Afternoon Folks!!
After 25 shows I can tell you it is no easy feat to make ends meet when you put on a show like TRAFFIC.
The moment we sign a contract for TRAFFIC we are on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Matter of fact, right now, we have well over $1 million in commitments with the contracts already signed and in place and thru 2015.
Hotels care about only 2 things. How many rooms you will occupy and how much food and beverage will you consume. Howard and I care about having a great show which means you folks had a successful show and your time was well spent. And not losing our shirts. Both pretty risky but worth the risk and so we do it.
I have different levels of pricing for several reasons. But all in an effort to make ends meet. To motivate folks by different price points. We have an early bird discount. But to be honest, we could not put the show on if everyone paid the early bird price and do it the right way. Sure we can skimp. But that was tried when we licensed out TRAFFIC and it did not work.
Most wait until the last-minute. More folks pay the $1795 price than any other price point.
My goal is to moderate that imbalance and still make ends meet. So I am thinking about changing our price points. But to do that is a bit risky and I am not into added risk. One price won't work. I can't market it effectively. We can't wait until a week before to know 100 more people or 100 fewer people are showing up. So the different levels eliminates that planning problem.
The basic concept behind TRAFFIC was breaking bread together. We don't serve hot dogs and pizza. Eliminate the food and we have a different equation. We also have a different show and a different formula and I like our formula. With 1 year to go until we return to South Beach I can't tell if 250 people will show up or 500 will show up. The earlier we know, the better we can prepare and the better that hotel can accommodate our needs and space. Same with Last Vegas in May. What I want to do is try to narrow the gap and perhaps give more reasons to sign up at a lower level.
So I plan to unveil a new pricing structure for the Las Vegas Show in May as early as tomorrow morning after I get a little feedback from a few close and trusted advisors. You help us, we help you and together we all save a few dollars.
Stay tuned!
Rick Schwartz
M.G.
Here is a crazy idea: Add investing and trading into your model. Sell transferrable tickets for $1,500 each to anyone and allow to trade with them. You will be a register and escrow as well… Example: I purchase 3 tickets for $1,500 each and I will find buyers for them, one for $1,600 and two for $1,650. Making a profit of $400. I bear a risk, you don’t. More administration for you, but you got money in advance… Stupid? Maybe. I say it is just crazy :)
domenclature.com
Raise the price 1200% on sponsors, and cut the price drastically for attendees.
M.G.
@domenclature.com – And then all junkies will come to get drunk, right? No, thank you…
Domenclature.com
In Vegas, they wanna get you drunk, then you can spend money gambling, M.G :-)
Domaining needs to be bottom up approach. This elitism you champion doesn’t work in similar industries.
If sponsors have products to pitch to prospective domainers, they should lay out the dough. $50,000, $100,000… Imagine some of these fat cats laying out almost 200 grand for .whatever!
Perhaps, Traffic needs 1500 attendees at $300 a pop, not 300 at $1500
Morgan Linton
Sounds great Rick! I can tell you that TRAFFIC has been a life-changing event for me and it all comes down to the great people you and Howard bring together, coupled with the environment you provide.
I still think the show is a damn good deal at $1,795, I know many people who make 10x that every time they attend and I am still seeing great results from deals I made at the show last year!
Really sorry Daina and I are missing this week but we are REALLY excited about TRAFFIC Vegas, if it’s anything like what you did earlier this year I can tell you it’s going to be a huge success!
Enjoy and we’ll see you in Vegas :)
Rick Schwartz
Thanks Morgan!!
We will miss the two of you but look forward to catching up in vegas.
UFO
I think one way you could make more $ or decrease your risk would be some synergy with a complimentary type conference show. Traffic M-T with some SEO/Web conference W-Th. You just need to find a conference that will align with you. Maybe I’m wrong but that would help on the procurement side and attendees that attend both. I think it’s quite a big effort to get somewhere like traffic for 2 days, might as well make it a working week.
I do tend to agree with the scale advantages of charging sponsors more and attendees less because its win win. Perhaps sponsors could also be given x free admission tickets as part of the deal so they can invite their best customers.
I do think however the most explosive type of conference would be a walk through one that shows x number of start ups and has VC’s along looking for new investments. Basically push the JV model. I guess that would involve handing out say x free tickets to VC firms and getting them to undertake some presentations and that should draw lots of start up types to get closer to them. There should in theory already be this in the US so perhaps get an alignment and thus the benefits of clustering them. A web exhibition… which could bring in further media interest etc.