The compensation for speakers depends on the cost of the conference for attendees, and also things like how many speakers they're bringing in. I've helped orga

The compensation for speakers depends on the cost of the conference for attendees, and also things like how many speakers they're bringing in. I've helped organize a couple [small Perl workshops](http://www.frozen-perl.org http://www.frozen-perl.org) where we charged $20/40 for the early bird rate. At that cost, we really barely covered the workshop costs (venue & food mostly) with some additional sponsorship. There was no way we could afford to pay speakers at all. People come to support the Perl community and because it's fun. OSCON, OTOH, pays airfare, one hotel night, and $500 per tutorial to tutorial speakers. But for "regular session" speakers, they just get in free. Of course, OSCON costs $1740 with tutorials, and speaker can attend tutorials, so it's not like you're getting nothing! I would assume ORA did something similar for RailsConf. If you think the conference is worth what they're charging, then free admission is a significant value. ApacheCon is a bit odd. When I spoke there way back in 2000 they paid airfare, hotel, and something extra for all speakers. They can do that because it costs about the same as OSCON but they have less than half as many tracks. So each conference has a different value proposition for speakers and attendees. Personally, I love the small community conferences, and will happily pay out of pocket to go speak at them, because it's fun.