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.
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.
This same mindset must be utilized when one selects his real estate professional. Nearly everyone inquires about the commissions being charged, but is that really what should be the most important, or primary question? In real estate, the commission becomes part of the selling price, so if one professional is capable of making the procedure more stress - free, by pricing the home to sell (from the start, rather than promising often unreachable, pie-in-the-sky prices), holding the clients hands throughout the process, saving time (and thus costs, by getting the deal closed sooner, etc), shouldn't that be more important? After all, if an agent does not feel strongly enough about the value he brings to the process to explain, and negotiate his commission, how will negotiate best for you, when the process gets to that stage?
Think about value, rather than merely price! True - price matters, but it's only part of the bigger picture. As Paul Harvey famously says, "And now you know the rest of the story."
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.
This same mindset must be utilized when one selects his real estate professional. Nearly everyone inquires about the commissions being charged, but is that really what should be the most important, or primary question? In real estate, the commission becomes part of the selling price, so if one professional is capable of making the procedure more stress - free, by pricing the home to sell (from the start, rather than promising often unreachable, pie-in-the-sky prices), holding the clients hands throughout the process, saving time (and thus costs, by getting the deal closed sooner, etc), shouldn't that be more important? After all, if an agent does not feel strongly enough about the value he brings to the process to explain, and negotiate his commission, how will negotiate best for you, when the process gets to that stage?
Think about value, rather than merely price! True - price matters, but it's only part of the bigger picture. As Paul Harvey famously says, "And now you know the rest of the story."
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