Have you ever organised an event that is free to attend? Perhaps something you advertised on Facebook, or using Eventbrite?

You book a venue that has, say, enough room for 100 attendees.

You get a great speaker, or an activity that has a lot of appeal.

Within a few hours, your 100 places are booked up and you’re turning away attendees.

Then, on the day, only 15 people turn up.

How annoying! Right?

Here’s what I did a few years ago.

I advertised an event (very cool stuff – kids with the then-brand-new Raspberry Pi were invited to meet some geeks who would show them fun things to make at a snazzy central London venue).

I told people that it was free to attend ….. but they would have to pay £10 to book their place, and a £10 note would be given back to them when they arrived.

There were only a small handful of drop-outs and the un-returned tenners bought a few extra pizzas for everyone else.

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