I've only done it once so far, but it was a very enjoyable use of <1% of my annual income; probably one of the most memorable/fun uses of money I spent last year.
+1.
I mean, the wife and I are going for a 3rd year in a row. We planned our trip to the U.S. around it. There's a reason so many of us--Mustachians, who generally don't like to waste money--find it worth it: it is!
The cost is a lot, $850 for both of us is a big chunk of our annual budget, but the reason makes sense: lodging for 3 nights, plus food prepared for you for three days, snacks, some entertainment, some expenses to cover the "speaker" costs, etc. They could make it cheaper, but it wouldn't be the same type of event (see below). The cost makes sense, and is worth it, IMO.
I posted my comment (reply #17) after checking out the website, and adult tickets were already sold out. Organizers, if you wanted to make the event bigger, there is definitely demand for more spots!
So it was more like sold out in two days, not four. Wow.
Regarding making the event bigger, I think they thought about this between years 1 & 2, but liked the idea of it being smaller.
I'm sure they could hold a "conference" style event where tickets were ~$100 apiece and it was held in a hotel conference room, people paid for their own hotel room and wen tout to get their own food, and get hundreds (literally) of people.
I don't think that's what they want. This weekend is much more intimate than that. 50 people hanging out together, eating all meals together, playing games. You get a chance to learn a lot more about people, their backgrounds, families, etc.
My wife still emails with people from the event--she made, like, real friends. That's pretty rare, as an adult.
You're in super interesting conversations non-stop with people who tend to share very similar values with you. There's very, very few places anywhere else in the world to get that.
I know if they did change the event style and added more, the wife and I likely wouldn't go. It'd be a totally different experience, because while it'd be the same type of people, having so much more would mean you'd connect a lot superficially before bouncing to the next, or barely meet anyone. The way it is, you get a chance to meet people, sit with different people at the next meal, meet them, etc. Then there's time to chat with them again, and again. I'm really glad they added the extra day between year 1 & 2 (year one was Fri - Sun, last year it changed to Fri - Mon, so the costs went up a bit). That added to the intimacy by giving more time. Adding more people would do the opposite.
The Ecuador "Chautauqua" would be even more intense, I'm sure. A full week of that? And I think 25-ish people? Right now we can't justify that $3600 per couple (not including extra travel costs), but the $850 of the Seattle Camp Mustache? Heck yes!
There are multiple people I've met at CM who went to one of the Chautauquas, and loved it, yet still found value in traveling to Seattle for CM.
I mean, Pete's spending time to fly up to Seattle, and doing TWO Chautauquas per year now (two weeks of his year just in Ecuador doing that). He has plenty of money from being FI + the site, so clearly he's doing it out of pure enjoyment.
I get why it seems weird though--it's hard to describe the feeling of electricity in the air.