The big news today, of course, is WWDC. With its announcement yesterday, my Twitter timeline is blowing up with people making plans. But to a greater degree than has been usual in years past, it’s also blowing up with friends and developers wondering if they can attend this year due to the expense.

San Francisco is expensive even on the best of days, but it seems to be off the charts this year. With hotel rooms during the week of WWDC going for well over $400 per night, some quick back of the envelope math tells me that it wouldn’t be too hard to drop over $6000 during the week of WWDC. And that’s frankly way too expensive for a lot of developers – especially indie developers who don’t have an employer picking up the bill. Our community has always thrived on the camaraderie and learning that takes place at conferences, especially at WWDC, so if an indie has been priced out of San Francisco, what is he to do?

Luckily, our community has a long tradition of independent conferences that extends back for decades. Although they aren’t as big as WWDC, these community-driven conferences offer things that a behemoth like WWDC cannot. They offer a smaller venue where it’s easier to meet new people and make new friends. They offer specialty experiences so that you can focus on technical knowledge, or building your business, or whatever is the most pressing issue for you at the time. And they certainly offer a less expensive option for those who can’t afford San Francisco.

And that’s why six of the best independent iOS and Mac conferences this fall have joined together to offer a discount to all of our events. Because community shouldn’t just be for those with big budgets.

If your primary interest is going indie and building your business, then I hope that you will consider attending Release Notes, but if it’s not, please consider attending one of the other excellent conferences participating in this promotion. Just use coupon code COMMUNITY at checkout when purchasing a ticket to any of these conferences to take 10% off your admission price. But act quick. This promotion will only last for 24 hours.

I do understand the financial stress that attending WWDC can place on a small business, but attending a conference really is the best way to meet new people and learn new things. So if you find San Francisco to be out of your financial reach this year, I hope that you’ll take this opportunity to more affordably attend Release Notes or one of the other conferences this fall.

See you at Release Notes!