Re: [Organizers] Student rate

Hello to the list, Here at the Burlington QCC dance we used to have a sliding scale entrance fee but after much discussion and consideration among the organizing committee decided to just have one price for everyone. What we found was that the low end of the sliding scale became the default amount most people paid. It also made our bookkeeping a little more complicated because in theory you had many different people paying a variety of rates at the door. We could have had 20 people paying $5 or 10 people paying $10 and there was no way to tell. We've actually had an increase in young people since we evened out our door rate. I don't think there is a correlation, but I mention it because I don't think there is necessarily a strong connection between door fee and attendance. I think the key is the quality of the experience that people associate with coming to the dance. We seem to always come back to this as our main point: create a sustained quality experience and the people will come. It is also worth recalling the price in the context of the many other entertainment options that people might choose. In some of our promotional emails I like to point out that you get both a concert and a dance for the low price of $7 at the door, reminding people that they are welcome to just come and listen if that makes them happy. Its a bargain. I appreciate Mark's point in creating a youth price as opposed to a student price. It is perceptive that there are different forms of education and life experience. I suppose I should point out that my comments are my own and not necessarily representative of the QCC organizing committee. Thanks Chris for getting this list going! It is nice to connect around issues unique to the dance organizing community. Best, Dave Cain Waitsfield, VT