Holy ****! This looks amazing! I can't believe the speakers that will be there! I can't wait to see ninja suit man!
Thanks, Charlie! We hope everyone has a great time at the show.
Just a quick note on why we're doing this:
When we put the event together, we thought deeply about what we liked and hated about CE. I've taken a lot of online CE over the years, so for better or worse my experiences shaped the way CEwire evolved.
The most important thing is that we didn't just want to do a '
me too' show; that seemed pointless and boring.
Our goals were to make an interesting show that also provided a great deal of value for attendees. Since CE is mandatory for everyone, we wanted to give people an event that would make the experience fun, and that people could feel good about attending.
Right from the beginning, we realized that to do the sort of show that we wanted to do, the profit motive had to be removed from the equation.
When you try to maximize profits (which, bluntly, is the aim of many CE providers), your incentive is to limit course offerings and choices (since each additional lecture has costs associated with it), and/or try to get speakers who will work cheap or free.
We didn't want these sorts of perverse incentives limiting our event. So we took a different approach, disregarding the idea of profitability entirely. If the show is a hit and makes mad cash, then great -- more money for the charities we're supporting.
If not -- and we only break-even -- that's OK too! As long as the people who attended thought the conference was great.
The only disaster scenario is if the conference generates a big loss (ie, when my wife takes me out behind the house and shoots me...)
I'm confident that won't happen, but we are taking a gamble, offering 30+ hours with some of the best known and/or most interesting speakers we could find. And we're charging only $99 per registrant (or $199 for an entire office of docs.) By comparison, most events charge between $10 and $15 per credit hour.
We don't expect anyone to take all 30+ credits, but we're offering that many so that people will have a
choice as to what they do take.
Because one of the most annoying aspects of online CE in my experience is being forced to take courses you didn't want, simply because so few were being offered at an event!