There's both an art and a science to effectively pricing an event. Any strategy for maximizing your event's attendance and revenue is built on a business school staple: the price-demand curve. In this e-book, we explore multiple tactics employed by the typical event marketer when determining proper pricing for an event, as well as the thinking behind the decision-making

1. Pat McClellan
EVP of Marketing and Strategy | Opus Agency
Event Pricing to
Drive Attendance
and Maximize
Revenue

2. 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…

3. OPUS AGENCY 3
The Price-demand Curve
The 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.

4. PRICE ATTENDEES REVENUE
FULL PRICE $1,200 560 $672,000
× =
OPUS AGENCY 44
The Attendee Revenue Baseline
Attendee 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.

5. PRICE ATTENDEES REVENUE
FULL PRICE $1,200 440 $528,000
EARLY BIRD $999 240 $239,760
TOTALS 680 $767,760
× =
OPUS AGENCY 5
Creating Early Demand
Through Discounting
Based 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

6. PRICE ATTENDEES REVENUE
FULL PRICE $1,200 480 $576,000
EARLY BIRD $999 200 $199,800
TOTALS 680 $775,800
× =
OPUS AGENCY 6
Discounting Without
Giving Away the Farm
Janine 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

7. PRICE ATTENDEES REVENUE
FULL PRICE $1,200 480 $576,000
EARLY 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.

8. PRICE ATTENDEES REVENUE
FULL PRICE $1,200 250 $300,000
EARLY BIRD $999 200 $199,800
TRAINING $1,425 230 $327,750
TOTALS 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 Rollers
In 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

9. PRICE ATTENDEES REVENUE
FULL PRICE $1,200 250 $300,000
EARLY BIRD $999 200 $199,800
TRAINING $1,425 230 $327,750
STUDENT $495 370 $183,150
TOTALS 1,050 $1,010,700
× =
9OPUS AGENCY
Attracting Future Leaders:
Student Discounts
Students—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

10. PRICE ATTENDEES REVENUE
FULL PRICE $1,200 250 $300,000
EARLY BIRD $999 200 $199,800
TRAINING $1,425 230 $327,750
STUDENT $495 370 $183,150
COMPS $0 200 $0
TOTALS 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 Scale
Janine 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

11. 11OPUS AGENCY
THE RIGHT PRICE + SUFFICIENT DEMAND =
A WIN FOR CLOUDTECH
The 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.

12. OPUS AGENCY 12
OPUS AGENCYis 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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.@OpusAgency #eBook shows how to use science—or at least math—to bring in
#CloudTexpo attendees.#EventProfs bit.ly/evntpri
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