Comments on: BarCamp no shows

By: martinwguy

martinwguy — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 14:36:00 +0000

I think punishing people will be counterprodutive, unless you want to reduce the event to an inner circle of every-timers and discourage the maybes and the unconvinced.

Has this become an actual problem of having to turn people down, or it is more the disappointment that it wasn't as shoulder-to-shoulder as you'd hoped?

FWIW, no I didn't show in Newcastle and yes, I did explicitly say so when I realized I wouldn't be able to do so.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:07:00 +0000

How about making it clear on registration that they will be required to confirm their attendance a week before the event on the website, and that an email reminder will be sent.

Some people will forget to email back, but some people will also confirm their attendance and still drop out – the numbers may be close enough to balance out?

By: Caz Mockett

Caz Mockett — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 16:47:00 +0000

@alistair - you make a good point about asking the no-shows why they didn't hand the ticket back.

As newbies, they may not realise how sought-after the tickets can be from some of the [addicts] regular attendees [mentioning no names ;-)]

Perhaps if this was made clearer at the time of booking, and as a follow up email after a no-show, perhpas they would not do the same thing twice. :-)

By: Alistair MacDonald

Alistair MacDonald — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 13:13:00 +0000

@simonmaddox I know what you mean, and it has been a combination of luck and my BarCamp addiction that has resulted in me not having to hand back a two day ticket. I only found out that I had a reserve place at London[1] with a few days notice, so I do not see handing back a ticket at the last minute a problem. What I am suggesting is making the point where you say you are committed close to event, but knowing you can go if you want as soon as possible.

@rey I did think about that, but I suspect that the people who are not attending will not be bothered. Most are newcomers without much of an online identity.

Finally I had a though when reading someone else's blog. We have not actually contacted the noshows and as them why they did not attend, and why they did not hand back the ticket. Perhaps this is something we should do.

By: rey

rey — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 22:59:00 +0000

Might it be enough just to post a list of no-shows + links to their websites? The Shame Factor may persuade people not to sign up if there’s a chance they may not be able to attend.

By: simonmaddox

simonmaddox — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 19:37:00 +0000

The problem is, I may not know if I can actually attend until (for example) a week before the event. This is going to be quite short notice for a lot of people who need to arrange transport…

Nice idea for people that live in the same city/country though!