washowi;39622 wrote: Bob read my thread comments, where did I say i was not a bargain for $49..?
I tried to buy it Friday....What I said is why is it $75 of Friday before the meeting? Something special happen at midnight? Why increase at all? Hold your cost....here's the deal Bob. I would say 80% of us are procrastinators. Bob you may not be one....I AM...I don't do ANYTHING till the last minute.
Do you say, "lets go the Braves game next July 21, 2008. I 'll meet ya at 7 in the parking lot"...or do like me and say. "i just got some tickets for tonights game, let head down in an hour''.....
See the problem is you are planning for the way you think and feel. What's interesting to you...That's why you get the low numbers...You need to plan for the masses..and the way people in general react and operate.
That's my take on it
ALL conventions do this. The extra fee as the date comes closer is to account for the fact that whether or not you and I are lazy procrastinators (I know *I* am), any gathering or function like this, esp. one of any real scale, requires months of planning and setup, and the biggest part of the planning is accounting for all the attendees. It's not that the price goes UP shortly before the function so much as you are being offered a discount for efficient planning and timely registration; this makes it easier for the event planners to co-ordinates activities since they have a better idea of exactly how many people will be there long before the date. You also have to consider that not only is it easier for them to PLAN for you, but by registering in advance, they have the chance to use your registration fees to make the event even better, effectively spending your money on you, not just getting their $$ the day of the event which winds up in a cash box somewhere, preventing them from investing those dollars in the event itself. No event like this could EVER go off more than once if most of the attendees didn't register and pay in advance. How else would they reserve the location where it's held (who you can be certain requires the event planners to pay in advance), among other things.
The Braves do the same **** thing. You buy a season pass way in advance, you get a discount. You buy a single ticket the night of the game, you pay more than you would if you had bought a pass far in advance; it doesn't cost the Braves any more for you to be there suddenly, but you still pay more. Same thing with Dragon*Con. D*Con has roughly 50,000 to 75,000 attendees over the course of 5 days every year, and the difference between buying a ticket at the door or just a week before and the difference between registering in advance is, well:
You may order your Memberships to Dragon*Con 2007:<ul>
<li>$60 to 5/15/2007</li>
<li>$70 to 7/13/2007</li>
<li>$85 thereafter</li>
</ul>Most people who would want to go know as much, and they either have to plan ahead to get the $25 discount, or they have to wait as the time approaches to see if they can actually go, and then bite the bullet and pay the extra $25 at the door.
Regardless, this is a standard practice everywhere for functions like this, and it, IMNSHO, is a perfectly valid one. Having been on staff at numerous events, I totally understand the reasoning. D*Con obviously has no problems attracting the masses (I've met people there who had driven from Alaska or flown in from other countries SOLELY to attend the convention, as well as nigh every geek in Atlanta), and those that don't pre-register pay at the door happily. When you have an event, you have to plan for it, and you account for the people who make it harder to plan for by charging them more when they get there. I seriously doubt that the price increase at the door had squat to do with any lack of attendance. Me? I didn't find out about the event until it was rapidly approaching, and just couldn't afford it. Like me, you pay for your procrastination... As someone with ADHD, I've learned that this is a linear world we live in, and one mostly geared toward people who plan and prepare for greater efficiency, and it's on you and I to pay the price for our lackof ability (or desire) to do so. Thats just the way life is.
"The way people in general react and operate" is
not</em> how you and I operate... we're the exception, not the rule, when it comes to events like this, which require lots of planning and organization, and it's not their fault we can't be organized enough to plan ahead, just they way they are planning ahead. I don't know what you do for a living, but most every business venture in the history of mankind has rewarded planning and efficiency, and penalized procrastination and lazyness. Why should SWU be any different?
Oh, and I'm really not trying to start a flame of any kind, nor do I want to make anybody mad or upset... this is just the way I see it. I'm a lazy ******* and I admit it, but I can't fault the organized for being so.
