10/25/2022

New Pricing Models for Meetings

Inflation and virtual options have made setting attendee prices for association meetings trickier

In an economic environment marked by inflation and increased travel costs, many associations have been forced to consider raising registration and other attendance fees for conferences. But that approach doesn’t just risk alienating potential attendees—it also fails to take a holistic look at what motivates people to come to your event.

“The straightforward approach of increasing the budget and charging 5 or 10 percent more than you did in the past doesn’t work—you have to have a different conversation and a different value proposition to justify charging more,” said Bill Zimmer, vice president of strategy at 360 Live Media, a strategy, marketing, and design firm.

One newer approach is to structure registration fees around the new pandemic-era realities involving travel. When registration opens for an event, typically months before the meeting dates, more attendees are uncertain about their travel budgets or their comfort level with flying to another city. So the traditional two-tier fee schedule—an early-bird and regular rate—ought to be broken up into more pieces.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Associations Now.