The New Green Tax on Last Minute Conference Registration

So you want people to come to your event, you've spent thousands on your venue, your catering, your speakers, your online registration and e-marketing. And people these days wait until the last minute to book. It's technology - I know it's technology - I'm guilty of it myself. You're just not sure that you can take the time so you wait until the last possible minute and then you can register in seconds. Not like the good old days where you had to plan things weeks in advance...

I think that we event organisers should start a new trend - instead of "early bird" discounts, we should take a position and all band together to create a "last minute penalty" culture. Something quite hefty would be good, i.e. for registering at the door, you get charged an extra 75%. For registering one week before the event, you get charged 50% extra. Two weeks prior, the cost is 25% extra and so on... I think we need to scope this and build it into the Eventznet system - coz I'm getting way too old for the last minute stress... caterers breathing down your neck, printers pushing madly (not really, Eugene!), attendee lists, badges, think of the trees! Maybe we could even call it a "green" tax on conference attendance, what do you think?