So of course it's one of the most heard of conferences in the Indian region and I've been attending their conferences since 2017 (not consistently, but on and off). I attended UX India last year as a speaker. They don't pay the speakers and don't provide any travel or logistics under the guise of it being "pro bono". Instead, they give you a "free ticket" to the conference, as if it's a great favor. My employer had to cover for my travel and accommodation, and while the experience was okay, I felt I was given a smaller stage maybe because I wasn't from a well-known company.
This year, I applied as a speaker again and was horrified to find out that they selected me to speak to the "student audience." Apparently, they've split the conference into two parts this year in 2024: the first two days for students and the last three days for professionals. I declined the offer.
But this really makes me wonder, how casually these conference organizers, especially Bapu in this case, the main guy behind UX India, treat the speakers who put their hard work into preparing talks for them for free!
Has anyone else has any similar experiences with UX India?
