The Axpona version was a near disaster. Format was wrong. Organizers didn't take the show seriously. Presenters didn't take the show seriously. And seemingly the audience was the same seeing how few showed up. Hope you watch what you did and avoid their mishaps. From early look at your website, it seems you are doing better.
I am not clear on charging so much for attendees though. If people don't show up, it will be a serious issue. I would just charge the industry for exhibiting and then charge people either nothing, or $5. I know I am too cheap to pay to get in.
I am concerned about too little value to pay up front and take the risk.
I was also surprised to see Press fees even higher than non-press. Press usually gets a free pass at shows. Maybe you consider them your competition so you want them to pay???
I couldn't really watch for very long because I'm busy working on my event. I'll let others critique those events. My job is to focus on my event.
It's free after July 1st. I explained in the previous post all the benefits I've planned for attendees of the show.
There are also downsides to free. One is that the "attendees" aren't as qualified. When there's tens of thousands of dollars worth of products being given away, there's going to be a handful of people who are there just for free stuff...even people who couldn't care less about audio products. Go around and ask random people on the street if they want to buy a DAC for $5 versus if you tell them it's free. The difference between charging something versus nothing is huge; even $1.
There have been lots of people willing to "take a risk" with me because they know me, and they see the effort I'm putting in. If you think someone who has paid $24 for the early bird rate is a risky proposition, then consider my risk. My reputation is on the line. I take that responsibility. And because I have accepted money from these people, they expect something in return and I plan on delivering. If it was free, I might be inclined to think "well, oh well, you didn't pay so, I don't really owe anyone anything." Same for the money paid by sponsors. I promised them a return on their investment. Also, I want them to exhibit with me in the future, so I have to deliver.
If you couldn't afford the $24 early bird rate, the $34 current rate, or the $55 press rate, then maybe hold off on buying more testing gear. I hear that Klippel is pretty expensive. ;-)
The reason I chose $24 for early bird specials is that I looked at the price for a traditional trade show. I've been at shows where parking was $18 a day. Taking into account food, travel, and hotel if you flew in, you're spending more than $24 for a normal event. Here are the prices from RMAF:
Prices:
$40 for a 3 day pass
$30 for a 2 day pass
$20 for a 1 day pass
Now add $18 for each day for parking.
Press is a higher rate because they have 2 extra days to browse around. The price per day is the same. They get access to press kits and private contact info specified by each company. I have to create specific content just for them that general attendees cannot access. That's a lot of extra work. For press/media/B2B, I have to get things done 2 days earlier on an already tight schedule.
I don't look at other press and media as my competitors. Do you? My stance is we need more people covering audio, not less.