“From 24 to 26 September 2008, thousands of creative minds from all over the world will come together in Amsterdam for the third PICNIC. …”
So how does one particular creative mind get to this kind of event on a budget? It looks huge, expensive dripping with free bars and full colour laser projection backdrops.
Yes, I am talking about me… I am just putting my feelers out there at the moment but it looks like a fantastic event that I could get so much out of as well as (I hope) add something too.
Not Just PICNIC, I also plan to get over and talk at Podcamp Hawaii. This could all be pie in the sky as quite obviously all these events cost money. If I got to go to all of the worldwide social media events I have my eye on, I would never be home. More to the point I probably wouldn’t have a home as I’d have to sell it to fund all these social media miles.
It was the day after I got back from the New Media Expo in Las Vegas that I spotted Picnic08 online.. It talked about the worlds top creatives, networking, melding ideas and pushing the boundaries in all forms of media.
This was for me.. in fact, how could this go ahead without me? 😉
Ahh.. then i saw the costs involved.. (£1013 for a full conference ticket), Hmm it appears it is not just for creative minds.. It’s for rich creative minds. “OK..’ I thought. “Don’t let that dissuade you from going..”
It may not be the kind of event I am used to.. Free like a podcamp or a max of $400 for NME, but surely this event is not just limited to those who have already made their name in the business world, the established minds of the corporate elite who would not think twice at bunging 1000+ euros at a networking event in Amsterdam. What if i forked out the money and then, as with many other events, found the value in the corridors and hidden spaces. The places where the unconventional unconferences dwell?
Shortly after deciding to lay off the photography and venture into the social media mayhem, I manage to go to SXSW, Podcamp NYC and then recently the NME Las Vegas.. All with relative ease. In most cases I was asked to go and my costs covered by either sponsors, or clients. I would like to think some apps were well tested, some profiles raised and decent content made in the process. There were definately connections and contacts made.
But here we are, the most local of all the bigger, massivly funded events.. specialising in my main passion (creativity), just a mere hop across the water and it may as well be a million miles away.
I’d Love to get sponsored to attend Picnic08, there is little chance I could raise the funds in time otherwise.
Like many of my social media friends, I am a hand-to-mouth blogger, vlogger and multi media mongrel. Things continue improving the more projects I get my teeth into, but it’s looking like I would need in excess of 2000 euros to attend this event and I just don’t have the ready cash lying around. *checks the mattress*.
All these ideas and inspiration to share.. Just no piles of hard cash.
If this were an advertisement attempting to sell my services in exchange for passage over the water to Holland, I would ask anybody who does have the spare cash to contact me and find out what I can do for you in exchange for sponsorship. I would talk about the seemingly endless provision of creative content, coverage and exposure..
I would say get in touch through Twitter or through this website (top right envelope).
But this is just another blogger talking about being on the edge and in the middle of this strange warping world of social media..
If you have just arrived at this site and are not sure what I have been up to recently.. check out:
my blogging on http://www.Creative-Choices.co.uk
Some of my video content in other places..
I use Qik A podcast I did for the United Nations in Jordan.
..And here is a channel on Phreadz I contributed to for the New Media Expo.
In many ways you have to be a creative mind yourself to see the value of content creators working within social media networks. It is still a new field and the role is evolving all the time.
It would be bloody great to go to PICNIC’08 and I will keep my bag packed just in case I need to make a last minute hop across the water.
Still, I have a back up plan..
Another meeting of creative minds, an imagination collaberation in Birmingham on the 26th. Far closer to home and as cheap as a drive up the motorway,

These are the new generation of networking meets.. No stareing bleary eyed into a cold egg as a cushion cover embroider trys to sell to you over the dawn chorus. No costly subscriptions and suits are most certainly optional. This is truly a meeting of minds where creativity and inovation is quenched in coffee as the future of media is forged from white hot ideas.
These are exciting times. Lasers and robots, holograms and segways. Even with the big social media events grabbing the attention of the corporate world.. a pot of coffee is all you really need to attract a meeting of creative minds.
I guess this means barring extraordinary events you will not be at BlogWorldExpo.
PICNIC here! Just for the record… access to PICNIC costs 95 Euro for a day pass including lunch. That does not get you into the conference room itself, but you get access to all that day’s specials and social events. Only 20% of visitors attend the conference, thousands buy tickets for the specials. The PICNIC Labs are even free for those that take part. And the conference will be streamed life. PICNIC is one of the most accessible international events out there!
so do join us, you won’t be disappointed.
Hi Chaz, Tiz true. Little chance of getting there right now. Ticket prices to Vegas are still $1600.. Are you heading over?
Hi Monique, That sounds much more reasonable! (about £77/$150 per day..) If everything is streamed I would not miss the conferences.
I roughly calculate that with flight, food and a very cheep hotel a person from the UK could attend the event for aprox £700 (858 euros). Much more reasonable.
Thank you for the heads up. 🙂
I’ll be seeing you at the birmingham thing regardless – we have some planning to do for sxsw 2k9. 🙂
Phil, you do know that Brum is the same day as PICNIC08..? 🙂
Erm. welcome to the real world dude. If you cant afford it (like most of us) dont go. Thats the way it works. You got some kind of chutspah to continue this begging for ‘sponsorship’ as you call it. There are countless netizens, creatives, artists, vloggers, you name it that would love to quit a real job to galavant the globe posing as some kind of ‘social media expert’. I just wonder what makes you so special you feel you should do it on someone elses dime…
peace brother
@influxx
Hi Influxx,
I have never subscribed to the “if i can’t afford it i won’t go” mentality. I refuse to let money get in the way of experience and opportunities.
If someone doesn’t feel like my blogging, filming and general documenting is worth covering my expenses, they won’t pay my them.
I should really have updated this blog and said that since posting this I secured accommodation from a Seesmic user based in Amsterdam and a press pass from the organisers. They even offered me hard cash for a staff position.
As it happens I see more value for me to be going to Web 2.0 and have opted for Berlin. Another perk from gallivanting and having a new type of job (rather than a ‘real’ one).