Event oversubscribed

[Kiran Jonnalagadda]

Hi All,

We have a problem: demand for this event has outstripped supply of space. 230 people have signed up so far. It's not even 24 hours since announcement, and there are still 29 days left to go. Even if only 20% convert to paying participants, that's a lot.

We found a venue that can take roughly 200, because that was the ideal size for a good discussion in the original Barcamp style ("no spectators, only participants").

What do we do now? Options:

1. Find a larger venue and change the date. It's unlikely we'll find another for the same date.

2. Keep this event small and do a larger event later.

If 2, sub-options:

2.1. First 200 paying sign-ups, first come, first serve. Keep it simple. But this way we'll miss anyone interesting who signed up too late.

2.2. Raise the price until demand drops. Very effective, but unfair to smaller startups.

2.3. Find a way to pick the 200 most worthy participants. There aren't 200 session slots, so it'll be a mix of presenters and respondents. Tricky to execute, but will result in a high quality event for those who get in.

What's your pick?

Kiran

PS: It's also possible folks don't understand what they are registering for and the conversion rate will be far lower.

--
Kiran Jonnalagadda
+91-99452-35123
http://hasgeek.in/

[Kesava Reddy]

2.3 is ruled out. "Worthy" is always subjective. No matter what system you put in place.

 

2.2 is also ruled out. Your definition itself says it is unfair for someone. As Un-conf is open platform for everyone, this is ruled out. If there is any charge, it should be towards covering the expenses, not more than that.

So, Let us not complicate the things, as you mentioned, KEEP it simple! Better to go for the option 2.1

Regards

Kesava Reddy.M

--

With Regards & Thanks

Kesava Reddy.M
+91-97400-8HELP

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[Mayank Sharma]

In my opinion as you rightly pointed in your PS, the conversion rate
will be far lower when
a. People realize they have to pay for the event.
b. That the event is on a weekday

So I would say stick to option number 2, but add the following sub
option under it.
2.3 : Open early bird registration for 150-175 people for certain
price and ask people to start paying. If 150/175 people register,
close registration until last couple of days, where registration price
now is 2*early bird or 1.5*early bird.

It's a little complicated I know, but hopefully less than 200 people
will register for the paid event and you can forget about the else
case above.

Another immediate action you can take to curb current registration is
that in the current registration form add a check box saying, I know
this is a paid event and I am willing to pay. And a PS that it is on
weekday so please register if you can make it.

-Mayank

[Tarique Sani]

On Mar 2, 9:18 pm, Kiran Jonnalagadda <ki...@hasgeek.in> wrote:
>

> 2.1. First 200 paying sign-ups, first come, first serve. Keep it simple. But this way we'll miss anyone interesting who signed up too late.
>

Suggest you keep it simple. Judge that fine balance of registration
fee which will eliminate riff raff but still not Tax the startups

Everything else will land you in a sticky soup :-)

Cheers
Tarique

[Pradeep B V]

On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 9:48 PM, Kiran Jonnalagadda <ki...@hasgeek.in> wrote:

2.3. Find a way to pick the 200 most worthy participants. There aren't 200 session slots, so it'll be a mix of presenters and respondents. Tricky to execute, but will result in a high quality event for those who get in.

How about we do a crazy thing...

Presenters to pick the respondents like inverse of the SXSW process - http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ may be with a 50-50 mix instead of the 30-30-40mix that they have. 

All people who want to attend as respondents have to write a small pitch as to why they should be allowed to come in and what value will they add to the discussions and the presenters along with the unconference coordinators pick the respondents and create a wait list of people who cannot be accommodated. 

After the end of the RSVP process if we have some slots open we just ask people in wait list to come by. 

And who ever creates this 'audience picker' app gets a free entry :-)

- P

  

[Sajjad Anwar]

> 2.1. First 200 paying sign-ups, first come, first serve. Keep it simple. But this way we'll miss anyone interesting who signed up too late.
>

Let's keep it simple. But what if we miss some important participants?

Also. What if we might be able to find out a better place to
accommodate people and extend the count to a 300?

Cheers.

--
Sajjad Anwar | http://geohackers.in | Blog: http://sajjad.in |
Twitter: geohacker

[Akash Manohar]

Agree with the PS. Saw that happening at Android Dev Labs (even tho it
was a free event).

When it's a paid event, the conversion rate (Paid=coming, not-
paid=skipping) becomes clear.

On Mar 2, 9:18 pm, Kiran Jonnalagadda <ki...@hasgeek.in> wrote: