A lot of people seem to think those that organise and run conferences are swimming like Scrooge McDuck in a pool of money.

I'm here to say it just isn't the case, I know a lot of organisers that do it for the love of putting on such an event not because there are huge profits to me made.

So lets take a look at 2013…

Where the money comes from

As I've said to a lot of people WDC funds itself every year. That is to say the external costs are covered, not my time.

The 2 main sources of income for any conference are:

• Ticket Sales
• Sponsorship

Ticket Sales

All of the tickets sold this year were through Eventbrite, aside from a group booking of UWE Students.

Total sales for this year on Eventbrite: £7,731.00
UWE Group Booking for Students: £1,500

Now, Eventbrite takes a cut of all tickets sold so I actually ended up with: £7,163.65 which meant Eventbrite made: £567.35

All tickets sold for WDC2013 came in at: £8663.65

Sponsorship

Sponsorship is a big one for a conference because normally the money comes in sooner than the ticket sales and allows things to be paid for.

Salesforce Silver Sponsor - £750
WorkFu Bronze Sponsor - £300
Vidahost Bronze Sponsor - £300
Perfect Bronze Sponsor - £300
Auros Local Sponsor - £150

All sponsorship money raised: £1800

All money in

In total I have £10463.65 for the conference.

Where the money goes

This year everything involved in the conference came out of this pot of money.

Speakers

In the grand world of web conferences WDC is a small event I'm thankful to each and every speakers who agrees to speak for the price of accommodation and travel.

Each speaker had a hotel room for 2 nights (Thursday & Friday) at £100 a night, total cost £1400

Each speaker had to travel to Bristol also but the total cost is currently unknown. Expected to be around £600

Venue

WDC has been based at the Odeon for the last 3 events. It's the biggest cinema screen in the centre of Bristol and with 200 people coming along its required.

To make use of all the space we had during breaks and the screen itself it cost: £2496

Staging, lighting & audio

After having a rather high stage which meant that speakers got blinded by the projector and Jack's dancing meant the microphones cut out, I went to the company that provided the stage previously to hire all the things(stage, audio and lighting) for the event.

The total cost of which was: £900

Printing

All of the names badges were printed by Ripe Digital

Printing cost: £90

Sharpies

Everyone who attended the conference got a Sharpie because there is no other way to fill out your name badge!

Total cost of Sharpies: £136

Tea, Coffee & Snacks

All the cakes, tea, coffee, apple juice, orange juice and bottled water were all purchased at Makro the weekend before the event.

Total cost: £234

Lanyards, Pin Badges and Stickers

No conference is complete without lanyards. I'm also working on producing pin badges to built up a nice set of them over the coming years.

This year we also had some stickers made up because they were always missing from peoples MacBook's!

Made by Cooper were able to provide all of these for £739.20

Speakers Dinner

Every conference I know of has a speakers dinner. WDC is no different and I do it because its nice to meet new speakers I've never met and also to introduce them to Bristol a little bit.

Speakers dinner cost: £250

After party

I've always found the after party to be useful because the Odeon doesn't have that much space and because it gives people a chance to chat with the speakers and with others.

Bar tab: £1000

Small costs

There were a number of small costs surrounding the event:

• Parking - £16
• Speakers gifts - £80
• Volunteer gifts - £30
• Fuel - £50
• Stationary - £15
• MapBox - $40(£25) (as of time of posting)

Total Money out:

So in total the event has cost: £8036.20

What's left?

So after all of that, there is £2427.45 left, a percentage of that will go to paying tax (around £485 based on 20% UK Corporation Tax).

So that leaves £1916.96.

Please note all prices include VAT as Bluefly Digital is currently not VAT registered.

Figures may change over time as expenses, etc are made know.