[BangPypers] Improving meetup attendance

Mon Mar 20 18:58:21 EDT 2017

2017-03-21 3:35 GMT+05:30 Sivasubramaniam Arunachalam <
sivasubramaniam.a at gmail.com>:

> I have been associated with Bangpypers as a participant, speaker,
> volunteer, and co-organizer for past few years(Just moved out of Bangalore
> 2 weeks before). Here are my initial views on this topic.
>
> The primary(maybe the only?)objective of this group is to contribute/help
> the Python community in Bangalore by organizing a monthly event. Our
> objective is not to make the group members keep their promise or being
> loyal/punctual to the organized event.

>
We open the RSVP 7 days before the event. At the time of RSVP opening, the
> theme of the event, venue(along with the available seating capacity) and
> speaker line-ups are already decided/planned. So, no further planning is
> done after opening the RSVP.
>
> At this moment, we are not restricting the RSVP based on the actual seating
> capacity of the venue. We choose the RSVP limit which is higher than
> seating capacity(as of now ~2x) based on the attendance from the past.
>
> We are trying to be fair to the participants based on who RSVPed first and
> it is broken(always in the free community-based events). Instead, allow
> unlimited RSVPs and restrict the people based on FCFS on the event day.
> Communicate the same in the event description and logistics email 1-2
> before the event.
>

Unlimited RSVP amplifies the problem.

Unlimited RSVP == No RSVP.

Consider a person traveling for one and half hours to reach the venue and
return without finding a seat.
It's a sub-optimal use of participant's time, mental agony, spoils the mood
of the day and hard to carry a sorry face as a co-organizer.

Overcrowded meetups are difficult for speakers to navigate during workshops
and reduces the pace of the workshop.

As a participant, I value my time and don't want to travel for an ambiguous
meetup.

Not able to accommodate a member after visiting the venue shows improper
planning. If the participants don't get a comfortable environment during
the meetup, then it's the failure of the organizing irrespective whether
it's free or paid event.
It's unfair for the participants to stand or seated in congested venue for
the entire meetup.
After one or two bad experiences participant may stop taking the meetup
seriously.

It was hard for us to see twenty members unable to get the hand on the IoT
devices.

If the meetup had an unlimited RSVP, the event must have been a
catastrophe. Out 267, if 125 people showed up, the 50 folks had to leave
because the hall crossed the threshold. It's a such a waste of their time,
and I feel guilty to say FCFS.

> IMHO, being fair to the participants by asking money(to prove their
> seriousness in participation) doesn't look good for a 12 years old, matured
> and self-sustained community like Bangpyers. It is simply an
> additional headache to the event organizers.
>

I agree it's a management overhead.

Another approach is to have separate RSVP system to track RSVP and
participants turn out.
If the participant doesn't show up for the event twice, the third time
RSVPed participant moves to the waitlist.
This is just a starting point.

>
> We have also experimented by starting the event at 9am/9.30am during 2016Q4
> and all of them went just fine. During the data science workshop at
> ClearTax, few participants couldn't get access the workshop at 9.35am(event
> started at 9 am) because the meeting room was full. The same issue happened
> when it was organized at Akamai. Other than these instances, all other
> events had enough venue capacity to the accommodate the participants.
>

I think both the events had unlimited RSVPs.

>
>
>
> Thanks & Regards,
> Sivasubramaniam Arunachalam
>
>
> On Mon, Mar 20, 2017 at 8:12 PM, Abraham Varricatt via BangPypers <
> bangpypers at python.org> wrote:
>
> > Hello,
> >
> > I think the previous poster might be missing a point about organization.
> > The need to charge money BEFORE attending the event is to give the
> > organizers a realistic count of how many people might be attending. There
> > is a difference between paying Rs100/- today to pay for an event I might
> > attend next week and paying Rs100/- when I arrive for the event.
> >
> > If as an organizer I see the following,
> >
> > 200 people paid Rs100/- to attend next week's event
> >
> > OR
> >
> > 300 people promise to pay Rs100/- to attend next week's event
> >
> > the former is MUCH more useful than the latter. Besides, the latter is
> the
> > exact problem we have right now - people promising to come, but not
> showing
> > up.
> >
> > The refundable idea is worth considering, but a likely logistics
> nightmare.
> > Assume that everyone is charged Rs100/- for the event. We need to do the
> > payment online - meetup.com or paypal or whoever is chosen as the
> payment
> > gateway will charge Rs10 as fees (amount randomly chosen). The organizers
> > might, in good faith, promise to return Rs90/- to everyone who comes.
> >
> > What do they do about people who try to receive the Rs90/- twice? Or
> > thrice? You cannot deny that folks won't try to scam the organizers. Even
> > worse - what about repaying for people who did not come to this month's
> > event, but pay and come for next month's event? Do we pay them Rs180/- ?
> >
> > I _like_ the refundable idea, but it is a logistics nightmare. And for a
> > non-profit event, not worth the trouble for our dear organizers, IMO.
> >
> > Here's my suggestion:
> >
> > Charge everyone Rs50/- or Rs100/- to attend per person. To ensure that
> this
> > remains a non-profit event, donate the proceeds to some Python-related
> > charity or education for computer science. I think it will be nice to
> > attend a Python event and either at the beginning or end of the event, to
> > hear the organizer say something like "We collected Rs850/- from everyone
> > for this event and it will be gifted to ABC charity supporting Python
> > education in India" (You can collect and store receipts to show anyone
> who
> > asks if you actually paid the money).
> >
> > Or just use the money for snacks and stickers as someone suggested!
> >
> >
> > To those worried about profiteering,
> >
> > Please consider that the organizers are only suggesting Rs100 per person
> > for the meetup. That is around the cost of a day pass to travel by bus in
> > Bengaluru. This is VERY cheap compared to something like a conference
> > ticket being held in a fancy hotel for more than Rs1000/-.
> >
> > To organizers,
> >
> > I'll support the idea to charge for participants, but you need to
> > accommodate people who do not have access to internet banking or credit
> > cards (took me a long time to convince HDFC to issue me a credit card,
> but
> > that's a personal matter) - like students or young developers. Give them
> > the option (at your discretion) to pay cash at the door. Perhaps allow
> > up-to 15 people to pay in cash on a first-come-first-serve basis?
> >
> > Yours sincerely,
> > Abraham V.
> > (Python lover and one-time speaker at a Bangpy meetup)
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Mar 20, 2017 at 2:01 PM, Abhiram R <abhi.darkness at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Hi,
> > > I'm all for the gamification of the process.
> > > But here's my suggestion and it's totally up for vote.
> > >
> > > First of all, 100/- per head for attendance is fine. But it should be
> > > *refundable
> > > *on attendance.
> > > Secondly, for the amount that is available as part of the number of
> > people
> > > not attending, this money can be split between speakers as say Amazon
> > gift
> > > cards or something or the sort - no matter how small the amount. The
> > point
> > > is not to make money, but something that provides motivation for the
> > > speaker as well.
> > >
> > > This way,
> > > Less attendance = monetary benefit (not really desired, but it's
> > > something),
> > > More attendance = Satisfaction at having reached so many people.
> > >
> > > Thoughts?
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Abhiram R
> > > https://twitter.com/__abhiram__
> > > https://github.com/abhiii5459
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On Mon, Mar 20, 2017 at 11:24 PM, Nitin Kumar <nitin.nitp at gmail.com>
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > > I would vote for paying 100rs and let that be used for snacks and
> > goodies
> > > > for the speaker.
> > > >
> > > > Nitin Kr
> > > >
> > > > On Mon, Mar 20, 2017 at 9:44 PM, Anand Chitipothu <
> > anandology at gmail.com>
> > > > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > On Mon, Mar 20, 2017 at 8:32 PM, kracekumar ramaraju <
> > > > > kracethekingmaker at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > Hi
> > > > > >
> > > > > >  As of today, there are 5394 members in BangPypers meetup [0].
> For
> > > last
> > > > > > meetup (IoT Workshop), 267 participants showed interest. We
> allowed
> > > 134
> > > > > > RSVPs and waitlisted 133 attendees. As Nitin mentioned in
> previous
> > > > > thread,
> > > > > > he couldn't attend the meetup since he was in waitlist. 75 people
> > > > > > participated in the event. Turnout ratio was 56%. Our expectation
> > was
> > > > > only
> > > > > > 40% people would attend. That's the rationale behind 134 RSVP
> > limit.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > This kind of scenario happens at least once or twice in a year.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > To solve the RSVP problem, few meetups charge a monetary fee of
> > 100Rs
> > > > [1]
> > > > > > and return the amount when participant shows up on the event
> > > day(after
> > > > > > deducting gateway costs). Some meetup [2] donates the collected
> fee
> > > to
> > > > > > organizations like EFF, FSF, Software Freedom Conservancy and
> other
> > > > > > non-profit organization. Some meetup uses the amount to
> distribute
> > > > > goodies
> > > > > > to the speaker, and spend on snacks and food. The meetup tried
> > > > charging a
> > > > > > small amount and now reverted [3].
> > > > > >
> > > > > > The collecting money has administrative work - Use one of the
> > > organizer
> > > > > > bank accounts, record attended participants, return payment (not
> > sure
> > > > > > payment gateways will be happy returning money for the majority
> of
> > > > > > transactions).
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Will you be interested in paying for the meetup with a refund?
> > > > > > I'd like to hear input from others regarding in this matter from
> > all
> > > > > front.
> > > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > Having a small barrier of entry is good to eliminate noise. To make
> > > > things
> > > > > easy to manage, you can probably take help of PSSI in managing
> > > payments.
> > > > > Also using bank account of one of the organizers may create
> > > > accounting/tax
> > > > > issues for him.
> > > > >
> > > > > Good to see 75 people attending the meetup and waiting list. Good
> > work,
> > > > > organizers!
> > > > >
> > > > > Anand
> > > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > > BangPypers mailing list
> > > > > BangPypers at python.org
> > > > > https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/bangpypers
> > > > >
> > > > _______________________________________________
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> > > > BangPypers at python.org
> > > > https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/bangpypers
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > -Abhiram R
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > BangPypers mailing list
> > > BangPypers at python.org
> > > https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/bangpypers
> > >
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
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-- 

*Thanks & Regardskracekumar"Talk is cheap, show me the code" -- Linus
Torvaldshttp://kracekumar.com <http://kracekumar.com>*