5 Key Takeaways from Anthony Vade on Event Pricing Design

With COVID-19 and the event industry pivoting from in-person to virtual formats, we saw a big shift from a pricing standpoint. Many events and conferences that used to have a high ticket value were now being offered in a virtual format for free (or for a fraction of the price of its in-person version). This change in pricing mentality brought yet another challenge to the industry.

But the uncertainty around event pricing models isn’t new. In our latest Live Talk with expert guest Anthony Vade, Director, North America at Event Design Collective, we discussed how to get to strategic price design so that event planners can better monetize their events. Here are five key takeaways from this conversation.

1. Practicing Price vs. Value on Event Pricing 

There’s always a balance between what is the price versus the perceived value, or the actual value that is received. If people can find value, they’re more likely to open their wallets. We must consider that people will make decisions based on who they align with, who they buy from, and which event they get involved in. 

At Event Design Collective, Anthony and his team have been doing a lot of study into this over the last 10-15 years to try and understand how do events specifically provide value and how to articulate that value so that the stakeholders associated with the events are more willing to make the investments they are asking them to make. 

2. Information delivery is not enough

Sending information down a camera to the remote participant is not enough for them to get the value they want. Because the internet is full of information, we can source it from anywhere, for free, at any time. So if we, as event professionals, are just doing that – we’re competing not only against other events and in-person event experiences, we are competing against the internet itself, which is impossible to beat because there is far more information available for free. 

In that method of delivery, what we have learned is that we are looking for intimacy and close connections with people and content. Bringing that human element is what is proving to be a bit of a challenge. 

But we’re seeing some shifts already happening. For example, Fast Company has made its keynote sessions with some big names free to watch. But if you want to get in-depth information, participate in hands-on workshops, or network and connect with peers, then you must pay a premium at various different scales for that. That’s because we recognized early on in the pandemic, that the value comes from that form of engagement, not just in engaging with the content. 

3. Value of in-person vs. virtual experiences 

TED Talks had a really interesting event pricing model pre-pandemic, where they had an absolute premium price to attend in person – I think the tickets were from $5,000 to $7,000. They also had a live stream that you could subscribe to at a much lower price or you could choose to watch the recordings on-demand, free of charge. 

That’s a really interesting approach pre-pandemic but, unfortunately, it did fall into a model where the in-person had higher value because of its high-touch and high-intimacy level.

We, as an industry, need to be willing to experiment and prototype on the kinds of experiences we can deliver and how we can attribute value to those experiences until we find the sweet spot that justifies the additional expense (for virtual experiences). And while we figure out this framework, we still need to think about creating free content to keep our audiences engaged with our community. It’s a big challenge for the entire industry.

4. Event Pricing Design

The first key that every event professional should take on board is mapping the stakes:

• What is at stake, 
• Who’s involved, 
• What their contribution is, 
• What their expectations are.

At Event Design Collective, we go through steps to map high-impact stakeholders, including sponsors, attendee participants, event owners, etc. We get our entire team to collaborate and bring their perspectives into understanding those stakeholders so we can then validate what we think that stakeholder wants. Go to them directly and say: Hey, stakeholder, we think this will provide value to you. And this is what we think you’re willing to pay for it. Did we get it right?.

So often, we ask the stakeholders what they want, and they come back to us with what they think we want them to want, because we’re here to please each other. So doing the inverse, and starting from you and your team, can make the difference. 

Once you validade the stakeholders’ goals, you can then analyze if and how your event can help to achieve those outcomes. This is how you get to provide value and to justify the expense that all the stakeholders are putting into it, whether they’re buying a ticket or sponsoring a tradeshow booth. 

5. Event Design

In order to plan the event pricing strategy and the value delivered at the event, Anthony uses the Event Canvas Tool and its associated design Methodology with his team and clients (you can download yours free here). Watch the clip below where Anthony walks us through this process. Video Player

If you’d like to dive deeper into the Event Canvas and how to use it, we’d like to invite you to join an Event Canvas Taster Session for free (normally a $60 value). The event will happen on October 26 2021 and you can register here to get the promo code and join free. 

Conclusion

In our Live Talk, Anthony shared that we tend to look back at the pre-pandemic past with rose-colored glasses when we are actually quickly falling into the trap that behavioral psychologists call hindsight bias. We are biased to think that things in the past were better when it may not be the case. Monetization and pricing model challenges were always there.

In order to find the right price for your event, it all comes down to event design. Truly understanding your stakeholders and what they’d like to achieve with your event so you can deliver the value they expect and find the right price for that experience to happen. You can watch the recording of the full conversation here.