How to set registration fees

Setting registration prices for conferences can be a contentious process. It’s a procedure not necessarily enjoyed by planners or committees. It can become an emotional roller coaster and it usually lacks a strategy. Developing registration prices has to do as much with meeting budgets as offering opportunities for a large number of people to attend.   

At EventInterface we’ve seen a wide-ranging variety of strategies and pricing models. We don’t think we can say that one is better than the other, but we’ve gaged insight into what makes some groups more successful than others. One thing that stands out is the necessity to offer a great program tied to a sound registration strategy.  

CREATING VALUE

People attend conferences for a variety of reasons. They come to learn and network, exhibit or buy. One of the most important strategies before setting your registration prices is insuring that you have a conference worth registering for.  Aside of a fantastic program, you can build online communities, offer continuing-education credit, and engage cutting-edge technologies pre- and post-conference to involve attendees, speakers and exhibitors.  Creating added value will ensure stronger registration numbers.

BUDGETS FIRST

Before setting registration fees, think about your mission, and then develop your anticipated expenses. Ask yourself if you want to break even or raise money? Once you have a handle on your cost, start building your revenue strategy, registration prices and sponsorship opportunities. Know your audience and the market. If you don’t know where to start, do an internet search for similar projects in comparable markets and discover what prices are like.  If you learn that similar conferences average a fee of $350, it is highly unlikely you will be able to charge a $650 fee. If you need to charge a $650 fee but think your prospect attendees can’t manage that fee, then either create additional value, have a more aggressive sponsorship strategy or reduce the production cost of your conference.

EARLY vs. LATE

It seems that every conference offers an Early-Bird registration fee, and it’s guaranteed that every conference will extend the date of this period. So what is the incentive? We’ve never been a fan of this strategy. It creates a precedent for future years. The longer it goes on, the less successful this strategy becomes. 

If you really must have it, there are a few things you can do to make this early vs. late concept work for your group.

First develop a registration fee with a significant difference between the early and late fee. A $50 difference isn’t going to entice people to register early. Secondly, do not extend the cut-off date. Heavily promote this date date and stick to your guns by not extending it.

Another technique to boost early-bird registrations, and a favorite of ours, is to make available a limited number of registrations not based on a cut-off date. When they sell out they’re gone! This definitely creates a sense of urgency, and helps in the budgeting process as you know exactly the revenue associated with this type of registration option.   

Other incentives could include a more discounted hotel room rate for people who register early vs. late, inclusion of materials meaningful to your attendees or other onsite benefits such as admission to a special session or reception.

It comes down to creating urgency and offering value.

ALL-INCLUSIVE OR A-LA-CARTE PRICING?

Do you offer an all-inclusive registration fee for your conference, an a-la-carte approach, or a combination? Would mixing all-inclusive registration options with an a-la-carte option generate more revenue? Would it generate more attendees interested in just one or a handful of sessions who may otherwise not attend?  

Looking at your expenses to produce a session, you may conclude that it costs $25 per attendee to produce it. You could probably sell a registration option for that session at $35 to $50, or more.  Onsite management becomes a bit more challenging but offering al-la-carte options alongside traditional registration options could generate significant additional revenue.

GENERATING MORE REVENUE

Today’s technologies offer opportunities to generate additional revenue for conferences. EventInterface for example offers opportunities to engage at-home attendees by live broadcasting sessions and workshops, allowing attendees to interact with the speakers and each other. This is an ideal opportunity to engage participants who may otherwise not be able to attend a conference, but would be willing to register to participate virtually.  Use technology to offer presentations and videos post-conference, give it free to registered attendees, and allow non-attendees to register for access post-conference, again generating more revenue.

Exploring all revenue angles or additional revenue opportunities may allow you to offer an overall lower registration cost by spreading anticipated registration revenue over more options.

Click here to see our top tips!

Announcing our first grant awardees

EventInterface just closed its first ever Nonprofit Technology Grant Round and we are thrilled to announce the winners. Selected from qualified applicants are the Arizona Hydrological Society, The Antelope Valley Family YMCA (Los Angeles YMCA), RDR Ahwatukee, the Up with People International Alumni Association and the Arizona SciTech Festival.

“We are thrilled to be supporting such a variety of agencies and organizations” said Al Wynant, company CEO. “We strongly believe in helping agencies that do good in our communities. Offering our software will allow them to raise more money and operate their events more efficiently.” Wynant said.

Each organization has received the complimentary use of the EventInterface cloud-based event management software to manage events, including fundraising galas, symposia, educational seminars, marathons and reunions. The value of this donation is estimated at $45,000.

For more information about EventInterface visit www.EventInterface.com.

Paradise is Calling

It’s small, beautiful and award winning. It is a supreme destination for conferences and incentive programs. Located less than two-hours flying from most East Coast cities, Bermuda is a convenient dream destination. 

The island is known for its unrivaled weather, pink sand beaches, historic sites and warm, friendly people. It's no wonder Condé Nast Traveler readers have voted Bermuda "Best Island in the Caribbean/Atlantic" 17 times since 1994. Meeting planners will appreciate the fact that Bermuda is a 17-time winner of the Pinnacle Award from Successful Meetings and the recipient of the Platinum award from Incentive Magazine. If you haven’t yet considered Bermuda for a meeting, its time you took a closer look.


Read all about it in our newest blog post on our website by clicking here. 

Helping Hands!

In many workshops and conferences, planners so desperately want to teach attendees about collaboration. Most exercises used to teach these important team sensibilities may help the participants, but few have a lasting impact on the attendees, let alone other people and communities.  

In last week’s blog we wrote about U Build it Bikes for Kids, a program where participants construct bikes to be given to children at local charities. This week we’re highlighting the Helping Hands program. These programs extend the reach of your conference’s team building experience far beyond your event, and positively impact communities and people long after your meeting has ended, locally and even on a global scale.

Helping Hands is a program of Odyssey Teams, Inc. The Chico-based company came up with the idea of combining philanthropy and team building workshops in 2000 and since then hasn't looked back. They offer a variety of programs but one program really drew our attention for both its ease of implementation during a meeting or conference, and for the incredibly positive impact it has on the individuals benefiting.

Helping Hands is about changing lives. It's about accessing the potential of our hands, heads and hearts to build a better team, a better organization and a better world. Attendees will be building hands needed by tens of thousands of people around the world who cannot afford prosthetic devices. The Helping Hands process teaches groups to model true collaboration, commitment and quality - borne from a deeper sense of connection to products, colleagues and customers.

  
Recipients of the Helping Hands program around the world.

As a result of this program, thousands of amputees around the world can now dress themselves, eat on their own, and care for their families with the help of an Odyssey Teams-crafted prosthetic.  And innumerable corporate employees have been re-connected with the power of caring and collaboration in the workplace.

The Helping Hands program is fully scalable. It can be for small meetings or for conferences with thousands. Abbott, Wal-Mart, Novartis and Cisco are among the many companies who have used this program at their meetings with their resulted hands being sent to help people in Columbia, Vietnam, and other places. 

Learn more about Odyssey Teams,Inc. by visiting their website.

Reach out to them via phone at             1-800-342-1650      .

Photographs courtesy of Odyssey Teams, Inc.

-Al Wynant

Visit EventInterface.

Here to help you!

We’re making it even easier for attendees, planners and prospect clients to reach out to us.

We understand that from time to time attendees and planners need a little extra help. Starting February 8, asking for help will be even easier. We are launching the EventInterface Help Chat feature. Attendees and planners can reach out to us from the chat icon with any questions and problems, and a helpful Member Services team member will jump in to help out. We’re also launching a chat option for prospect clients to ask questions before they buy. A new chat function will float near the bottom of the EventInterface home page.

The feature will be launched initially at system peak times and availability will increase in the coming months. Just look for the chat icons pictured below on our website. They will show up when Help Chat is live.

At EventInterface we continue to add new features to make managing or attending an event or meeting an absolute success. Visit us at EventInterface.com

Puppy Love

It has been a few weeks since I posted anything in this section. Sadly I haven’t come across any fun or cool new items to be featured. I did however discover a recipe for homemade dog biscuits my K-9 companions actually love. A bit off topic but fun to share, so instead of a great gift for speakers and attendees, here’s a gift you can make for your own four-legged friends. We’ll be back with ideas for people schwag soon.

With Uma, Skye and Max

Family and friends know I’m a huge dog lover.  Our house is shared with Skye, our six year old Lhasa Apso and Uma, our twelve year old Queensland Heeler. We still miss our Max, a terrier mix full of personality. Our dogs are incredibly spoiled. Skye has more toys than I ever had as a child (don’t worry mom and dad, I’m OK). Uma is a connoisseur of all things poultry. Freshly baked turkey may be her all-time favorite. Finding healthy treats for our finicky friends has always been a bit of a challenge. Last week however I discovered a super easy recipe for homemade dog biscuits they can’t seem to get enough of.

The treats are super easy to make and only take five ingredients. I call them “Peanut Butter Delight”. It takes about 45 minutes to make, and that includes baking time. The recipe makes about 20 biscuits, but you may get more or less depending on the type of cookie cutter you are using. I used a 2 ½ inch doggie bone shaped cookie cutter.

The ingredients:

1 ½ cup of organic whole-wheat flour
½ cup of organic rolled oats
1 tsp of baking powder
1 cup of skim milk
1 cup of organic peanut butter (I used creamy)

Start by preheating your oven to 385 degrees.

Combine the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Then soften the peanut butter in the microwave for 15 to 30 seconds. Trust me, you want to do this. My first attempt to mix peanut butter, flour and milk turned my counter in a sticky and powdery mess. Once softened, add the peanut butter and milk to the dry mixture. Mix the ingredients together well. I found it much easier to use my hands. When mixed well, place on a clean, dry and floured surface. With a rolling pin, roll out the dough to about ¼ inch thickness.

Use a cookie cutter to cutout the desired shapes and place on lightly greased baking sheet.

Bake in a 385 degree oven for 28 to 30 minutes. When done remove and cool on a rack.

Skye and Uma sat in the kitchen, looking at the cooling cookies the entire time. This was the first time ever I saw them taking a cookie (cooled) out of my hand without the need to sniff and approve it. Within seconds they were back for more, and yes….I gave them a second helping.

-  Al Wynant with thanks to Skye and Uma for their willingness to trust my baking experiment.  

Modern Stylish New York

If you have stayed at any of the 50 Kimpton properties in the United States, you understand their thoughtful service, have experienced exceptional design and a level of personal attention not commonly found in the hospitality industry. I have to admit, I’m a fan, but I yet have to meet a person who hasn't enjoyed their stay at a Kimpton property.

Read about this fabulous property in our newest blog “Modern Stylish New York”, available at http://www.eventinterface.com/blog-article?id=27.