Worldcon Trial Memberships
Mar. 26th, 2006 12:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kevin_standleeL.A.con IV to Offer 'Taster' Memberships
L.A.con IV is going to attempt something that they hope will attract more people who suffer from "sticker shock" at the high price of a Worldcon membership. The way it will work is that if you buy a single-day membership, it will be time-stamped, and if you come back within three hours, you can get a refund of all but $20 of what you paid. This will allow you to have a look at the Worldcon without having to commit $75 to it, a daunting amount to people used to paying less than that for an entire weekend. If you like what you see, you just stick around; if it's not to your taste, you can get most of your money back. It removes a lot of the risk.
I'm happy to say that I had something to do with this experiment. I was part of the discussions at SMOFCon in Chicago a few years back where we worked out a lot of the fiddly bits that go into such a policy. And yes, I was inspired, if you want to call it that, by descriptions of how Toronto Trek reportedly does trial memberships. (I understand that if you come back within the trial time, you get your entire membership back; Worldcon this year is imposing what you might call a "restocking fee" on the returned membership.)
Is this something that will attract more people from outside of the greater L.A. area? Of course not. Anyone who is willing to make the commitment to travel that far and probably rent a hotel room is probably not put off by the price of the membership. But if you're a local within driving distance of Anaheim -- which is a larger area than people who aren't familiar with California Car Culture may realize -- then you're in the target zone for a trial membership.
Despite what some may think, this isn't completely aimed at attracting walk-in members who have never heard of a science fiction convention, although it does have some application there. For the people who hear about the event but show up and are dismayed by the price, this gives them a chance to look around and make sure it's really to their taste without risking hundreds of dollars for a family. But it's also aimed at people who may be familiar with SF conventions, but only their local con, which generally costs much less than a Worldcon. I know that I spent many years sitting behind sales desks and talking to people at parties at Bay Area conventions like BayCon and SiliCon. People attending those conventions already know what an SF convention is. What many of them don't understand is how a Worldcon is any different from a BayCon, and why they should be expected to pay as much for one day as BayCon costs for four. Because it's so difficult to get past that "sticker shock," many people who I think would enjoy events like Worldcon don't even have a look during the relatively rare opportunity to attend it when it's close and (relatively) cheap. That's a shame, in my opinion, and I'm glad to see L.A.con IV grasping the nettle and making the extra effort to try these "taster memberships."
In my opinion, if this program doesn't work (in the sense of generating additional new memberships from people who say they would not have attended without it) at Anaheim, it won't work anywhere. The L.A.cons have the largest potential commuting-distance membership base of any recent Worldcon -- this is one reason the 1984 and 1996 Worldcons are the first and fourth-largest Worldcons ever held, in my opinion. It will take effort -- L.A.con needs to get the promotion out there to tell people this offer is available -- but I think it's worth trying.
If you know anyone in the Greater L.A. area who you think might be interested in going to Worldcon but who has told you the price is too much for them, let them know about this offer.
L.A.con IV is going to attempt something that they hope will attract more people who suffer from "sticker shock" at the high price of a Worldcon membership. The way it will work is that if you buy a single-day membership, it will be time-stamped, and if you come back within three hours, you can get a refund of all but $20 of what you paid. This will allow you to have a look at the Worldcon without having to commit $75 to it, a daunting amount to people used to paying less than that for an entire weekend. If you like what you see, you just stick around; if it's not to your taste, you can get most of your money back. It removes a lot of the risk.
I'm happy to say that I had something to do with this experiment. I was part of the discussions at SMOFCon in Chicago a few years back where we worked out a lot of the fiddly bits that go into such a policy. And yes, I was inspired, if you want to call it that, by descriptions of how Toronto Trek reportedly does trial memberships. (I understand that if you come back within the trial time, you get your entire membership back; Worldcon this year is imposing what you might call a "restocking fee" on the returned membership.)
Is this something that will attract more people from outside of the greater L.A. area? Of course not. Anyone who is willing to make the commitment to travel that far and probably rent a hotel room is probably not put off by the price of the membership. But if you're a local within driving distance of Anaheim -- which is a larger area than people who aren't familiar with California Car Culture may realize -- then you're in the target zone for a trial membership.
Despite what some may think, this isn't completely aimed at attracting walk-in members who have never heard of a science fiction convention, although it does have some application there. For the people who hear about the event but show up and are dismayed by the price, this gives them a chance to look around and make sure it's really to their taste without risking hundreds of dollars for a family. But it's also aimed at people who may be familiar with SF conventions, but only their local con, which generally costs much less than a Worldcon. I know that I spent many years sitting behind sales desks and talking to people at parties at Bay Area conventions like BayCon and SiliCon. People attending those conventions already know what an SF convention is. What many of them don't understand is how a Worldcon is any different from a BayCon, and why they should be expected to pay as much for one day as BayCon costs for four. Because it's so difficult to get past that "sticker shock," many people who I think would enjoy events like Worldcon don't even have a look during the relatively rare opportunity to attend it when it's close and (relatively) cheap. That's a shame, in my opinion, and I'm glad to see L.A.con IV grasping the nettle and making the extra effort to try these "taster memberships."
In my opinion, if this program doesn't work (in the sense of generating additional new memberships from people who say they would not have attended without it) at Anaheim, it won't work anywhere. The L.A.cons have the largest potential commuting-distance membership base of any recent Worldcon -- this is one reason the 1984 and 1996 Worldcons are the first and fourth-largest Worldcons ever held, in my opinion. It will take effort -- L.A.con needs to get the promotion out there to tell people this offer is available -- but I think it's worth trying.
If you know anyone in the Greater L.A. area who you think might be interested in going to Worldcon but who has told you the price is too much for them, let them know about this offer.
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no subject
Date: 2006-03-26 10:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-27 02:17 am (UTC)Counting Heads
Date: 2006-03-27 02:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-27 06:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-27 05:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-27 05:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-27 07:11 am (UTC)For ghu's sake teach the reg clerks to be flexible. "It's time-stamped to expire at 2:14 and it's now 2:15, you get no refund, I don't care that you've been standing in line for ten minutes!" We don't want that.
Another idea: cut the price of one-days near the end of the day for a "clearance sale." Would bring in more late-in-the-day folks, and eliminate the problem of refunds after reg closes.
I occasionally feel like going to a con for just one event, and don't want to pay a full day's membership. I could imagine times I'd go for something like this.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-27 05:37 pm (UTC)I've proposed what amounts to "a la carte" pricing for some Worldcon functions, but this horrifies people who figure that (a) the only people who would buy single event admissions are people who would have otherwise bought full or day memberships, and therefore you're cannibalizing your own revenue; and/or (b) We'll be flooded with people wanting to attend only the Hugo, Masquerade, or just see the Dealers Room, and we won't have enough space/staff to handle them.
I'm not sure about that, myself. We usually have more exhibit space than we really need (because exhibit space comes in fixed sizes; you can't rent 2/3 of an exhibit hall), so I'm not bothered by the spectre of too many people attending it. (Although I have seen cases where dealers rooms have had to been metered due to overload, it's been at anime cons and comic book shows, not general SF cons.) The chance of overloading your main event venue is a real one, but I'd like to use the extra revenue to pipe video coverage of the event to a different venue, such as (say) a "Mended Drum" style place where people could have a beer or a soda and watch the event on screens. Furthermore, whenever it's technically possible, I want the major events telecast to the main hotel. This not only removes some of that space pressure, but it actually improves the convention experience for all of the members, since there are lots of people who would rather not cram into the auditorium if they could watch the event elsewhere.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-28 01:07 am (UTC)