Something to consider...

[tommo]

The $20 day pass for Friday was intended to make it more affordable for new people to have a "taste" of SwanCon. However, it also meant that SwanCon might have lost some revenue from the non-first-timers that bought Friday day passes.

Perhaps a better option is to have day passes at their normal rates for all renewing attendees, but give first-timers a day where they can just attend for free? For a student/teenager, even $20 can be a fair bit of money, and if it's the difference between them attending a day for free or not attending at all, you're really not making any sort of a loss by letting them in. And if you make it free people will almost certainly be interested, and I think it'd result in a very impressive first-timer turnout. Keep in mind that you can get into Supanova for a day for about $20, so from the new attendee's perspective it's not like we're offering anything particularly out of the ordinary.

Hell, I'm starting to wonder if we should just let first-timers attend the whole damn con for free. I think, in the long term, it'd probably be a wise investment.

Comments

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

The "suck you in with a cheap fee" thing worked well on me. To the disbelief of many, this was actually my first Swancon. I was considering not going on Friday but I did, and I had a blast. And then I coughed up $25 to come along on Saturday evening too (a decision I made about 2 hours before I went to the Masquerade).

[angriest.livejournal.com]

I'd rather we let everyone have really cheap memberships for the whole con, but to do that we need funding and sponsorship, and to do that we meet to make an event that attracts more people.

[firvulag.livejournal.com]

I'm a fan of the first go is free idea, even if it's just 1 day free, or half price for the first whole con. This lets people actually go along and find out if they'd like it or not. Belinda had not thought she'd like Swancon until I managed to talk her into spending $20 on Friday to find out. She liked it so much she spent $25 more and came in Saturday also, and is planning on being a full member for next year.

[conradin.livejournal.com]

Every day is $20 entry for first timers, maybe? Then they don't have to go to a particular one, and may come to all of them?

[mynxii.livejournal.com]

Interestingly enough 2004 swancon had a scheme like this and it was one way that they didn't break even - which was a shame. They had cheap memberships for people who introduced people, including the new person.


This year we may or may not have lost income - or we may have engaged the numbers in a sense that provides more continuity for the future. It may be that our convention had slightly lower numbers in some areas due to the $20 day.

However, it may be that those people will return again next year and possibly be there for the whole time/be involved etc. That's actually what I think is more likely to happen, though I am aware of several people who did come back for another couple of instances based on the $20 day.

I'm very much supportive of exploring and workshopping the idea.

[miss-kittylix.livejournal.com]

I really think a free con or a greatly reduced con for new people is really the way to go. And yeah, also keep the OT panels out of the main venues at prime times. I think there are loads of people in perth (and I know as I work in a library) who read SF&F and would like to come to a convention to discuss it. They just don't know about it. Perhaps putting posters up in local libraries could work or around universities. We need better marketing methinks!

[pooxs.livejournal.com]

how are you going to tell if someone's been before if they say they haven't but have really? it's not really feasable to be carrying around attendance lists for whomever is selling tickets