So I always seem to get questions from people asking me about comped tickets to the events that we do. Sometimes these questions are leading, like as in what do I have to do to get a free ticket, other times they are concerned that people are abusing the system by getting in for free, and others are just pain irritated for various reasons.
I’ll do my best to explain my thinking, I won’t pull any punches, I won’t throw any spin on it, I’ll just give you how my mind works, and then you can decide for yourself if there is a method to the madness.
The goals of throwing our events is ensure that our guests have a good time, that we don’t loose our ass on costs and that we pave the way for future events/projects.
It sounds simple enough, but often times, people loose sight of what the end goals are and focus to much on the immediate issues that are bothering them, it means putting aside the ego and focusing on the long term plan.
So key factors in the case of a large event like X-Sanguin you have to look at how many people does the venue hold, how many tickets do you think you can sell, and what’s your bar minimum.
Lets say the venue holds 1000, and your bar guarantee is $15,000, assuming that you can sell enough tickets to cover your event costs (if you can’t you have no business getting doing an event that sized) but not enough to sell out, now your presented with a decision.
Do you say “I don’t see why anyone should get in for free! Everyone pays!” and run the risk of doing fine on ticket sales and not making your bar tab, or do you suck it up and take a long term view of the goals of selling tickets, and not loosing your ass on the bar tab?
It’s that last part that can really bug people, humans really can have problems seeing others getting something for free, esp if they don’t know them, or even worse, they don’t like them, but often times in situations like this it is a necessary step to success.
So when considering who we are going to comp tickets out to, most of them fall into one of these categories:
Above and Beyond
This person did something for the group that went above and beyond what anyone would normally do to help out. Maybe they donated hours of their time, or helped move equipment on their days off etc. They earned them with their blood sweat and tears.
The Peer
This is someone or a group of people that do similar events, or include you and your group in their projects. Doing big events can be a stressful difficult experience and it’s always good to compare notes, etc with your peers.
The Super Connector
These people are social hubs for large groups of friends, that look to them for “What are we doing”, by comping out these people you count on a large drag effect of their friends buying tickets to attend the event.
They might still buy their tickets, but by giving them tickets, you cater to their ego, so that they are more inclined to tell their friends about it, and make sure they know that they got their tickets for free. Their ego becomes your allie in this situation.
Passive Influencer
These people for some reason inspire others to attend the event, not by direct action, or promoting, but by some other means. Often times they people that are considered famous, creative, extremely attractive, etc.
New Attendee
In the business world this would be called “Customer Acquisition”, and often times businesses know that they will have to take it on the chin to get that person as a customer for that first sale, but after that, they will see the value in their product and become a loyal customer. It’s a similar case here, I would much rather give a ticket to someone who would never normally buy one, but who would buy one the next year if they had fun at the event. Again, it’s taking a long term view of your goals.
Silly Inspiration
Ok, I’ll admit it, sometimes you just do it because you want to bring a little fun into the world and be unpredictable. On Twitter I sent out “This was a triumph, I’m making a note here huge success”. To which I had about 15 responses asking me what was up, did I win a contest etc, and then I got one response of “Its’ hard to overstate my satisfaction”.
Yes, it’s the end theme song from portal, and someone got it, there is a case of silly inspiration, oh and the guy that figured out that the numbers on the dog tags are earth’s jump coordinates for BSG. 
How to fail at getting free tickets
So there you have it, those are the basic categories that people fall into that we give out comped tickets to. Sure there are exceptions, there always are, but now having seen all of that, I’ll tell you how NOT to get a free ticket to the event.
Then open scene from the movie the Godfather is really an amazing piece of cinema and a powerful moment in the film that sets the mood for the rest of the movie.
In the scene Marlin Brando is sitting in his office on with a few of his men, and on the other side of the desk is Amerigo Bonasera, a undertaker in the Italian community.
He starts off by telling Don Corleone (Marlin Brando) how his daughter, a fine girl, with upstanding morals, was led astray to go on a date with a boy who tried to take advantage of her, and when she fought back the boy savaged her face. Amerigo Bonasera is asking for justice for his daughter, justice that the police can’t give him, since they only gave the boy 4 months in jail.
The reason he is asking this, is that tradition holds that on the day of his daughters wedding, no Sicilian father can refuse a request.
After thinking a moment, the Godfather looks at Amerigo Bonasera and the conversation goes something like this….
DON CORLEONE
Bonasera, we know each other for
years, but this is the first time
you come to me for help. I don’t
remember the last time you invited
me to your house for coffee…even
though our wives are friends.
BONASERA
What do you want of me? I’ll give
you anything you want, but do what
I ask!
DON CORLEONE
And what is that Bonasera?
BONASERA whispers into the DON’s ear.
DON CORLEONE
No. You ask for too much.
BONASERA
I ask for Justice.
DON CORLEONE
The Court gave you justice.
BONASERA
An eye for an eye!
DON CORLEONE
But your daughter is still alive.
BONASERA
Then make them suffer as she
suffers. How much shall I pay you.
Both HAGEN and SONNY react.
DON CORLEONE
You never think to protect yourself
with real friends. You think it’s
enough to be an American. All
right, the Police protects you,
there are Courts of Law, so you
don’t need a friend like me.
But now you come to me and say Don
Corleone, you must give me justice.
And you don’t ask in respect or
friendship. And you don’t think to
call me Godfather; instead you come
to my house on the day my daughter
is to be married and you ask me to
do murder…for money.
BONASERA
America has been good to me…
DON CORLEONE
Then take the justice from the
judge, the bitter with the sweet,
Bonasera. But if you come to me
with your friendship, your loyalty,
then your enemies become my enemies,
and then, believe me, they would
fear you…
Slowly, Bonasera bows his head and murmurs.
BONASERA
Be my friend.
DON CORLEONE
Good. From me you’ll get Justice.
BONASERA
Godfather.
DON CORLEONE
Some day, and that day may never
come, I would like to call upon you
to do me a service in return.
In other words, now that Amerigo Bonasera in in trouble, he is coming to Don Corleone for help, but never came in true friendship before, but had he, he would not need to be asking for justice, for it would have already been done. Now however, after granting his request, since he did not come in friendship before, he is now indebted to Don Corleone.
That’s a very long winded way of saying that when coming to me and asking for a comp ticket, and following it up with “I’ll help you promote, etc” your probably irritating me.
The person is usually trying to trade on our friendship and now that they need something they are offing to help in some small way. Where as if they had been offering to help all along, they would not need to ask, for it would have already been given in friendship.
So there you have it, there are tons of other factors that could come up, but that should give you an idea on how my mind works when it comes to comped tickets.
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