#BeachPress 2.0

Be patient, you’re in for a long post. This is both an abbreviated post-mortem on BeachPress 2013, and the official BeachPress announcement for BeachPress 2014. It’s like Christmas and New Year’s, all wrapped up in a nice little sale.

Needless to say, #BeachPress 2013 was an incredible success. All the feedback received from post-mortem surveys was universally positive. We definitely had some consistent themes of things to do better on the next round – which is what this post is really all about.

BeachPress 2.0

I’m excited to announce that I’ve secured a date and location for BeachPress 2014. The venue, in a word – unbelievable. The location we had at the last event was absolutely fantastic – but this location blows the other out of the water. I can’t say much more than the listing does, so here’s the link – http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p256498

The dates will be Sunday, June 1st, 2014 through Friday, June 6th, 2014.

Even more precisely, check-in as early as 5PM on Sunday, leave as late as 11AM Friday, and everything in between.

Location

For those who have been following BeachPress quite closely – you might be aware that I ended up narrowing it down to two different homes – the one I chose and this one. It was actually a much more difficult choice than I anticipated, because they’re both fantastic homes. I ended up in negotiations with owners at both homes. It came down to me really analyzing everything about each home – price, amenities, proximity to beach, layout, owner temperament and ultimately, just my gut feeling of how a group of developers would function together in the house. I feel like we’re in the best possible place – you won’t be disappointed.

Price

For those of you who were able to attend the first BeachPress – first off, thank you! You made something that started out as just a neat idea into a pretty incredible reality. It was a really special event for me and I think for everyone involved. What you all know – and everyone else reading this might not – is that you’re an incredibly generous bunch of people.

See, as a matter of transparency, I sent out a Financial Statement at the end of the event. Just a really basic letter showing what money came in, what went out, and where everything was spent. The financials showed a deficit of $843. The BeachPress group ended up banding together and getting that deficit pretty much eliminated within a few days of the end of the event. So humbling – but believe me, my bank account was grateful :)

Needless to say, I’d like to avoid operating at a deficit this time. At our last event, I thought it might be nice to do a “pay-what-you-can” kind of thing. A couple things to note there: Everyone paid the suggested price, no one paid less. Also, we under-budgeted, a fact to which our deficit smugly testifies.

This time, we’re keeping it real simple.

25 developers. 5 days. $300.

First come, first served on beds/rooms.

But what about…

Those of you who are wicked smaaaht (Boston accents, everyone) will notice by now that 25 developers paying $300 is about $7,500. You’ll likely have noticed two other things. First, paying $60/day for 5 amazing days with incredible people is a freaking steal. Second, you’ll probably have already looked at the house, looked at the rates, and realized, “Hey, wait a second – the house is going to be like $7,585 – we’re already at a deficit!”

And you’d be right. ‘Cause you’re wicked smaaaht. We want this to be the best event it can possibly be. The reality is that we’ll need to spend about $10,000 for this to be the event I’ve envisioned. That means one of two things. A) We charge more – about $400 per person. B) We keep it more affordable by inviting WordPress companies to pitch in.

Personally, I like the idea of keeping it affordable and passing the offering plate to companies in the WordPress community. If five companies gave $500, we’d be there. #boom. Seriously, magic happens at BeachPress and it’s worth investing in. That said, if everyone really loves the idea of paying $400 – more power to us all!