Price Is Always Important, But Generally NOT The Only Issue!

Especially in challenging economic times, people seriously consider how much things cost and what the price is. When I was the Chief Operating Officer of a natural products manufacturer years ago, I remember that our price point was a serious consideration, in order to best position our products optimally in relation to others. As a Licensed Salesperson in New York, I have sometimes observed the attention paid to the amount of commission, often rather than the more important consideration, which should be, to get the best available price, in the shortest period of time, will the least amount of hassle. 
 
However, while pricing and costs are important factors, when it comes to conferences and conventions, a far more important factor is almost always perceived value. In my three decades of hotel negotiations, event planning, and conference and convention planning and operations, I have witnessed repeatedly, situations where organizations over-emphasized only the price that participants would pay. In doing so, they often neglected creating a program and agenda that would attract attendees. Sometimes even more importantly, these organizations did not sufficiently emphasize the attendee's conference experience, and when that attendee went "back home," rather than being the organization's best ambassador, he reported a less than stellar experience. The almost laughable, if it were not so incredibly short-sighted, part of this is that the amount of "cost savings" that these organizers implemented, had little impact on attracting significantly more attendance. However, at the same time, this reduction created financial risk for the organization and an inability to provide a superior attendee experience. Organizers must recognize that a small price decrease in the fee for attending a conference often has little real impact on attendance. If it works at all, it only works in local events, where there are few expenses incurred by attendees besides the registration fee. However, many conferences require travel and hotel costs, and those costs often "dwarf" the registration fees.In addition, if an organization is going to lower its registration fee, by how much will they reduce it? How much is a significant enough reduction to encourage additional attendance? What will be the overall impact on what conference organizers can do, when revenues are reduced?
I have heard numerous conference and convention organizers state that the reduced revenues will be offset by increased attendance. However, what these organizers often under-estimate is the true cost to the conference per attendee. If it takes more attendees to generate the same revenue, and registration fees are reduced by, for example ten percent, how much will attendance have to go up to offset the drop in revenue combined by the true cost per attendee? In many cases, a ten percent registration fee reduction will require close to a twenty percent increase in attendance and registrations.Unfortunately, like many things done by many organizations, their conferences are often run by well-meaning individuals, who are, nevertheless, less than professional conference and convention coordinators. Organizations must analyze both the short term and longer term ramifications of addressing solely the registration fee issue, without, at the same time, analyzing the perceived value aspect. It is essential that organizers fully understand all aspects involved, including, especially, understanding their niche or target market.

In the real estate transaction process, or similarly in purchasing and transacting investment vehicles, it is often counter - productive to overly focus solely on the sales charges or commissions, rather than on the quality of services provided, the value of those services, and the net (or bottom line). 

Remember that while price has a one - time or single effect (or impact), the quality of service and other considerations (in a product, for example, the quality and reliability) are often far more important, in the longer - term. Look at the bigger picture!