Wikimania indeed has a tradition of setting artificially low entry prices for the reasons Nicholas described earlier in this thread. Of course, there's nothing to stop Wikimania 2014 from raising ticket prices. I should remind though that until 2013 we basically have a hierarchy of 4 ticket prices:
1. Non-Wikimedian price: supposedly the full cost (but is still effectively slightly subsidised) 2. Wikimedian price: substantially subsidised entry and food, for those who've paid a lot to travel to the venue from the other side of the world 3. Partial scholarship: for those who can almost / just about afford to attend Wikimania on their own budget, but would use up their savings unless their air travel was subsidised. The partial scholarship encourages them to go to *more* Wikimanias. 4. Full scholarship (for those who simply can't afford Wikimania) In 2014, the partial scholarship is removed, so I would hesitate to raise the Wikimedian ticket prices, lest we disincentivise "medium-income" Wikimedians (particularly students) from attending. However, by all means consider raising the non-Wikimedian price, or even have a "donor price" (full cost + £100, say?) with a shiny badge to let generous attendees pay more! Deryck Deryck On 23 Mar 2014 08:07, "Charles Gregory" <[email protected]> wrote: > My impression was that the prices took into account that (a) most members > of the Wikimedia community are volunteers (b) most attendees have paid many > hundreds, if not thousands of US$ in airfares/accommodation costs to > attend, on top of the ticket price. Volunteers also have to use up their > own annual leave (or forgo wages) if their Wikimedia activities are not on > behalf of their employer. > > You could get away with having separate rates. The other conference I > have experience with, Linux.conf.au, has rates which differ by almost an > order of magnitude: Professional $899, Hobbyist $399, Student $99. (These > prices are Australian dollars, which is approx USD +/- 10%) (IMHO the > Hobbyist rate here is still a bit high for a volunteer.) This conference > is, however, a major source of income for Linux Australia, whereas > Wikimania is indirectly supported by donations to WMF. > > Regards, > > Charles > > > > On Sun, Mar 23, 2014 at 10:34 AM, Nicholas Bashour < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> For Wikimania 2012, I remember that we wanted to make sure the largest >> number of people could attend. DC was an expensive enough city that we felt >> if registration prices were too high, it may discourage some of the people >> who didn't get scholarships from attending. >> >> That being said, there's no reason why future Wikimanias shouldn't offer >> various pricing options, like higher "individual sponsorship" registration >> for those who want to sponsor on a smaller level, student registration, etc. >> >> Sincerely, >> Nicholas Michael Bashour >> >> Sent from my iPhone >> >> > Am 22.03.2014 um 19:21 schrieb Samuel Klein <[email protected]>: >> > >> > Proposed prices for Wikimania tickets continue to seem artificially >> > low. I'm not sure what the benefit to this is. Could people who have >> > run events in other contexts comment on how you set ticket prices? >> > >> > In my experience, tickets are set at roughly what it costs for each >> > person to attend. Then there may be different sorts of tickets: for >> > local supporters & volunteers, for school groups, for students & >> > community members, presenters, VIPs & sponsors. Sponsorship helps >> > ensure how many tickets of each type there are. Last-minute tickets >> > are more expensive. >> > >> > This has a few benefits: >> > * tickets fully cover the cost of food and materials >> > * tickets contribute significantly to covering the cost of the event >> > * scholarships and reimbursements for attendance (for scholars, >> > professionals, academics all getting covered by their home >> > institutions), in paying for tickets, cover the full cost of those >> > people attending the event. >> > * more accurate headcounts in advance. >> > >> > Warmly, >> > Sam >> > >> > _______________________________________________ >> > Wikimania-l mailing list >> > [email protected] >> > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimania-l mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimania-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l > >
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