1) They're All Over-Priced
2) They've Said it Before
3) Free Online Resources
4) $200 Can Get a Lot of Resources
$200 is a randomly selected number. If the conference is in town, $200 is probably a good average for how much it will cost for an individual. However, if you're looking at a conference out of town with a full staff, you're talking about spending well over $1,000.
Think about it: With the money you're going to spend on attending a conference...
- How many books could you buy?
- How many conference CDs and DVDs could you buy?
- How many college/seminary credits can you obtain? - In district community college can be dirt cheap while some out of state conferences can cost you $1,000s after air fair, hotel, and food costs.
- Could you hire a consultant?
- Could you visit a church? - Elevation Church offers a free service, called Elevation: Backstage, where they walk you through the setup, service, and tear down on an average Sunday. I know North Pointe has something similar. I guarantee you that you will gain more from a visit and conversation than you'll learn from a one hour lecture.
Amen! Hopefully the financial crunch will make churches re-think how they use their money. Conferences may have been necessary once, and there will likely still be a place (confidence building, networking) for some form of these. However, technology is rewriting the rules.
ReplyDeleteI'm working on some thoughts about how Christian authors and organizations ought to give away all of their documentation for free, or at least use a Creative Commons type license instead of copyright. You might be interested in it, when it's done.