Simon Willison’s Weblog

How do I keep service providers and consultants out of my meetup or conference?

My answer to How do I keep service providers and consultants out of my meetup or conference? on Quora

If it’s that important to you, make the conference apply-to-attend and get people to submit linkedin / github profiles or whatever to demonstrate that they are a founder/builder. Then only send invitations to the people you are sure aren’t service providers or consultants.

I’ve seen plenty of events that do this and the model seems to work very well. It also adds an air of exclusivity which some attendees will appreciate.