ok so im a month away from my first event (dayton Y indoor tri) and im freaking. so far we only have two confirmed entries and maybe six or seven others who say they are doing it. we are limiting the number to 50 (if we get there) and the questions i have are these.
what percentage of participants sign up last minute? ive been promoting the crap out of this thing and like i said with one month to go i only have two entrants.
my guy at the Y needs to place the order for hoodies asap and wants to know how many i think we should order and what sizes.
im worried about saying 50 but i dont want there to not be enough. i have had a lot of e-mails asking about the event but none of those questions have resulted in an entrant.
I have put out flyers at all the major bike / tri shops in the area. I have flyers out at all the Dayton area Y locations. I have it listed on all the local online calendars.
Its easy to complain about the price until you are on the side of making the race work. this is our first year and we have maybe 1 sponsor. SO the whole event is being funded by entry fees and with only 50 entry fees possible at max thats not a lot to work with.
Our expenses are and have been supplies for printing out flyers and what not. We are doing a hooded sweatshirt which costs more than a t-shirt but which I hope will be a bit of a draw. And the Y is planning on dedicating some staff for the time of the event and wants to recoup some of that cost. It will have an impact on the Y (positive I hop) I did get one e-mail from a guy and who said he thought the entry fee was too high. Its 30 for members of the Y and 40 if your not. If you register via Active.com we eat the registration processing fee so its just 40 flat. not 40 + the reg fee which is what most races do. Also I think at this point we are going end up with extra sweatshirts and maybe even extra prizes if we dont get more people entered and that will be a cost we will have to eat. I mean right now we have 2 people signed up. the sweatshirt is costing us about 15 bucks to purchase and print it. If we put in an order for 50 thats $750 and so far we have made about 65. And that does not start to cover the cost of additional staff to help run the event.
Lifetime fitness has started a series of indoor Tri’s across the country with one in the cincy area a month after mine. They are priced at 35 for a member of the club and 40 for non members. Im sure if you register via active you have to pay the fee and I KNOW your not getting a nice hooded sweatshirt for the same price (or less depending on how you look at it) for the same amount of time racing. Just out of curiosity what would you pay for the event or what do you think is fair that would make you jump at it and go “wow I gotta do that!”
Last year an area YMCA (in Central Illinois) put on an indoor triathlon for the first time. I didn’t go, but if I remember correctly, they had roughly 20 people show up. I think the first year you put on a new event, you aren’t going to have too many people come. Some people won’t go to a new event, and will wait for word of mouth from their friends who went, etc, and it takes time to build your event. The first year we hosted a triathlon (outdoor in the spring), we had 81 people, then the next year 92, and it has gradually grown to our limit of 300 people, and we have to turn people down now.
I’m also guessing here, but I don’t think the indoor tri’s do as well, because people don’t get the same sort of satisfaction of finishing, and those who are using it as a training tool might just rather keep up their own training schedule than pay for your event. I’ve considered putting on an indoor triathlon, and I just never thought it would work out right… getting the participants, not losing money, etc.
Good luck! It’s nice that you are giving away something nicer than a generic t-shirt, but I’d hate for you to lose money on your event!
You very rarely will make money (or break even for that matter) on a first time event. The best you can do is promote like crazy, make sure you run a kick-ass event, and hope for good post-race buzz.
Don’t worry… it gets better! This past summer I put on a 4 race MTB series. Races 1 and 2 got 34 and 27 entrants (extra rainy conditions didn’t help,) but we ran great events and the word spread like crazy. Race 3 had 60 racers (rain again,) race 4 over 100 (you guessed it… rainy!) Fortunately it was a series, so the money that races 3 & 4 brought in made up for the first 2 coming up short. The '09 version promises to be even better!
In your case, I think you need to focus on making a good impression for your next event. If people know that your event was good last time they will show up to the next one!
Don’t bank too much on pre-reg… it’s too inconsistent to accurately forecast actual turn outs, especially with a smaller event. That, and most people won’t sign up a month in advance, especially for a small, new event.
P.S. Next time get T-shirts. Hoodies are cool, but also cost 3-4 times as much! For this event, talk to your hoodie vendor and see if they would be willing to do a small post-race run. They will already have the templates, so it shouldn’t be too hard for them. You might pay a bit more per item but that way you don’t have to get 50 up front and be stuck with 45 event specific hoodies if the turn out sucks. Instead get 20-ish for the event and give rain-checks if you need extras.
Hey I have looked over things more and I have lowered the price of the event. It is now 30 which is 10 cheaper then our nearest competitor (lifetime fitness indoor tri in march)
Im really hoping that this boosts some registration. right now im at 3.