Why tech events are not “sapa-friendly”
Following the hardship in the country and the price of tickets to tech events, a certain tech enthusiast on X with the username @jojoisatechbaby has shared her two cents,
“All the tech events ticket prices
13k, 15k. Seems you guys don’t like we Sapa techies and the tech events now have a new audience
Rich techies. Walie I will build aggressively on social media. I don’t have such money
Y’all left 2k and 3k”
In defense of tech events organizers, another X user with the username @shalombrain explained why tickets to tech events cost that much,
“Since no one is talking, I will take a hit for the team. In this thread, I will share a breakdown of what it takes to run an average tech event (financially) in Nigeria.
Why most events have switched to paid ticketing and how event organisers are using your money to flex. Our case study will be around an event that holds on the mainland, Zone Tech Park to be precise, for an expected attendee of 500 people.
Although we all know most events have moved to the Island now with an attendee ratio of 600 to 900 people.
Incase you are wondering why I might have an authority to speak to this topic. In the past 3 years, I’ve been directly involved in planning and executing over 10 high caliber tech events, contributed either as a host or volunteer to a whole lot more, so I have an idea of what I’m saying here.
We will use the extreme range the quoted tweet mentioned, ₦15k. By the time you multiply this by the expected attendee number of 500, we will have a total of ₦7.5M to work with
Now let’s start the breakdown; out of this 500, the organisers will usually put 200 of it up for early birds at about half the price or 2/3 of the price. But let’s work with worst case scenario just to give the argument all the support it needs.
They put up 100 tickets at ₦10k, that’s a ₦1M assuming everything was sold out.So we have 400 tickets left. Out of this 400, about 50 will become sponsor’s free, assuming they are able to secure sponsors within Nigeria, leaving us with 350 tickets to be sold and just still ₦1M in the bank
Out of the remaining 350, around 150 will go out to community partners at half the price ₦ 7,500 X 150 will be ₦1,125,000 bringing our total money in the bank to ₦2,125,000
Meaning we have 200 tickets left, out of this 200 tickets left, the event organisers will bully their friends and family to buy/sponsor tickets at half the price, so they can give it out. A 100 friends and family ticket at ₦7,500 amounts to ₦750,000 bring the total money in the bank to ₦2,875,500
With 100 tickets left, about 50 will end up buying at the actual ₦15k, amounting to another ₦750,000k bringing the total to ₦3,625,500 and organisers will eventually give out the remaining 50 one way or the other. Ending the total amount at ₦3,625,500 against an expected ₦7,500,000
The maths is not done, because if we’re to calculate it, the actually number of people who bought the ticket at ₦15k is not even up to half of the expected attendee but I’m tired of calculating.
Now, out of this 500 people with ticket, eventual attendances will then range between 350 to 400, at times 430, meaning about 100 tickets that were paid for gets wasted. Now to the interesting part. How much it typically costs to host an event?
Bear in mind, we have just 3,625,000 in bank. To rent 4 rooms (3 halls and a green room) in Zone Tech varies between ₦4M to ₦6M for a day
They don’t even put their prices up again because it varies everyday.
Mind you, Landmark is about ₦25M to ₦40M, Eko hotel that Moonshot recently used is well over ₦50 but I digress, we’re using Zone Tech Park. And óh, my own is too much, we will use just two rooms (Ruby hall, their biggest and the green room)
Ṣé you people know that Zone Tech Charges for their car park? Una no know wetin dey sup. But back to Zone Tech, you pay about ₦2.5 to ₦3M for those rooms. Running cost is already ₦3M against a cash in hand of ₦3.625M.
Zone Tech has their sound and lighting but in order to give attendees an experience, you decide to rent a better one will probably put you back another ₦2M, running cost entering ₦5M
Then comes the entire branding, designing and installation, going for the barest minimum, that costs around 3M, making ₦8M in total. Then you want to get LED screens because Tech boys don’t like projectors, you want to get median coverage to live stream and take pictures and you’re looking at another ₦3.5M to ₦4M, bring the total to ₦12M
Then people go, how can I pay 15k that they did not pay andyou will not give me food, then food vendor comes and tell you a pack of food with drink and water is ₦4,500 X 500 people bringing it to roughly ₦2,250,000 and a total of ₦14.250M
Then the same people will come and say oh, wantin wantin, they did not give us merch. A t-shirt, tote, stress ball, pen and paper will cost about ₦15k to product now, but let’s say it’s just a t shirt, pen and paper you get, costing ₦7k
You incur another ₦3.5M, total already entering ₦17.750M. Then you want to lodge a number of team members, volunteers, speakers close to the event venue due to proximity, you spend another ₦500k, amounting to ₦18.250M and to round up, another ₦750k for miscellaneous and unforeseen circumstances bringing the total to ₦19M against a ticket income of ₦3.625M
Now you can say oh, this is outrageous, it’s inflated but for what Nigerians will expect for a 15k ticketed event, trust me, it’s not and this is even still on the low side. To be honest, I’m getting tired, but let’s continue
You might want to argue that sponsors drop a whole lot of money, let me tell you, there are only a handful of Nigerian companies that sponsor events in Nigeria anymore and securing foreign sponsors, your eyes will peel.”
Pursuing a career in tech is obviously an expensive endeavor. Due to this, many tech newbies and enthusiasts like @jojoisatechbaby are finding it difficult to access the network and training they need. This, in turn, has hindered the growth of the Nigerian tech industry.
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