Before you pick a number, list every cost the event creates, including the small ones that show up after the night is over. Hosts usually miss the cleanup supplies, the speaker's travel and the card fees that come out of every sale.

• The room, including setup time and the hour before and after
• Food and drink, plus cups, plates, napkins and ice
• Printing, signs and name tags
• Speaker, host or performer fees, and their travel
• Equipment you rent or replace, such as a projector or extra chairs
• Card processing and any platform fee on each ticket

Here is a worked example. Say you run a talk in a rented back room for 120 dollars, buy snacks for 60, print 40 name tags for 15, and pay a speaker 150. Your costs are 345 dollars. Divide that by the guests you can realistically expect, not the room's maximum. If you expect 30 people, the event costs you 11.50 a seat before you make any money at all.

A price does one main job. It can cover costs, filter for people who will show up, or pay for something beyond the event itself. A price that tries to do all three usually confuses guests, so choose the job first.

• Cover costs: the price is your cost per seat, plus a margin you name before the sale opens.
• Filter for commitment: a small fee, credited back on arrival, keeps no-shows away from a limited room.
• Fund a project: the price is a donation with a clear purpose, and the guest knows where the money goes.

If the event is free to the community, do not add a price to fix an attendance problem. A price adds friction, and friction costs you the guest who was on the fence.

Each ticket loses a slice to card processing, and some platforms take a fee as well. If you set a price and keep whatever arrives, you will come up short. Work backward from the amount you want to keep.

Use this formula: price = (amount you keep + fixed fee) / (1 - percentage fee). Say you want to keep 20 dollars a ticket, and your card processor takes 3 percent plus 30 cents. The price is (20 + 0.30) / (1 - 0.03), which is 20.30 / 0.97, or 20.93. Check it: 3 percent of 20.93 is 0.63, and 20.93 minus 0.63 minus 0.30 leaves 20.00. A price of 20 would leave you 19.07, which is short.

On Connections, the price you set in the ticket editor is the price your guest pays. The card fee and any platform fee come out of what you collect, which is why the formula matters. The site FAQ explains the same rule.

A lower tier needs a reason to exist. An early-bird price or a members' price works when its condition brings in people who would not buy at full price. Without a condition, the lower tier takes the buyers the full price would have taken, and you give up money on each one.

Say you have 40 seats and a full price of 20. You offer 15 until 30 days out. If 25 people buy early and 15 buy at full price, you take 25 times 15 plus 15 times 20, which is 675. If all 40 would have paid 20 anyway, the early price cost you 125 dollars. It is worth it only if it sells seats you would not have sold otherwise.

On Connections, each ticket in the ticket editor has Sales open and Sales close dates and a Spots limit. An early ticket stops on its own date when the regular one starts. A members' price is a Coupon on the ticket, or an Invite-only ticket that shows only to people with your link.

Give every lower tier an end date or a seat limit before you publish. A price with no end is just the price.

Capacity changes the math. A room of 40 with 30 likely guests needs a higher price per seat than a room of 40 that always fills. Set your price against the realistic count, then set the capacity to the seats you can serve well.

When the room does fill, the extra demand is still worth keeping. A waitlist lets people who arrive after the sell-out join the line, so a cancellation has someone ready to take the seat. On Connections, the event settings have a Waitlist switch for this, and it is on by default.

Free works when the event is a step toward something else, such as a sales call, a community night or a first class you hope leads to a series. A fixed price works when the value is clear and the room is limited. Pay-what-you-can works only with a suggested amount and a floor that covers your per-seat cost, so a generous guest does not leave you short.

1. Write every cost, including fees, and divide by a realistic guest count.
2. Name the one job the ticket has.
3. Run the fee formula for the amount you want to keep.
4. Set the capacity to the seats you can serve well.
5. Attach an end date or seat limit to every early or member tier.
6. Buy your own ticket with a real card before you publish, and check the confirmation.
7. Two days after the first sales, read the numbers and change the next event's price, not this one's.

• Pricing against the room's maximum instead of the guests you expect.
• Forgetting the card fee, so each ticket nets less than you planned.
• Adding an early price with no end date, so it never ends.
• Setting the price first and working out the cost afterwards.
• Changing the price halfway through the sale, which makes early buyers feel tricked.
• Giving free tickets to everyone who asks, which drains the margin you planned for.

• How to get more people to RSVP to your event
• How to cut no-shows at free events
• A step-by-step plan for a fundraiser night

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