[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-en-opties-in-de-agenda":3,"blog-related-en-opties-in-de-agenda":126},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"body":7,"category":112,"date":113,"description":114,"extension":115,"featured":116,"image":117,"imageAlt":118,"meta":119,"navigation":120,"path":121,"readingTime":122,"seo":123,"stem":124,"__hash__":125},"blog_en\u002Fblog\u002Fopties-in-de-agenda.md","How long should you hold a date?","Team MiceBird",{"type":8,"value":9,"toc":103},"minimark",[10,14,17,22,25,28,32,35,58,61,65,68,71,74,80,84,87,90,93,97,100],[11,12,13],"p",{},"A client asks whether you can hold 14 November for them. You say yes, because it's a serious\nenquiry and you want to be helpful. Six weeks later the date is still marked provisional,\nyou've turned down two other enquiries for that day, and the event isn't going ahead.",[11,15,16],{},"This is one of the most expensive habits in the industry, and it grows out of politeness.",[18,19,21],"h2",{"id":20},"why-an-open-ended-hold-doesnt-work","Why an open-ended hold doesn't work",[11,23,24],{},"A provisional booking is a favour with no obligation. For the client it costs nothing: they\nkeep an option open. For you it costs everything: you can't sell the date, and you don't\nknow when that will change.",[11,26,27],{},"With no agreed end date, the incentive to decide disappears. Worse: the longer the hold\nruns, the greater the chance the event changes, gets postponed, or dies.",[18,29,31],{"id":30},"a-term-that-works","A term that works",[11,33,34],{},"This works for most venues:",[36,37,38,46,52],"ul",{},[39,40,41,45],"li",{},[42,43,44],"strong",{},"More than three months out:"," a fourteen-day hold",[39,47,48,51],{},[42,49,50],{},"Within three months:"," a seven-day hold",[39,53,54,57],{},[42,55,56],{},"Within a month:"," three days, or no hold at all",[11,59,60],{},"The logic is simple: the closer the date, the more valuable it is and the smaller your\nchance of reselling it. Name the end date explicitly in the same email that confirms the\nhold, with the day and date. \"Two weeks\" is vague; \"until Tuesday 12 March\" is an agreement.",[18,62,64],{"id":63},"what-to-do-about-a-second-enquiry","What to do about a second enquiry",[11,66,67],{},"This is where it gets uncomfortable, and where most disputes start. The convention in the\nindustry, which almost everyone considers fair:",[11,69,70],{},"When a second serious enquiry arrives for the same date, you call the holder and give them\ntwenty-four to forty-eight hours to decide. If they sign, the date is theirs. If they don't,\nit goes to the second party.",[11,72,73],{},"This only works if you said so up front. Put it in the email confirming the hold, in one\nsentence: \"If a second enquiry comes in for this date, we'll call you and you'll have 48\nhours to decide.\"",[75,76,77],"callout",{},[11,78,79],{},"Put every provisional booking in the same calendar as your confirmed ones, in a different\ncolour. A hold that exists only in somebody's mailbox is a double booking waiting to happen.",[18,81,83],{"id":82},"tell-a-hold-apart-from-an-interest","Tell a hold apart from an interest",[11,85,86],{},"Not every request to hold a date is a hold. There's a large difference between \"can you hold\n14 November, we're finalising the budget\" and \"we're still looking around, but keep it in\nmind\".",[11,88,89],{},"The second isn't a hold but an interest, and it shouldn't sit in your calendar as a block.\nRecord it as an enquiry, not a reservation.",[11,91,92],{},"You can test the difference with one question: is there a date by which you expect to\ndecide? Anyone without an answer is still looking — and then a two-week hold is a favour\nthat helps nobody.",[18,94,96],{"id":95},"the-hold-that-expires-itself","The hold that expires itself",[11,98,99],{},"The best kind of hold clears itself up. Put the end date in your system and set a reminder\non it — for yourself, and ideally for the client too.",[11,101,102],{},"An automatic email on day twelve (\"your hold on 14 November expires on Tuesday\") does two\nthings at once: it gives the client a last chance without you having to have the awkward\nconversation, and it makes sure your calendar corrects itself if nothing happens.",{"title":104,"searchDepth":105,"depth":105,"links":106},"",2,[107,108,109,110,111],{"id":20,"depth":105,"text":21},{"id":30,"depth":105,"text":31},{"id":63,"depth":105,"text":64},{"id":82,"depth":105,"text":83},{"id":95,"depth":105,"text":96},"praktijk","2026-03-27","Provisional bookings block your calendar for events that often never happen. A workable term, and what to do when a second enquiry arrives.","md",false,"\u002Fblog\u002Fopties-in-de-agenda.svg","A calendar with one date on hold and a term counting down from 14 to 0",{},true,"\u002Fblog\u002Fopties-in-de-agenda",5,{"title":5,"description":114},"blog\u002Fopties-in-de-agenda","bYRFL5s2G4lZ8KW5HosHx6Vsl00JBvgUvw17rAFYODI",[127,293,378,521,668,797,885,988,1119,1290,1445,1542,1682,1770,1859,1955,2112,2180,2334,2496,2622,2826,2921,3016,3175,3286,3386,3539,3679,3800,3933,4036,4134],{"id":128,"title":129,"author":6,"body":130,"category":282,"date":283,"description":284,"extension":115,"featured":120,"image":285,"imageAlt":286,"meta":287,"navigation":120,"path":288,"readingTime":289,"seo":290,"stem":291,"__hash__":292},"blog_en\u002Fblog\u002Faanvragen-sneller-beantwoorden.md","Why the fastest quote almost always wins the booking",{"type":8,"value":131,"toc":271},[132,135,138,142,145,223,226,230,235,238,242,245,249,252,256,259,264,268],[11,133,134],{},"A request for a company party lands at half past four on a Friday afternoon. The person\nsending it mailed the same message to four venues. Whoever comes back first on Monday\nmorning with a concrete proposal is talking to someone who has nothing else on the table.\nWhoever replies on Wednesday is talking to someone already holding two quotes.",[11,136,137],{},"That isn't buyer psychology, it's just how comparison works. The first quote frames what\nthe buyer thinks about: which room, which package, which price bracket. Everything that follows\ngets measured against it.",[18,139,141],{"id":140},"where-the-time-actually-goes","Where the time actually goes",[11,143,144],{},"Ask an event manager why a quote took three days and you rarely hear \"I was too busy\". You\nhear a chain of small waits:",[146,147,148,164],"table",{},[149,150,151],"thead",{},[152,153,154,158,161],"tr",{},[155,156,157],"th",{},"Step",[155,159,160],{},"Typical elapsed time",[155,162,163],{},"What it waits on",[165,166,167,179,190,201,212],"tbody",{},[152,168,169,173,176],{},[170,171,172],"td",{},"Request seen",[170,174,175],{},"0–4 hours",[170,177,178],{},"Mail lost among everything else",[152,180,181,184,187],{},[170,182,183],{},"Availability checked",[170,185,186],{},"2–24 hours",[170,188,189],{},"Someone else who owns the calendar",[152,191,192,195,198],{},[170,193,194],{},"Prices looked up",[170,196,197],{},"1–3 hours",[170,199,200],{},"A price list in a spreadsheet, version unknown",[152,202,203,206,209],{},[170,204,205],{},"Quote drawn up",[170,207,208],{},"1–2 hours",[170,210,211],{},"Finding the last quote and editing it",[152,213,214,217,220],{},[170,215,216],{},"Checked internally",[170,218,219],{},"0–24 hours",[170,221,222],{},"A colleague who has to look it over",[11,224,225],{},"Added together that is rarely more than four hours of work. The elapsed time is almost\nentirely waiting — and waiting is exactly what you can remove without working harder.",[18,227,229],{"id":228},"four-things-that-make-the-difference","Four things that make the difference",[231,232,234],"h3",{"id":233},"_1-dont-let-requests-land-in-a-mailbox","1. Don't let requests land in a mailbox",[11,236,237],{},"A shared mailbox has no status. Nobody can see whether a request has been picked up, so\neither two people start on it or nobody does. A request belongs in a list where you can see\nat a glance what is open and who is working on it.",[231,239,241],{"id":240},"_2-make-availability-something-anyone-can-check","2. Make availability something anyone can check",[11,243,244],{},"Most of the delay sits in asking a colleague \"is 14 March still free?\". The moment everyone\nhandling requests can look at the calendar themselves, that step disappears entirely.",[231,246,248],{"id":247},"_3-set-your-offering-up-properly-once","3. Set your offering up properly, once",[11,250,251],{},"Rooms, packages, individual products, part-day rates — record them once with the right\nprices and VAT. Building a quote then becomes assembly rather than lookup and retyping. It\nsaves time, and it removes the arithmetic errors you'd otherwise discover at invoicing.",[231,253,255],{"id":254},"_4-let-quotes-be-signed-digitally","4. Let quotes be signed digitally",[11,257,258],{},"A PDF that has to be printed, signed, scanned and mailed back costs another two days on\naverage. A quote the client opens in the browser, reads and signs is often approved the\nsame afternoon.",[75,260,261],{},[11,262,263],{},"Work it out for your own venue: how many requests do you get a month, and what's your\naverage order value? For most venues, a few percentage points of extra conversion is worth\nmore than the software costs.",[18,265,267],{"id":266},"what-this-gets-you","What this gets you",[11,269,270],{},"You don't need to type faster. You only need to remove the waiting between steps you were\nalready doing. A request that arrives at nine on Monday and goes out as a signable quote by\neleven isn't an exceptional feat — it's what's left when nobody has to wait on anybody else.",{"title":104,"searchDepth":105,"depth":105,"links":272},[273,274,281],{"id":140,"depth":105,"text":141},{"id":228,"depth":105,"text":229,"children":275},[276,278,279,280],{"id":233,"depth":277,"text":234},3,{"id":240,"depth":277,"text":241},{"id":247,"depth":277,"text":248},{"id":254,"depth":277,"text":255},{"id":266,"depth":105,"text":267},"aanvragen","2026-09-15","Respond to a request within a day and you win the work considerably more often. Here's where that time actually goes — and how to get it back.","\u002Fblog\u002Fsnel-offertes.png","The MiceBird bird drafting a quote on a laptop, the finished quote flying off with a green tick",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Faanvragen-sneller-beantwoorden",6,{"title":129,"description":284},"blog\u002Faanvragen-sneller-beantwoorden","WWPpO_1ZZ4lxB9pQ0dZgVvQu3jH3pLBOcO1pfGHwiQs",{"id":294,"title":295,"author":6,"body":296,"category":368,"date":369,"description":370,"extension":115,"featured":116,"image":371,"imageAlt":372,"meta":373,"navigation":120,"path":374,"readingTime":289,"seo":375,"stem":376,"__hash__":377},"blog_en\u002Fblog\u002Fofferte-die-wel-getekend-wordt.md","The anatomy of a quote that actually gets signed",{"type":8,"value":297,"toc":363},[298,301,304,308,311,314,318,324,330,336,342,348,353,357,360],[11,299,300],{},"Anyone who writes quotes regularly knows the pattern: two near-identical proposals, two\ncompletely different responses. Same room, same price, different outcome.",[11,302,303],{},"The difference is almost never the amount. It's how much work the recipient still has to do\nbefore they can say yes.",[18,305,307],{"id":306},"the-person-who-asked-isnt-the-person-who-decides","The person who asked isn't the person who decides",[11,309,310],{},"This is the assumption that undermines most quotes. You write to the person who emailed,\nbut that person has to defend your proposal internally to a manager, a board or a committee\nwho has never seen your venue and wasn't part of the conversation.",[11,312,313],{},"Everything you only agreed verbally disappears at that moment. So write the quote for\nsomeone who wasn't there.",[18,315,317],{"id":316},"whats-in-the-one-that-wins","What's in the one that wins",[11,319,320,323],{},[42,321,322],{},"A three-line summary at the top."," What, when, how many people, what it costs. Whoever\nforwards your proposal will paste those lines into the covering email.",[11,325,326,329],{},[42,327,328],{},"The price broken down, not a single total."," One figure of €8,400 invites negotiation on\nthe whole. The same €8,400 split across room hire, per-person package and technical\nservices shows where the money goes — and what drops out if the budget is tight.",[11,331,332,335],{},[42,333,334],{},"One clear option, two at most."," Three options with three choices each move your work\nonto the client. Make a recommendation and list the alternatives underneath.",[11,337,338,341],{},[42,339,340],{},"The terms where they belong."," Deposit, cancellation window and final numbers go in the\nquote, not in an attachment. A surprise afterwards costs more goodwill than it would ever\nhave cost up front.",[11,343,344,347],{},[42,345,346],{},"A validity date."," Not as pressure, but because a quote without one sits indefinitely.\n\"Valid until 1 October\" gives a reason to decide this week.",[75,349,350],{},[11,351,352],{},"Read your last quote again as though you were the finance manager who receives it forwarded\nwith no explanation. Every question that comes up is a question that delays the decision by\na day.",[18,354,356],{"id":355},"signing-has-to-be-one-click","Signing has to be one click",[11,358,359],{},"A quote that must be printed, signed, scanned and emailed back sits for another two days on\naverage — often with someone who isn't in the office that week. A quote that opens in the\nbrowser and is signed there is frequently approved the same afternoon.",[11,361,362],{},"That isn't a detail of the paperwork. It's the difference between a yes that happens now\nand a yes that still has to pass someone's printer.",{"title":104,"searchDepth":105,"depth":105,"links":364},[365,366,367],{"id":306,"depth":105,"text":307},{"id":316,"depth":105,"text":317},{"id":355,"depth":105,"text":356},"offertes","2026-09-08","Two quotes with the same price and the same room rarely get the same answer. Here's what's in the one that wins.","\u002Fblog\u002Fofferte-getekend.svg","A signed quote with a pink signature and a green tick, beside a pen",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fofferte-die-wel-getekend-wordt",{"title":295,"description":370},"blog\u002Fofferte-die-wel-getekend-wordt","BoS7Wx_UPOLV7_F1s5DdtPdud8gSpjg1lC4ynrc5ajM",{"id":379,"title":380,"author":6,"body":381,"category":112,"date":512,"description":513,"extension":115,"featured":116,"image":514,"imageAlt":515,"meta":516,"navigation":120,"path":517,"readingTime":289,"seo":518,"stem":519,"__hash__":520},"blog_en\u002Fblog\u002Fno-shows-terugdringen.md","Why one in five registrations never turns up",{"type":8,"value":382,"toc":507},[383,386,389,393,399,405,411,417,421,489,492,496,499,504],[11,384,385],{},"You have 120 registrations, you order catering for 120, and 94 people arrive. You've paid\nfor 26 lunches nobody eats, and the room is set out too generously.",[11,387,388],{},"At free events, attendance of 70 to 80 percent is the rule rather than the exception. That\nisn't a lack of interest — it's what happens when registering costs nothing and asks\nnothing.",[18,390,392],{"id":391},"where-no-shows-come-from","Where no-shows come from",[11,394,395,398],{},[42,396,397],{},"Registering took no effort."," A ten-second form produces a registration with barely a\ndecision behind it. Someone signs up \"just in case\", and that intention doesn't survive the\nfirst diary clash.",[11,400,401,404],{},[42,402,403],{},"Too much time passed."," Whoever registers six weeks ahead has forgotten the event by\nthen, or it isn't in the calendar they actually look at.",[11,406,407,410],{},[42,408,409],{},"It wasn't clear what they'd get."," \"Networking drinks\" says nothing about what someone\nmisses by not coming. A programme with names and topics gives a reason to show up.",[11,412,413,416],{},[42,414,415],{},"Cancelling wasn't possible."," When withdrawing is more trouble than simply not going,\npeople simply don't go. And then you don't know either — while a cancellation would have\nfreed a place for your waiting list.",[18,418,420],{"id":419},"what-helps","What helps",[146,422,423,436],{},[149,424,425],{},[152,426,427,430,433],{},[155,428,429],{},"Measure",[155,431,432],{},"Effect",[155,434,435],{},"Effort",[165,437,438,449,459,469,479],{},[152,439,440,443,446],{},[170,441,442],{},"Calendar file in the confirmation email",[170,444,445],{},"Large",[170,447,448],{},"One-off",[152,450,451,454,456],{},[170,452,453],{},"Reminder 24 hours ahead",[170,455,445],{},[170,457,458],{},"One-off setup",[152,460,461,464,467],{},[170,462,463],{},"Cancellation link in every email",[170,465,466],{},"Moderate",[170,468,448],{},[152,470,471,474,476],{},[170,472,473],{},"Publishing the programme in advance",[170,475,466],{},[170,477,478],{},"Per event",[152,480,481,484,487],{},[170,482,483],{},"Charging a deposit or small fee",[170,485,486],{},"Very large",[170,488,478],{},[11,490,491],{},"That last one is the most powerful and the most underused. Ten euros — even refundable, or\ndonated to charity — turns registering from an impulse into a decision. For many organisers\nit pushes attendance above ninety percent.",[18,493,495],{"id":494},"plan-for-the-attendance-you-actually-get","Plan for the attendance you actually get",[11,497,498],{},"While you can't eliminate no-shows, you can plan around them. Track what percentage turned\nup per type of event. After three editions you have a number to base catering and layout\non, instead of the registration count.",[75,500,501],{},[11,502,503],{},"Send the reminder 24 hours ahead, not a week. A week is far enough away to be \"I'll look at\nthat later\"; a day is the moment someone reviews tomorrow's diary.",[11,505,506],{},"A no-show is rarely someone who decided your event wasn't worth it. It's usually someone\nwho registered and then never heard from you again.",{"title":104,"searchDepth":105,"depth":105,"links":508},[509,510,511],{"id":391,"depth":105,"text":392},{"id":419,"depth":105,"text":420},{"id":494,"depth":105,"text":495},"2026-09-01","At free events only 70 to 80 percent of registrations typically show. What causes no-shows, and what genuinely reduces them.","\u002Fblog\u002Fno-shows.svg","Five chairs in a row with the middle one empty, marked as a ratio of one in five",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fno-shows-terugdringen",{"title":380,"description":513},"blog\u002Fno-shows-terugdringen","8144zYQZHcvkSsTSDAXqf-JnBgAuT793EJq3IPOzcj0",{"id":522,"title":523,"author":6,"body":524,"category":658,"date":659,"description":660,"extension":115,"featured":116,"image":661,"imageAlt":662,"meta":663,"navigation":120,"path":664,"readingTime":122,"seo":665,"stem":666,"__hash__":667},"blog_en\u002Fblog\u002Fbtw-eventlocaties.md","VAT on events: when 9% applies and when 21% does",{"type":8,"value":525,"toc":653},[526,529,532,536,616,620,626,632,638,642,645,650],[11,527,528],{},"An event invoice rarely carries a single rate. Room hire, food, drink, admission and\nparking each follow their own rule, and the combination is where it goes wrong — usually\nonly at year-end, when correcting costs more than getting it right would have.",[11,530,531],{},"This article is a practical overview, not tax advice. The Dutch rates below apply to events\nheld in the Netherlands, and when in doubt your accountant is the one who looks at your\nspecific situation.",[18,533,535],{"id":534},"the-main-rules","The main rules",[146,537,538,551],{},[149,539,540],{},[152,541,542,545,548],{},[155,543,544],{},"What you supply",[155,546,547],{},"Rate",[155,549,550],{},"Watch out for",[165,552,553,564,575,585,595,606],{},[152,554,555,558,561],{},[170,556,557],{},"Food",[170,559,560],{},"9%",[170,562,563],{},"Applies to the food itself, not the service around it",[152,565,566,569,572],{},[170,567,568],{},"Alcoholic drinks",[170,570,571],{},"21%",[170,573,574],{},"Always the high rate, even as part of a dinner",[152,576,577,580,582],{},[170,578,579],{},"Soft drinks, coffee, tea",[170,581,560],{},[170,583,584],{},"As a separate supply",[152,586,587,590,592],{},[170,588,589],{},"Bare room hire",[170,591,571],{},[170,593,594],{},"Letting a space is a service",[152,596,597,600,603],{},[170,598,599],{},"Admission to an event",[170,601,602],{},"9% or 21%",[170,604,605],{},"Depends on the type of event",[152,607,608,611,613],{},[170,609,610],{},"Parking",[170,612,571],{},[170,614,615],{},"Even at an event with 9% admission",[18,617,619],{"id":618},"where-it-goes-wrong-in-practice","Where it goes wrong in practice",[11,621,622,625],{},[42,623,624],{},"The all-in package."," A €65-per-person meeting package covering the room, coffee, lunch\nand drinks contains at least three rates. Invoice it as one line at 21% and you remit too\nmuch. Invoice it at 9% and you'll get an assessment.",[11,627,628,631],{},[42,629,630],{},"Drinks afterwards."," At a dinner with 9% food and 21% drinks, the split between the two\nis what matters. Put them on the quote as separate lines and the invoice works out by\nitself — and the client also sees exactly what they're buying.",[11,633,634,637],{},[42,635,636],{},"Admission."," The low rate covers access to certain cultural and sporting events. A\nbusiness conference or a private company party doesn't qualify.",[18,639,641],{"id":640},"record-it-in-your-offering-not-in-your-head","Record it in your offering, not in your head",[11,643,644],{},"The practical fix is to stop deciding the rate per quote and set it once per product.\nRecord the correct rate against every item in your offering — every room, every package,\nevery drinks list. A quote assembled from those then totals up per rate on its own, and the\ninvoice that follows is right without anyone checking it again.",[75,646,647],{},[11,648,649],{},"Split a package in your offering into the components that carry their own rate. You can\nstill show them on the quote as a single line at a single price — the client sees a\npackage, your bookkeeping sees the correct rates.",[11,651,652],{},"It saves more than corrections. Mostly it saves the feeling of having to think through\nsomething you already worked out once, every time you invoice.",{"title":104,"searchDepth":105,"depth":105,"links":654},[655,656,657],{"id":534,"depth":105,"text":535},{"id":618,"depth":105,"text":619},{"id":640,"depth":105,"text":641},"facturatie","2026-08-28","Room hire, catering, admission and parking don't share a VAT rate. A practical overview for anyone drawing up quotes and invoices.","\u002Fblog\u002Fbtw.png","The MiceBird bird holding a clipboard beside a signpost at an event site pointing to 9% and 21%",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fbtw-eventlocaties",{"title":523,"description":660},"blog\u002Fbtw-eventlocaties","xPJysm7mHLJTKHVRnEkGaFUQHDGdl5T3bqmFWJzGFFc",{"id":669,"title":670,"author":6,"body":671,"category":368,"date":788,"description":789,"extension":115,"featured":116,"image":790,"imageAlt":791,"meta":792,"navigation":120,"path":793,"readingTime":122,"seo":794,"stem":795,"__hash__":796},"blog_en\u002Fblog\u002Faanbetaling-en-annulering.md","Agreeing deposits and cancellation terms without friction",{"type":8,"value":672,"toc":782},[673,676,679,683,686,689,693,754,757,761,764,767,772,776,779],[11,674,675],{},"A company party for eighty people is cancelled eleven days ahead. The room was blocked, the\nstaff rostered, the drinks ordered. The client is very sorry and assumes nothing will be\ncharged.",[11,677,678],{},"Whether that conversation turns painful was already settled — back when you sent the quote.",[18,680,682],{"id":681},"why-its-often-missing","Why it's often missing",[11,684,685],{},"Almost everyone who sells events knows the hesitation: terms about deposits and\ncancellation feel like you're anticipating trouble, at exactly the moment you're trying to\nwin someone over.",[11,687,688],{},"But the client doesn't read it that way. To them a sliding scale is information, like the\nprice. What does create distrust is a condition that only surfaces once something has gone\nwrong.",[18,690,692],{"id":691},"a-scale-thats-reasonable","A scale that's reasonable",[146,694,695,708],{},[149,696,697],{},[152,698,699,702,705],{},[155,700,701],{},"Cancellation",[155,703,704],{},"Percentage",[155,706,707],{},"The thinking",[165,709,710,721,732,743],{},[152,711,712,715,718],{},[170,713,714],{},"More than 3 months ahead",[170,716,717],{},"0%",[170,719,720],{},"Ample time to resell",[152,722,723,726,729],{},[170,724,725],{},"1–3 months ahead",[170,727,728],{},"25%",[170,730,731],{},"Your date was blocked",[152,733,734,737,740],{},[170,735,736],{},"2–4 weeks ahead",[170,738,739],{},"50%",[170,741,742],{},"Staff rostered, stock partly bought",[152,744,745,748,751],{},[170,746,747],{},"Less than 2 weeks",[170,749,750],{},"75–100%",[170,752,753],{},"Barely fillable",[11,755,756],{},"These proportions are standard in the industry and are rarely disputed — provided they were\nin the quote somebody signed.",[18,758,760],{"id":759},"the-deposit-does-most-of-the-work","The deposit does most of the work",[11,762,763],{},"A deposit of 25 to 50 percent on signature does three things at once: it covers your\npurchasing, it confirms the booking is real, and it makes a later cancellation discussable\nwithout having to invoice for nothing.",[11,765,766],{},"There's a second reason, mentioned less often. A date that's been paid for is rarely\n\"forgotten\" — whereas an option without a deposit can sit in your calendar for weeks for an\nevent the client called off long ago.",[75,768,769],{},[11,770,771],{},"Put the deposit and cancellation scale in the quote itself, not in an attachment of general\nterms. What someone signs without reading isn't an agreement later — it's an argument.",[18,773,775],{"id":774},"final-numbers-belong-in-there-too","Final numbers belong in there too",[11,777,778],{},"The third agreement that's often missing: until when can the headcount drop? Without that\ndate you get a correction from eighty to sixty two days ahead, with the stock already in.",[11,780,781],{},"The convention: final numbers at least five working days ahead, and downward adjustment of\nat most ten percent. Upward is always fine, as long as the room can take it.",{"title":104,"searchDepth":105,"depth":105,"links":783},[784,785,786,787],{"id":681,"depth":105,"text":682},{"id":691,"depth":105,"text":692},{"id":759,"depth":105,"text":760},{"id":774,"depth":105,"text":775},"2026-08-22","A cancellation two weeks out costs you the room, the staff and the stock. Here's how to arrange that up front without sounding distrustful.","\u002Fblog\u002Faanbetaling.svg","A calendar showing a cancellation scale rising from 0 to 100 percent",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Faanbetaling-en-annulering",{"title":670,"description":789},"blog\u002Faanbetaling-en-annulering","Pdxx_TR444q7xfs20KpKjfZgqbYVSwvuSz6keWrKaOo",{"id":798,"title":799,"author":6,"body":800,"category":874,"date":875,"description":876,"extension":115,"featured":116,"image":877,"imageAlt":878,"meta":879,"navigation":120,"path":880,"readingTime":881,"seo":882,"stem":883,"__hash__":884},"blog_en\u002Fblog\u002Fticketverkoop-uitverkocht.md","Seven reasons visitors don't finish buying their ticket",{"type":8,"value":801,"toc":864},[802,805,808,812,815,819,822,826,829,833,836,840,843,847,850,854,857,861],[11,803,804],{},"Most event organisers look at visitor numbers and at revenue. Far fewer look at the part in\nbetween: how many people put a ticket in the basket and then clicked away anyway. For most\nticket shops that's more than half.",[11,806,807],{},"That isn't a law of nature. It's the sum of seven concrete things, and nearly all of them\nare fixable.",[18,809,811],{"id":810},"_1-an-account-has-to-be-created-first","1. An account has to be created first",[11,813,814],{},"This is by far the biggest one. Someone wants to buy a single forty-euro ticket and is\nhanded a registration form with password requirements. Ask for an email address — you need\nit to send the ticket — and nothing else.",[18,816,818],{"id":817},"_2-the-cost-goes-up-at-checkout","2. The cost goes up at checkout",[11,820,821],{},"A €25 ticket that turns out to be €29.50 at checkout feels like a trick, even when the\nservice fee is entirely reasonable. Name the total as early as you can. Better a ticket\nthat costs €29.50 from the start than a surprise on the final step.",[18,823,825],{"id":824},"_3-the-payment-method-isnt-there","3. The payment method isn't there",[11,827,828],{},"In the Netherlands the large majority pay by iDEAL. Leave it out and for a big share of\nyour visitors it isn't a hurdle but a wall. The same goes for payment on invoice for\nbusiness buyers.",[18,830,832],{"id":831},"_4-it-doesnt-work-properly-on-a-phone","4. It doesn't work properly on a phone",[11,834,835],{},"Most traffic arrives on a phone, often through a link in a group chat. A picker that\ndoesn't work on a small screen, or a form that scrolls sideways, costs you the majority of\nyour visitors outright.",[18,837,839],{"id":838},"_5-theres-no-reason-to-buy-now","5. There's no reason to buy now",[11,841,842],{},"\"12 tickets left in this round\" or \"early-bird pricing until 1 October\" isn't a marketing\ntrick when it's true — it's information someone needs in order to decide. Without it,\nputting the decision off is always the safest option.",[18,844,846],{"id":845},"_6-youre-asking-for-too-much","6. You're asking for too much",[11,848,849],{},"Every extra required field costs buyers. Dietary requirements, job title, how someone heard\nabout the event — ask after the purchase, in the confirmation email. By then you have the\nsale, and a good share will answer anyway.",[18,851,853],{"id":852},"_7-the-page-doesnt-feel-like-your-organisation","7. The page doesn't feel like your organisation",[11,855,856],{},"A ticket page on an unfamiliar domain, with a different logo and different colours, makes\npeople wonder whether they're still in the right place. Your own branding on your own\ndomain removes that doubt.",[18,858,860],{"id":859},"where-to-start","Where to start",[11,862,863],{},"Walk through your own ticket shop once, end to end, on your phone, as though you were a\nvisitor who doesn't know the organisation. Count the screens between \"I want this ticket\"\nand \"paid\". Every screen you remove takes a share of the drop-outs with it.",{"title":104,"searchDepth":105,"depth":105,"links":865},[866,867,868,869,870,871,872,873],{"id":810,"depth":105,"text":811},{"id":817,"depth":105,"text":818},{"id":824,"depth":105,"text":825},{"id":831,"depth":105,"text":832},{"id":838,"depth":105,"text":839},{"id":845,"depth":105,"text":846},{"id":852,"depth":105,"text":853},{"id":859,"depth":105,"text":860},"ticketverkoop","2026-08-12","On average more than half of visitors drop out between picking a ticket and paying. These are the points where they leave, and what to do about it.","\u002Fblog\u002Fticket-verkoop.png","A puzzled MiceBird bird looking at a ticket form whose pay button shows a red cross",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fticketverkoop-uitverkocht",7,{"title":799,"description":876},"blog\u002Fticketverkoop-uitverkocht","keRCMyH06Y8L0dJ9Jvs3fj81RD2vY33a9MZGgNhFtF4",{"id":886,"title":887,"author":6,"body":888,"category":282,"date":979,"description":980,"extension":115,"featured":116,"image":981,"imageAlt":982,"meta":983,"navigation":120,"path":984,"readingTime":122,"seo":985,"stem":986,"__hash__":987},"blog_en\u002Fblog\u002Feerste-indruk-aanvraagformulier.md","Your enquiry form asks for too much",{"type":8,"value":889,"toc":974},[890,893,896,900,903,906,931,934,938,944,950,956,962,967,971],[11,891,892],{},"The enquiry form on a venue website asks for fourteen things on average. Name, company,\nemail, phone, date, alternative date, number of people, type of event, budget, preferred\nroom, catering, technical requirements, how you found us, and comments.",[11,894,895],{},"Most visitors don't know half of that yet. So they don't fill it in.",[18,897,899],{"id":898},"what-a-form-actually-has-to-do","What a form actually has to do",[11,901,902],{},"The goal isn't to collect a complete file. It's to start a conversation with someone who is\nserious. Anything you can still ask afterwards doesn't need to be in there now.",[11,904,905],{},"Four fields are enough to judge whether you can and want to deliver:",[36,907,908,914,920,926],{},[39,909,910,913],{},[42,911,912],{},"Date"," (or a window — \"somewhere in March\" is usable)",[39,915,916,919],{},[42,917,918],{},"Number of people"," (a range will do)",[39,921,922,925],{},[42,923,924],{},"Type of gathering"," (meeting, party, conference, dinner)",[39,927,928],{},[42,929,930],{},"Email address",[11,932,933],{},"With those four you can check availability and give a first indication. The rest follows\nnaturally from the contact you now have.",[18,935,937],{"id":936},"the-fields-that-cost-the-most","The fields that cost the most",[11,939,940,943],{},[42,941,942],{},"Budget."," The most honest field on your form and the most expensive. People who don't\nknow drop out; people who do know enter a low figure to avoid committing. Ask in\nconversation, where you can give context.",[11,945,946,949],{},[42,947,948],{},"Phone number, required."," A share of your visitors don't want to be called at this stage.\nMake it optional and you keep them.",[11,951,952,955],{},[42,953,954],{},"Alternative date."," Useful, but not now. Ask once the first date turns out to be taken.",[11,957,958,961],{},[42,959,960],{},"How did you find us."," That's for your marketing, not their enquiry. Ask in the\nconfirmation email or measure it in your analytics.",[75,963,964],{},[11,965,966],{},"Write above the form what happens next: \"You'll hear from us within one working day, with a\nproposal or a call.\" That lifts completion rates more than any field optimisation — it\nmakes clear what someone is saying yes to.",[18,968,970],{"id":969},"what-you-gain-by-asking-less","What you gain by asking less",[11,972,973],{},"Fewer fields produce more enquiries, and some of them will be less prepared than the ones\nyou get now. That isn't a downside: a half-filled enquiry from someone genuinely looking is\nworth more than a complete form that was never sent.",{"title":104,"searchDepth":105,"depth":105,"links":975},[976,977,978],{"id":898,"depth":105,"text":899},{"id":936,"depth":105,"text":937},{"id":969,"depth":105,"text":970},"2026-08-05","Every extra field on your enquiry form costs you enquiries. Here's what you actually need to write a good quote, and what can wait.","\u002Fblog\u002Faanvraagformulier.svg","A long form with fourteen fields beside a short form with four",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Feerste-indruk-aanvraagformulier",{"title":887,"description":980},"blog\u002Feerste-indruk-aanvraagformulier","xddG1_FHIRqaJxl22TGt26FywWMKcifbXSyeAMMqoho",{"id":989,"title":990,"author":6,"body":991,"category":658,"date":1110,"description":1111,"extension":115,"featured":116,"image":1112,"imageAlt":1113,"meta":1114,"navigation":120,"path":1115,"readingTime":289,"seo":1116,"stem":1117,"__hash__":1118},"blog_en\u002Fblog\u002Ffacturen-op-tijd-betaald.md","Why your invoices get paid late",{"type":8,"value":992,"toc":1105},[993,996,999,1003,1009,1015,1021,1027,1033,1037,1090,1093,1098,1102],[11,994,995],{},"Your payment term is fourteen days. Your invoices get paid after thirty-eight on average.\nYou called about it once and it was sorted immediately, which makes it all the more\nfrustrating: the money was there, it was just sitting somewhere.",[11,997,998],{},"With business clients, late payment is almost never unwillingness. It's nearly always an\ninvoice that got stuck somewhere in their process.",[18,1000,1002],{"id":1001},"the-five-places-it-goes-wrong","The five places it goes wrong",[11,1004,1005,1008],{},[42,1006,1007],{},"The invoice went to the wrong person."," Your contact organised the party; the invoice\nneeds to reach accounts payable or a central address. With your contact it sits for weeks\nuntil someone thinks of it.",[11,1010,1011,1014],{},[42,1012,1013],{},"A reference is missing."," Many organisations won't process an invoice without a purchase\norder number or cost centre. It gets set aside, not queried.",[11,1016,1017,1020],{},[42,1018,1019],{},"The invoice arrived late."," An invoice that turns up three weeks after the event lands in\na new monthly cycle. You lose an entire round.",[11,1022,1023,1026],{},[42,1024,1025],{},"The amount differs from the quote."," Any difference that isn't explained becomes an\ninternal question. A question is a pile your invoice sits on until someone has time.",[11,1028,1029,1032],{},[42,1030,1031],{},"There's no payment link."," Entering a transfer by hand is work. A link is a click. That\ndifference is small per invoice and large across a year.",[18,1034,1036],{"id":1035},"what-to-do-about-it","What to do about it",[146,1038,1039,1048],{},[149,1040,1041],{},[152,1042,1043,1045],{},[155,1044,429],{},[155,1046,1047],{},"What it solves",[165,1049,1050,1058,1066,1074,1082],{},[152,1051,1052,1055],{},[170,1053,1054],{},"Ask for billing address and reference at signature",[170,1056,1057],{},"The two biggest blockers, before they exist",[152,1059,1060,1063],{},[170,1061,1062],{},"Invoice within 48 hours of the event",[170,1064,1065],{},"You catch the current payment round",[152,1067,1068,1071],{},[170,1069,1070],{},"Carry quote lines over to the invoice verbatim",[170,1072,1073],{},"No internal questions about differences",[152,1075,1076,1079],{},[170,1077,1078],{},"Payment link in the invoice email",[170,1080,1081],{},"Removes the manual step",[152,1083,1084,1087],{},[170,1085,1086],{},"Automatic reminder on day 15",[170,1088,1089],{},"It works, and nobody has to feel awkward",[11,1091,1092],{},"The first is the most important and costs nothing. At the moment someone signs, they're\nwilling to tell you anything you need. Three weeks later you have to phone for it.",[75,1094,1095],{},[11,1096,1097],{},"An automatic reminder on day 15 takes the discomfort out of chasing: it isn't a personal\ndemand, it's the system. Most late invoices are resolved by it before anyone needs to call.",[18,1099,1101],{"id":1100},"late-payment-is-a-process-problem","Late payment is a process problem",[11,1103,1104],{},"As long as you treat it as a client problem, the solution stays chasing. Once you treat it\nas a process problem, you see that most of the delay starts at moments you were present\nfor: at signature, at invoicing, and in what the invoice says.",{"title":104,"searchDepth":105,"depth":105,"links":1106},[1107,1108,1109],{"id":1001,"depth":105,"text":1002},{"id":1035,"depth":105,"text":1036},{"id":1100,"depth":105,"text":1101},"2026-07-25","The average event invoice stays open for 38 days on a 14-day term. These are the causes, and none of them is that the client doesn't want to pay.","\u002Fblog\u002Ffacturen-betaald.svg","An invoice travelling past a clock toward a green tick",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Ffacturen-op-tijd-betaald",{"title":990,"description":1111},"blog\u002Ffacturen-op-tijd-betaald","tyIUnRVFeHwfgRTMKsvGazqu5xh37EOVJJpJnNd-F4A",{"id":1120,"title":1121,"author":6,"body":1122,"category":112,"date":1281,"description":1282,"extension":115,"featured":116,"image":1283,"imageAlt":1284,"meta":1285,"navigation":120,"path":1286,"readingTime":122,"seo":1287,"stem":1288,"__hash__":1289},"blog_en\u002Fblog\u002Fdraaiboek-dat-werkt.md","The run sheet your colleagues will actually read",{"type":8,"value":1123,"toc":1275},[1124,1127,1130,1134,1137,1154,1229,1233,1236,1240,1243,1257,1260,1265,1269,1272],[11,1125,1126],{},"The run sheet is fourteen pages, neatly formatted, and during the event nobody opens it.\nThe bar staff ask what time the speech is. The technician calls about a microphone that's\nin appendix B. You spend the whole evening being the search function.",[11,1128,1129],{},"That isn't your colleagues' fault. A fourteen-page document was never designed to be\nconsulted standing up, in a half-dark room, holding a tray.",[18,1131,1133],{"id":1132},"one-timeline-no-chapters","One timeline, no chapters",[11,1135,1136],{},"A run sheet that works on the floor is a single continuous list by time, from set-up to\nbreakdown. No sections per department — those force everyone to jump between pages to see\nwhat's happening at the same moment.",[11,1138,1139,1140,1143,1144,1143,1147,1143,1150,1153],{},"Four things per line: ",[42,1141,1142],{},"what time",", ",[42,1145,1146],{},"what",[42,1148,1149],{},"who",[42,1151,1152],{},"where",". Anything that doesn't fit\nbelongs in an appendix nobody needs during the event.",[146,1155,1156,1172],{},[149,1157,1158],{},[152,1159,1160,1163,1166,1169],{},[155,1161,1162],{},"Time",[155,1164,1165],{},"What",[155,1167,1168],{},"Who",[155,1170,1171],{},"Where",[165,1173,1174,1188,1202,1216],{},[152,1175,1176,1179,1182,1185],{},[170,1177,1178],{},"16:00",[170,1180,1181],{},"Room ready, technical check",[170,1183,1184],{},"Mark",[170,1186,1187],{},"Main hall",[152,1189,1190,1193,1196,1199],{},[170,1191,1192],{},"17:30",[170,1194,1195],{},"Reception, cloakroom open",[170,1197,1198],{},"Lisa + 2",[170,1200,1201],{},"Foyer",[152,1203,1204,1207,1210,1213],{},[170,1205,1206],{},"18:15",[170,1208,1209],{},"Welcome address",[170,1211,1212],{},"Client (Joost)",[170,1214,1215],{},"Stage",[152,1217,1218,1221,1224,1227],{},[170,1219,1220],{},"18:30",[170,1222,1223],{},"Dinner, first course",[170,1225,1226],{},"Kitchen",[170,1228,1187],{},[18,1230,1232],{"id":1231},"write-names-not-roles","Write names, not roles",[11,1234,1235],{},"\"Technical\" is nobody. \"Mark\" is someone you can go and find. Add phone numbers for the\nfour people who genuinely matter during the event — including the client's contact, because\nhalf the questions on the night are about something only they know.",[18,1237,1239],{"id":1238},"put-in-what-goes-wrong","Put in what goes wrong",[11,1241,1242],{},"The part that's usually missing is the part that gets consulted most:",[36,1244,1245,1248,1251,1254],{},[39,1246,1247],{},"Who decides if the programme overruns?",[39,1249,1250],{},"What do we do if it rains, when something is outdoors?",[39,1252,1253],{},"Who calls the caterer if there are twenty extra guests?",[39,1255,1256],{},"Where are the spare microphones?",[11,1258,1259],{},"Four lines. They save you ten phone calls during the event.",[75,1261,1262],{},[11,1263,1264],{},"Turn your run sheet into a template once it has worked twice. Ninety percent of a second\ncompany party is identical to the first; only times, names and numbers differ.",[18,1266,1268],{"id":1267},"one-page-on-a-phone","One page, on a phone",[11,1270,1271],{},"Don't print it as a document — publish it as a list that's readable on a phone screen. Your\ncolleagues have their phones on them, and your paper run sheet is behind the bar.",[11,1273,1274],{},"The test is simple: can someone joining at 17:00 see in thirty seconds what they need to do\nat 17:30? If not, it's still a document and not a run sheet.",{"title":104,"searchDepth":105,"depth":105,"links":1276},[1277,1278,1279,1280],{"id":1132,"depth":105,"text":1133},{"id":1231,"depth":105,"text":1232},{"id":1238,"depth":105,"text":1239},{"id":1267,"depth":105,"text":1268},"2026-07-14","Most run sheets are too long to use during an event. Here's how to write one that survives contact with the floor.","\u002Fblog\u002Fdraaiboek.svg","A run sheet as a timeline on a phone, beside a thick unused document",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fdraaiboek-dat-werkt",{"title":1121,"description":1282},"blog\u002Fdraaiboek-dat-werkt","aO8CLdeEX8e8jjWR0xeAeETmJReV5B534839cAD__2k",{"id":1291,"title":1292,"author":6,"body":1293,"category":112,"date":1436,"description":1437,"extension":115,"featured":116,"image":1438,"imageAlt":1439,"meta":1440,"navigation":120,"path":1441,"readingTime":289,"seo":1442,"stem":1443,"__hash__":1444},"blog_en\u002Fblog\u002Fzaalindeling-kiezen.md","The room layout decides whether people join in",{"type":8,"value":1294,"toc":1431},[1295,1298,1301,1305,1311,1317,1323,1329,1335,1339,1413,1416,1421,1425,1428],[11,1296,1297],{},"A client asks for a room for forty people with \"an interactive programme\", then picks a\ntheatre layout because everyone fits. For the whole afternoon, forty people look at one\nspeaker and at the back of each other's heads.",[11,1299,1300],{},"The layout isn't a logistical choice. It's the single biggest lever you have over whether\npeople talk to each other.",[18,1302,1304],{"id":1303},"what-each-layout-does","What each layout does",[11,1306,1307,1310],{},[42,1308,1309],{},"Theatre"," — chairs in rows facing the stage. Maximum capacity, minimum interaction. Good\nfor plenary presentations under an hour. Nobody can write anything down.",[11,1312,1313,1316],{},[42,1314,1315],{},"Cabaret"," — round tables with only the stage-facing seats used. The layout for programmes\nthat alternate between presentation and discussion. Takes roughly twice the space per\nperson that theatre does.",[11,1318,1319,1322],{},[42,1320,1321],{},"U-shape"," — tables in a U, speaker at the open end. Everyone can see everyone. Works up\nto about twenty people; beyond that the U gets so long that the ends start their own\nconversation.",[11,1324,1325,1328],{},[42,1326,1327],{},"Boardroom"," — a closed rectangle, no clear head. The layout for discussion between\nequals, not for someone who has come to present. Up to about twenty-four people.",[11,1330,1331,1334],{},[42,1332,1333],{},"Classroom"," — rows with tables. For anyone who has to write or use a laptop all day.\nLittle interaction, a lot of space per person.",[18,1336,1338],{"id":1337},"space-per-person","Space per person",[146,1340,1341,1354],{},[149,1342,1343],{},[152,1344,1345,1348,1351],{},[155,1346,1347],{},"Layout",[155,1349,1350],{},"m² per person",[155,1352,1353],{},"Practical maximum",[165,1355,1356,1366,1375,1384,1394,1403],{},[152,1357,1358,1360,1363],{},[170,1359,1309],{},[170,1361,1362],{},"0.8–1.0",[170,1364,1365],{},"Room size",[152,1367,1368,1370,1373],{},[170,1369,1333],{},[170,1371,1372],{},"1.5–2.0",[170,1374,1365],{},[152,1376,1377,1379,1382],{},[170,1378,1315],{},[170,1380,1381],{},"1.8–2.2",[170,1383,1365],{},[152,1385,1386,1388,1391],{},[170,1387,1321],{},[170,1389,1390],{},"2.0–2.5",[170,1392,1393],{},"~20 people",[152,1395,1396,1398,1400],{},[170,1397,1327],{},[170,1399,1390],{},[170,1401,1402],{},"~24 people",[152,1404,1405,1408,1411],{},[170,1406,1407],{},"Standing\u002Freception",[170,1409,1410],{},"0.6–0.8",[170,1412,1365],{},[11,1414,1415],{},"Use the top of the range as soon as a buffet, a cloakroom or a technical table shares the\nspace. The bottom applies to an empty room, and those are rare.",[75,1417,1418],{},[11,1419,1420],{},"With every enquiry, don't ask \"which layout would you like\" but \"what has to happen, and do\npeople need to talk to each other?\" The layout follows from that, and your client more\noften than not hasn't thought about it.",[18,1422,1424],{"id":1423},"changeovers-take-time","Changeovers take time",[11,1426,1427],{},"Theatre to cabaret for forty people is twenty to thirty minutes with two staff. That's fine\nduring a lunch break and impossible in a fifteen-minute coffee break.",[11,1429,1430],{},"If there's a changeover in the programme, put it in the run sheet with a name and a time.\nA layout that \"gets turned round over lunch\" is the most common reason an afternoon\nprogramme starts a quarter of an hour late.",{"title":104,"searchDepth":105,"depth":105,"links":1432},[1433,1434,1435],{"id":1303,"depth":105,"text":1304},{"id":1337,"depth":105,"text":1338},{"id":1423,"depth":105,"text":1424},"2026-07-02","Theatre, cabaret, U-shape or boardroom — the layout governs how much talking happens. A practical overview with space per person.","\u002Fblog\u002Fzaalopstelling.svg","Theatre, U-shape and cabaret layouts drawn as floor plans seen from above, with square chairs around a stage and tables",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fzaalindeling-kiezen",{"title":1292,"description":1437},"blog\u002Fzaalindeling-kiezen","81jpxL7QescLCjmMcv7twhxmD_4aapEXOEmlw0Kj8HU",{"id":1446,"title":1447,"author":6,"body":1448,"category":368,"date":1533,"description":1534,"extension":115,"featured":116,"image":1535,"imageAlt":1536,"meta":1537,"navigation":120,"path":1538,"readingTime":289,"seo":1539,"stem":1540,"__hash__":1541},"blog_en\u002Fblog\u002Fprijzen-verhogen.md","Raising your prices without losing clients",{"type":8,"value":1449,"toc":1527},[1450,1453,1456,1460,1463,1466,1469,1473,1476,1502,1506,1509,1512,1517,1521,1524],[11,1451,1452],{},"Your prices haven't moved in three years. Purchasing has gone up, staff cost more, and your\nmargin has quietly halved. You know something has to change and you've put it off for two\nquarters, because you don't want to lose the regulars.",[11,1454,1455],{},"That delay is exactly what makes the increase painful. Wait three years and you have to go\nup twelve percent at once — and that is an amount someone starts a conversation about.",[18,1457,1459],{"id":1458},"small-and-regular-beats-large-and-rare","Small and regular beats large and rare",[11,1461,1462],{},"An increase of three to four percent a year is rarely noticed and almost never challenged.\nIt's what people expect from every supplier.",[11,1464,1465],{},"The same total increase in one step, after three years, is an announcement. Your client has\nto explain it internally, so they'll ask questions they would never have asked at four\npercent.",[11,1467,1468],{},"Pick one moment a year — the new year, or the start of your season — and stick to it.",[18,1470,1472],{"id":1471},"not-everything-has-to-rise-equally","Not everything has to rise equally",[11,1474,1475],{},"An increase doesn't have to be one percentage across the whole list. You have more room\nthan you think, provided you look at what happens where:",[36,1477,1478,1484,1490,1496],{},[39,1479,1480,1483],{},[42,1481,1482],{},"Scarce slots"," — Friday and Saturday evenings, December. Demand-based pricing is normal\nand expected there.",[39,1485,1486,1489],{},[42,1487,1488],{},"Small groups"," — a meeting for eight is nearly as much work as one for thirty. A minimum\nspend is often more sensible than a higher per-person price.",[39,1491,1492,1495],{},[42,1493,1494],{},"Individual extras"," — technical services, extra hours, late breakdown. Often untouched\nfor years and rarely compared against competitors.",[39,1497,1498,1501],{},[42,1499,1500],{},"The base package"," — this is precisely what clients remember and compare. Be most\ncareful here.",[18,1503,1505],{"id":1504},"what-to-tell-existing-clients","What to tell existing clients",[11,1507,1508],{},"Announce it before their next enquiry, not in the quote itself. An increase someone\ndiscovers in a proposal feels like something being done to them; the same increase in an\nemail four weeks earlier is information.",[11,1510,1511],{},"Two or three sentences will do. Give the date, give the percentage, and offer to complete\nenquiries already in progress at the old rate. That last part costs you one quarter and\nbuys the goodwill you were delaying for.",[75,1513,1514],{},[11,1515,1516],{},"Once a year, empty your price list and rebuild it from today's purchasing costs rather than\nlaying a percentage over the old one. That's how you find the items that have been below\ncost for years — usually technical services and out-of-hours staffing.",[18,1518,1520],{"id":1519},"the-client-who-leaves","The client who leaves",[11,1522,1523],{},"The occasional client leaves over an increase. Often it's the one with the most exceptions,\nthe latest changes and the longest payment term.",[11,1525,1526],{},"That isn't a consolation — it's arithmetic. If a four percent rise drives someone away, the\nmargin on that client was already too thin to carry the work.",{"title":104,"searchDepth":105,"depth":105,"links":1528},[1529,1530,1531,1532],{"id":1458,"depth":105,"text":1459},{"id":1471,"depth":105,"text":1472},{"id":1504,"depth":105,"text":1505},{"id":1519,"depth":105,"text":1520},"2026-06-20","Most venues raise too late and then too much at once. How to approach it, and what to say to existing clients.","\u002Fblog\u002Fprijzen-verhogen.svg","Four bars rising gently year on year, the last marked plus 4 percent",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fprijzen-verhogen",{"title":1447,"description":1534},"blog\u002Fprijzen-verhogen","yG2xyzWhuoHo4WzDj19m2JeTsGEF_UJE3NRwtamAnfs",{"id":1543,"title":1544,"author":6,"body":1545,"category":874,"date":1673,"description":1674,"extension":115,"featured":116,"image":1675,"imageAlt":1676,"meta":1677,"navigation":120,"path":1678,"readingTime":122,"seo":1679,"stem":1680,"__hash__":1681},"blog_en\u002Fblog\u002Fvroegboekkorting-die-werkt.md","Early-bird pricing only works with a real deadline",{"type":8,"value":1546,"toc":1667},[1547,1550,1553,1557,1560,1563,1570,1574,1577,1639,1642,1646,1649,1652,1657,1661,1664],[11,1548,1549],{},"The sales curve of almost every ticketed event has the same shape: a spike at announcement,\na long flat stretch where nearly nothing happens, and a second spike in the final week.",[11,1551,1552],{},"That flat middle is what early-bird pricing exists for. It works — but not because people\nenjoy a discount.",[18,1554,1556],{"id":1555},"its-the-deadline-not-the-discount","It's the deadline, not the discount",[11,1558,1559],{},"A €45 ticket that becomes €55 next month doesn't sell because ten euros is a lot of money.\nIt sells because there's a date on which the choice changes.",[11,1561,1562],{},"Without that date, waiting is always the safest option: you'll know better later whether\nyou can go, and the price is the same anyway. That's the entire reason the middle of the\ncurve is flat.",[11,1564,1565,1566,1569],{},"The practical consequence: ",[42,1567,1568],{},"the deadline has to be real."," An early-bird rate that quietly\nruns on past its end date teaches your audience that your deadlines don't mean anything —\nand then the next one won't work either.",[18,1571,1573],{"id":1572},"structuring-the-rounds","Structuring the rounds",[11,1575,1576],{},"Three rounds is enough for most events:",[146,1578,1579,1595],{},[149,1580,1581],{},[152,1582,1583,1586,1589,1592],{},[155,1584,1585],{},"Round",[155,1587,1588],{},"Price",[155,1590,1591],{},"When",[155,1593,1594],{},"Purpose",[165,1596,1597,1611,1625],{},[152,1598,1599,1602,1605,1608],{},[170,1600,1601],{},"Early bird",[170,1603,1604],{},"80%",[170,1606,1607],{},"Announcement to ~8 weeks ahead",[170,1609,1610],{},"Capture the first wave",[152,1612,1613,1616,1619,1622],{},[170,1614,1615],{},"Standard",[170,1617,1618],{},"100%",[170,1620,1621],{},"Until ~1 week ahead",[170,1623,1624],{},"The bulk of the volume",[152,1626,1627,1630,1633,1636],{},[170,1628,1629],{},"Late",[170,1631,1632],{},"110–115%",[170,1634,1635],{},"Final week",[170,1637,1638],{},"The undecided, at a margin",[11,1640,1641],{},"That last round is the most commonly skipped. The final week is precisely when demand is\nhighest and the buyer is least price-sensitive — they've already decided to come.",[18,1643,1645],{"id":1644},"quantity-or-date","Quantity or date",[11,1647,1648],{},"You can close a round two ways: on a date (\"until 1 October\") or on a quantity (\"the first\n100\"). A quantity works harder, because it visibly runs out. A date is easier to manage and\nfeels fairer.",[11,1650,1651],{},"Both together — \"the first 100, until 1 October at the latest\" — is the usual combination,\nand stops a round that doesn't fill from running forever.",[75,1653,1654],{},[11,1655,1656],{},"Show the remaining count only once a round is past halfway. \"12 left\" works; \"96 of 100\nleft\" mostly tells your visitor it's quiet.",[18,1658,1660],{"id":1659},"what-it-doesnt-fix","What it doesn't fix",[11,1662,1663],{},"Early-bird pricing accelerates sales that were already going to happen. It doesn't create\ndemand that isn't there: if your first round doesn't fill, the price isn't the problem —\nthe reason to attend is.",[11,1665,1666],{},"In that case don't cut the price, publish the programme. People who know the speakers or\nthe menu buy a ticket; people who don't won't buy a discount either.",{"title":104,"searchDepth":105,"depth":105,"links":1668},[1669,1670,1671,1672],{"id":1555,"depth":105,"text":1556},{"id":1572,"depth":105,"text":1573},{"id":1644,"depth":105,"text":1645},{"id":1659,"depth":105,"text":1660},"2026-06-05","Ticket rounds don't sell because they're cheaper, they sell because they end. How to structure them without giving away revenue.","\u002Fblog\u002Fvroegboek.svg","Three ticket rounds: minus 20 percent, standard rate and a faded late round",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fvroegboekkorting-die-werkt",{"title":1544,"description":1674},"blog\u002Fvroegboekkorting-die-werkt","ZxT_5-cBxwkL0bPKwBuh_Ejp8oIRzYDFjs1sL5VQgKY",{"id":1683,"title":1684,"author":6,"body":1685,"category":112,"date":1761,"description":1762,"extension":115,"featured":116,"image":1763,"imageAlt":1764,"meta":1765,"navigation":120,"path":1766,"readingTime":122,"seo":1767,"stem":1768,"__hash__":1769},"blog_en\u002Fblog\u002Fterugkerende-events-sjablonen.md","Why you rebuild the same event every year",{"type":8,"value":1686,"toc":1755},[1687,1690,1693,1697,1700,1703,1707,1710,1727,1730,1735,1739,1742,1745,1749,1752],[11,1688,1689],{},"Ask a venue how many different kinds of events they run and the answer is \"loads\". Watch\nthe calendar for a year and there are five: the meeting with lunch, the company party, the\nconference, the dinner, and the drinks reception.",[11,1691,1692],{},"Everything within those differs in date, headcount and name. The structure is the same\nevery time — and gets reinvented every time.",[18,1694,1696],{"id":1695},"what-happens-again-each-time","What happens again each time",[11,1698,1699],{},"For this year's twentieth meeting with lunch, someone works out again which rooms are\nsuitable, looks up the package price again, writes a quote again modelled on the last one,\nwrites a run sheet again, and decides again which email the attendees get beforehand.",[11,1701,1702],{},"Easily two hours all told. Twenty times a year, that's five working weeks of work nobody\never decided to repeat.",[18,1704,1706],{"id":1705},"what-setting-it-up-once-gets-you","What setting it up once gets you",[11,1708,1709],{},"A template for a recurring event type captures what doesn't change:",[36,1711,1712,1715,1718,1721,1724],{},[39,1713,1714],{},"which rooms and layouts are eligible",[39,1716,1717],{},"the standard package with the right prices and VAT rates",[39,1719,1720],{},"the quote wording and the terms",[39,1722,1723],{},"the run sheet with its fixed time blocks",[39,1725,1726],{},"the emails: confirmation, reminder, thank-you",[11,1728,1729],{},"What does change — date, headcount, contact, special requests — you fill in per event.\nThat's ten minutes instead of two hours.",[75,1731,1732],{},[11,1733,1734],{},"Only build a template after you've run an event type three times. Any earlier and you don't\nyet know which parts are genuinely fixed, so you end up enshrining an exception as a rule.",[18,1736,1738],{"id":1737},"the-real-benefit-isnt-the-time","The real benefit isn't the time",[11,1740,1741],{},"Time saved is the visible return. The bigger one is that quality no longer depends on who\nhappens to pick it up.",[11,1743,1744],{},"A colleague who's been there four months delivers what you would with a template: the same\nterms, the same VAT rates, the same confirmation email. Without one they deliver their own\ninterpretation of whatever they saw in the last quote — including the mistake that happened\nto be in it.",[18,1746,1748],{"id":1747},"start-with-the-type-you-run-most","Start with the type you run most",[11,1750,1751],{},"Not the most complicated one. The most frequent type saves the most time and is the best\nworked out, because you've already done it a hundred times.",[11,1753,1754],{},"Build one, use it for a month, and adjust it wherever you kept editing it by hand anyway.\nThat's exactly the maintenance a template needs.",{"title":104,"searchDepth":105,"depth":105,"links":1756},[1757,1758,1759,1760],{"id":1695,"depth":105,"text":1696},{"id":1705,"depth":105,"text":1706},{"id":1737,"depth":105,"text":1738},{"id":1747,"depth":105,"text":1748},"2026-05-22","Most event teams run the same gathering twenty times a year and start from scratch each time. Here's what to set up once.","\u002Fblog\u002Fsjablonen.svg","One template card copying itself into three identical event cards",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fterugkerende-events-sjablonen",{"title":1684,"description":1762},"blog\u002Fterugkerende-events-sjablonen","n_NwobIgLdR0BZ4RaMC76CAHvKGToavcJdoE_fvwkMc",{"id":1771,"title":1772,"author":6,"body":1773,"category":282,"date":1850,"description":1851,"extension":115,"featured":116,"image":1852,"imageAlt":1853,"meta":1854,"navigation":120,"path":1855,"readingTime":289,"seo":1856,"stem":1857,"__hash__":1858},"blog_en\u002Fblog\u002Faanvraag-kwalificeren.md","Which enquiries you're better off declining",{"type":8,"value":1774,"toc":1844},[1775,1778,1781,1785,1788,1791,1795,1801,1807,1813,1819,1824,1828,1831,1834,1838,1841],[11,1776,1777],{},"There are weeks where the inbox is full and the calendar stays quiet. Plenty of enquiries,\nplenty of quotes, few bookings. The reflex is to work harder: reply faster, quote in more\ndetail, sharpen the price.",[11,1779,1780],{},"Sometimes that's the answer. More often it's the mix: some of those enquiries were never\ngoing anywhere, and the time they consumed was time the serious ones didn't get.",[18,1782,1784],{"id":1783},"an-enquiry-costs-more-than-you-think","An enquiry costs more than you think",[11,1786,1787],{},"Work it out for your own venue. Checking availability, assembling options, drawing up a\nquote, two follow-up calls, a viewing. At most venues that's two to four hours per serious\nenquiry.",[11,1789,1790],{},"At a thirty percent conversion rate, every booking costs you seven to thirteen hours, most\nof it on enquiries that came to nothing. That isn't a problem — that's selling. It becomes a\nproblem when a share of those hours was predictably wasted.",[18,1792,1794],{"id":1793},"four-signs","Four signs",[11,1796,1797,1800],{},[42,1798,1799],{},"The date is taken and the enquirer won't move."," The simplest one, and it still eats time\nbecause saying no straight away feels rude. Do it anyway. Offer one alternative date and let\nit go if that doesn't work.",[11,1802,1803,1806],{},[42,1804,1805],{},"The budget doesn't fit your offering."," An enquiry for a hundred people at twenty-five\neuros a head isn't a negotiation, it's a mismatch. Put your from-price in the first reply.\nWhoever drops out was never a client; whoever continues knows what they're getting into.",[11,1808,1809,1812],{},[42,1810,1811],{},"The enquirer isn't the decision-maker and barely knows them."," \"I'm just gathering some\noptions for someone else\" means your quote lands on a list you have no influence over. Not\nnecessarily a refusal, but: less time, standard proposal, no viewing.",[11,1814,1815,1818],{},[42,1816,1817],{},"It's the third time the same party has asked with no commitment."," Some organisations\ncollect quotes annually to keep their current supplier sharp. After two rounds with no\nbooking, you're entitled to say so out loud.",[75,1820,1821],{},[11,1822,1823],{},"Track for six months which enquiries became bookings and which didn't. Almost every venue\ndiscovers one type that structurally returns nothing — and that type differs per venue, so\nno article can tell you which it is.",[18,1825,1827],{"id":1826},"saying-no-costs-nothing","Saying no costs nothing",[11,1829,1830],{},"The fear is that a refusal loses you a client. In practice the opposite happens: a clear,\nquick no earns a thank-you more often than a quote that comes to nothing after three weeks.",[11,1832,1833],{},"Three sentences will do. Say it doesn't fit, say briefly why, and point somewhere else if\nyou can — a neighbouring venue, another date, a smaller package. That costs a minute and\nearns you a reputation for being straight with people.",[18,1835,1837],{"id":1836},"what-you-get-back","What you get back",[11,1839,1840],{},"The time freed up goes to the enquiries that can work. Offering a viewing this week instead\nof next. A quote out within a day instead of three. One follow-up call at the moment it\ncounts.",[11,1842,1843],{},"That's where conversion comes from: not from more enquiries, but from more attention to the\nones that deserve it.",{"title":104,"searchDepth":105,"depth":105,"links":1845},[1846,1847,1848,1849],{"id":1783,"depth":105,"text":1784},{"id":1793,"depth":105,"text":1794},{"id":1826,"depth":105,"text":1827},{"id":1836,"depth":105,"text":1837},"2026-05-08","Not every enquiry is an opportunity. Four signs an enquiry will cost more time than it returns, and how to say no gracefully.","\u002Fblog\u002Faanvraag-kwalificeren.svg","Enquiries passing through a filter: one comes out approved, one declined",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Faanvraag-kwalificeren",{"title":1772,"description":1851},"blog\u002Faanvraag-kwalificeren","Y5CY8OjpOjJh6ffXNJf5XZ_t-vJqXPSy2kae7iWSSQ8",{"id":1860,"title":1861,"author":6,"body":1862,"category":282,"date":1946,"description":1947,"extension":115,"featured":116,"image":1948,"imageAlt":1949,"meta":1950,"navigation":120,"path":1951,"readingTime":289,"seo":1952,"stem":1953,"__hash__":1954},"blog_en\u002Fblog\u002Frondleiding-die-verkoopt.md","The viewing is your best sales moment",{"type":8,"value":1863,"toc":1938},[1864,1867,1870,1874,1877,1880,1884,1887,1890,1894,1897,1900,1904,1907,1910,1915,1919,1922,1925,1928,1932,1935],[11,1865,1866],{},"A quote is a document. A viewing is an experience. At nearly every venue, enquiries that\ninclude a visit convert far better than those without — and yet the viewing is often\ntreated as a formality between two emails.",[11,1868,1869],{},"That's a waste, because it's the only moment when someone feels your venue instead of\nreading about it.",[18,1871,1873],{"id":1872},"prepare-for-this-client","Prepare for this client",[11,1875,1876],{},"The difference between a viewing and a good viewing is five minutes of preparation. Read the\nenquiry again before they arrive: what kind of event, how many people, which date, what did\nthey say mattered?",[11,1878,1879],{},"Someone coming in about a wedding needs to hear something different from someone planning a\nshareholders' meeting. Same room, different story. \"The buffet usually goes here\" lands\ndifferently from \"this is where you'd raise a glass after the ceremony\".",[18,1881,1883],{"id":1882},"walk-the-guests-route-not-yours","Walk the guest's route, not yours",[11,1885,1886],{},"Most viewings start at the main hall, because it makes an impression. But your guest starts\nat the car park, then the entrance, then the cloakroom, and only then sees the hall.",[11,1888,1889],{},"Walk that order. It makes the venue concrete: where people arrive, where they hang their\ncoats, which member of staff they meet first. Precisely the things an organiser worries\nabout and that rarely appear in a quote.",[18,1891,1893],{"id":1892},"let-the-silence-sit","Let the silence sit",[11,1895,1896],{},"The most common mistake is talking throughout. A room makes its own impression if you're\nquiet for a moment. Walk in, set the lighting as it would be on the night, and say nothing\nfor three seconds.",[11,1898,1899],{},"In that silence the real work happens: the other person pictures their own event. What they\nsay next — \"we could do the speeches here\" — is worth more than anything you could have told\nthem.",[18,1901,1903],{"id":1902},"take-away-the-questions-you-cant-answer","Take away the questions you can't answer",[11,1905,1906],{},"Something always comes up that you don't know the answer to. Whether the sound system suits\na live band, whether the room can run an hour longer, whether there's a vegetarian\nalternative to the chosen menu.",[11,1908,1909],{},"Write it down in front of them. That does two things: it shows you're taking it seriously,\nand it gives you a legitimate reason to email back within a day — with the quote underneath.",[75,1911,1912],{},[11,1913,1914],{},"Send the quote the same day as the viewing, not the next. The memory of the room is still\nsharp, and your proposal is the only one on the table at that moment.",[18,1916,1918],{"id":1917},"show-them-the-room-in-the-right-state","Show them the room in the right state",[11,1920,1921],{},"A hall in daylight with the chairs stacked is a different space from the same hall at seven\nin the evening with the lighting set. Most viewings happen in the former and most events\ntake place in the latter.",[11,1923,1924],{},"You can't always change the hour, but you can change the room. Set the lighting as it would\nbe, put one table out the way it would be dressed, close the curtains if the event is an\nevening one.",[11,1926,1927],{},"That's five minutes of work and it removes the biggest objection a viewing leaves behind: an\norganiser who saw an empty hall and can't picture it full.",[18,1929,1931],{"id":1930},"ask-what-still-has-to-happen","Ask what still has to happen",[11,1933,1934],{},"Don't close with \"I'll send you a quote\", but with \"what do you need in order to decide?\"\nThe answer is almost always useful: sign-off from a manager, a second venue to see, waiting\non final numbers.",[11,1936,1937],{},"Now you know what your quote has to address, and when following up is worth doing. That's a\nvery different conversation from hoping something comes back.",{"title":104,"searchDepth":105,"depth":105,"links":1939},[1940,1941,1942,1943,1944,1945],{"id":1872,"depth":105,"text":1873},{"id":1882,"depth":105,"text":1883},{"id":1892,"depth":105,"text":1893},{"id":1902,"depth":105,"text":1903},{"id":1917,"depth":105,"text":1918},{"id":1930,"depth":105,"text":1931},"2026-04-24","People who have seen the room book considerably more often. How to run a viewing that sells without feeling like selling.","\u002Fblog\u002Frondleiding-die-verkoopt.svg","A viewing route along four numbered stops, from the entrance to the stage",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Frondleiding-die-verkoopt",{"title":1861,"description":1947},"blog\u002Frondleiding-die-verkoopt","elV8ym3k6rNNK64EMAkyj3atArjiZs41fbvhLxeJQRU",{"id":1956,"title":1957,"author":6,"body":1958,"category":368,"date":2103,"description":2104,"extension":115,"featured":116,"image":2105,"imageAlt":2106,"meta":2107,"navigation":120,"path":2108,"readingTime":289,"seo":2109,"stem":2110,"__hash__":2111},"blog_en\u002Fblog\u002Fofferte-nabellen.md","Following up without becoming a nuisance",{"type":8,"value":1959,"toc":2096},[1960,1963,1966,1970,1973,1976,1980,2041,2044,2048,2051,2065,2068,2073,2077,2080,2083,2086,2090,2093],[11,1961,1962],{},"You send a quote. Nothing comes back. After two weeks you conclude it isn't happening and\nmove on to the next enquiry.",[11,1964,1965],{},"In most cases that conclusion is wrong. Silence after a quote rarely means no. It usually\nmeans the decision-maker was on holiday, the budget wasn't signed off, two other quotes are\non the table, or — most often — somebody simply forgot among a hundred other things.",[18,1967,1969],{"id":1968},"why-nobody-follows-up","Why nobody follows up",[11,1971,1972],{},"Almost everyone knows following up works. It still doesn't happen, and the reason is nearly\nalways the same: it feels like pushing. You've told your story, named your price, and\nchasing it feels like you need the work.",[11,1974,1975],{},"That feeling is understandable and it's wrong. From the recipient's side, a reminder is\nusually a service. They know they still have to decide, they haven't had time, and your\nemail puts it back on their list.",[18,1977,1979],{"id":1978},"a-rhythm-that-works","A rhythm that works",[146,1981,1982,1995],{},[149,1983,1984],{},[152,1985,1986,1989,1992],{},[155,1987,1988],{},"Moment",[155,1990,1991],{},"What you do",[155,1993,1994],{},"Tone",[165,1996,1997,2008,2019,2030],{},[152,1998,1999,2002,2005],{},[170,2000,2001],{},"Day 2",[170,2003,2004],{},"Short check that the quote arrived",[170,2006,2007],{},"Service",[152,2009,2010,2013,2016],{},[170,2011,2012],{},"Day 7",[170,2014,2015],{},"Call, don't email",[170,2017,2018],{},"Ask whether anything is missing",[152,2020,2021,2024,2027],{},[170,2022,2023],{},"Day 14",[170,2025,2026],{},"Email with one new piece of information",[170,2028,2029],{},"Add value",[152,2031,2032,2035,2038],{},[170,2033,2034],{},"Day 30",[170,2036,2037],{},"Close it: \"shall I release the option?\"",[170,2039,2040],{},"Clarity",[11,2042,2043],{},"That last one is the most powerful of the four, and the one most people daren't send. It\nworks because it asks for nothing: you're announcing that you're releasing the date. Anyone\nwho still wanted it speaks up now. Anyone who doesn't reply was never a client — and you\nhave your calendar back.",[18,2045,2047],{"id":2046},"give-a-reason-every-time","Give a reason every time",[11,2049,2050],{},"An email that only says \"just checking whether you've decided\" puts the burden on the other\nperson. Give them something instead:",[36,2052,2053,2056,2059,2062],{},[39,2054,2055],{},"the date is held until next week",[39,2057,2058],{},"a comparable group just booked the same package, here's what stood out for them",[39,2060,2061],{},"the seasonal menu has changed, here's the new version",[39,2063,2064],{},"there's a second enquiry for the same date",[11,2066,2067],{},"That last one is powerful when it's true, and it's the strongest reason there is. Never\ninvent it. Being caught once on a fabricated second enquiry costs more than the booking was\nworth.",[75,2069,2070],{},[11,2071,2072],{},"Call on day seven rather than emailing. An email is easy to ignore without feeling rude; a\nphone call gets you in thirty seconds the answer you'd otherwise wait two weeks for.",[18,2074,2076],{"id":2075},"what-to-do-with-a-no","What to do with a no",[11,2078,2079],{},"A clear no is worth more than silence, and yet it's rarely used. Ask one follow-up question:\nwas it the price, the date, the venue, or did it fall through internally?",[11,2081,2082],{},"The answer costs them ten seconds and gives you the only real market research you have.\nThree instances of \"too expensive for what we wanted\" means something different from three\ninstances of \"the date had gone\".",[11,2084,2085],{},"Close with an offer that applies no pressure: may you approach them again next year for the\nsame period? Some will say yes, and that's an enquiry you get next year without advertising\nfor it.",[18,2087,2089],{"id":2088},"record-it-or-it-wont-happen","Record it, or it won't happen",[11,2091,2092],{},"Follow-up rarely fails on intention and almost always on admin. After three weeks nobody\nremembers which quote went out when, or who has already been called.",[11,2094,2095],{},"So the moment a quote goes out, put the next step in your system with a date. Not in your\nhead and not on a sticky note: in the place you get your work from each morning. A quote\nwith no scheduled follow-up is a quote you've already half given up on.",{"title":104,"searchDepth":105,"depth":105,"links":2097},[2098,2099,2100,2101,2102],{"id":1968,"depth":105,"text":1969},{"id":1978,"depth":105,"text":1979},{"id":2046,"depth":105,"text":2047},{"id":2075,"depth":105,"text":2076},{"id":2088,"depth":105,"text":2089},"2026-04-10","Most quotes are never followed up, and that's where most of the revenue is left behind. A rhythm that works without nagging.","\u002Fblog\u002Fofferte-nabellen.svg","A timeline with follow-up moments on days 2, 7, 14 and 30",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fofferte-nabellen",{"title":1957,"description":2104},"blog\u002Fofferte-nabellen","SFaWdlvmjtxJ-BLHLjwySJnGKUQ6yE-TRG9rok3x_dQ",{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"body":2113,"category":112,"date":113,"description":114,"extension":115,"featured":116,"image":117,"imageAlt":118,"meta":2178,"navigation":120,"path":121,"readingTime":122,"seo":2179,"stem":124,"__hash__":125},{"type":8,"value":2114,"toc":2171},[2115,2117,2119,2121,2123,2125,2127,2129,2143,2145,2147,2149,2151,2153,2157,2159,2161,2163,2165,2167,2169],[11,2116,13],{},[11,2118,16],{},[18,2120,21],{"id":20},[11,2122,24],{},[11,2124,27],{},[18,2126,31],{"id":30},[11,2128,34],{},[36,2130,2131,2135,2139],{},[39,2132,2133,45],{},[42,2134,44],{},[39,2136,2137,51],{},[42,2138,50],{},[39,2140,2141,57],{},[42,2142,56],{},[11,2144,60],{},[18,2146,64],{"id":63},[11,2148,67],{},[11,2150,70],{},[11,2152,73],{},[75,2154,2155],{},[11,2156,79],{},[18,2158,83],{"id":82},[11,2160,86],{},[11,2162,89],{},[11,2164,92],{},[18,2166,96],{"id":95},[11,2168,99],{},[11,2170,102],{},{"title":104,"searchDepth":105,"depth":105,"links":2172},[2173,2174,2175,2176,2177],{"id":20,"depth":105,"text":21},{"id":30,"depth":105,"text":31},{"id":63,"depth":105,"text":64},{"id":82,"depth":105,"text":83},{"id":95,"depth":105,"text":96},{},{"title":5,"description":114},{"id":2181,"title":2182,"author":6,"body":2183,"category":112,"date":2325,"description":2326,"extension":115,"featured":116,"image":2327,"imageAlt":2328,"meta":2329,"navigation":120,"path":2330,"readingTime":289,"seo":2331,"stem":2332,"__hash__":2333},"blog_en\u002Fblog\u002Fcatering-aantallen.md","Why your catering numbers are always slightly wrong",{"type":8,"value":2184,"toc":2318},[2185,2188,2191,2194,2198,2201,2207,2213,2219,2222,2226,2229,2274,2277,2281,2284,2287,2292,2296,2299,2302,2305,2309,2312,2315],[11,2186,2187],{},"The client says a hundred. You buy for a hundred. Eighty-seven people turn up, and thirteen\nportions go unpaid for by anyone except you.",[11,2189,2190],{},"Or the reverse: a hundred and five arrive, the last ten get a smaller plate, and the evening\nends with a client asking how this could happen.",[11,2192,2193],{},"Both problems come from the same source: the number you bought against was an estimate that\nnobody explicitly called an estimate.",[18,2195,2197],{"id":2196},"three-numbers-that-get-confused","Three numbers that get confused",[11,2199,2200],{},"Three different figures circulate in every event conversation, and most misunderstandings\ncome from not keeping them apart.",[11,2202,2203,2206],{},[42,2204,2205],{},"The expected number"," is what the client thinks will come. It's in the enquiry and it's\nalmost always optimistic.",[11,2208,2209,2212],{},[42,2210,2211],{},"The guaranteed number"," is what the client pays regardless, even if fewer turn up. This is\nthe only figure that matters financially.",[11,2214,2215,2218],{},[42,2216,2217],{},"The actual number"," you only know on the night.",[11,2220,2221],{},"A quote that names only the first shifts the entire risk onto you without anyone having\ndecided that.",[18,2223,2225],{"id":2224},"fix-the-guaranteed-number","Fix the guaranteed number",[11,2227,2228],{},"The industry standard is clear and rarely disputed when you state it in advance:",[146,2230,2231,2240],{},[149,2232,2233],{},[152,2234,2235,2237],{},[155,2236,1988],{},[155,2238,2239],{},"What happens",[165,2241,2242,2250,2258,2266],{},[152,2243,2244,2247],{},[170,2245,2246],{},"At signature",[170,2248,2249],{},"Expected number recorded",[152,2251,2252,2255],{},[170,2253,2254],{},"10 working days ahead",[170,2256,2257],{},"Number may drop by up to 10%",[152,2259,2260,2263],{},[170,2261,2262],{},"5 working days ahead",[170,2264,2265],{},"Final number — this is the guarantee",[152,2267,2268,2271],{},[170,2269,2270],{},"After that",[170,2272,2273],{},"Up is usually fine, down is not",[11,2275,2276],{},"Five working days isn't arbitrary: it's roughly what a kitchen needs to buy in without\nrunning into rush surcharges.",[18,2278,2280],{"id":2279},"registrations-are-not-guests","Registrations are not guests",[11,2282,2283],{},"At closed events — a staff party, a wedding — the number is reasonably predictable. At events\nwith open registration it's an entirely different matter: rarely more than eighty percent of\nregistrations turn up, and at free events often fewer.",[11,2285,2286],{},"If your client is basing their number on registrations, say out loud that this isn't the\nsame as the number of guests. Many organisers don't know this, and they'll thank you for\nexplaining it before it goes wrong rather than after.",[75,2288,2289],{},[11,2290,2291],{},"Agree a range instead of a single figure: \"we'll cook for 95, we can handle up to 110\". That\ncosts almost nothing in purchasing and takes the tension out of the final week, because\nsmall fluctuations simply fit.",[18,2293,2295],{"id":2294},"dietary-requirements-are-part-of-the-number","Dietary requirements are part of the number",[11,2297,2298],{},"The number is one thing, the composition another. In a group of a hundred there are now\neasily fifteen to twenty special requirements: vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, allergies,\nreligious observance.",[11,2300,2301],{},"Getting those two days ahead is a problem; getting them with the final number is routine. So\nask for them in the same request, not in a separate email later.",[11,2303,2304],{},"And agree what happens to requirements arriving after that. One extra vegetarian portion is\nnearly always manageable; a gluten-free menu for three on the morning itself usually isn't.\nSaying so in advance prevents the conversation where a guest has no food and nobody knows\nwho was responsible.",[18,2306,2308],{"id":2307},"what-you-do-with-the-surplus","What you do with the surplus",[11,2310,2311],{},"Every venue has leftovers. The difference is whether they're priced in.",[11,2313,2314],{},"Build a few percent of surplus into your package price — it's a real cost, like breakage and\nstaffing. Venues that don't, price structurally too low and cover the gap out of margin\nwithout ever seeing it.",[11,2316,2317],{},"And agree what happens to the surplus. Staff eating, a food bank collecting, guests taking\nit home: anything beats throwing it away, and it's a conversation you have once and never\nagain.",{"title":104,"searchDepth":105,"depth":105,"links":2319},[2320,2321,2322,2323,2324],{"id":2196,"depth":105,"text":2197},{"id":2224,"depth":105,"text":2225},{"id":2279,"depth":105,"text":2280},{"id":2294,"depth":105,"text":2295},{"id":2307,"depth":105,"text":2308},"2026-03-13","Over-ordering costs margin, under-ordering costs reputation. How to arrive at a number that holds, and who carries the risk.","\u002Fblog\u002Fcatering-aantallen.svg","Three numbers side by side: 100 expected, 95 guaranteed and 87 actual",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fcatering-aantallen",{"title":2182,"description":2326},"blog\u002Fcatering-aantallen","pZIRMc1AW1KKaiYjjqUzythn2_iwtERwD2LJqITGTNQ",{"id":2335,"title":2336,"author":6,"body":2337,"category":112,"date":2487,"description":2488,"extension":115,"featured":116,"image":2489,"imageAlt":2490,"meta":2491,"navigation":120,"path":2492,"readingTime":289,"seo":2493,"stem":2494,"__hash__":2495},"blog_en\u002Fblog\u002Fpersoneelsplanning-events.md","How much staff do you actually need?",{"type":8,"value":2338,"toc":2480},[2339,2342,2345,2349,2352,2414,2417,2421,2424,2427,2431,2434,2437,2442,2446,2449,2452,2455,2459,2462,2468,2474],[11,2340,2341],{},"Staffing is the largest variable cost at most venues and the biggest factor in how an\nevening gets judged. One person short on the cloakroom and the first impression is a queue;\none too many behind the bar and your margin evaporates.",[11,2343,2344],{},"Yet the roster is often set on instinct, and the planner's instinct is usually based on last\ntime — including whatever went wrong then.",[18,2346,2348],{"id":2347},"guidelines-to-start-from","Guidelines to start from",[11,2350,2351],{},"These ratios are common in the industry. They're a starting point, not a law: your venue,\nyour menu and your guest profile are each a reason to deviate.",[146,2353,2354,2364],{},[149,2355,2356],{},[152,2357,2358,2361],{},[155,2359,2360],{},"Function",[155,2362,2363],{},"Guideline",[165,2365,2366,2374,2382,2390,2398,2406],{},[152,2367,2368,2371],{},[170,2369,2370],{},"Plated dinner service",[170,2372,2373],{},"1 staff per 15–20 guests",[152,2375,2376,2379],{},[170,2377,2378],{},"Buffet",[170,2380,2381],{},"1 per 30–40 guests",[152,2383,2384,2387],{},[170,2385,2386],{},"Standing reception",[170,2388,2389],{},"1 per 40–50 guests",[152,2391,2392,2395],{},[170,2393,2394],{},"Bar",[170,2396,2397],{},"1 per 50–75 guests",[152,2399,2400,2403],{},[170,2401,2402],{},"Cloakroom",[170,2404,2405],{},"1 per 100 guests, 2 at peak arrival",[152,2407,2408,2411],{},[170,2409,2410],{},"Wash-up",[170,2412,2413],{},"1 per 60–80 covers",[11,2415,2416],{},"The two that most often go wrong are at the bottom. Cloakroom and wash-up are invisible in\nthe budget and painfully visible on the night.",[18,2418,2420],{"id":2419},"peak-is-not-average","Peak is not average",[11,2422,2423],{},"The classic error is staffing for the average. A three-hour reception for a hundred guests\nsounds like light work, but everyone arrives in the first forty minutes: coat, first drink,\nfirst canapé.",[11,2425,2426],{},"Roster that peak separately. Two extra people working only the first hour cost little and\ndetermine how the whole evening is remembered — because the queue at the door is the first\nthing a guest sees of your venue.",[18,2428,2430],{"id":2429},"count-the-changeovers","Count the changeovers",[11,2432,2433],{},"Reception to dinner, dinner to party: those transitions are the most labour-intensive\nmoments of the evening and they're rarely in the plan.",[11,2435,2436],{},"A room changeover for a hundred people is two to three staff, twenty to thirty minutes. If\nthat happens during the reception, those people aren't on the floor. So put the changeover\nin the run sheet with its own staffing, not as something that happens \"in between\".",[75,2438,2439],{},[11,2440,2441],{},"After each event, note the actual staffing next to the planned figure, with one line on what\nwas short or spare. After ten events you'll have benchmarks for your venue that beat any\npublished guideline — including this one.",[18,2443,2445],{"id":2444},"fixed-people-in-the-critical-positions","Fixed people in the critical positions",[11,2447,2448],{},"Not every position is interchangeable. At most events three spots are where experience makes\nthe difference: the person running the room, the person behind the bar at the busiest\nmoment, and whoever is in contact with the client.",[11,2450,2451],{},"Put your permanent staff there and fill the rest with flexible workers. The reverse — an\nexperienced hand on the cloakroom and an agency worker running the room — is the arrangement\nthat derails evenings.",[11,2453,2454],{},"It also means you can't build a roster on numbers alone. Eight people of whom six are new is\na different staffing level from eight who know each other, even though the figure is the\nsame.",[18,2456,2458],{"id":2457},"the-quiet-costs","The quiet costs",[11,2460,2461],{},"Three things that fall structurally outside the budget and get paid for every time:",[11,2463,2464,2467],{},[42,2465,2466],{},"Set-up and breakdown."," Two to four hours at an average event, often by people who have\nalready worked a shift.",[11,2469,2470,2473],{},[42,2471,2472],{},"Briefing."," Fifteen minutes before doors, with everyone. It's the cheapest defence against\nmistakes there is, and the first thing dropped when time is tight.",[11,2475,2476,2479],{},[42,2477,2478],{},"Overrun."," A party that runs an hour late runs an hour and a half late for your staff.\nAgree in advance until when, and what it costs beyond that — a conversation you'd rather have\nat signature than at half past one in the morning.",{"title":104,"searchDepth":105,"depth":105,"links":2481},[2482,2483,2484,2485,2486],{"id":2347,"depth":105,"text":2348},{"id":2419,"depth":105,"text":2420},{"id":2429,"depth":105,"text":2430},{"id":2444,"depth":105,"text":2445},{"id":2457,"depth":105,"text":2458},"2026-02-27","Plan too tight and you lose the evening, too generous and you lose the margin. Guidelines per event type, and where it usually goes wrong.","\u002Fblog\u002Fpersoneelsplanning-events.svg","Three time blocks with five, three and two staff; the peak is highlighted",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fpersoneelsplanning-events",{"title":2336,"description":2488},"blog\u002Fpersoneelsplanning-events","Y3LanoadY2fb9dqyxdbNUBhlgf5nl6-7Vx4khD_nKTY",{"id":2497,"title":2498,"author":6,"body":2499,"category":658,"date":2613,"description":2614,"extension":115,"featured":116,"image":2615,"imageAlt":2616,"meta":2617,"navigation":120,"path":2618,"readingTime":289,"seo":2619,"stem":2620,"__hash__":2621},"blog_en\u002Fblog\u002Fannulering-afhandelen.md","Handling a cancellation without losing the client",{"type":8,"value":2500,"toc":2606},[2501,2504,2507,2511,2514,2517,2521,2524,2527,2531,2534,2572,2575,2580,2584,2587,2590,2593,2597,2600,2603],[11,2502,2503],{},"The email arrives on a Tuesday morning. The event in two weeks isn't happening —\nrestructuring, the speaker is ill, the budget is frozen. The client is very sorry.",[11,2505,2506],{},"You have a signed quote with a cancellation scale saying you may charge fifty percent. And\nnow you have to have a conversation almost nobody is good at.",[18,2508,2510],{"id":2509},"respond-first-invoice-later","Respond first, invoice later",[11,2512,2513],{},"The temptation is to reach for the terms immediately. Don't, not in the first contact. Call,\nsay you're sorry to hear it, and ask what happened.",[11,2515,2516],{},"That isn't just courtesy, it's information. An event being postponed is a very different\nthing from one being cancelled outright, and a client in trouble themselves needs a\ndifferent approach from one who simply changed their mind.",[18,2518,2520],{"id":2519},"offer-to-move-it-before-you-cancel-it","Offer to move it before you cancel it",[11,2522,2523],{},"In a large share of cancellations the event isn't gone, only the date. If you have an\nalternative within a few months, that's better for both parties than a cancellation invoice.",[11,2525,2526],{},"A workable arrangement: moving to a date within six months costs nothing, provided it falls\nin the same season and room category. Outside that, the normal terms apply. Generous enough\nto keep the conversation open, tight enough to stop your date sliding indefinitely.",[18,2528,2530],{"id":2529},"invoice-what-was-actually-incurred","Invoice what was actually incurred",[11,2532,2533],{},"If cancelling is the outcome, split your invoice into what you spent and what you're losing.\nFor the recipient, that difference is the difference between a bill and a penalty.",[146,2535,2536,2546],{},[149,2537,2538],{},[152,2539,2540,2543],{},[155,2541,2542],{},"Line",[155,2544,2545],{},"How it reads on the invoice",[165,2547,2548,2556,2564],{},[152,2549,2550,2553],{},[170,2551,2552],{},"Goods already purchased",[170,2554,2555],{},"Concrete costs, usually not cancellable",[152,2557,2558,2561],{},[170,2559,2560],{},"Staff hours rostered",[170,2562,2563],{},"Depends how late the cancellation came",[152,2565,2566,2569],{},[170,2567,2568],{},"Reserved room capacity",[170,2570,2571],{},"The part you won't now sell",[11,2573,2574],{},"An invoice with those three lines is rarely disputed. A single line reading \"cancellation\ncharge 50%\" almost always is — not because the amount is unreasonable, but because it\nexplains nothing.",[75,2576,2577],{},[11,2578,2579],{},"In the same email as the invoice, say what you can still do for them: the date stays held\nfor a week in case it revives, or the deposit stays valid for a year against a future event.\nThat costs you nothing if it goes unused.",[18,2581,2583],{"id":2582},"pass-it-on-internally","Pass it on internally",[11,2585,2586],{},"A cancellation isn't only an invoice. The room has to be released, staff stood down,\npurchasing adjusted and suppliers told.",[11,2588,2589],{},"At most venues that happens piecemeal, and something always survives: an order that arrives\nanyway, a casual worker turning up for nothing, a room still blocked for another week.",[11,2591,2592],{},"So make one checklist you run through on every cancellation. Five lines, always the same. It\nsaves you the costs you'd otherwise incur for an event that isn't happening — and those are\nexactly the costs you can't pass on.",[18,2594,2596],{"id":2595},"when-to-deviate-from-your-own-scale","When to deviate from your own scale",[11,2598,2599],{},"Sometimes charging less than you may is the smart move. With a regular client of many years,\nwith a cancellation nobody could have foreseen, or if you resell the date after all.",[11,2601,2602],{},"Do it explicitly and as a one-off: \"under the terms this is fifty percent; we're charging\ntwenty-five because we've been able to partly fill the date.\" That preserves the agreement\nfor next time and gives away something the other party can actually see.",[11,2604,2605],{},"What you shouldn't do is quietly waive it. Then your client learns the scale isn't real —\nand the next cancellation becomes a discussion instead of an invoice.",{"title":104,"searchDepth":105,"depth":105,"links":2607},[2608,2609,2610,2611,2612],{"id":2509,"depth":105,"text":2510},{"id":2519,"depth":105,"text":2520},{"id":2529,"depth":105,"text":2530},{"id":2582,"depth":105,"text":2583},{"id":2595,"depth":105,"text":2596},"2026-02-13","The terms are on paper, but you still have to have the conversation. How to invoice what you're owed and keep the relationship.","\u002Fblog\u002Fannulering-afhandelen.svg","One vague invoice line with a cross beside three itemised lines with a tick",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fannulering-afhandelen",{"title":2498,"description":2614},"blog\u002Fannulering-afhandelen","bt6Vi5UA9kqj-8SKvhe5zBxL7XLPzs5_QbLet-h2CeU",{"id":2623,"title":2624,"author":6,"body":2625,"category":658,"date":2817,"description":2818,"extension":115,"featured":116,"image":2819,"imageAlt":2820,"meta":2821,"navigation":120,"path":2822,"readingTime":289,"seo":2823,"stem":2824,"__hash__":2825},"blog_en\u002Fblog\u002Fkostprijs-arrangement.md","Do you know what your package really costs?",{"type":8,"value":2626,"toc":2810},[2627,2630,2633,2637,2640,2725,2728,2732,2738,2744,2749,2755,2760,2764,2767,2770,2774,2777,2797,2800,2804,2807],[11,2628,2629],{},"Ask a venue what the meeting package costs and you get the selling price. Ask what it costs\nthe venue, and it goes quiet — or you get a figure someone worked out once and has raised by\na few percent every year since.",[11,2631,2632],{},"That's how packages can sit below cost for years without anyone noticing. Revenue grows,\nmargin doesn't.",[18,2634,2636],{"id":2635},"what-belongs-in-a-cost-price","What belongs in a cost price",[11,2638,2639],{},"Take a day package at sixty-five euros a head: room, coffee and tea all day, lunch, and\ndrinks afterwards.",[146,2641,2642,2654],{},[149,2643,2644],{},[152,2645,2646,2648,2651],{},[155,2647,2542],{},[155,2649,2650],{},"Per person",[155,2652,2653],{},"Note",[165,2655,2656,2667,2678,2689,2700,2711],{},[152,2657,2658,2661,2664],{},[170,2659,2660],{},"Food purchasing",[170,2662,2663],{},"€ 11.00",[170,2665,2666],{},"Lunch, snacks, coffee",[152,2668,2669,2672,2675],{},[170,2670,2671],{},"Drinks purchasing",[170,2673,2674],{},"€ 3.50",[170,2676,2677],{},"Soft drinks during the day, reception",[152,2679,2680,2683,2686],{},[170,2681,2682],{},"Direct staffing",[170,2684,2685],{},"€ 9.00",[170,2687,2688],{},"Service, kitchen, set-up",[152,2690,2691,2694,2697],{},[170,2692,2693],{},"Room costs",[170,2695,2696],{},"€ 6.00",[170,2698,2699],{},"Energy, cleaning, depreciation",[152,2701,2702,2705,2708],{},[170,2703,2704],{},"Consumables",[170,2706,2707],{},"€ 1.50",[170,2709,2710],{},"Linen, breakage, napkins",[152,2712,2713,2718,2723],{},[170,2714,2715],{},[42,2716,2717],{},"Direct costs",[170,2719,2720],{},[42,2721,2722],{},"€ 31.00",[170,2724],{},[11,2726,2727],{},"That looks like a thirty-four euro margin. But there's no overhead in there yet, no\nno-shows, no selling time and no payment risk. Count those and the real margin is\nconsiderably below half.",[18,2729,2731],{"id":2730},"the-lines-everyone-forgets","The lines everyone forgets",[11,2733,2734,2737],{},[42,2735,2736],{},"Selling time."," Two to four hours per enquiry, most of it on enquiries that came to\nnothing. At thirty percent conversion, every booking carries the cost of two lost enquiries.",[11,2739,2740,2743],{},[42,2741,2742],{},"No-shows and shrinkage."," You buy against the guaranteed number but often roster against\nthe expected one. The difference is wages paid for guests who aren't there.",[11,2745,2746,2748],{},[42,2747,2466],{}," Rarely in the package, always incurred.",[11,2750,2751,2754],{},[42,2752,2753],{},"Payment terms."," An invoice open for thirty-eight days while your suppliers want paying in\nfourteen is working capital you're fronting.",[75,2756,2757],{},[11,2758,2759],{},"Rebuild your cost price from scratch once a year, from that moment's purchase prices — not by\nlaying a percentage over the old one. It's the only way to find the lines that have drifted,\nand there are always a few.",[18,2761,2763],{"id":2762},"calculate-per-half-day-not-per-event","Calculate per half-day, not per event",[11,2765,2766],{},"A second blind spot: most venues calculate per event, while capacity is consumed per\nhalf-day. A meeting from nine to twelve and one from nine to five use the same room on the\nsame day, but the second also blocks your afternoon.",[11,2768,2769],{},"Once you calculate per half-day, you see things that otherwise stay hidden. A group of eight\noccupying a room for thirty all day is rarely profitable — not because of the group, but\nbecause of the room you couldn't sell to anyone else. That's an argument for a minimum\nspend, not for a higher per-person price.",[18,2771,2773],{"id":2772},"test-your-price-against-three-scenarios","Test your price against three scenarios",[11,2775,2776],{},"If your cost price holds, you can use it to test decisions that otherwise run on instinct:",[36,2778,2779,2785,2791],{},[39,2780,2781,2784],{},[42,2782,2783],{},"The full room."," At maximum occupancy, what do you keep per half-day?",[39,2786,2787,2790],{},[42,2788,2789],{},"The half-full room."," At fifty percent, do you still break even?",[39,2792,2793,2796],{},[42,2794,2795],{},"The exception."," The client asking for ten percent off — how much of your margin is that\nreally?",[11,2798,2799],{},"The last is the most instructive. Ten percent of the selling price sounds modest, but on a\nthirty percent margin it's a third of what you keep. That's the difference between a\nconcession and a loss, and without a cost price you can't see it.",[18,2801,2803],{"id":2802},"why-this-is-more-than-bookkeeping","Why this is more than bookkeeping",[11,2805,2806],{},"A cost price that holds changes how you sell. You know which packages you can give ground on\nto win a booking and which you should never discount. You know whether that group of twelve\non a Tuesday is profitable or better referred elsewhere. And you know which component to\nadjust when a client wants to come in under your price.",[11,2808,2809],{},"Without that knowledge you negotiate in the dark. Then discounting always feels risky and so\ndoes holding firm — because you don't know which of the two you can afford.",{"title":104,"searchDepth":105,"depth":105,"links":2811},[2812,2813,2814,2815,2816],{"id":2635,"depth":105,"text":2636},{"id":2730,"depth":105,"text":2731},{"id":2762,"depth":105,"text":2763},{"id":2772,"depth":105,"text":2773},{"id":2802,"depth":105,"text":2803},"2026-01-30","Many packages were priced years ago and only indexed since. How to build a cost price that holds up.","\u002Fblog\u002Fkostprijs-arrangement.svg","A price bar split into cost components, with 31 euros of direct costs and a 65 euro price",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fkostprijs-arrangement",{"title":2624,"description":2818},"blog\u002Fkostprijs-arrangement","BzkARtrhc-wW7trekyaGqbUmuUO9OOD6nyIK89MZM5g",{"id":2827,"title":2828,"author":6,"body":2829,"category":874,"date":2912,"description":2913,"extension":115,"featured":116,"image":2914,"imageAlt":2915,"meta":2916,"navigation":120,"path":2917,"readingTime":289,"seo":2918,"stem":2919,"__hash__":2920},"blog_en\u002Fblog\u002Fticketprijs-bepalen.md","How do you price a ticket?",{"type":8,"value":2830,"toc":2906},[2831,2834,2837,2841,2844,2847,2850,2854,2860,2866,2872,2878,2882,2885,2888,2891,2896,2900,2903],[11,2832,2833],{},"Pricing a product is relatively simple: cost, margin, done. For an event it doesn't work,\nbecause your largest cost — the room, the technical setup, the speaker — doesn't change with\nattendance. Whether fifty or a hundred and fifty people come, the band costs the same.",[11,2835,2836],{},"That makes the ticket price a choice rather than a calculation.",[18,2838,2840],{"id":2839},"start-at-break-even","Start at break-even",[11,2842,2843],{},"Before thinking about what a ticket is worth, you need to know how many visitors get you to\nzero. That takes two figures: your fixed costs and your variable cost per visitor.",[11,2845,2846],{},"Say room, technical and promotion together come to € 4,500. Per visitor you spend € 12 on\ncatering and materials. At a ticket price of € 35 you keep € 23 per visitor, so break-even is\n196 visitors.",[11,2848,2849],{},"That number is your most important lever. It tells you whether you need a smaller room,\nwhether the price has to go up, or whether you're planning to sell more than is realistic.",[18,2851,2853],{"id":2852},"four-ways-to-set-a-price","Four ways to set a price",[11,2855,2856,2859],{},[42,2857,2858],{},"Cost-driven."," Break-even at a realistic attendance, plus a margin. Safe, but ignores what\npeople will actually pay.",[11,2861,2862,2865],{},[42,2863,2864],{},"Market-driven."," Look at what comparable events charge. Useful as a reference, dangerous as\na rule — you don't know whether their price works.",[11,2867,2868,2871],{},[42,2869,2870],{},"Value-driven."," What does the visitor get out of it? At a business event with a strong\nspeaker that's far more than at a drinks reception, and the price may reflect it.",[11,2873,2874,2877],{},[42,2875,2876],{},"Differentiated."," Different prices for different groups: early bird, student, group, or a\npremium ticket with extras. This extracts the most from the same room.",[18,2879,2881],{"id":2880},"too-cheap-is-a-real-risk","Too cheap is a real risk",[11,2883,2884],{},"The reflex with a new event is to start low: volume first, raise later. That's riskier than\nit sounds.",[11,2886,2887],{},"A low price signals what it's worth. A conference day at twenty-five euros prompts doubt\nrather than enthusiasm from a business audience. And going up is hard: your audience knows\nthe old price, and every increase is an announcement.",[11,2889,2890],{},"The arithmetic often works against you too. From € 35 to € 25 removes nearly thirty percent\nof your margin — so you have to sell considerably more tickets for the same result, in the\nsame room, on the same promotional budget.",[75,2892,2893],{},[11,2894,2895],{},"For every pricing scenario, also run your bad case: what happens at seventy percent of\nexpected sales? If you're deep in the red there, the problem isn't your price but the scale\nof what you've planned.",[18,2897,2899],{"id":2898},"booking-fees-are-part-of-the-price","Booking fees are part of the price",[11,2901,2902],{},"If you charge a booking fee, factor it into how you think about the price. A € 35 ticket that\nturns out to be € 39.50 at checkout is judged by the buyer as € 39.50 — not as € 35 with a\njustifiable addition.",[11,2904,2905],{},"Either name the total from the start, or make the fee small enough not to register. The\nmiddle path — a modest ticket price with a hefty surcharge on the final screen — is the\nvariant that produces the most abandoned baskets.",{"title":104,"searchDepth":105,"depth":105,"links":2907},[2908,2909,2910,2911],{"id":2839,"depth":105,"text":2840},{"id":2852,"depth":105,"text":2853},{"id":2880,"depth":105,"text":2881},{"id":2898,"depth":105,"text":2899},"2026-01-16","Cost plus margin doesn't work for events. Four ways to arrive at a price, and why the cheapest is rarely the best.","\u002Fblog\u002Fticketprijs-bepalen.svg","A chart where the revenue line crosses fixed costs at 196 visitors",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fticketprijs-bepalen",{"title":2828,"description":2913},"blog\u002Fticketprijs-bepalen","11klxj1dfH9UNiLe0blomzeqKH2f6C4qL98v5uSNUA8",{"id":2922,"title":2923,"author":6,"body":2924,"category":874,"date":3007,"description":3008,"extension":115,"featured":116,"image":3009,"imageAlt":3010,"meta":3011,"navigation":120,"path":3012,"readingTime":122,"seo":3013,"stem":3014,"__hash__":3015},"blog_en\u002Fblog\u002Fwachtlijst-uitverkocht.md","What to do when you're sold out",{"type":8,"value":2925,"toc":3001},[2926,2929,2932,2936,2939,2942,2948,2954,2960,2964,2967,2970,2975,2979,2982,2985,2988,2992,2995,2998],[11,2927,2928],{},"Sold out feels like the perfect outcome, and usually it is. But the days afterwards decide\nwhether you really get the most from it — because plenty still happens after \"sold out\".",[11,2930,2931],{},"People cancel. People don't turn up. And tickets keep being sought by exactly the people you\nwould have liked to have.",[18,2933,2935],{"id":2934},"always-open-a-waiting-list","Always open a waiting list",[11,2937,2938],{},"A sold-out page carrying only the word \"sold out\" is a missed opportunity. Whoever lands\nthere wanted to come. That's the most motivated visitor you have, and you're letting them\nleave with nothing.",[11,2940,2941],{},"A waiting list costs you one form field and returns three things:",[11,2943,2944,2947],{},[42,2945,2946],{},"You catch cancellations."," Tickets come back at nearly every event. Without a list you\nhave to put them back on the market; with one you email five people and it's resolved within\nthe hour.",[11,2949,2950,2953],{},[42,2951,2952],{},"You measure real demand."," Twenty-five people waiting for a two-hundred-seat room is a\nstrong argument for a bigger room next year. Or for a second date.",[11,2955,2956,2959],{},[42,2957,2958],{},"You build your list for the next edition."," These people wanted to come and couldn't.\nThey're your best audience for the next announcement.",[18,2961,2963],{"id":2962},"overbooking-yes-or-no","Overbooking: yes or no?",[11,2965,2966],{},"At free events overbooking is common, because no-shows there run structurally between twenty\nand thirty percent. At paid events it's different: people who have paid usually turn up, and\nturning away someone holding a valid ticket is a reputation problem you don't want.",[11,2968,2969],{},"A workable middle path: only overbook if you have somewhere to put people. An extra row of\nchairs, an overflow room with a screen, or standing space at the back. Then \"what if they\nall come\" is answered before it happens.",[75,2971,2972],{},[11,2973,2974],{},"Message the waiting list even when nothing frees up. One email — \"it didn't work out this\ntime, you're first in line for the next edition\" — turns a disappointment into a registration\nfor next time.",[18,2976,2978],{"id":2977},"make-the-waiting-list-a-selling-moment","Make the waiting list a selling moment",[11,2980,2981],{},"A waiting list is a list of people who have already said yes. That's the easiest audience\nyou'll ever have, and most organisers only use it when something happens to free up.",[11,2983,2984],{},"You can do more with it. A second session on the same day, a livestream for those who can't\nattend, or simply announcing the next edition to them a week before everyone else: all three\ncost little and reach exactly the people who already wanted in.",[11,2986,2987],{},"For events that sell out consistently, the waiting list is often the best argument for\nbooking a bigger room next year — with numbers rather than a hunch.",[18,2989,2991],{"id":2990},"let-people-hand-tickets-back","Let people hand tickets back",[11,2993,2994],{},"The simplest way to get cancellations back is to make it easy. A link in the confirmation\nemail letting someone return their ticket, optionally against a small admin fee.",[11,2996,2997],{},"Without that, something you don't want happens: people sell their ticket on privately, or\nsimply don't come. Either way you lose the chance to refill the place, and you lose sight of\nwho is walking in.",[11,2999,3000],{},"With a return button you get the place back, you can serve the waiting list, and you know\nexactly who is in the room. At a closed or corporate event, that last point isn't a detail\nbut a requirement.",{"title":104,"searchDepth":105,"depth":105,"links":3002},[3003,3004,3005,3006],{"id":2934,"depth":105,"text":2935},{"id":2962,"depth":105,"text":2963},{"id":2977,"depth":105,"text":2978},{"id":2990,"depth":105,"text":2991},"2025-12-12","Sold out isn't an end point but a starting point. How to use a waiting list, and why you should have one regardless.","\u002Fblog\u002Fwachtlijst-uitverkocht.svg","A sold-out room with twenty-four occupied seats and a waiting list of 25",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fwachtlijst-uitverkocht",{"title":2923,"description":3008},"blog\u002Fwachtlijst-uitverkocht","BCDqqslZg-lgyIJ6jMQ8LP6Mno-8bjhL6os6HBeCGyM",{"id":3017,"title":3018,"author":6,"body":3019,"category":112,"date":3166,"description":3167,"extension":115,"featured":116,"image":3168,"imageAlt":3169,"meta":3170,"navigation":120,"path":3171,"readingTime":289,"seo":3172,"stem":3173,"__hash__":3174},"blog_en\u002Fblog\u002Fhybride-events.md","Hybrid events are two events, not one and a half",{"type":8,"value":3020,"toc":3159},[3021,3024,3027,3031,3034,3037,3040,3044,3050,3056,3062,3068,3072,3075,3128,3131,3136,3140,3143,3146,3149,3153,3156],[11,3022,3023],{},"\"We'll just put a camera in\" is the sentence most disappointing hybrid events begin with.\nThe result is predictable: online viewers see a room at an angle, can't hear questions from\nthe floor, and drop off after twenty minutes.",[11,3025,3026],{},"That isn't a technical shortfall. It's what happens when one event is organised and two\naudiences are invited.",[18,3028,3030],{"id":3029},"why-online-is-different","Why online is different",[11,3032,3033],{},"Someone in the room has invested: travel time, a day out of the diary, possibly a ticket.\nThat investment carries their attention through a dull stretch.",[11,3035,3036],{},"Someone watching from home has a tab open. The competition is one click away, and the social\npressure that works in a room — you don't walk out while someone is speaking — doesn't exist.",[11,3038,3039],{},"In practice that means shorter blocks, more changes of pace, and a reason to stay that gets\nrenewed every ten minutes.",[18,3041,3043],{"id":3042},"what-you-arrange-separately-at-minimum","What you arrange separately, at minimum",[11,3045,3046,3049],{},[42,3047,3048],{},"A dedicated online host."," Someone who introduces the stream, collects questions from the\nchat and bridges the breaks. Without that person, online watches an empty room the moment\nthe room takes a break.",[11,3051,3052,3055],{},[42,3053,3054],{},"Sound from the PA, not from a camera."," This is the single most important technical choice\nand the cheapest improvement available. Mediocre picture is forgiven; mediocre sound is not.",[11,3057,3058,3061],{},[42,3059,3060],{},"Questions from both channels."," If only the room can ask questions, the online audience is\nan audience. Alternate explicitly: one from the floor, one from the chat.",[11,3063,3064,3067],{},[42,3065,3066],{},"Its own schedule."," The break in the room is twenty-five minutes of coffee. For online\nthat's twenty-five minutes of nothing. Fill it, or say honestly when you'll be back.",[18,3069,3071],{"id":3070},"the-budget-is-often-wrong","The budget is often wrong",[11,3073,3074],{},"Hybrid is sold as cheaper than two events, and it is. But it's clearly more expensive than\none, and that difference is rarely budgeted properly.",[146,3076,3077,3086],{},[149,3078,3079],{},[152,3080,3081,3083],{},[155,3082,2542],{},[155,3084,3085],{},"What it typically takes",[165,3087,3088,3096,3104,3112,3120],{},[152,3089,3090,3093],{},[170,3091,3092],{},"Camera and operator",[170,3094,3095],{},"Two cameras minimum for a conversation",[152,3097,3098,3101],{},[170,3099,3100],{},"Audio feed",[170,3102,3103],{},"A connection to the room's PA",[152,3105,3106,3109],{},[170,3107,3108],{},"Streaming platform",[170,3110,3111],{},"Depends on viewer numbers",[152,3113,3114,3117],{},[170,3115,3116],{},"Online host",[170,3118,3119],{},"A dedicated person, all day",[152,3121,3122,3125],{},[170,3123,3124],{},"Extra rehearsal",[170,3126,3127],{},"An hour beforehand, with everyone",[11,3129,3130],{},"That last one gets skipped most often and causes the most problems. A setup first tested ten\nminutes before doors fails during the opening.",[75,3132,3133],{},[11,3134,3135],{},"Watch ten minutes of your own stream while the event runs — on a phone, with headphones, the\nway an attendee does. You'll hear what's wrong within a minute, and it's usually the sound.",[18,3137,3139],{"id":3138},"decide-up-front-what-online-does-not-get","Decide up front what online does not get",[11,3141,3142],{},"A hybrid event gets worse when you try to give online everything the room gets. The\nnetworking drinks, the wandering, the conversation in the break: none of that streams, and\nattempts to simulate it always disappoint.",[11,3144,3145],{},"So be explicit about what online is and isn't. \"You follow the plenary programme and can ask\nquestions; the workshops and drinks are on site only\" is an honest offer that leaves nobody\ndisappointed.",[11,3147,3148],{},"That difference can sit in the price too. An online ticket at half the room price makes\nsense to both parties — and it makes clear these are two different products.",[18,3150,3152],{"id":3151},"survey-them-separately","Survey them separately",[11,3154,3155],{},"Send online attendees a different survey from room attendees. They experienced a different\nevent, and the questions that matter to them — was the picture good, could you ask questions,\ndid you stay to the end — aren't on your standard form.",[11,3157,3158],{},"Without that split you get one average rating that says nothing about either group.",{"title":104,"searchDepth":105,"depth":105,"links":3160},[3161,3162,3163,3164,3165],{"id":3029,"depth":105,"text":3030},{"id":3042,"depth":105,"text":3043},{"id":3070,"depth":105,"text":3071},{"id":3138,"depth":105,"text":3139},{"id":3151,"depth":105,"text":3152},"2025-11-28","Adding online attendees sounds like a small extension. In practice it needs its own programme, its own technical setup and its own staffing.","\u002Fblog\u002Fhybride-events.svg","A room and three screens linked by a single camera feed",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fhybride-events",{"title":3018,"description":3167},"blog\u002Fhybride-events","EIqJPIgQ1LSkzkgrH6M7eLm3ZeO2uFzm5qU3AzPyO-s",{"id":3176,"title":3177,"author":6,"body":3178,"category":112,"date":3277,"description":3278,"extension":115,"featured":116,"image":3279,"imageAlt":3280,"meta":3281,"navigation":120,"path":3282,"readingTime":289,"seo":3283,"stem":3284,"__hash__":3285},"blog_en\u002Fblog\u002Fduurzaam-event-organiseren.md","Sustainability your guests actually notice",{"type":8,"value":3179,"toc":3270},[3180,3183,3186,3190,3201,3204,3208,3214,3220,3226,3232,3237,3241,3244,3247,3251,3254,3257,3260,3264,3267],[11,3181,3182],{},"Sustainability now appears in most enquiries from government bodies, educational\ninstitutions and larger companies. Often as an open question: \"what are you doing about\nsustainability?\"",[11,3184,3185],{},"For many venues the answer is a list that sounds better than it works. That's a shame,\nbecause a handful of measures do have real effect — and they're usually cheaper too.",[18,3187,3189],{"id":3188},"where-the-impact-actually-sits","Where the impact actually sits",[11,3191,3192,3193,3196,3197,3200],{},"At a typical event, most of the environmental load sits in two things: ",[42,3194,3195],{},"travel"," and\n",[42,3198,3199],{},"food",". Everything after that — waste, energy, materials — is together smaller than either\nof those alone.",[11,3202,3203],{},"That's worth knowing, because it means a venue going all-in on waste separation and\npaperless working is addressing the small lines while the large ones stay untouched.",[18,3205,3207],{"id":3206},"four-measures-that-do-work","Four measures that do work",[11,3209,3210,3213],{},[42,3211,3212],{},"Cut food waste."," Events throw away a lot. More accurate numbers, smaller portions with\ntop-ups rather than large servings, and an agreement about what happens to the surplus. This\nsaves money at the same time — it's the only measure that pays for itself immediately.",[11,3215,3216,3219],{},[42,3217,3218],{},"Shift the ratio on the menu."," Not fully vegetarian, but meat as one of the options rather\nthan the default. A menu where the vegetarian option is the default and meat is on request\nchanges the ratio considerably without denying anyone anything.",[11,3221,3222,3225],{},[42,3223,3224],{},"Make travelling easier."," A venue five minutes from the station, decent bike parking, or\nsimply a line in the invitation about the train connection. Travel is the biggest line and\nalso the one you as a venue control least — but a clear travel instruction genuinely changes\nhow people arrive.",[11,3227,3228,3231],{},[42,3229,3230],{},"Buy fewer single-use things."," No printed banners with a year on them, no tote bags full\nof things nobody takes home. This is also where clients push hardest themselves.",[75,3233,3234],{},[11,3235,3236],{},"Put one line in your quote about what you do as standard, not an entire appendix. \"Our\nstandard menu is vegetarian, with meat and fish on request\" says more than three paragraphs\nabout policy.",[18,3238,3240],{"id":3239},"what-mostly-just-sounds-good","What mostly just sounds good",[11,3242,3243],{},"A few things get mentioned often and do little: paperless meetings (negligible next to the\nmenu), local sourcing as a criterion in itself (transport is a small part of food's\nfootprint; what you eat weighs far more than where it came from), and carbon offsetting as a\nfirst measure rather than a last.",[11,3245,3246],{},"Offsetting isn't worthless, but it's the final step after everything you've genuinely\nreduced. If it's your first answer to what you're doing, a well-informed client will notice.",[18,3248,3250],{"id":3249},"let-the-client-choose-with-a-default","Let the client choose, with a default",[11,3252,3253],{},"The most effective mechanism costs nothing: change what happens when nobody chooses.",[11,3255,3256],{},"Most guests take whatever is put in front of them. If the standard lunch is vegetarian with\nmeat on request, the majority eats vegetarian — not because they were persuaded, but because\nthey didn't have a preference strong enough to act on.",[11,3258,3259],{},"The same applies to printed material, single-use items and giveaways. Make them opt-in\nrather than automatic, and the volume drops without anyone being told no. That's the\ndifference between a measure people notice and resent, and one they never notice at all.",[18,3261,3263],{"id":3262},"only-claim-what-you-can-back-up","Only claim what you can back up",[11,3265,3266],{},"The most important rule is the dullest: don't claim anything you can't substantiate. A\nclient who checks a claim and finds it thin won't trust the rest of your offering either.",[11,3268,3269],{},"Two measures you genuinely take, described in plain language, are worth more than a\nsustainability page full of ambitions.",{"title":104,"searchDepth":105,"depth":105,"links":3271},[3272,3273,3274,3275,3276],{"id":3188,"depth":105,"text":3189},{"id":3206,"depth":105,"text":3207},{"id":3239,"depth":105,"text":3240},{"id":3249,"depth":105,"text":3250},{"id":3262,"depth":105,"text":3263},"2025-11-14","Clients ask about it more and more. These are the measures that genuinely matter, and the ones that mostly just sound good.","\u002Fblog\u002Fduurzaam-event-organiseren.svg","A bar chart where travel and food dwarf waste, energy and materials",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fduurzaam-event-organiseren",{"title":3177,"description":3278},"blog\u002Fduurzaam-event-organiseren","fNG_bCNf1c8kOMV3nqO2hjqKpCgUu3l4fJzm2qm2FCw",{"id":3287,"title":3288,"author":6,"body":3289,"category":112,"date":3377,"description":3378,"extension":115,"featured":116,"image":3379,"imageAlt":3380,"meta":3381,"navigation":120,"path":3382,"readingTime":122,"seo":3383,"stem":3384,"__hash__":3385},"blog_en\u002Fblog\u002Fbadges-en-inchecken.md","The check-in queue is a design problem",{"type":8,"value":3290,"toc":3370},[3291,3294,3297,3301,3304,3307,3310,3314,3320,3326,3332,3336,3339,3342,3347,3351,3354,3357,3360,3364,3367],[11,3292,3293],{},"The programme starts at half past nine. At quarter past nine there's a queue out of the\ndoor, and the first impression of your event is a crowd waiting with coats over their arms.",[11,3295,3296],{},"That's rarely a staffing problem. It's almost always an arithmetic problem nobody did.",[18,3298,3300],{"id":3299},"the-sum-nobody-does","The sum nobody does",[11,3302,3303],{},"At an event with two hundred attendees starting at 9:30, most arrive between 9:00 and 9:15.\nThat's roughly a hundred and forty people in fifteen minutes.",[11,3305,3306],{},"If checking in one person takes thirty seconds, one desk handles thirty per quarter hour. So\nyou need nearly five to clear that peak — not two, which is the usual staffing.",[11,3308,3309],{},"Thirty seconds sounds like very little. Find the name, find the badge, hand it over, answer\na question: it's on the optimistic side.",[18,3311,3313],{"id":3312},"three-ways-to-make-it-shorter","Three ways to make it shorter",[11,3315,3316,3319],{},[42,3317,3318],{},"Don't sort badges alphabetically on one table."," Split them into letter blocks across\nseveral desks, with a sign above each. People then sort themselves before they arrive, and\nnobody is searching the same tray.",[11,3321,3322,3325],{},[42,3323,3324],{},"Use a QR code in the confirmation email."," Scanning takes five seconds instead of thirty.\nMost of the saving isn't the scan itself but the searching that disappears.",[11,3327,3328,3331],{},[42,3329,3330],{},"Let people take their own badge."," At events where attendees know each other, a table of\nbadges laid out alphabetically with one person helping beats three people handing them out.",[18,3333,3335],{"id":3334},"the-real-delay-isnt-at-check-in","The real delay isn't at check-in",[11,3337,3338],{},"Watch a queue and see where people stop after getting their badge. Usually not at the desk,\nbut ten metres further on: at the cloakroom, at the coffee, or at the programme board.",[11,3340,3341],{},"That congestion pushes back into the check-in queue. More desks won't fix it. What does:\nputting the cloakroom before check-in, moving coffee well out of the walking route, and\nmaking sure there's somewhere to go once past the desk.",[75,3343,3344],{},[11,3345,3346],{},"Put one person there who does nothing but point. No badges, no coats — just \"cloakroom on\nthe right, coffee straight ahead\". It's often the cheapest flow measure available.",[18,3348,3350],{"id":3349},"plan-for-the-latecomers","Plan for the latecomers",[11,3352,3353],{},"Every check-in is designed for the peak, and the tail gets forgotten: the people arriving\nhalf an hour after the start because their train was delayed.",[11,3355,3356],{},"With no provision they walk into the room while the first speaker is going, hunt for their\nbadge on an abandoned table, and interrupt at exactly the wrong moment.",[11,3358,3359],{},"So keep one staffed position until half an hour past the start, and lay the remaining badges\nout alphabetically on a table by the entrance. That's fifteen minutes of extra staffing and\nit saves you the disruption that otherwise runs through the whole opening.",[18,3361,3363],{"id":3362},"what-pre-check-in-gets-you","What pre-check-in gets you",[11,3365,3366],{},"If attendees confirm their details in advance — and get their badge digitally — the desk\nbecomes a checkpoint rather than a processing point.",[11,3368,3369],{},"That changes the whole morning. The peak is no longer a problem but a flow, and your staff\ncan do what they're there for: welcoming people instead of working through a list.",{"title":104,"searchDepth":105,"depth":105,"links":3371},[3372,3373,3374,3375,3376],{"id":3299,"depth":105,"text":3300},{"id":3312,"depth":105,"text":3313},{"id":3334,"depth":105,"text":3335},{"id":3349,"depth":105,"text":3350},{"id":3362,"depth":105,"text":3363},"2025-10-31","The first ten minutes decide how your event gets judged. Where queues come from and how to design them out.","\u002Fblog\u002Fbadges-en-inchecken.svg","One long check-in queue with a cross beside three short queues with a tick",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fbadges-en-inchecken",{"title":3288,"description":3378},"blog\u002Fbadges-en-inchecken","CJg01sLe2LUD6EIekx3wdfch8LohFc29OF5fQFDtrm8",{"id":3387,"title":3388,"author":6,"body":3389,"category":112,"date":3530,"description":3531,"extension":115,"featured":116,"image":3532,"imageAlt":3533,"meta":3534,"navigation":120,"path":3535,"readingTime":122,"seo":3536,"stem":3537,"__hash__":3538},"blog_en\u002Fblog\u002Fleveranciers-afstemmen.md","Who calls the caterer when it goes wrong?",{"type":8,"value":3390,"toc":3522},[3391,3394,3397,3401,3404,3450,3458,3462,3465,3468,3473,3477,3480,3483,3486,3490,3493,3496,3499,3503,3506,3509,3512,3516,3519],[11,3392,3393],{},"An average event has a venue, a caterer, a technical company, a photographer and sometimes a\ndecorator. Five parties, five contacts, five schedules of their own.",[11,3395,3396],{},"On paper that works fine. In practice every question arising on the day runs through one\nperson — and that's you, regardless of whether anyone agreed it.",[18,3398,3400],{"id":3399},"decide-in-advance-who-decides","Decide in advance who decides",[11,3402,3403],{},"The question isn't who the supplier is, but who decides when something changes. That's a\ndifferent list and it's rarely made explicit.",[146,3405,3406,3416],{},[149,3407,3408],{},[152,3409,3410,3413],{},[155,3411,3412],{},"Situation",[155,3414,3415],{},"Who decides",[165,3417,3418,3426,3434,3442],{},[152,3419,3420,3423],{},[170,3421,3422],{},"Programme overruns by half an hour",[170,3424,3425],{},"Client, with the venue",[152,3427,3428,3431],{},[170,3429,3430],{},"Twenty more guests than notified",[170,3432,3433],{},"Venue calls caterer, client pays",[152,3435,3436,3439],{},[170,3437,3438],{},"Technical failure mid-presentation",[170,3440,3441],{},"Technical company, venue informs client",[152,3443,3444,3447],{},[170,3445,3446],{},"Outdoor element in rain",[170,3448,3449],{},"Client decides, by an agreed time",[11,3451,3452,3453,3457],{},"That last point matters most: for a weather-dependent element you agree not only who\ndecides, but ",[3454,3455,3456],"em",{},"when",". \"We'll see how it goes\" means that at five o'clock nobody has decided\nanything while set-up should have started at four.",[18,3459,3461],{"id":3460},"one-shared-run-sheet-not-five","One shared run sheet, not five",[11,3463,3464],{},"Every supplier has their own schedule, and at detail level those schedules always contradict\neach other somewhere. The caterer expects a room empty by four; the technician is building\nuntil half past.",[11,3466,3467],{},"So put together one timeline that everyone gets, with all parties in it. Not as an email\nattachment, but as the version everyone looks at. The conflicts you then see — two parties\nneeding the same space at the same time — are precisely the ones that otherwise surface on\nthe day.",[75,3469,3470],{},[11,3471,3472],{},"Put every supplier contact's mobile number in the run sheet, and share it with the client\ntoo. Half the calls you get are from someone who actually needed somebody else.",[18,3474,3476],{"id":3475},"the-hour-before-doors","The hour before doors",[11,3478,3479],{},"Most problems arise not during the event but in the last hour before it: something wasn't\ndelivered, someone is stuck in traffic, the room isn't ready.",[11,3481,3482],{},"So schedule a fixed moment, say ninety minutes before doors, when everyone gathers briefly.\nFive minutes, standing. What's ready, what isn't, who needs something.",[11,3484,3485],{},"That quarter of an hour costs nothing and moves problems from \"during the event\" to \"before\nthe event\" — where they're still solvable.",[18,3487,3489],{"id":3488},"fix-one-contact-per-party","Fix one contact per party",[11,3491,3492],{},"At larger suppliers you deal with an account manager at quote stage and with someone you've\nnever met on the day. That's normal, and it goes wrong at one point: the agreements you made\nlived in the first person's head.",[11,3494,3495],{},"So ask every supplier two things: who is on site on the day, and has that person read the\nrun sheet? The answer to the second is surprisingly often no.",[11,3497,3498],{},"A short email to that person two days ahead, containing only the lines that concern them,\nsolves more than a complete run sheet nobody opens.",[18,3500,3502],{"id":3501},"agree-who-talks-to-the-client","Agree who talks to the client",[11,3504,3505],{},"At an event with five suppliers, the client can be told five different things about the same\ndelay. That's how an organiser ends up hearing that the sound is fine from the technician\nand that it isn't from the caterer's waiter.",[11,3507,3508],{},"So agree one thing: suppliers report to the venue, the venue reports to the client. Not\nbecause the client shouldn't know, but so that what they hear is consistent and comes from\nsomeone with the full picture.",[11,3510,3511],{},"It also protects your suppliers. A technician explaining a problem directly to a client will\nbe asked to solve something that isn't theirs to solve, and the answer will be a promise\nnobody can keep.",[18,3513,3515],{"id":3514},"record-what-went-wrong","Record what went wrong",[11,3517,3518],{},"Afterwards everyone is tired and everyone goes home. Yet that's the only moment when you\nknow exactly what didn't run well.",[11,3520,3521],{},"Five lines in the run sheet, straight after. Next time you work with the same suppliers, you\nstart there — and you'll be the only party who remembers what happened last time.",{"title":104,"searchDepth":105,"depth":105,"links":3523},[3524,3525,3526,3527,3528,3529],{"id":3399,"depth":105,"text":3400},{"id":3460,"depth":105,"text":3461},{"id":3475,"depth":105,"text":3476},{"id":3488,"depth":105,"text":3489},{"id":3501,"depth":105,"text":3502},{"id":3514,"depth":105,"text":3515},"2025-10-17","An event often has five parties working at once. Without agreement on who decides what, every problem lands with you.","\u002Fblog\u002Fleveranciers-afstemmen.svg","Five supplier bars on one shared timeline with a common moment marked",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fleveranciers-afstemmen",{"title":3388,"description":3531},"blog\u002Fleveranciers-afstemmen","7G_J0Q4Qo0QpNfo-yfGB2EVJoFW3WBgtuJyt3oAGaGE",{"id":3540,"title":3541,"author":6,"body":3542,"category":112,"date":3670,"description":3671,"extension":115,"featured":116,"image":3672,"imageAlt":3673,"meta":3674,"navigation":120,"path":3675,"readingTime":122,"seo":3676,"stem":3677,"__hash__":3678},"blog_en\u002Fblog\u002Fenquete-die-wordt-ingevuld.md","A survey people actually fill in",{"type":8,"value":3543,"toc":3663},[3544,3547,3550,3554,3560,3566,3572,3578,3582,3585,3588,3592,3625,3635,3640,3644,3647,3650,3653,3657,3660],[11,3545,3546],{},"Two days after the event a survey goes out with fifteen questions. Eleven responses arrive\nfrom two hundred attendees, nine of them from people who loved it.",[11,3548,3549],{},"On that basis you conclude the event was a success. It might have been, but you don't know —\nbecause the eighty people who left halfway didn't fill in your form.",[18,3551,3553],{"id":3552},"why-the-response-is-low","Why the response is low",[11,3555,3556,3559],{},[42,3557,3558],{},"It comes too late."," Two days on, someone is already into the next week. The memory is\nvague and the motivation gone.",[11,3561,3562,3565],{},[42,3563,3564],{},"It's too long."," Every question costs respondents. Past five, a large share drops out the\nmoment the scrollbar appears.",[11,3567,3568,3571],{},[42,3569,3570],{},"It asks about things the respondent doesn't care about."," Questions about room acoustics\nand signage are useful to you and uninteresting to them.",[11,3573,3574,3577],{},[42,3575,3576],{},"Nothing visibly came of it."," Someone who filled it in last year and never saw a result\nwon't bother this year.",[18,3579,3581],{"id":3580},"ask-while-theyre-still-there","Ask while they're still there",[11,3583,3584],{},"The highest response comes at the event itself, in the last ten minutes. A QR code on the\nscreen, one question, done. Thirty to fifty percent is normal there, against five to ten\npercent for an email afterwards.",[11,3586,3587],{},"The drawback is that you only reach people who stayed to the end. Hence the combination: one\nquestion in the room, and a short email afterwards for everyone else.",[18,3589,3591],{"id":3590},"five-questions-are-enough","Five questions are enough",[3593,3594,3595,3601,3607,3613,3619],"ol",{},[39,3596,3597,3600],{},[42,3598,3599],{},"Would you recommend this event to a colleague?"," (0–10) — one number you can compare\nacross years.",[39,3602,3603,3606],{},[42,3604,3605],{},"What was the most valuable part?"," (open) — this is what to keep.",[39,3608,3609,3612],{},[42,3610,3611],{},"What would you do differently next time?"," (open) — this is your improvement, often\nverbatim.",[39,3614,3615,3618],{},[42,3616,3617],{},"How would you rate the venue and catering?"," (1–5) — the practical side.",[39,3620,3621,3624],{},[42,3622,3623],{},"May we keep you posted about the next edition?"," (yes\u002Fno + email) — the only question\nthat produces something you can act on directly.",[11,3626,3627,3628,3631,3632,3634],{},"Those two open questions yield more usable information than ten rating scales combined.\nNumbers tell you ",[3454,3629,3630],{},"that"," something was off; the open answers tell you ",[3454,3633,1146],{},".",[75,3636,3637],{},[11,3638,3639],{},"Send the survey within two hours of the close, not the next day. It arrives while people are\nstill on the train home — the moment they're still full of it and have nothing else to do.",[18,3641,3643],{"id":3642},"measure-who-didnt-respond-too","Measure who didn't respond, too",[11,3645,3646],{},"A thirty percent response means seventy percent stayed silent, and that silence is rarely\nrandom. People who were delighted and people who were annoyed fill it in. People who found\nit average usually don't.",[11,3648,3649],{},"That means your average rating almost always comes out too high. Bear that in mind before\nconcluding from an 8.4 that everything went well.",[11,3651,3652],{},"A practical correction: look not only at the score but at the share who responded at all. A\n7.8 with forty percent response tells you more about your event than an 8.6 with eight\npercent.",[18,3654,3656],{"id":3655},"show-what-you-did-with-it","Show what you did with it",[11,3658,3659],{},"The most powerful way to raise next year's response is to report back this year. One\nparagraph in the next announcement: \"last year you asked for more time between sessions —\nthis year the breaks are twenty minutes instead of ten.\"",[11,3661,3662],{},"That's the best possible evidence that responding is worth it, and it costs you one sentence.",{"title":104,"searchDepth":105,"depth":105,"links":3664},[3665,3666,3667,3668,3669],{"id":3552,"depth":105,"text":3553},{"id":3580,"depth":105,"text":3581},{"id":3590,"depth":105,"text":3591},{"id":3642,"depth":105,"text":3643},{"id":3655,"depth":105,"text":3656},"2025-10-03","Most evaluations get under ten percent response and produce numbers you can't use. Five questions that do work.","\u002Fblog\u002Fenquete-die-wordt-ingevuld.svg","Two donut charts: 40 percent response in the room against 8 percent by email",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fenquete-die-wordt-ingevuld",{"title":3541,"description":3671},"blog\u002Fenquete-die-wordt-ingevuld","LgLlROMRvoE-feMtuyQhTzsHGUCIShPGfCiBFbFft3Y",{"id":3680,"title":3681,"author":6,"body":3682,"category":282,"date":3791,"description":3792,"extension":115,"featured":116,"image":3793,"imageAlt":3794,"meta":3795,"navigation":120,"path":3796,"readingTime":289,"seo":3797,"stem":3798,"__hash__":3799},"blog_en\u002Fblog\u002Fterugkerende-klant-behouden.md","The second booking is cheaper than the first",{"type":8,"value":3683,"toc":3784},[3684,3687,3690,3694,3697,3703,3709,3715,3719,3726,3729,3733,3736,3753,3756,3761,3765,3768,3771,3774,3778,3781],[11,3685,3686],{},"Winning a new client costs you an advertising budget, a viewing, two quotes and several\ncalls. Getting an existing client to book again costs one email at the right moment.",[11,3688,3689],{},"Yet in practice the ratio is reversed: nearly all the energy goes to new enquiries, and\nexisting clients hear nothing until they make contact themselves.",[18,3691,3693],{"id":3692},"why-clients-dont-come-back","Why clients don't come back",[11,3695,3696],{},"Ask a client who didn't return why not, and the answer is rarely dissatisfaction. Usually\nit's one of three things:",[11,3698,3699,3702],{},[42,3700,3701],{},"They didn't think of it."," The event was in March, the next one gets planned in January,\nand by then three venues are in view that were actually visible.",[11,3704,3705,3708],{},[42,3706,3707],{},"The contact left."," At corporate clients the organiser changes often. The new person\ndoesn't know you and starts searching.",[11,3710,3711,3714],{},[42,3712,3713],{},"It wasn't bad, but it wasn't memorable either."," A perfectly good evening with nothing\nthat stood out gives no reason to return.",[18,3716,3718],{"id":3717},"the-moment-that-counts","The moment that counts",[11,3720,3721,3722,3725],{},"The best time to raise the next booking is the week ",[3454,3723,3724],{},"after"," the event, not a year later. The\nmemory is positive and concrete.",[11,3727,3728],{},"It needn't be a sales conversation. An email with the photos, a thank-you, and one line:\n\"same period next year? I'll pencil it in.\" Nothing more is needed, and a surprising share\nsay yes on the spot.",[18,3730,3732],{"id":3731},"record-what-you-know-about-them","Record what you know about them",[11,3734,3735],{},"What brings a client back is that the second time is easier than the first. That only works\nif you know what you agreed last time.",[36,3737,3738,3741,3744,3747,3750],{},[39,3739,3740],{},"which room and layout they chose",[39,3742,3743],{},"what was on the menu, and which dietary requirements came up",[39,3745,3746],{},"what time it started and what time it actually finished",[39,3748,3749],{},"what went wrong and how you fixed it",[39,3751,3752],{},"who pays the invoices and under what reference",[11,3754,3755],{},"With that, your second quote is ready in ten minutes and it's more accurate than the first.\nFor the client that's the difference between explaining again and simply confirming.",[75,3757,3758],{},[11,3759,3760],{},"Set a reminder eleven months after an annually recurring event. You'll be ahead of the\nclient themselves, and you'll be the only one calling while the budget is still being\ndivided up.",[18,3762,3764],{"id":3763},"know-when-they-plan-again","Know when they plan again",[11,3766,3767],{},"With recurring events, timing matters more than the offer. A company holding a client day\nevery May doesn't decide in April but somewhere in the autumn, when next year's budgets get\ndivided.",[11,3769,3770],{},"Call in April and you're calling after the choice was made. Call in October and you're at\nthe table while there's still something to allocate.",[11,3772,3773],{},"So at every recurring event, ask one thing before you say goodbye: when is the next edition\ndecided? The answer determines when you call, and that's more often decisive than what you\nhave to say when you do.",[18,3775,3777],{"id":3776},"give-them-a-reason-that-holds","Give them a reason that holds",[11,3779,3780],{},"Rewarding returning clients needn't mean discount — discount is the most expensive loyalty\ninstrument there is and it lowers your price permanently.",[11,3782,3783],{},"What works better: priority on popular dates, the room available an hour earlier, a fixed\ncontact, or the option to confirm final numbers later. Those have value to them and cost you\nlittle — and they make clear that an existing client is treated differently from yesterday's\nenquiry.",{"title":104,"searchDepth":105,"depth":105,"links":3785},[3786,3787,3788,3789,3790],{"id":3692,"depth":105,"text":3693},{"id":3717,"depth":105,"text":3718},{"id":3731,"depth":105,"text":3732},{"id":3763,"depth":105,"text":3764},{"id":3776,"depth":105,"text":3777},"2025-09-19","An existing client costs a fraction of a new one. Yet nearly all the attention goes to winning rather than keeping.","\u002Fblog\u002Fterugkerende-klant-behouden.svg","The same client returning in four consecutive years along a timeline",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fterugkerende-klant-behouden",{"title":3681,"description":3792},"blog\u002Fterugkerende-klant-behouden","Z6iCPHBJR0gVtc4CrWi-sN3WrNdNWm3ubULIOx1oCnw",{"id":3801,"title":3802,"author":6,"body":3803,"category":874,"date":3924,"description":3925,"extension":115,"featured":116,"image":3926,"imageAlt":3927,"meta":3928,"navigation":120,"path":3929,"readingTime":289,"seo":3930,"stem":3931,"__hash__":3932},"blog_en\u002Fblog\u002Feventwebsite-die-converteert.md","What belongs on your event page",{"type":8,"value":3804,"toc":3917},[3805,3808,3811,3815,3821,3827,3833,3839,3845,3851,3855,3861,3867,3873,3879,3884,3888,3891,3894,3898,3901,3904,3907,3911,3914],[11,3806,3807],{},"Someone clicks a link in a newsletter and lands on your event page. Within fifteen seconds\nthey decide whether to read on or click away.",[11,3809,3810],{},"In those fifteen seconds they look for three things: what this is, when and where it is, and\nwhat it costs. If one of those isn't immediately visible, they start searching — and\nsearching is where you lose visitors.",[18,3812,3814],{"id":3813},"the-order-people-read-in","The order people read in",[11,3816,3817,3820],{},[42,3818,3819],{},"What it is."," Not the name of the event, but what happens. \"Annual Conference 2026\" says\nnothing; \"A day on public procurement for municipal buyers\" says everything.",[11,3822,3823,3826],{},[42,3824,3825],{},"When and where."," Date, time, place. At the top, not under a \"practical information\"\nheading halfway down.",[11,3828,3829,3832],{},[42,3830,3831],{},"What it costs."," Even when it's free. \"Free\" is a selling point and belongs in view.",[11,3834,3835,3838],{},[42,3836,3837],{},"Who it's for."," People want to know whether they belong there. One sentence will do.",[11,3840,3841,3844],{},[42,3842,3843],{},"What actually happens."," The programme, with names and times. This is what converts the\nundecided.",[11,3846,3847,3850],{},[42,3848,3849],{},"How to register."," A button, not an email address.",[18,3852,3854],{"id":3853},"whats-most-often-missing","What's most often missing",[11,3856,3857,3860],{},[42,3858,3859],{},"An end time."," Nearly every page gives the start; far fewer say when it finishes. For\nanyone travelling or collecting children, that's the deciding detail.",[11,3862,3863,3866],{},[42,3864,3865],{},"What's included."," Is lunch part of it? Is parking free? At a business event costing a\nhundred and fifty euros, that isn't a detail.",[11,3868,3869,3872],{},[42,3870,3871],{},"How to get there."," An address isn't a travel instruction. Two lines about the train and\none about parking belong there.",[11,3874,3875,3878],{},[42,3876,3877],{},"Speaker names."," \"Various speakers from the field\" sells nothing. One name your audience\nrecognises does more than three paragraphs about the format.",[75,3880,3881],{},[11,3882,3883],{},"Put the registration button on the page at least twice: at the top for those already\nconvinced, and below the programme for those who wanted to read first. The second often\noutperforms the first.",[18,3885,3887],{"id":3886},"write-for-the-phone","Write for the phone",[11,3889,3890],{},"Most traffic to event pages comes from phones, often via a link in a group chat or a\nnewsletter. What reads as a tidy three-column layout on a desktop becomes a long ribbon on a\nphone, with the programme disappearing off the bottom.",[11,3892,3893],{},"The test is simple: open your own page on your phone and don't scroll. Is what it is, when,\nwhere and what it costs all there? If not, some of your visitors start at a disadvantage.",[18,3895,3897],{"id":3896},"write-the-confirmation-email-just-as-carefully","Write the confirmation email just as carefully",[11,3899,3900],{},"The page convinces, but the confirmation email is what people keep. At most events that's an\nautomated message with an order number and nothing else.",[11,3902,3903],{},"Put in what someone needs on the day: date and time, the address with travel advice, when it\nfinishes, and who to call if something comes up. That's the email people dig out on the\ntrain, and it determines whether they arrive on time and in the right place.",[11,3905,3906],{},"Attach a calendar file. One click and it's in the diary someone actually looks at — the\ncheapest defence against no-shows there is.",[18,3908,3910],{"id":3909},"keep-it-current-to-the-last-day","Keep it current to the last day",[11,3912,3913],{},"A page still saying \"programme to follow\" two weeks out costs you registrations in exactly\nthe period when most decisions get made.",[11,3915,3916],{},"And afterwards: leave the page up, but add what happened and when the next edition is. That\npage keeps drawing search traffic, and that traffic is precisely your audience for next time.",{"title":104,"searchDepth":105,"depth":105,"links":3918},[3919,3920,3921,3922,3923],{"id":3813,"depth":105,"text":3814},{"id":3853,"depth":105,"text":3854},{"id":3886,"depth":105,"text":3887},{"id":3896,"depth":105,"text":3897},{"id":3909,"depth":105,"text":3910},"2025-09-05","Visitors decide in fifteen seconds whether to keep reading. This is the order they look for information, and what they usually can't find.","\u002Fblog\u002Feventwebsite-die-converteert.svg","An event page on a phone with the key facts at the top and a register button",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Feventwebsite-die-converteert",{"title":3802,"description":3925},"blog\u002Feventwebsite-die-converteert","kN_Y-vLcuFopEfHrs7DviC9jkpLsLaTzn2Ez40JMoVQ",{"id":3934,"title":3935,"author":6,"body":3936,"category":658,"date":4027,"description":4028,"extension":115,"featured":116,"image":4029,"imageAlt":4030,"meta":4031,"navigation":120,"path":4032,"readingTime":122,"seo":4033,"stem":4034,"__hash__":4035},"blog_en\u002Fblog\u002Faanbetaling-innen.md","Why your deposit arrives late",{"type":8,"value":3937,"toc":4020},[3938,3941,3944,3948,3951,3954,3958,3961,3964,3970,3976,3982,3986,3989,3992,3997,4001,4004,4007,4010,4014,4017],[11,3939,3940],{},"The quote is signed, the date is fixed, and the deposit invoice has gone out. Three weeks\nlater the money still isn't there. You send a reminder, then another, and eventually you\ncall — about an amount nobody disagrees on.",[11,3942,3943],{},"That costs time and returns nothing. And until it's paid, you have a date blocked with no\ncertainty at all.",[18,3945,3947],{"id":3946},"the-problem-is-the-order","The problem is the order",[11,3949,3950],{},"At most venues it runs like this: sign first, invoice second, then wait. Between the moment\nthe client enthusiastically said yes and the moment they have to pay, days pass — and in\nthose days the subject drifts into the background.",[11,3952,3953],{},"The fix is to reverse the order: make paying part of signing rather than a step afterwards.",[18,3955,3957],{"id":3956},"paying-at-the-moment-of-agreement","Paying at the moment of agreement",[11,3959,3960],{},"A payment link in the same screen where the client signs changes behaviour entirely. Not\nbecause people suddenly want to pay sooner, but because at that moment they're already\ndealing with arranging this event.",[11,3962,3963],{},"Three things make the difference:",[11,3965,3966,3969],{},[42,3967,3968],{},"One click, not a bank transfer."," A link to iDEAL is thirty seconds of work. A manual\ntransfer with IBAN and reference is a task that lands on a list.",[11,3971,3972,3975],{},[42,3973,3974],{},"Immediately after the signature."," Not in a separate email the next day. The moment of\nconfirming is the moment of maximum willingness.",[11,3977,3978,3981],{},[42,3979,3980],{},"A clear amount and what it's for."," \"Deposit 30% — confirms your reservation for 14\nNovember\" is more concrete than an invoice number.",[18,3983,3985],{"id":3984},"corporate-clients-often-cant-click","Corporate clients often can't click",[11,3987,3988],{},"At larger organisations payment runs through accounts payable, and an iDEAL link doesn't\nhelp. There, something else applies: make sure the invoice is right first time.",[11,3990,3991],{},"Ask at signature for the billing address, the purchase order number and the cost centre.\nThose are the three things a corporate invoice stalls on, and at the moment of signing you\nget them without effort. Three weeks later you have to phone for them.",[75,3993,3994],{},[11,3995,3996],{},"Tie the date explicitly to the deposit: \"the reservation is confirmed once the deposit is\nreceived.\" That isn't a threat but clarity, and it changes the client's priority\nimmediately.",[18,3998,4000],{"id":3999},"pick-a-percentage-that-makes-sense","Pick a percentage that makes sense",[11,4002,4003],{},"Thirty percent is common, but it isn't a law of nature. What matters is that the deposit\ncovers your actual up-front outlay: the purchasing you do before anyone walks in.",[11,4005,4006],{},"At a party with significant purchasing and hired staff that's higher than at a meeting where\nyou mainly provide a room. Fifty percent for the first is reasonable; fifty percent for the\nsecond feels like distrust.",[11,4008,4009],{},"Explain it in one line in the quote. \"The deposit covers the purchasing we do in advance\" is\nan acceptable explanation to almost everyone, and it moves the conversation away from\nwhether you trust the client.",[18,4011,4013],{"id":4012},"automate-the-reminder","Automate the reminder",[11,4015,4016],{},"If it still hasn't been paid, the first reminder shouldn't come from you but from the\nsystem. An automatic email on day seven removes the awkwardness: it isn't a personal demand,\nit's a process.",[11,4018,4019],{},"At most venues that resolves the majority of late deposits before anyone has to think about\nit. What's left is a small number of cases where something is genuinely wrong — and those are\nexactly the ones where a phone call is worth making.",{"title":104,"searchDepth":105,"depth":105,"links":4021},[4022,4023,4024,4025,4026],{"id":3946,"depth":105,"text":3947},{"id":3956,"depth":105,"text":3957},{"id":3984,"depth":105,"text":3985},{"id":3999,"depth":105,"text":4000},{"id":4012,"depth":105,"text":4013},"2025-08-22","A deposit that only lands after three reminders costs more than money. How to make it part of signing.","\u002Fblog\u002Faanbetaling-innen.svg","A signed quote leading straight into a payment button with a tick",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Faanbetaling-innen",{"title":3935,"description":4028},"blog\u002Faanbetaling-innen","EN_rjo5YdZ0RlFgdJ5MTsq4QUpbvPKs1K1SFg-mxOsE",{"id":4037,"title":4038,"author":6,"body":4039,"category":368,"date":4125,"description":4126,"extension":115,"featured":116,"image":4127,"imageAlt":4128,"meta":4129,"navigation":120,"path":4130,"readingTime":289,"seo":4131,"stem":4132,"__hash__":4133},"blog_en\u002Fblog\u002Fseizoen-dalperiode.md","What to do with January and July",{"type":8,"value":4040,"toc":4119},[4041,4044,4047,4051,4054,4060,4066,4072,4078,4082,4085,4088,4091,4096,4100,4103,4106,4109,4113,4116],[11,4042,4043],{},"Occupancy at most venues follows the same pattern: busy in spring, busy in autumn, and two\ndeep troughs in January and the summer holidays.",[11,4045,4046],{},"The reflex is to fill those troughs with discount. That works, but it has a cost that only\nshows up later: clients who get used to low-season prices start asking for them in high\nseason too.",[18,4048,4050],{"id":4049},"discount-isnt-the-only-instrument","Discount isn't the only instrument",[11,4052,4053],{},"What you sell in a quiet period is capacity that would otherwise sit empty. Every euro above\nyour variable cost is profit. But that doesn't mean the price has to drop — it means you can\noffer something else for the same money.",[11,4055,4056,4059],{},[42,4057,4058],{},"Give more instead of discounting."," Same price, but the room for an extra half-day, an\nadditional break serving, or free parking. The client gets value, you keep your rate intact\nfor high season.",[11,4061,4062,4065],{},[42,4063,4064],{},"Sell a different product."," January is a poor month for parties and an excellent one for\nmeetings, training and kick-offs. That doesn't need a lower price, it needs different\naudiences — and different marketing.",[11,4067,4068,4071],{},[42,4069,4070],{},"Make low season an explicit part of your offering."," A low-season rate that officially\nexists and appears in your price list is a different thing from a discount you give away\ncase by case. The first is policy; the second is a precedent.",[11,4073,4074,4077],{},[42,4075,4076],{},"Fill with what isn't season-bound."," Photo shoots, filming, exam sessions, members'\nmeetings. Low revenue per hour, but they're hours that would otherwise return nothing.",[18,4079,4081],{"id":4080},"work-out-what-an-empty-room-costs","Work out what an empty room costs",[11,4083,4084],{},"This is the sum that changes the conversation. A room standing empty still costs you energy,\ninsurance, depreciation and part of your fixed staffing.",[11,4086,4087],{},"Say those fixed costs come to two hundred euros per half-day. Then a three-hundred-euro\nbooking isn't \"far too cheap\" — it's a hundred euros better than an empty room, provided your\nvariable costs are covered.",[11,4089,4090],{},"That isn't an argument for giving everything away. It's an argument for knowing where your\nfloor genuinely is, so you don't turn down a booking out of uncertainty that you should have\ntaken.",[75,4092,4093],{},[11,4094,4095],{},"Put your quiet periods in the calendar a year ahead and start working on them three months\nout, not three weeks. Someone still looking for a January room in November is the exception;\nsomeone planning their year in September is the rule.",[18,4097,4099],{"id":4098},"use-the-quiet-for-what-its-for","Use the quiet for what it's for",[11,4101,4102],{},"Not every empty week needs filling. A quiet period is also the only time in the year when\nyou can do things that are impossible in season: major maintenance, reconfiguring a room,\ntraining new staff, revising your price list.",[11,4104,4105],{},"Venues that fill their quiet periods entirely with cheap work push that job to a moment that\ndoesn't exist. The result is a high season starting with deferred maintenance and untrained\nstaff.",[11,4107,4108],{},"So plan in advance which weeks you sell and which you keep. Two weeks reserved for your own\norganisation isn't lost revenue but preparation for the months where the money is made.",[18,4110,4112],{"id":4111},"protect-your-high-season","Protect your high season",[11,4114,4115],{},"The most important rule with low-season pricing is that it's clearly bounded. Name the\nperiod explicitly, name the end date, and don't budge when a client asks for the same price\nin May.",[11,4117,4118],{},"\"This rate applies to January and the first three weeks of August\" is an agreement. \"We can\nprobably do something on the price\" is the start of an annual negotiation in which you give\naway a little more each year.",{"title":104,"searchDepth":105,"depth":105,"links":4120},[4121,4122,4123,4124],{"id":4049,"depth":105,"text":4050},{"id":4080,"depth":105,"text":4081},{"id":4098,"depth":105,"text":4099},{"id":4111,"depth":105,"text":4112},"2025-08-08","Every venue has quiet months. Four ways to fill them without permanently lowering your rates.","\u002Fblog\u002Fseizoen-dalperiode.svg","Twelve monthly bars with January and July clearly lower",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fseizoen-dalperiode",{"title":4038,"description":4126},"blog\u002Fseizoen-dalperiode","tzZLE6uOYfj90nZ9uw4C2s-zB6hl_c1UWx8QQbDnjrc",{"id":4135,"title":4136,"author":6,"body":4137,"category":112,"date":4241,"description":4242,"extension":115,"featured":116,"image":4243,"imageAlt":4244,"meta":4245,"navigation":120,"path":4246,"readingTime":289,"seo":4247,"stem":4248,"__hash__":4249},"blog_en\u002Fblog\u002Feerste-honderd-dagen-systeem.md","Moving to new software without stopping everything",{"type":8,"value":4138,"toc":4234},[4139,4142,4145,4148,4152,4155,4162,4165,4169,4175,4181,4187,4193,4199,4203,4206,4211,4215,4218,4221,4224,4228,4231],[11,4140,4141],{},"Most venues run on a combination of a calendar, a folder of Word quotes, a spreadsheet for\nnumbers and a mailbox holding everything else. That works — until it doesn't.",[11,4143,4144],{},"The move to a single system gets postponed for years, and the reason is nearly always the\nsame: fear that something will go wrong mid-transition with events already booked.",[11,4146,4147],{},"That fear is justified. It's also solvable, with an order of operations.",[18,4149,4151],{"id":4150},"dont-start-by-migrating","Don't start by migrating",[11,4153,4154],{},"The most common mistake is starting by moving everything across. That's months of work on\ndata from events largely already past, and it delivers nothing until it's finished.",[11,4156,4157,4158,4161],{},"Start at the front instead: ",[42,4159,4160],{},"every new enquiry goes into the new system from day one.","\nLive events stay where they are until they've happened.",[11,4163,4164],{},"That means a few months of two systems side by side, which feels messy. But the alternative\n— waiting until everything is migrated — means never starting.",[18,4166,4168],{"id":4167},"a-workable-order","A workable order",[11,4170,4171,4174],{},[42,4172,4173],{},"Week 1–2: your offering."," Rooms, packages, products, prices, VAT rates. This is the\nfoundation quotes get built from, and it's one-off work that pays back immediately.",[11,4176,4177,4180],{},[42,4178,4179],{},"Week 2–3: one event type, end to end."," Take the type you run most and go all the way\nthrough: enquiry, quote, confirmation, run sheet, invoice. Once, properly, with a colleague\nalongside.",[11,4182,4183,4186],{},[42,4184,4185],{},"Week 3–6: all new enquiries."," From now on nothing goes into the old system. This is when\nit really begins, and when most of the questions come.",[11,4188,4189,4192],{},[42,4190,4191],{},"Month 2–3: move confirmed events."," Only what's still to happen. Anything past stays in\nthe old system as an archive.",[11,4194,4195,4198],{},[42,4196,4197],{},"Month 3: the templates."," Now that you know how you work, record what repeats.",[18,4200,4202],{"id":4201},"what-not-to-migrate","What not to migrate",[11,4204,4205],{},"Historical data from events already past. The temptation is strong — it feels incomplete —\nbut the practical value is small. Your old system stays readable, and the few times you need\nsomething from 2023, you look it up there.",[75,4207,4208],{},[11,4209,4210],{},"Appoint one person to collect every question in the first month and adjust the setup.\nWithout that role everyone solves their own problem, and after a month the team is working\nfive different ways in the same system.",[18,4212,4214],{"id":4213},"leave-the-old-system-readable","Leave the old system readable",[11,4216,4217],{},"The temptation to shut the old way down immediately is strong — it forces everyone across. In\npractice it backfires: at the first question the new system doesn't answer, somebody is stuck\nwith a client on the phone.",[11,4219,4220],{},"So keep the old system readable for another three months, but not writable. Nobody can add\nanything new; everyone can look something up.",[11,4222,4223],{},"After three months, check how often it was actually consulted. At most venues the answer is\n\"hardly ever\", and you can close it down. If the answer is \"weekly\", something is missing\nfrom the new setup — and that's useful information rather than a problem.",[18,4225,4227],{"id":4226},"expect-a-dip","Expect a dip",[11,4229,4230],{},"In weeks three to five it runs slower than before. That's normal and it isn't evidence the\nchoice was wrong: everyone is doing things for the first time, and the first time always\ntakes longer.",[11,4232,4233],{},"The dip is short if you expect it and long if you read it as proof it isn't working. So\nagree up front to evaluate after three months, not three weeks — then you're judging the\nsystem on how it works rather than on how it felt to learn.",{"title":104,"searchDepth":105,"depth":105,"links":4235},[4236,4237,4238,4239,4240],{"id":4150,"depth":105,"text":4151},{"id":4167,"depth":105,"text":4168},{"id":4201,"depth":105,"text":4202},{"id":4213,"depth":105,"text":4214},{"id":4226,"depth":105,"text":4227},"2025-07-25","The biggest fear about a new system is that live events get disrupted. An order of operations that prevents it.","\u002Fblog\u002Feerste-honderd-dagen-systeem.svg","Scattered documents moving through three phases into one system",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Feerste-honderd-dagen-systeem",{"title":4136,"description":4242},"blog\u002Feerste-honderd-dagen-systeem","KcS6af-yonxpqq6M8R5ROvix6LuxDfYA6rWRHNfq-70"]