Are there any business networking events tonight?

What is the best way to price after-work business networking events - premium, low cost, or free/freemium?

• I see three options: 1)  $20 or more on the thought that "premium" pricing will be attractive because of the perception that it will bring in a more upscale crowd.  The price, in effect, acts as a gatekeeper and a branding mechanism. 2)  $10 or so:  This is the going rate for these type of events = affordable and most people will spend this without having to give it as much thought as spending $20 or more. 3)   Free / Freemium:  When we've tried free events the number of attendees usually grows significantly from the $10 events (we've never tried the premium events)  and the size our mailing list grows markedly.  In theory, bigger events and a bigger mailing list = more opportunities to monetize the events and the list.  Moreover, free events are  much more viral via email or social networks.  The downside is, obviously, no revenue from admission fees and the perception (right or wrong; I'm not sure) that the crowd won't be the same as it would be at a paid event.

• Answer:

  This is quite an interesting question. Having run a few business networking events in the past, I'd like to give my perspective and share some learnings. 1) Free vs Paid I believe that understanding  whether you are going to charge or not is the first step. The major issue I see with free events is not the quality of the crowd. In fact I've seen great audiences at free events. I believe the toughest challenge with free events is lack of commitment, therefore high no-show rate. The monetary commitment is usually a win-win for the organizer and the attendee on top of being a great motivator for both sides. If in fact you give, say, a drink in return for a ticket the attendee is incentivised to attend and you, the organizer, have covered your costs. Surely you'll give up larger numbers but having an audience that is willing to pay is usually better than having a poorly committed, large mailing list. If you really have to go with free I suggest having an agreement with your venue to offer some form of reward for attending. In this way you can avoid the no show problem (attendees will come for the reward) and maybe later introduce some form of monetary commitment once you have an engaged audience (that will discourage those looking just for the freebie). I used to implement that successfully for some Meetups I ran in London. Here is an answer I gave a while ago that will help you further: 2) Lower or Higher Pricing Once you've decided whether to go free or paid, it's time to think how much should you charge, which is the core of your question. I believe that no matter what you decide to charge you'll need to ensure a good event and good reasons to pay/attend. This is often overlooked. The next step is just a matter of deciding whether to go for the higher, middle or lower market. Do some research. Search for networking events in your area. Attend a few and plot them on a graph or rank them by price. Look at what you have to offer and pick one pricing direction. This is the biggest piece of advice I can share. Sticking to your pricing strategy is extremely important. It doesn't matter whether it is 5$ or $500, the important bit is to avoid swinging from low to high. Move your pricing just within small percentages (i.e. -/+ 5%) to accommodate different event formats or, say, pay for a speaker. I always think as an example of how Apple charges far more than Samsung for a phone that does not necessarily cost more to produce. The same applies to event marketing. 3) Freemium Thirdly you can think of a freemium solution. I discourage this practice if your event series is a new product. Freemium creates too much dichotomy for my taste. You'll have a mix of the above audiences which is not going to make things easier. If you are starting now, picking free or paid will give you the clarity to be strategically aligned with hat you do. 4) In Conclusion Deciding for a pricing strategy is not an easy task. Sometimes we tend to forget that creating events that attendees want to attend is what makes an event successful. Moreover consistency is often the sign that you are confident with what you are doing and attendees recognize that. I hope this answers helps.