I have been debating whether to attend FinCon or not this year. I went to the 2011 FinCon and enjoyed it, but missed out on a lot of the activities because I was also working the that weekend. I decided to skip the 2012 FinCon because I was too broke for it be sensible to go. FinCon 2013 was in St. Louis which is just a four hour drive away for me. That made the cost of attending pretty cheap so I bought a ticket and planned on attending. I did show up for the first morning, but I just didn’t feel comfortable with the crowds and left at the lunch break and didn’t make it back for the rest of the convention. It was a weird attack of anxiety like I hadn’t experienced since my high school days. I’m sure almost everyone would have been cool and nice if I had stayed and actually talked to people, but I wasn’t up for socializing that weekend and basically wasted my convention ticket.
If I buy a ticket to FinCon 2014 and end up not using it, that would be an even bigger waste of money. The price of a ticket is a bit higher this year and I’ve already missed out on the cheapest ticket prices. Plus, it will cost me more to fly or drive down to New Orleans. I didn’t bother getting a hotel last year. The weather was nice and I knew of nearby places that I would feel safe sleeping in my car so that is what I did. I don’t know New Orleans well enough to be comfortable sleeping in my care there. I’m not sure if there is anywhere close to the convention that I’d be able to safely sleep in my car. It may still be a little warm to sleep in my car as well, since the convention is earlier this year and in a warmer location.
Other than the financial aspect, my reason for being unsure if I want to attend is that I don’t have any plans to change my blog. The convention seems to be about growing your blog and making it into a big business. I don’t really want to turn my blog into a business. I like to write for my blog and don’t want to spend much time doing anything else having to do with the blog. It would be nice to have more readers and more engagement with my posts, but if that means spending hours each week on social media, constantly tweaking my design, experimenting with plugins, and developing an email list than I’d rather just be content with my blog as it is. For those reasons, I’ve decided not to attend FinCon this year. I do reserve the right to change my mind.
Good reasoning. I wonder why the price of FinCon went up so much this year.
It was a pretty big jump in price. I’m guessing it is because it is in a more expensive location, but I don’t really know.
You made a good decision. I just received a wedding invitation from my very good friend. But when I tried to calculate all the costs, the airfare, attire, foods, I know it’s impossible for me to attend to her wedding.
Thanks. Sometimes the cost of doing something you would like to do can’t be justified.
If you aren’t looking to expand your blogging empire in some way then why go? You also bring up a good point about New Orleans. It’s expensive and has some rough areas. Parking is tough and can be ridiculously expensive.
I love New Orleans but wish it was easier to be frugal. Last time I was there I stayed in a seedy part of town yet the motel was still pretty expensive. The time before that we flew in and took the bus then walked to our hotel.
There is a lot of good information to be learned there, but since I’m not going to use it there really isn’t any point in going.
I would like to visit New Orleans sometime, but this wouldn’t be the time. I do plan on doing quite a bit of other traveling this year so maybe I’ll go through there. I’m still thinking I’ll make it to Florida sometime this year too.