I have to admit I don’t really understand why people schedule IT conferences on weekends, at least not in countries that have reasonable vacation policies.

Sep 11, 2019 · 10:09 AM UTC

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I get that not everyone can go visit a conference on company time, and some (or maybe many or even most) have to use their free time to do so. I don’t think it’s a huge difference whether you’re going for a weekend or use two days of vacation, though?
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OTOH, many people (including me) spend a lot of time working during the week, like to spend weekends with their families, and thus avoid conference events on weekends.
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So, what am I missing? Are there more people who can make it to weekend conferences? Is it related to how “professional” the topic is? Is it an age or gender thing?
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Replying to @stilkov
Why were you looking at the US when you said that? #wink
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Why would you think that? ;)
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more replies
Replying to @stilkov
Ditto. But it's rare in conferences with academia involved, at least those I attend. (Although I'm starting to see the tendency to put satellite events in the weekends...) (1/2)
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Replying to @stilkov
I think part of it is cultural. In Spain for example it's not easy to take time off work so a lot of people hold events on weekends. Why? Cause companies are backwards minded.... but that's a different discussion. Same goes for many other countries.
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Replying to @stilkov
That's still most common for conferences about fringe open source tech used mostly outside work right? Don't see anyone sacrificing weekends to go to enterprise Java conferences...