In a few hours I will be heading to downtown Vancouver to attend the Facebook Developer Garage. The organizers of this event completely underestimated the number of people attending. They’ve booked theatre 1 of the Vancouver Film School at 420 Homer Street.
The venue seats 100. However, they have 186 confirmed guests and 55 maybes. They tried to get the nearby 200 seat theatre/lecture hall at the SFU Harbour Centre but it was already booked. Seating will now be done on a first come first serve basis. This is going to be an interesting experience. I assume they won’t let anyone else in after the 100 seats are filled. I wonder if seats can be saved? Either way, we’re leaving for the event a bit earlier than planned to try and get a seat.
If I was running this event and had an overflow situation, I would fix it by charging admission. The overflow will disappear instantly and I’ll make money on the deal as well. 
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(11 votes, average: 2.91 out of 5)
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Go sardin go
btw, what do you think about as first thing when you wake up John, “how to make money”? :> Just teasing, anyway your solution sounds doable 
Have fun! Hope you get a seat.
Sounds like fun! haha…
Let us know how it goes!
borrow me the evil brain, John! I could use some money and the money making brain you got
by the way, congratulations!! You have more subscribers than shoemoney
Do you do any business on Facebook John? Ive never read anything here saying that you do
John, why let the fact that you are not running it stop you from making money on it.
I can positively say if john chow held a seminar people would fly in to go!
LOL … he should be at the entrance charging money. I can see the headlines : “John Chow thrown out of Facebook Developer Garage”
I hope you get pics from the event!
Definitely take pictures of what john sardine chow looks like packed to brim!
Good luck. Take pictures of the event if you can.
Don’t worry. Remember when the plane crashed? John has his camera. So he will definitely take them this time!
That’s awesome, wish I was there. Take lots of pics for the review!
I do not think it is all that evil to charge money for an event. Free events sometimes attract the wrong crowd and Facebook is a business so they should be thinking about maximizing their revenue streams. It is just a good business practice. Look at Exxon Mobile they are so profitable because they make money off of each and every part of their business. Now many seem to bemoan them for this I do not because they are just savvy with money. This type of thinking is what has made you so rich and the rest of us need to learn to think like that. Just my two cents.
Charging entrance fees may not quite keep all the comers unless it is priced very high. Charging in a facebook situation may not quite gel with its well wishers!
Update us on what’s going on there.
It would be real nice to see you taking some photos and freebies remember!
Remember take photos, Promote your blog, Eat lots of free food, and most important SMILE
root of all evils!
[...] does it take you to write an average blog post? For me, it varies greatly. My last post about the Facebook Garage took just 10 minutes. However, I have spent as much as 3 hours on a [...]
Charging admission john just to get rid of some of them, oh that’s evil!!….. I like it!!
Totally agree, money changes everything… well at least you get couple bucks to go do somethin’
Agreed, a few bucks always sorts out the rubber necks from the people with general interest.
Maybe even more than a few bucks? I’ve give up trying to sell anything cheap, you always end up with customers that you’d rather not have and who are more trouble than they are worth!
Canada has really picked up Facebook development better than most countries. The FB developer garage here in Toronto had the main hall (I’d say about 250 people capacity) totally full, and a secondary room had to be set up with a projection of the seminars.
If I was running this event and had an overflow situation, I would fix it by charging admission. The overflow will disappear instantly and I’ll make money on the deal as well.
Or maybe no one would enter.
I think they’d still do OK, FaceBook has huge marketing potential, I’m working on my first app right now.
What is your first app called?
I hope that you will come back in one piece. Don’t they have video screens outside the main auditorium, so that those who can not get inside can observe the proceedings?
I heard how super affiliates use facebook to mint money. Let us know how it goes.
Check it out! - A deal between Facebook and either Google Inc or Microsoft Corp is expected to be announced in the next 24 to 48 hours, The New York Post reported on its Web site on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources.
Did you know myspace is following suite and will soon allow developers to make apps?
http://facebook-developer.net/2007/10/23/myspace-announces-plans-of-opening-to-developers/
[...] I learned one thing from the Facebook Developer Garage, it would be Facebook developers are great at making applications but they suck at make money [...]
Sardines are great
I love them. Southern europeans cnat live without them 