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Speaking at events really doesn't seem that effective to me at gaining exposure. One post on reddit would net 25-30x the number of stars that a conference/large

Speaking at events really doesn't seem that effective to me at gaining exposure. One post on reddit would net 25-30x the number of stars that a conference/large meetup gig would. It's more useful for reaching out and making stronger real life contacts with people who might be interested in using your software, but the net isn't cast nearly as wide.

moron4hire 10y ago
On multiple occasions for various project over the years, I've received several thousand views to my sites from a Show HN or a Reddit post. In comparison, doing a talk is "only" 25 or so views. If all you care about is views, clearly posting online is better. But I care about people actually using my software. And giving a talk usually ends with 3 or 4 people actually trying my project. Or if I'm running a class, it's 30 or 40. In the last two years, I'm pretty sure there is one person from all the Show HNs and Reddit posts that is using my project. From even the few number of local talks I've given, I have a small cohort of people not only using my software, but giving me feedback on it as well. We see each other once a month, at least. It's one of the greatest feelings ever to talk to a person, face to face, who is excited about your project and hasn't run away even after using it. Also, I can't guarantee that a post I make will get to HN's front page where it will get so many views. But at this point in time, I get asked to do a talk about once a month. If I really put the effort in, I could probably be doing talks once a week. And all those thousands of HN viewers never once offered to sponsor the continued development of my project. But my progress on giving in-person talks got me in front of just the right people and now I can work on my project full-time. In a similar situation, my wife has a couple of sci-fi novels that she self-publishes online. The vast, vast majority of her sales have been in-person at book fairs. People at book fairs are ready to buy. They are there because they want to spend money. It's an easy sale. Online, you have to intrude on people and fight against the million other people self-publishing. Yes, you cast a much wider net online. But it's a net with big holes and for much, much smaller fish. Follow the numbers, the important ones, not "views" or "stars" or other such things that aren't "cold, hard, cash". The cash says in-person marketing is significantly easier to execute than online.

moron4hire 10y ago

On multiple occasions for various project over the years, I've received several thousand views to my sites from a Show HN or a Reddit post. In comparison, doing a talk is "only" 25 or so views. If all you care about is views, clearly posting online is better. But I care about people actually using my software. And giving a talk usually ends with 3 or 4 people actually trying my project. Or if I'm running a class, it's 30 or 40. In the last two years, I'm pretty sure there is one person from all the Show HNs and Reddit posts that is using my project. From even the few number of local talks I've given, I have a small cohort of people not only using my software, but giving me feedback on it as well. We see each other once a month, at least. It's one of the greatest feelings ever to talk to a person, face to face, who is excited about your project and hasn't run away even after using it. Also, I can't guarantee that a post I make will get to HN's front page where it will get so many views. But at this point in time, I get asked to do a talk about once a month. If I really put the effort in, I could probably be doing talks once a week. And all those thousands of HN viewers never once offered to sponsor the continued development of my project. But my progress on giving in-person talks got me in front of just the right people and now I can work on my project full-time. In a similar situation, my wife has a couple of sci-fi novels that she self-publishes online. The vast, vast majority of her sales have been in-person at book fairs. People at book fairs are ready to buy. They are there because they want to spend money. It's an easy sale. Online, you have to intrude on people and fight against the million other people self-publishing. Yes, you cast a much wider net online. But it's a net with big holes and for much, much smaller fish. Follow the numbers, the important ones, not "views" or "stars" or other such things that aren't "cold, hard, cash". The cash says in-person marketing is significantly easier to execute than online.