Comments on: Why a registration fee for Third Tuesday?

By: Why We’re Charging an Admission Fee: Blog: Refresh Events

Why We’re Charging an Admission Fee: Blog: Refresh Events — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:54:31 +0000

[...] in June, we posted a response to Joe Thornley’s blog post explaining the reasons why Third Tuesday was charging admission. We still back Joe’s decision as it is a valid one. In June, we faced the same issue as Third [...]

By: Alex Sirota

Alex Sirota — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 10:30:26 +0000

This is an issue that we at Newpath have worked out during our 8+ years as a small networking group for independent consultants. Here’s what we settled on

1. For purely networking events where there is no outright cost to the organizers we do free. We still do registrations on eventbrite.Von to get details though. Registrants are essentially paying by providing their contact details, a form of capital. We don’t have sponsors and therefore are never out of pocket. This runs lean but I am always surprised by the turn out.

2. For events with speakers we run at break even. That is we usually charge 20 to 30 to include refreshments, a nice meeting place and one more thing-we pay our speakers 50% of the profits and encourage the speaker to market the event. This usually works out to 100 to 200 dollars depending on attendance. Again eventbrite is a must. Early bird helps here.

Any community needs to have options and also quality built in. This ensures there is something for everyone.

By: RogerB

RogerB — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:03:48 +0000

10$ is reasonable… when it moves into 20$, it starts to ‘feel’ like a different event and may attract a more formal (not necessarily better/worse) crowd.

perhaps as a ‘reward’ for the shows, and to help negate the fee… a 10$ admission, might include a drink ticket, or appetizers, etc. (depending on the venue).

I’d also encourage a friendly payment system. I’m happy to pay you 10$, but I loath paying the 2$ convenience fee to the various systems, banks, credit cards, etc.

By: Peter Childs

Peter Childs — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 22:17:36 +0000

From a philosophical perspective I wonder whether charging people (which is essentially a test of their reputation to do what they say they will do) is a result of that commercial model being well known and easy to implement, and the lack of an easy to implement alternative.

An alternative approach would be to charge no-shows and to prevent them from registering at another event until the fee was paid.

Of course that approach requires more overhead – both at the event and in back end systems – but much of that could be automated through the same web technology we love so well.

The advantage of this approach is that instead of having to inherently distrust members reputations, tests or sanctions are only applied when the person demonstrates they actions don’t match their words (or clicks).

This is not to suggest that charging is not a good idea from a commercial or cost recovery perspective – but if the goal is to be revenue neutral (as I understand it is) there may be other ways to make online commitments count in the real world by adopting different models to reinforce or sanction the behaviour.

By: Bonnie Dean

Bonnie Dean — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:26:12 +0000

I think Eden Spodek makes an excellent suggestion re: free spots to students, grads and those who are unemployed. If part of my $10 pays for someone else to attend who may not be able to afford it, I would have no problem with that.

By: David

David — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:42:59 +0000

i would like to add to my reply, (post #TTO) If the decision is to raise the calibre of speaker, then i cannot fault a small cost.

Having said that, it would be a shame to loose the students. Maybe a free pass with student ID?

By: Joseph Thornley

Joseph Thornley — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 20:52:50 +0000

I want to just let you know that, while I’m not responding to each comment and tweet, I’m definitely listening and thinking about your comments. I’m learning a lot about the Third Tuesday community and what you value.

I’ll be back with a post reflecting on what you’ve told me. Please don’t stop providing me with your feedback. I very much value it.

By: Registration Fees, Redux: Blog: Refresh Events

Registration Fees, Redux: Blog: Refresh Events — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:03:39 +0000

[...] Dan Hocking’s post yesterday about charging registration fees to reduce event no-shows (and Joseph Thornley’s post as well) or more specifically, @alkerton’s comment, I wanted to post some additional thoughts [...]

By: Michele

Michele — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:38:01 +0000

Here’s a thought… charge the $10 pre-registration fee. When the person shows up they are given a drink ticket which entitles them to a beer or alcoholic drink of their choice. Essentially getting their money back.

It shouldn’t be difficult to coordinate with the staff at the venue.

Or the ticket could be used as a $10 discount off the bill. This would be a win-win for the restaurant, as I’ve been to many free events where attendees don’t order anything except water.

By: Eden Spodek

Eden Spodek — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 02:58:41 +0000

I know you’ve been thinking about making this move for a while and Leona Hobbs mentioned she and Maggie Fox were discussing a similar one for TGGD as Maggie mentioned above. It takes courage to take a stand when we’re so used to “free” with these types of events.

The value these “free” events have provided for the community is enormous and worth more than a mere $10. In theory, I support the move. I wonder if it will actually fix the problem. Most people won’t miss $10 if it turns out they can’t make it in the end. Perhaps there’s a way TTT can still provide some free spots (or sponsorship) for students, recent grads and unemployed members of the community.