3 ms·

There's a significant difference with being a visitor to a foreign country (where you can just wing it) and running a several hundred person event. Something ge

by ig1 12y ago

There's a significant difference with being a visitor to a foreign country (where you can just wing it) and running a several hundred person event. Something getting lost in miscommunication can easily become a big deal. (in practice you'd hire a local events company to manage it, but still it's messier) I'm not sure I follow your reasoning for doing it in a non-startup hub though ? - certainly you could make an argument for doing it in one of the other hubs like Berlin but doing it somewhere like Frankfurt doesn't seem to make any sense to me.

jacquesm 12y ago
Frankfurt and even Hamburg are quite alive, Frankfurt is extremely central. It's an event for Europe, by doing it in London you are far away from most of Europe. Frankfurt is a huge hub when it comes to transportation, and there are facilities right at the airport. As for your 'miscommunication' suggestion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxUm-2x-2dM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxUm-2x-2dM
- ig1 12y ago
  Frankfurt is certainly a commercial/financial hub, but it's much more expensive to get to from say Paris or Barcelona because those routes aren't served by the budget airlines as it's not a tourist destination. But the Barcelona to London route is served by at least four budget airlines. Even from eastern Europe, flying to Frankfurt from Warsaw is almost twice as much as to London (although the trip to London is an extra 40 minutes).
  - jacquesm 12y ago
    So Barcelona it is then ;)
  - haraball 12y ago
    Ryanair flies to Frankfurt-Hahn which is 1.5 hour with bus outside of Frankfurt. Lots of budget airlines also fly to Cologne/Bonn which is 1 hour away with train.
    - ig1 12y ago
      Ryanair don't fly to Frankfurt from Paris or Barcelona, they only serve a handful of major city routes (primarily London and Rome). And at the point where you flying into a different city it's no longer an "easy-to-get-to" location.
      - jacquesm 12y ago
        > Ryanair don't fly to Frankfurt from Paris or Barcelona, http://www.bravofly.com/offers/flights/frankfurt-barcelona/ryanair http://www.bravofly.com/offers/flights/frankfurt-barcelona/r... As for 'flying into a different city', almost all of Londons airports except for Heathrow are more than an hour away and most of the cut-rate lines fly into the aiports furthest away. I know you're trying to find all kinds of reasons to justify the choice made but all this nonsense is a bit strange. First you contend that you could not get along in Europe with only English, this contradicts my experience from travelling through Europe for many years (yes, I do speak multiple languages but in every country I've been to as soon as it's business English is the norm, even in France when dealing with foreigners). Now you make it seem as if a major hub for air traffic in continental Europe is somehow at a disadvantage to London. I don't get it. Can't we just agree that there are viable alternatives that would have been a lot easier to reach for a lot of possible attendants?
        ig1 12y ago
        Did you look at the pricing ? - it's 306 euros with stopover versus 190 euros direct Barcelona to London (for one day return on day of startup school). There are certainly other viable candidates to host such an event such as Paris and Berlin, but Frankfurt isn't one of them. As I said running an event is different from visiting, you're dealing with venue staff, caterers, security, insurers, etc. it's certainly all doable especially at the high-end of the market where everyone speaks english but it adds non-trivial overhead and you will be paying a premium. As soon as you require all your vendors speaking English you're price segmenting yourself into a more premium market. There are some cities where everyone speaks English, but in many major European cities many caterers, etc. will only speak their native language. I've even found smaller hotels in Paris, Madrid, etc. often not to have english speaking staff.

by ig1 12y ago

jacquesm 12y ago

Frankfurt and even Hamburg are quite alive, Frankfurt is extremely central. It's an event for Europe, by doing it in London you are far away from most of Europe. Frankfurt is a huge hub when it comes to transportation, and there are facilities right at the airport. As for your 'miscommunication' suggestion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxUm-2x-2dM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxUm-2x-2dM

ig1 12y ago
Frankfurt is certainly a commercial/financial hub, but it's much more expensive to get to from say Paris or Barcelona because those routes aren't served by the budget airlines as it's not a tourist destination. But the Barcelona to London route is served by at least four budget airlines. Even from eastern Europe, flying to Frankfurt from Warsaw is almost twice as much as to London (although the trip to London is an extra 40 minutes).
- jacquesm 12y ago
  So Barcelona it is then ;)
- haraball 12y ago
  Ryanair flies to Frankfurt-Hahn which is 1.5 hour with bus outside of Frankfurt. Lots of budget airlines also fly to Cologne/Bonn which is 1 hour away with train.
  - ig1 12y ago
    Ryanair don't fly to Frankfurt from Paris or Barcelona, they only serve a handful of major city routes (primarily London and Rome). And at the point where you flying into a different city it's no longer an "easy-to-get-to" location.
    - jacquesm 12y ago
      > Ryanair don't fly to Frankfurt from Paris or Barcelona, http://www.bravofly.com/offers/flights/frankfurt-barcelona/ryanair http://www.bravofly.com/offers/flights/frankfurt-barcelona/r... As for 'flying into a different city', almost all of Londons airports except for Heathrow are more than an hour away and most of the cut-rate lines fly into the aiports furthest away. I know you're trying to find all kinds of reasons to justify the choice made but all this nonsense is a bit strange. First you contend that you could not get along in Europe with only English, this contradicts my experience from travelling through Europe for many years (yes, I do speak multiple languages but in every country I've been to as soon as it's business English is the norm, even in France when dealing with foreigners). Now you make it seem as if a major hub for air traffic in continental Europe is somehow at a disadvantage to London. I don't get it. Can't we just agree that there are viable alternatives that would have been a lot easier to reach for a lot of possible attendants?
      - ig1 12y ago
        Did you look at the pricing ? - it's 306 euros with stopover versus 190 euros direct Barcelona to London (for one day return on day of startup school). There are certainly other viable candidates to host such an event such as Paris and Berlin, but Frankfurt isn't one of them. As I said running an event is different from visiting, you're dealing with venue staff, caterers, security, insurers, etc. it's certainly all doable especially at the high-end of the market where everyone speaks english but it adds non-trivial overhead and you will be paying a premium. As soon as you require all your vendors speaking English you're price segmenting yourself into a more premium market. There are some cities where everyone speaks English, but in many major European cities many caterers, etc. will only speak their native language. I've even found smaller hotels in Paris, Madrid, etc. often not to have english speaking staff.