Will I see that £20 again?

In the recruitment space most events are either free or paid for. However, after seeing something that Top Consultant did a few years back we decided to implement at “deposit based” pricing system for our technology events.

It’s incredibly straightforward but as it’s not mainstream it can prompt questions. So I thought for the benefit of possible attendees (and also to other event organisers I’ve spoken with who are interested in trialling the model) I’m going to explain what it’s all about.

At a very basic level if you register for a free event it’s normally straightforward, requires little effort and as a result very little commitment. For an organiser that can mean drop out rates on the day of up to 70%.

If you pay, even a small amount, for an event you have to make a conscious decision about its worth and as part of that you are making some sort of commitment to attend. You may end up having to drop out but attendance rates for our paid for events tend to be around the 80%+ mark.

As an event organiser you need to get better attendance because:
a) it’s easier to sell 100 tickets knowing 80 will turn up than have to give-away 200 tickets hoping that 80 will turn up
b) sponsors get cross if tell them you’ve got 100 places booked but only 30 people turn up!
c) It messes with your ability to ascertain room capacity

For our events we don’t want price to be a barrier in recruiters deciding whether to attend. However our theatre room only seats 110 and we can’t afford to risk booking 250 tickets just to fill it (what happens if by some quirk all 250 turned up?!!). Consequently there is a small deposit payable upon registration to ensure that we are only allocating places to those most committed to attending.

All monies are refunded to attendees who attend the event (we tick you off when you sign in and refund the money the next day) BUT if you don’t attend your deposit will be spent on after event drinks for the rest of us.  That’s most certainly a win win!