Why We’re Introducing Paid Tickets For Our Meetup

Our meetup has been part of the Tech and Agile landscape in Leeds for almost two decades. We’ve seen people find new jobs, grow their careers, discover Agile for the first time, meet collaborators, and even make lifelong friends along the way. We’re really proud of what this community has become and we want it to keep thriving for many years to come. That’s why we’re making a small but important change: we’re introducing paid tickets for our events. We wanted to share the “why” behind this, talk honestly about the challenges we’re seeing, and reassure you about what isn’t changing.

The challenge: registrations vs reality

Over the last few years, especially post‑pandemic, we’ve seen a big shift: Lots of people register for events (which is brilliant) But on the night, around half don’t make it A recent example: we had 92 registrations and 36 people actually showed up. We don’t believe people are doing this out of bad faith. You click “Register” because you plan to come. But a few things have changed: many of us work from home more often, and getting dressed, heading into town, and turning up at an evening event can feel like a much bigger effort than it used to. And of course life happens – family, deadlines, energy levels, trains, the weather. We completely understand that. This makes things much harder for us to manage. We book rooms based on registrations, which means we can end up with a space that feels half empty or a cost that doesn’t really match the true turnout. We guess at catering and refreshments and either over‑order (and waste food/drink) or under‑order (and run out for the people who do make the effort to come). It also affects the speaker experience and can be demoralising for volunteers putting in time and energy to organise each month. In short, unreliable numbers make it harder to run a consistently good meetup.

Why we think paid tickets will help

We’re not doing this to “monetise” the meetup. We’re doing it to strengthen the commitment between registering and showing up. Even a small ticket price can: Create a little emotional commitment – you’re more likely to think, “I’ve bought a ticket, I’ll try harder to get there” Give us a better signal about who’s genuinely planning to attend Help us plan more accurately: room, refreshments, setup – so we can deliver a better experience Offset some of the venue and catering costs, which have gone up over time We hope you see this as a positive step: a way to keep the group sustainable, predictable, and high quality, not a barrier to attendance.

Staying inclusive: tickets for every situation

Just as important as reducing no‑shows is this: we don’t want price to stop anyone from being part of our community. That’s why we’ve introduced a range of ticket types, including a free “Student / Gap Year!” ticket for students, people on a gap year, and anyone in career‑transition or between roles who can’t comfortably afford a paid ticket right now. The description for that ticket says: If you’re studying, on a gap year, or changing direction and money’s tight, please use this ticket. This is a community and we want you in the room. On top of that, we’ve added low‑cost tickets (like Meetup Patron), and supporter tickets (like Community Champion, Impact Mega‑fan and Billionaire Backer) for people and businesses who are in a position to contribute a little more. Every paid ticket, at every level, helps us plan the room, refreshments and setup more accurately, cover running costs, and keep the free and lower‑cost options available for those who need them. If money is a genuine issue, the message is simple: please take the free or low‑cost option and come along. We’d always rather have you with us than missing because of a ticket price.

Nearly two decades of community (and we’re not done yet)

Our meetup has been running for almost twenty years. In that time, we’ve hosted countless talks and discussions, helped people hire and find new roles, supported career changes, and built a network of practitioners who support each other far beyond a single evening a month. We’re proud of that history, and we don’t take the trust and goodwill of this community for granted. Introducing paid tickets is not about changing the spirit of the group. It’s about respecting people’s time, making it easier to plan good, well‑run events, and keeping the meetup resilient in a world where working patterns and habits have changed. We hope you’ll see this change for what it’s intended to be: a gentle nudge towards more reliable attendance, better‑planned evenings, and a more sustainable future for the meetup we all care about.

If you’ve got thoughts, concerns, or ideas, we’d genuinely love to hear them. This has always been our meetup, and we want to keep making decisions with the long‑term health of the community in mind. Thank you.