How should we deal with event no-shows?
Mary McKenna, MBE
Entrepreneur, innovator, operator, thought leader, advisor, investor | Serial tech entrepreneur & EIR | Angel & NED | MC, blogger and speaker | Planting a thousand flowers
This blog is really a request for ideas.
Recently I've attended three excellent events - one in Northern Ireland & two in London. All were free to attend & all were sold out & running a waitlist. All were held in accessible & prestigious venues (that I assume had to be paid for by someone) & all generously provided lunches & snacks/refreshments that the organisers had either paid for or that sponsors had covered.
The Northern Irish event was on a Friday & the two London ones were on Saturdays.
All three events had a disappointingly high drop out rate in terms of no-shows. People who had registered for the event but just didn't turn up on the day & didn't bother to let the organisers know they no longer needed their ticket so it could be released to the waitlist. Disappointing for the organisers who had worked hard on the content & logistics for many months, disappointing for the sponsors who paid for elements of the event & hoped to reach more people, disappointing for the speakers who were hoping for a bigger crowd (some of them had travelled long distances to be there), disappointing for the people on the waitlist who were denied a ticket.
The events had all communicated frequently with their delegates in the run up to the events & emphasised that they were running a waitlist. Still they each had a huge dropout rate - one was more than 50% of the number who had registered.
I tweeted about this today & was amazed at the response - most of it from other people who run frequent free events and are also frustrated when this happens to them.
So what's the answer. Here are some of the suggestions voiced on Twitter today and a few of my own:
- charge a small fee & either donate it to charity or refund to the people who turn up, or charge a fee only if the person fails to show up on the day - downside - a lot of extra admin & hassle. Also - it seems that the people who most object to this method are attendees from the public sector who would find it too hard to book (seems they wouldn't be willing to pay £5 from their own pocket!). Interestingly enough, those same people also seem to make up a large percentage of the no-shows - doubly disappointing.
- don't run a booking system at all - just do first come, first served & cater for about 75% of the numbers you're expecting - downside - difficult to plan for & might put people off
- contact no-shows & ask why they didn't attend; keep a note of offenders & next time they book with you, ring them before the event & ask if they will be attending as you noticed they didn't last time - downside - a lot more work for organisers
- contact persistent no-shows when they book with you again & say you'll allocate them a ticket if there are any left a few days before your event - downside - more work for the organisers
- name & shame via an open website that all organisers of free events can use - this is my favourite but I can see the downsides ...
Rant over. If anyone has cracked this there are a large number of us who would be very grateful if you could tell us about your approach. We look forward to reading your comments.
Quality Assurance Consultant
7yCharge enough for the event to make it worth turning up. Low cost = Low value.
Global Head of Marketing @ BSI | Strategy | Inclusive Leadership
7yUnfortunately this is the fickle nature of people now, and not just in business. I’d always account for at least 50% drop out of a free event such as an exhibition, and allocate ticket numbers to reflect this. (A bit different if you’re working on a smaller conference.) However, as always I'm marketing, content is king, and if you have a stellar line up and have reminded your attendees of your engaging content, more should show up on the day.
Blanton's Colonnade International, Inc. LED Parapet Lighting
7yWhen you charge a nominal fee and offer a refund or credit back for the exhibiting vendors you have a higher % of attendees, as they do not want to loose their money. You also typically only get those who were going to attend in the first place. While you don't get the fake attendance numbers, you also get realistic counts for planning purposes.
Chief Happiness Officer at Switch On Happy
7yI'd love to see the insights here from Connect the Dots founders Marisa Denker and Naomi Murphy on what they've found to be the case organising free-to-attend events. Also would love to hear from the powerhouse Barbara Gordon of whatswhat.ie who organises the spectacular and free-to-attend The Biz Expo annually.
Sustainability Consultant, Business Mentor & Green Marketing Strategist | Behavioural Change Consultant | Sustainability Campaigns & Events
7yI would completely agree with Jackie Logan MCIPR, my previous experience has shown exactly the same, even a small or nominal fee places value on the event and people are less likely to do a "no-show".