Pat McClellan

EVP of Marketing and Strategy | Opus Agency

Event Pricing to Drive Attendance and Maximize Revenue

OPUS AGENCY 2

Meet Janine,Director of Global Events at CloudTech. Janine is planning the company’s second

annual proprietary conference, CloudTexpo. (Yeah, we know… she didn’t pick the name!)

The inaugural event was a big success, quickly selling out all 560 available spots, but of course,

that fueled the CEO’s ambition for the event. CloudTech is looking to more than double attendance in

year two, while bringing in at least a million dollars in revenue to keep its flagship event’s growth sustainable.

Last year, the standard attendance fee was $999, but that seemed underpriced given the sell-out, and it’s below

what similar conferences are charging. So how does Janine’s team price registration to ensure they hit both their

revenue and attendance goals? Is there a perfect price point that will balance these two goals?

There’s both an art and a science—although mostly science, or at least math—to effectively pricing an event.

The best way to determine your pricing plan will look familiar to anyone who has been to business school:

the price-demand curve.

Let’s see how Janine puts this concept to work…

OPUS AGENCY 3

The Price-demand CurveThe price-demand curve shows that when prices are high, demand is low. The sloping red

line represents how demand (in this case, to attend the event) varies as the price changes.

PRICE

ATTENDEES

If the event is free (comped), CloudTech will have great demand to attend…and zero revenue from the event.

If CloudTech prices the event at $3,000, they will have 0 attendees.

PRICE ATTENDEES REVENUEFULL PRICE $1,200 560 $672,000

× =

OPUS AGENCY 44

The Attendee Revenue BaselineAttendee revenue equals the number of paying attendees multiplied by the price they paid,

which is represented as the area of the green rectangle. Based on competitive events’ pricing,

as well as last year’s response, Janine is confident she can raise the price to $1,200 and still

attract 560 attendees.

“@OpusAgency #eBook shows how to use science—or at least math—to bring in #CloudTexpo attendees. #EventProfs bit.ly/evntpri”

$1,200

PRICE

560

ATTENDEE REVENUE

ATTENDEES

The unfilled white areas under the red demand curve line represent potential revenue and additional attendees at CloudTexpo.

PRICE ATTENDEES REVENUEFULL PRICE $1,200 440 $528,000EARLY BIRD $999 240 $239,760

TOTALS 680 $767,760

× =

OPUS AGENCY 5

Creating Early Demand Through DiscountingBased on past experience, Janine decides to offer an early-bird discount, estimating that

CloudTech can expect an additional 240 price-sensitive attendees to register. However, some of

those who would have been willing to pay full price will take advantage of the discount, lowering

the full fare revenue (shown in orange). Still, on balance, Janine has successfully increased both

attendance and revenue.

$1,200

$999

PRICE

440 680

EARLY BIRD

ATTENDEES

FULL PRICE

PRICE ATTENDEES REVENUEFULL PRICE $1,200 480 $576,000EARLY BIRD $999 200 $199,800

TOTALS 680 $775,800

× =

OPUS AGENCY 6

Discounting Without Giving Away the FarmJanine has an idea: if CloudTech limits early bird pricing to the first 200 registrants, rather than to

a specific date, this will introduce uncertainty as a powerful motivator for early action, and provide

predictable early bird revenue. This tactic also limits the cannibalization of the full price attendees.

“Early bird rates for #CloudTexpo really make a difference. @OpusAgency #eBook explains the science of #EventPricing bit.ly/evntpri”

$1,200

$999

PRICE

480 680

EARLY BIRD

ATTENDEES

FULL PRICE

PRICE ATTENDEES REVENUEFULL PRICE $1,200 480 $576,000EARLY BIRD $999 200 $199,800

TOTALS 680 $775,800

× =

OPUS AGENCY

$1,200

$999

PRICE

480 680

EARLY BIRD

FULL PRICE

ATTENDEES

What About an Alumni Discount?Repeat attendance is essential to the ongoing success and vitality of an event series, so Janine considers

an alumni discount. Assuming alums paid this year’s early bird rate last year, she determines that price

sensitivity is not preventing them from attending. Therefore, Janine expects no additional attendance

to offset lost revenue—the alumni discount does not drive overall attendance or revenue, so she decides

to skip it. (An alumni discount might be useful to achieve other objectives around alums.)

7

While brainstorming ways to fill in more of that white space, Janine realizes there are some attendees who might pay more than full price.

PRICE ATTENDEES REVENUEFULL PRICE $1,200 250 $300,000EARLY BIRD $999 200 $199,800

TRAINING $1,425 230 $327,750TOTALS 680 $827,550

× =

8OPUS AGENCY 8

“Let #CloudTexpo show how to use premium #content to entice premium attendees in this @OpusAgency #eBook #EventProfs bit.ly/evntpri”

Premium Pricing: Attracting the High RollersIn order to create demand for higher pricing, she decides to offer additional programming that

justifies a surcharge—certification training on CloudTech’s proprietary platform, NimbusNet.

This increases revenue without increasing attendance, driving average revenue per attendee up

more than $76.

8

$1,200

$1,425

$999

PRICE

480230 680

EARLY BIRD

FULL PRICE

ATTENDEES

So, how does Janine now fill up the revenue/attendance gap on the right, for the more cost conscious potential attendees?

TRAINING

PRICE ATTENDEES REVENUEFULL PRICE $1,200 250 $300,000EARLY BIRD $999 200 $199,800

TRAINING $1,425 230 $327,750STUDENT $495 370 $183,150TOTALS 1,050 $1,010,700

× =

9OPUS AGENCY

Attracting Future Leaders: Student DiscountsStudents—influential customers of tomorrow—are ideal CloudTexpo attendees. By providing a

significant discount for this price-sensitive audience, CloudTech will drive up attendance among

a group unlikely to attend otherwise, with minimal cannibalization of other revenue. Attendance

and revenue both rise, although average revenue per attendee drops. Janine has now topped

important attendee and revenue milestones.

9

$1,200

$1,425

$999

$495

PRICE

480230 680 1,050

EARLY BIRD

STUDENTS

FULL PRICE

ATTENDEES

This tiered pricing approach has brought the forecast CloudTexpo attendance north of 1,000. Good, but not quite the “double last year” sense of scale Janine’s CMO wants to attract more sponsors.

TRAINING

PRICE ATTENDEES REVENUEFULL PRICE $1,200 250 $300,000EARLY BIRD $999 200 $199,800

TRAINING $1,425 230 $327,750STUDENT $495 370 $183,150

COMPS $0 200 $0TOTALS 1,250 $1,010,700

× =

$1,200

$1,425

$999

$495

10OPUS AGENCY 10

Name Job Position

“When to comp & when not to comp when pricing an event? Learn from #CloudTexpo in an @OpusAgency #eBook #EventPricing bit.ly/evntpri”

Comping for Scope and ScaleJanine decides to give the sales team 200 comped tickets to get across the attendee finish line.

Recognizing that comping drives up costs, lowers average revenue per attendee, and provides no

event revenue, she also sets a goal of reducing comps each subsequent year, replacing them with

paying attendees.

PRICE

480230 680 1,050 1,250

EARLY BIRD

STUDENTS

FULL PRICE

ATTENDEES

COMPS

10

TRAINING

11OPUS AGENCY

THE RIGHT PRICE + SUFFICIENT DEMAND =

A WIN FOR CLOUDTECHThe concept of the price-demand curve is simple, but remarkably powerful when developing an event’s pricing

strategy. The model provides a systematic and visual approach to pricing so you know why you’re doing what

you’re doing—and it’s not just because that’s what you did last year.

Is a particular tactic trying to increase revenue or increase attendance? Now you know, and that knowledge

leads to success.

Source: SIMON—the Opus global technology events database, providing data-based insight on venues, calendar, pricing, sponsorship, and more.

1.5

2.5

3.5

4.5

DAYS

$1,592 FULL PRICE $379 DISCOUNT

$1,509 FULL PRICE $295 DISCOUNT

$1,702 FULL PRICE $162 DISCOUNT

$2,373 FULL PRICE $445 DISCOUNT

AVERAGE REGISTRATION FEES AND EARLY BIRD DISCOUNTS

Are you charging too much for your event—or worse

yet, not enough? To answer this critical question,

you need data. That’s why Opus created SIMON, a

database tracking the trends and metrics behind

hundreds of annual technology events around the

world. Here’s some pricing data from 2016.

OPUS AGENCY 12

OPUS AGENCY is a brand events and marketing agency. We create and manage hundreds of

events and campaigns every year, all over the world, including things like strategic executive-level

summits, immersive brand experiences, and conferences with 30,000 attendees. We have amazing

people who share strong values, and a specific methodology that ties everything we do to

customer success. We call it TeamCS™.

Interested in getting data-backed answers to your biggest questions? Contact Kristin Waters to learn

about partnering with Opus Agency.

Pat McClellan is EVP of Marketing and Strategy at Opus. Over his 30-year career, Pat has

combined his strategic marketing skills and passion for technology to lead media production and

events marketing projects for some of the most prominent and respected brands in Silicon Valley

and beyond. Pat received his MBA from Kellogg Graduate School of Management and his BS in

Radio-TV-Film from Northwestern University.

Pat McClellan | 415.793.1337 | pmcclellan@opusteam.com

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