Hi all, (Apologies as we threaten to take this thread further away from the original topic of attracting more attendees…)
>> Adding a fee can also improve attendance In a previous role, we had some success with only the threat of a no-show/late cancellation fee. Honestly, and largely because of the administrative burden mentioned by Mario, this was an empty threat that we would not follow through on. But it had a noticeable effect when we introduced it, cutting our no-show/late cancellation rate from ~30% to <5% … Cheers, Toby > On 14. Apr 2021, at 13:13, Mario Antonioletti <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > Hi Nadine, > We have thought about this but the prospect of managing a > refundable/non-refundable fee has always put us off. Our colleagues in the > ARCHER team at Edinburgh have a variant of this which apparently works very > well. People are accepted on the proviso that if they do not attend without > cancelling they pledge to give a nominated amount, £5 or £10, to some > charity. Apparently people do comply and donate though I am not sure if it > improves attendance (I will have to ask). > That might be another model that might be worth thinking about though > you will have to chase people up who did not attend. Even if it does > not improve attendance you get a warm fuzzy feeling that any empty > seats did not totally go to waste, > > Mario > > > On Wed, 14 Apr 2021, BESTARD CUCHE Nadine wrote: > >> Hi, Adding a fee can also improve attendance, from here: >> "Attendance In general, it seems that people are more likely to show up if >> they’d paid money to be there. Some >> community members have recommended that people pay a registration fee that >> can be refunded to them if they show >> up. Obviously, charging for your workshop won’t guarantee that everyone >> shows up. Thus, whether or not your >> charge for your workshop, it’s important to communicate the value of what >> you’re providing to your potential >> audience. If people can see that they’re really going to get something >> useful out of the workshop, the more >> likely that they show up!" >> Best, Nadine >> ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ >> From: Mario Antonioletti <[email protected]> >> Sent: 14 April 2021 10:38 >> To: discuss <[email protected]> >> Subject: Re: [cp-discuss] Best platforms to advertise workshops Hi, >> As Giacomo said earlier, whom I work with, we have not seen a >> decline with places filling up pretty quickly. The bigger problem >> we face is with no shows which can go up to 33% anecdotally which >> is a shame as there are waiting lists so someone not notifying us >> potentially excluding someone else in a waiting list who would have >> attended. You say you mainly target postgraduates but you could also >> go for, and you probably already do, final year undergraduates who >> may be undertaking project work which could benefit from software >> skills - some of these will go on to become postgraduates but those >> that go to join the workforce could also benefit from the upskilling. >> Mario >> On Wed, 14 Apr 2021, Martin Dreyer wrote: >> > This email was sent to you by someone outside the University. You should >> > only click on links or attachments if >> > you are certain that the email is genuine and the content is safe. >> > Hi Sumana, >> > >> > We have seen a decline even before the pandemic. We have run a few >> > campaigns to see if we can better get the >> > word out, but I do know that a lot of our intended audience has been >> > experiencing the overwhelming task of >> > moving a lot of their work online. >> > >> > This, along with virtual meetings, and working almost completely in >> > physical isolation is most definitely a >> big >> > factor in attendance as well. So it is something to take into >> > consideration. >> > >> > Although, I still think it should not be that difficult to fill an online >> > workshop for 15 people seeing that >> we >> > mostly try to get Post Graduates as they are the ones that will bring in >> > the biggest change in the near >> future. >> > >> > Regards >> > Martin >> > >> > On Tue, Apr 13, 2021 at 9:29 PM Sumana Harihareswara <[email protected]> >> > wrote: >> > Martin: you mention that you are in constant decline with workshop >> > sign-ups. Over what period? In >> > particular, were you seeing this decline before the pandemic started? >> > >> > I have seen anecdotal data from multiple different online event >> > organizers/presenters that, in the past >> > few months, attendance has declined. This crosses disciplines and >> > audiences -- weekly religious services, >> > one-off programming trainings and presentations hosted by a for-profit >> > platform, a conference-style >> > speaker series, a regular meditation meetup, and so on. The explanation >> > I'm hearing is: people are a bit >> > overwhelmed by the quantity and duration of online events and are trying >> > to cut down to just the >> > essentials. >> > >> > -Sumana Harihareswara >> > >> > This list is for the purpose of general discussion about The Carpentries >> > including community activities, >> > upcoming events, and announcements. Some other lists you may also be >> > interested in include discuss-hpc, >> > discuss-r, and our local groups. Visit >> > https://carpentries.topicbox.com/groups/ to learn more. All activity on >> > this and other Carpentries spaces should abide by The Carpentries Code of >> > Conduct found here: >> > https://docs.carpentries.org/topic_folders/policies/code-of-conduct.html >> > >> > The Carpentries / discuss / see discussions + participants + delivery >> > options Permalink >> > >> > >> +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ >> |Mario Antonioletti:EPCC,Bayes Centre,47 Potterrow, Edinburgh EH8 9BT | >> | Tel:0131 651 3534|[email protected] | >> +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ >> -- >> The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in >> Scotland, with registration number SC005336. >> This list is for the purpose of general discussion about The Carpentries >> including community activities, >> upcoming events, and announcements. Some other lists you may also be >> interested in include discuss-hpc, >> discuss-r, and our local groups. Visit >> https://carpentries.topicbox.com/groups/ to learn more. All activity on >> this and other Carpentries spaces should abide by The Carpentries Code of >> Conduct found here: >> https://docs.carpentries.org/topic_folders/policies/code-of-conduct.html >> The Carpentries / discuss / see discussions + participants + delivery >> options Permalink > > +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ > |Mario Antonioletti:EPCC,Bayes Centre,47 Potterrow, Edinburgh EH8 9BT | > | Tel:0131 651 3534|[email protected] | > +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ > -- > The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in > Scotland, with registration number SC005336. > > ------------------------------------------ > This list is for the purpose of general discussion about The Carpentries > including community activities, upcoming events, and announcements. Some > other lists you may also be interested in include discuss-hpc, discuss-r, and > our local groups. Visit https://carpentries.topicbox.com/groups/ > <https://carpentries.topicbox.com/groups/> to learn more. All activity on > this and other Carpentries spaces should abide by The Carpentries Code of > Conduct found here: > https://docs.carpentries.org/topic_folders/policies/code-of-conduct.html > <https://docs.carpentries.org/topic_folders/policies/code-of-conduct.html> > > The Carpentries: discuss > Permalink: > https://carpentries.topicbox.com/groups/discuss/Taf0411ee6ad6f62c-M7fee2cdcdaaeb1765767e505 > > <https://carpentries.topicbox.com/groups/discuss/Taf0411ee6ad6f62c-M7fee2cdcdaaeb1765767e505> > Delivery options: > https://carpentries.topicbox.com/groups/discuss/subscription > <https://carpentries.topicbox.com/groups/discuss/subscription> -- Dr Toby Hodges (he/him) Curriculum Community Developer The Carpentries | https://carpentries.org Schedule a meeting with me: https://calendly.com/tobyhodges <https://calendly.com/tobyhodges> ------------------------------------------ This list is for the purpose of general discussion about The Carpentries including community activities, upcoming events, and announcements. Some other lists you may also be interested in include discuss-hpc, discuss-r, and our local groups. Visit https://carpentries.topicbox.com/groups/ to learn more. All activity on this and other Carpentries spaces should abide by The Carpentries Code of Conduct found here: https://docs.carpentries.org/topic_folders/policies/code-of-conduct.html The Carpentries: discuss Permalink: https://carpentries.topicbox.com/groups/discuss/Taf0411ee6ad6f62c-M5f6211ced712c425f12c9d6b Delivery options: https://carpentries.topicbox.com/groups/discuss/subscription
