"Sold Out" event

[+hikecycletri]

https://coord.info/GC6ZG66 in Houma, LA 2/18 - With the long weekend approaching, I checked the event calendar and saw what sounded like a fun event and chance to earn a coin for completing a series of caches near New Orleans. Seeing only about 15 "Will Attend" logs and no indication that the event was in any danger of selling out from either the cache page or the free ticket website, I asked for a few days off from work and made travel arrangements. Two days later (2/6) when I knew I could attend, I followed the instructions to obtain my free ticket and saw that the event was now "Sold Out." The cache page still did not indicate this and the 15 logs appeared to amount to about 25-30 people. I emailed the contact person and the prompt reply was:

"There is been a total number of 120 "sold" for this event from people who have followed the post's instructions to "purchase" on Event Brite. We only have 100 coins and limited space for our breakfast mixer event. We have tried to make it as clear as possible on all of our outlets that a ticket must be reserved to guarantee a spot for the event. For that reason, most people did not mark a "will attend" and rather just followed the link to purchase their tickets."

I sent a few follow up questions via email on 2/7, asking if I can attend the event briefly without the meal, whether I can still try to do the caches to earn the coin (according to the cache page people with event tickets have dibs on the coins), and whether they still have coins available for the local geotrail (as an alternative.) I have not gotten a reply.

Is this "normal" practice for an event? Shouldn't the event page indicate that no more people can attend?

[+Touchstone]

https://coord.info/GC6ZG66 in Houma, LA 2/18 - With the long weekend approaching, I checked the event calendar and saw what sounded like a fun event and chance to earn a coin for completing a series of caches near New Orleans. Seeing only about 15 "Will Attend" logs and no indication that the event was in any danger of selling out from either the cache page or the free ticket website, I asked for a few days off from work and made travel arrangements. Two days later (2/6) when I knew I could attend, I followed the instructions to obtain my free ticket and saw that the event was now "Sold Out." The cache page still did not indicate this and the 15 logs appeared to amount to about 25-30 people. I emailed the contact person and the prompt reply was:

"There is been a total number of 120 "sold" for this event from people who have followed the post's instructions to "purchase" on Event Brite. We only have 100 coins and limited space for our breakfast mixer event. We have tried to make it as clear as possible on all of our outlets that a ticket must be reserved to guarantee a spot for the event. For that reason, most people did not mark a "will attend" and rather just followed the link to purchase their tickets."

I sent a few follow up questions via email on 2/7, asking if I can attend the event briefly without the meal, whether I can still try to do the caches to earn the coin (according to the cache page people with event tickets have dibs on the coins), and whether they still have coins available for the local geotrail (as an alternative.) I have not gotten a reply.

Is this "normal" practice for an event? Shouldn't the event page indicate that no more people can attend?

Kind of depends on what part of your question I'm answering:

 

1. Is it normal for an Event to have restricted attendance? Not so much in my area, but size can be limited based on local laws and what the venue can safely accommodate. These types of restrictions are usually dictated by local fire codes.

 

2. Is it unusual for an Event to sell out that is offering a free geocoin? Yes. They can sell out in a matter of hours in my area.

 

3. Is is normal for there to be less "Will Attend" log than the actual number of people that show up? Always. I have never been to an Event that matched the number of people with the Will Attend/Attended logs. Some people just show up. Some people come as part of a family, or just friends tagging along, and never post anything online.

 

If it were me, I would be in the "just show up" group for this one, and partake of the cache hunt and trackable trading portion of the Event. Being a bit snarky at times, I might even show up with a box of coffee and donuts to share with those "attendees" that are in a similar situation as I, that were unable to get a ticket for the breakfast. I know one thing for certain, I wouldn't let it spoil my day, coin or no coin. Have a great time!

[+hikecycletri]

Thanks for your thoughts. I got a reply today saying they were opening the event to more people, based on demand, so I have a ticket. I still think it would be good for a cache page update or announcement with total and remaining number of tickets.