We’ve changed the price of the tickets for the 2017 symposium, Community Agency & Health.
Rather than a flat US$1000 per participant, we’ve created categories based on the type of institutions participants will be coming from. The new categories and prices are:
- US$300: Community-Based Organizations, Community Residents & Students
- US$500: Government, Nonprofit & University
- US$1100: Standard
Early Bird
We’ve also introduced an early bird discount. Until March 17th, the prices are a little lower:
- US$250: Community-Based Organizations, Community Residents & Students
- US$450: Government, Nonprofit & University
- US$1000: Standard
The early bird tickets are available on Eventbrite now.
Why the Changes?
Since announcing the symposium, we’ve actively encouraged participation in the form of local delegations that represent the many systems that influence a community’s health, from health systems to community-based organizations, and including community residents. We have been pursuing a model in which delegations work together, with our facilitation, to pool their resources so delegations can attend, recognizing that not all of these people and organizations have the same (if any) budget for professional development and travel.
We’ve learned two things. First, there is a lot of interest in the symposium from those who will not be a part of a delegation and therefore do not have the opportunity to pool their resources with others. Second, even for those who are pooling their resources, it is helpful to them to reflect the variability in access to budgets for professional development and travel in the pricing.
So, we’ve created tiered pricing to help delegations come together and to help a broader range of individual participants afford the registration.
Local Foundations
We’ve also been speaking with a number of local and regional foundations and funders that want to support the symposium. However, their mandate is such that they’re only able to spend money in, or to the benefit of, their locality. As a result, while they’re clear the symposium is of interest to them, most have been unable to issue grants.
We’ve been getting creative in the background by issuing one-off, stand-alone tickets for around US$3000. By buying these tickets, foundations have been able to support the symposium without having to issue a grant. We’ve now formalized that ticket, at the US$3000 mark, although we should stress that it’s optional – we’re also happy for people from foundations and funders to buy the US$1100 ticket, if they prefer.
Sponsors
We will soon be announcing three major sponsors, and we’re in discussion with a few others.
Similar to the conversations we’ve been having with local and regional foundations and funders, we’ve come across a few potential sponsors that want to support and attend the symposium but are not in a position to issue a grant – largely because it’s a little too late. To accommodate them, we’ve created a $US10,000 ticket.
Program Visibility
We very much intend to thank all of the purchasers of the US$3000 and $10,000 tickets on our material, such as the program, webpage, and any outputs that stem directly from the symposium.
Travel & Accommodation
Finally, one foundation is sending five people and have asked us to handle all of their travel and accommodation for an additional fee. We’re open to doing this for others so if you’d like to know more please do get in touch.
