest this year, this is one of the best deals on a conference that I've encountered. I believe the ticket price was $140 SBD, for 3 days including meals every day of the conference. I believe Steemit Inc helped to subsidize these costs. There was one day of typical conference format talks, the other days were designed to get everyone out into Amsterdam, seeing the sights and networking / making introductions with each other. There was also a community funded travel reimbursement fund that greatly helped many attendees; I used it myself to offset the price of my ticket by about $200. Look for the @t-r-f account if you'd like to pitch in or request help in getting out to Lisbon this year! Lastly, the block pricing on hotel was very affordable; 285 Euro for 3 nights in at the Volkshotel. What a great time!
As for devcon3, the current going price for a ticket is $900 (and possibly higher), making this conference much less accessible to lower income people. I have not heard anything regarding a travel reimbursement fund, but it does look like there is also "preferred hotels" which likely indicates that there is block pricing available.
Winner: Steemfest II
I had the opportunity to chat with @ned and @riverhead. A couple of excellent gents! Picture courtesy of @steemychicken1
Location
Lisbon, Portugal vs Cancun, Mexico. I've never been to either place, so I don't feel right attempting to stack them up. I will say, I do love traveling to Europe!
Winner: Draw
Style
I think the format of a conference is very important for getting the most out of your time. Having too many talks back to back is draining, and it's hard to start focused for days on end of talks, in my humble opinion. Instead, when there is an interactive element to the conference to facilitate meeting and socializing with others, I think you can learn a lot that way in a more unstructured format. If Steemfest II is anything like Steemfest, there will be a mix of talks as well as lots of interactive things to do along the way... and possibly even a day dedicated to leaving the "conference HQ" and getting out into the city.
devcon3 looks to have 3 days of 8 AM - 5 PM conference style talks, with the last day ending a little short with 8 AM - 3:50 PM. I'm sure there will be plenty of socializing and getting together of ETH heads after hours, but with ~30 hours of talks over 4 days, it seems like it will be easy to become overloaded with information.
Winner: Steemfest II
Picture courtesy of @steemychicken1
Hackathon
I haven't been able to find any information regarding a hackathon at devcon3, there is a hackathon planned for Steemfest II though, on October 31st!
Winner: Steemfest II
Audience
devcon3 is purportedly an Ethereum conference "for developers, by developers." This conference is centric more on the technology itself, with less emphasis on the community. Steemfest II on the other hand, will be geared towards all Steemians, both technical and non-technical. There is bound to be plenty of technical discussions, especially at the hackathon, but the idea here is to celebrate the Steem community that has formed around this wonderful platform. I think it's really important to go beyond the technology and connect with people.
Winner: Steemfest II
Picture courtesy of @steemychicken1
I may be biased (hell, I am definitely biased) but when I compare these two events head-to-head, there is only one clear winner! Steemfest II will be a blast and I cannot wait to see everyone there.
Cheers,
Rob