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HBP# HEC291
Volume 19
Issue 3
September 2021
An EPIC Pricing Challenge

Case1 prepared by Gary F. GEBHARDT2, 3
“So, pricing guy, what do you think we should do?” asked Ken. It was April 23, 2020, and Ken
Anderson, treasurer of EPIC (Ethnography Praxis in Industry Community), was wondering how
much to charge participants to attend the organization’s annual conference in October. When
Gary Gebhardt, associate professor of marketing at HEC Montréal and a fellow member of EPIC,
had co-chaired EPIC2017, he had suggested pricing changes that had significantly improved
EPIC’s funding and membership levels. But due to the COVID-19 epidemic, EPIC was now
facing a whole new challenge. Having decided to change its annual conference from an in-person
to a virtual event, the organization had several questions about how to make it work. But perhaps
the biggest question was how to adjust the registration fee, particularly since the annual
conference provided the vast majority of EPIC’s funding. Unsure how much to charge for a
virtual event, Ken had turned to Gary – his pricing guy – for advice.
EPIC – From conference to community

In 2005, Ken Anderson and Tracy Lovejoy launched an annual conference bringing together
anthropologists and people using ethnographic methods in industry. The word praxis refers to
practice as opposed to theory, and EPIC’s mission was to provide a space for practitioners in
industry using ethnographic methods, rather than the more theoretically and academically
oriented approach promoted by the American Anthropological Association (AAA). At that time,
Ken was working for Intel and Tracy was working for Microsoft doing ethnographic work to
understand markets and how they were likely to change over time. Having earned a PhD in
anthropology from Brown University, Ken was doing field work within cultures around the world
to give Intel insight into how markets for microchips were likely to evolve. He had previously
done similar work for Apple.
The first EPIC conference, held in 2005 on the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington,
attracted 250 participants. Although ninety abstracts were submitted for double-blind review,
only fifteen could be accepted because of time and space constraints. Attendees included
ethnographers,
1
This case was prepared for a class discussion and not as an endorsement, source of primary data, or illustration of effective or
ineffective management. Some data and events have been condensed, disguised, or changed to achieve the pedagogical goals
and parameters of the case study and are not representative of what happened.
2
Gary F. Gebhardt is an associate professor in HEC Montréal’s Department of Marketing.
3
Professor Gebhardt is thankful to EPIC, and particularly to Rita Denny, Jennifer Collier-Jennings, Ken Anderson, and Simon
Roberts for their help in tracking down some of data in the case, as well as for allowing him to use the EPIC survey data.
© HEC Montréal 2021
All rights reserved for all countries. Any translation or alteration in any form whatsoever is prohibited.
The International Journal of Case Studies in Management is published on-line (http://www.hec.ca/en/case_centre/ijcsm/), ISSN 1911–2599.
This case is intended to be used as the framework for an educational discussion and does not imply any judgement on the
administrative situation presented. Deposited under number 9 10 2021 001 with the HEC Montréal Case Centre, 3000, chemin de
This document is authorized for use only in Prof Lim Wei Shi's MKT4811A Pricing Strategy at NUS Business School from Jan 2023 to Jun
2023.
la Côte-Sainte-Catherine, Montréal (Québec) H3T 2A7 Canada.
2023.
as well as design and marketing consultancies and academics interested in the use of
ethnographic methods in industry. Over the next fifteen years, the conference continued to
evolve, as shown in Exhibit 1, EPIC conference history 2005–2020.
In 2014, a strategy was formulated to change EPIC from an annual conference to a permanent
community, although it continued to operate as a non-profit. As a result, the meaning of the EPIC
acronym changed from Ethnography Praxis in Industry Conference to Ethnography Praxis in
Industry Community. At the same time, EPIC became a formal membership organization, which
created a second revenue stream. Members were offered a 10% discount on annual conferences
as well as larger discounts on conference tutorials.
The new structure and more dependable revenue stream enabled EPIC to hire Jennifer Collier-
Jennings, its first full-time employee, to handle year-round communications, foster community
engagement through a new website, build publication and video libraries, and create a business
directory. The website contained all the conference proceedings since EPIC’s founding and video
recordings of conference presentations. Over the years, the website continued to add content,
including webinars and online courses. A job board was added to help organizations recruit
ethnographers who wanted to work in industry.
In January 2019, EPIC hired Rita Denny, its second staff member, as executive director. Rita had
earned a PhD in anthropology from the University of Chicago, worked as a consultant in
Chicago, edited several books on using ethnography in business, and taught at Northwestern
University. She had also co-chaired EPIC2017 with Gary. Rita’s role was to develop and
implement EPIC’s long- term strategy, add new training programs, facilitate member discussions
throughout the year, and identify other ways to serve and engage the EPIC Community beyond
the annual conference. Examples of courses offered by EPIC in winter 2020 included (1)
Ethnographic Research Design and Innovation, eight 75-minute online sessions spread over two
months ($750), and (2) Maximizing Your Impact as a Change Agent, four two-hour online
sessions ($500).1 Courses required EPIC membership ($150/year) and were typically limited to
twenty participants.
EPIC planned to hire two more employees in 2020 to manage its membership and assist
conference hosts, who changed each year. Although these developments were seen as positive,
demonstrating EPIC’s growth and ability to offer increasing value to members, they also entailed
significantly larger fixed costs. Revenues from EPIC2020 (including sponsorships, tutorials, and
other revenue streams) would need to cover most of the organization’s costs.
EPIC2017, EPIC2018, and EPIC2019

Gary had met Ken in May 2006 at a Marketing Science Institute (MSI) conference, Business
Insights from Consumer Culture, where Ken had presented Ethnography Inside, a talk (and play
on words) about how Intel was using ethnographic insights to develop products and entire
markets. Gary had a keen interest in how practitioners were using ethnographic methods and,
following the conference, he stayed in touch with Ken. Six years later, Gary attended his first
EPIC conference in Savannah, Georgia. In 2016, Gary volunteered to co-chair EPIC2017 at
HEC Montréal, in
1
Unless otherwise indicated, all dollars are expressed in United States dollars.
© HEC 2
Montréal, Canada, and convinced Rita to be his co-chair. (Three years later, Rita became EPIC’s
executive director.)
As part of their preparation for EPIC2017, Gary and Rita met with EPIC’s board of directors in
Minneapolis during EPIC2016. At that meeting, the idea of eliminating the early registration
discount was raised. EPIC2016 co-chair Mark Bergen (professor of marketing at the University
of Minnesota) and Gary observed that the early registration discount didn’t make sense since it
was unlikely that a $100 discount would be a determining factor for anyone deciding whether or
not to attend the conference, and EPIC was simply “leaving money on the table” by offering it.
At the time, EPIC’s on-site registration price was the same as the regular price, so once the early
registration date had passed, there was no incentive to register until the last minute, making it
difficult to plan for space, food, and entertainment requirements. In addition, attendees were
offered a 100% refund up to thirty days before the conference. Gary suggested that people be
encouraged to register early by setting a limit on the number of attendees, but that discounts and
on-site registration be eliminated.
Gary also noted that most academic conferences require attendees to be members – or at least to
join as part of the registration process. With EPIC membership hovering between 200 and 300,
this would be a way not only to increase membership, but also to maintain ties with participants
following the conference. However, eliminating the early registration discount and requiring
everyone to pay an annual membership fee of $150 would increase the cost for non-members to
$800. Since this was considered too big a leap from the early registration fee of $650 paid by
non- members from 2012 to 2016, EPIC decided to lower the conference fee to $600 and to
require everyone to be a member, reducing the cost for first-time attendees to $750 – equivalent
to the non- member on-site registration fee in previous years.
The pricing changes combined with an exciting program enabled EPIC2017 to sell out in less
than sixty days, something that had never happened before. In fact, there was a 200-person
waiting list! To accommodate the overflow and further increase membership, the entire
conference was simulcast to EPIC members around the world. By the end of 2017, membership
had climbed from 300 to 800!
The same pricing strategy was used for EPIC2018 and EPIC2019, which sold out even faster.
EPIC2018 was originally planned for 300 people, but after it had sold out in 24 hours, it was
moved to a larger venue. Registration totalled 600, with another 300 on the waiting list. With a
capacity limit of 425 people, EPIC2019 sold out in 48 hours, with more than 500 people on the
waiting list. By the end of 2019, EPIC had more than 1,000 members.
On November 12, 2019, the final day of EPIC2019, EPIC2020’s co-chairs announced that the
following year’s conference would be held in Melbourne, Australia, from October 25 to 28, 2020.
Planning for the next year’s conference had begun months before, as it did every year.
The COVID-19 pandemic

The following year was marked by the COVID-19 pandemic. On January 9, 2020, the World
Health Organization (WHO) identified the COVID-19 novel coronavirus. Up to that point, it had
been believed that the virus was localized in Wuhan, China, but on January 25, the first case was
reported
© HEC 3
in Melbourne, Australia – future home of EPIC2020. By that time, there were 1,320 identified
cases in ten countries, including Australia and China, and the numbers were growing
exponentially. Five days later, the number of identified cases had risen to 7,818 in sixteen
countries, and WHO had declared a global health emergency.
COVID-19 continued its rampage around the world and, by June 1, had infected more than
6 million people and killed at least 371,166. Those 6 million people represented just one percent
of the world’s population, however, and it was feared the infection rates would continue to
increase until more than fifty percent of the global population had been infected. The earliest
expected date for the creation of an effective vaccine against COVID-19 was December 2020.
As the virus continued to spread, countries began implementing social-distancing policies to

flatten the curve, attempting to slow transmission rates so the number of people infected at any
one time would not overwhelm their health care systems. These policies included issuing stay-at-
home orders, closing shopping malls, schools, universities, and churches, and cancelling all
sporting events. Economies around the world rapidly contracted, and unemployment rates soared.
By May 9, the U.S. had a 17.2% unemployment rate – the highest seen since the Great
Depression in the 1930s.
Although the U.S. unemployment rate was at an all-time high, and the U.S. was almost certainly
headed for a severe recession, the U.S. dollar (USD) was still considered a safe haven for
investors. Already strong before the pandemic, the USD became even stronger compared to other
currencies such as the Australian dollar (AUD), the British pound, the Canadian dollar (CAD),
and the euro. Since EPIC2020 registration and membership fees were in USD, the cost was
increasing for those in other countries. On March 20, the week before the U.S. released record-
breaking unemployment claims, the USD reached a two-year high compared to other currencies:
 Australian dollar/USD: 1.74 vs. 1.44 in 2019
 British pound/USD: 0.870 vs. 0.784 in 2019
 Canadian dollar/USD: 1.45 vs. 1.33 in 2019
 Euro/USD: 0.938 vs. 0.893 in 2019
The raging pandemic and its economic impact were making it increasingly unlikely that
EPIC2020 could be held in Melbourne on October 25–28, 2020.
Impact of COVID-19 on EPIC2020

On March 3, 2020, Rita, Jennifer, the EPIC board, and the EPIC2020 co-chairs began considering
various ways 2020 might unfold and how they could handle those possibilities. They identified
five possible scenarios:
1. Assume the situation will improve by summer and hold the conference as planned.
2. Hold a smaller conference in Melbourne in response to budget cuts and planning
uncertainties.
3. Hold a smaller conference in Melbourne with parallel regional conferences/meetings,
enabling people to participate without leaving their home countries/regions.
© HEC 4
4. Hold a virtual conference with local nodes around the world where participants could
meet to watch presentations and discuss the material, providing the interaction expected at
a conference. Again, people could participate without leaving their home
countries/regions.
5. Cancel EPIC2020.
By March 26, EPIC’s board members and staff had agreed to hold a hybrid conference with
smaller events in Melbourne, virtual participation, and local nodes: a blend of options 3 and 4.
That evening (the morning of March 27 in Melbourne), when the strategy was discussed with the
Australian co-chairs, events took an unexpected turn. The co-chairs explained that, on March 20,
Australia had closed its borders to all non-residents and non-Australian citizens. That same day,
Qantas Airways had announced that it was cancelling all international flights until at least May
31. On March 22, Australia had closed all social gathering places, and RMIT University, which
was to have hosted EPIC2020, announced that it was suspending all face-to-face activity across
its campuses and would transition to remote delivery of all classes until the end of the Australian
school year in November 2020.
Since RMIT University would be closed until November, an in-person conference would have to
be held at one of the Melbourne hotels where EPIC had already made reservations. Although
everyone felt confident the pandemic would be under control by October, it was impossible to
predict what would happen when social-distancing measures were relaxed. If infection rates
surged again, Australia could order another major lockdown and again prohibit entry of non-
Australians. Until there was an effective vaccine, it was impossible to predict the feasibility of
holding a conference in Melbourne in October or whether foreigners would be able to enter
Australia to attend the conference. At the end of the conference call, it was clear to everyone that
the only reasonable option was to host a virtual conference and try to organize some type of
conference nodes for people to interact locally.
On March 30, EPIC announced that EPIC2020 would be virtual.
Preparing for the EPIC2020 pricing conference call

Following his April 23 phone call with Gary, Ken organized an April 29 conference call with
Gary and Rita to discuss pricing options. His invitation explained:
Gary, we’d like to get your thoughts on a framing for the pricing of the event – how we should think
about it. For background, normally the conference registration covers the cost of the event, plus
$20k+, which often in turn gets used to cover Day 0. Sponsorship for the conference, however, has
covered the salaries of EPIC people. Membership/courses generally cover web costs, though we’ve
made some upgrades that we knew were going to be cost overruns this year.
In preparation for the call, Rita sent out the following email:
Hi Gary and Ken,
In anticipation of meeting later this week, I’m happy to briefly describe EPIC2020 as we are currently
envisioning it. Below are some parameters that we might consider in pricing:
 Cover our costs ~$100K–125K, see budget below
© HEC 5
 Cover our costs plus extra: Sponsorship and membership aside, we have aimed for $30–50 K
net (including this year)
 Many people are poorer/feel more vulnerable this year
 If we want to be global, some parts of the world have lower incomes
 Simplicity in registration
 We do not want to reinforce in any way that online=free
 We need to carefully position what we do this year (i.e., be cognizant of precedents we might
be setting for good or ill)
 I’m sure there are others.
Looking forward!
Budget items Cost USD
Australian administration 11,000
Website, registration platform, and processing expenses 25,000
Virtual event platform 20,000
Keynote speakers 3,000
Video and content preparation 15,000
Miscellaneous platform costs (design and development) 7,000
RMIT social gathering; participant gifts 2,000
Sunk cost for Melbourne facility 5,000
Audiovisual for running program (live and simulated live sessions) 20,000
Total 108,000
An EPIC conference call

Ken started the April 29 call by explaining its purpose: “Gary, we’re asking your advice on how
to price the conference.”
“I’m happy to help in any way I can – if I can. This is a complicated decision because we don’t
really have any idea how people will respond to a virtual conference, although I’m 99.9% certain
they won’t pay $650 for it,” said Gary.
“Well, it depends what you mean by ‘virtual conference,’” Rita replied. Having worked on
possible alternatives with the board and EPIC2020 co-chairs for nearly two months, she
explained: “We certainly don’t want to just put people on Zoom and call it a conference. That’s
what most people think of when they hear virtual conference, and that’s not what we want to
do. We’re trying to
© HEC 6
figure out a way to mimic the participation that people normally get at an EPIC conference
through local groups, nodes, or some mix of synchronous back-and-forth that people value.”
“That’s fantastic!” exclaimed Gary. “After EPIC2017, we heard people wanted more intimate
discussions about the content rather than trying to hold discussions with three hundred people in
an auditorium.”
Rita added, “The other issue is that if we price low this year, that could affect our pricing ability
in the future. What happens if the pandemic isn’t over in 2021? Or if there’s another wave next
year? And what does delivering a $650 conference for $100 say about our other on-line offerings,
such as training and tutorials? Wouldn’t pricing too low hurt us – or at least limit us – when
providing on-line offerings in the future? It might also be hard to return to a registration fee of
$650 next year if we make it free – or nearly free – this year.”
“But no one is going to pay $650 for a virtual conference. I hate virtual conferences! I don’t think
they’ll even pay $400,” interjected Ken.
“But look at Rosenfeld Media. They changed their two-day Advancing Research conference from
in-person to virtual, and still charged $995 for it. According to their website, it seems to have
gone well,” noted Rita. “UXLx, which is in May, is also going virtual. They only dropped their
prices by about 30%. The original in-person conference was as much as 1,495 euros, and they
dropped it to 995 euros – which is still way more than our normal conference fee.”
“OK, that’s a good point. But what do their registration numbers look like?” asked Gary.
“Anyone can offer something at a given price, but if no one is willing to pay that price, it’s not a
good price. I can offer my condo for $1 million, but if it’s only worth $400,000, no one will buy
it. Do we know how their registrations went or are going? How many people signed up or are
signing up at those prices?”
“No, but I still don’t think we should be pricing low. It sends a bad signal and lowers
expectations for future conferences and on-line offerings. If Rosenfeld and UXLx can price at
30% off even higher registration fees, we should be able to charge at least 70% of our normal
conference fee,” insisted Rita.
“Well, the other issue is that we keep talking about ‘one price,’ which is making this a difficult
discussion,” observed Gary. “In reality, there are probably people who are willing to pay quite a
bit – people from Google, Facebook, and Amazon, who are reimbursed for conferences – while
there are other people who lost their jobs, can’t find a job, or whose companies will no longer
fund conferences because of the economy. So yes, while some people might be willing and able
to pay 70% of our normal rate, how many of those are there? Can we run a conference like that?
What happens to the people who can’t afford to attend this year? Will they come back next year?
Will they cancel their memberships?”
Gary continued, “Another option, which Ken and I discussed last week, is to have a ‘pay what
you can’ pricing model to capture the most that each person is willing to pay – up to some
maximum. Basically, tell people that the conference is valued at $400 or whatever – since there
are no snacks, food, drinks, etc. – but that the conference is worth $400 without all that stuff.
We still have to
© HEC 7
cover our costs. Given the economic impact of the pandemic, we can suggest a certain
registration fee, but allow people to pay what they can. Suggest that people who are unaffected
by the pandemic can pay the full price, but everyone else can decide what they want to pay.
Basically, we’d be asking people to price discriminate themselves using the honour system. The
other advantage of this is that EPIC doesn’t need to ‘approve’ the lower rate. Everyone pays what
they can, up to some level.”
“That’s a great idea! Rita – Gary and I actually already talked about this last week. That was his
big reveal!” laughed Ken.
“OK, seriously, we can’t do that. What if everyone decides to pay nothing? What if they only buy
the membership and then pay zero dollars – or one dollar – for the conference? We have to have
some minimum. Otherwise, we’ll lose a fortune on the conference. And what does that say about
on-line delivery? That it’s worthless?” responded Rita.
“Well, maybe we can have a floor. A minimum registration level, like $50 or $100,” responded
Gary.
“Look, we’ve had an economic inclusion policy at EPIC for years. If someone can’t afford the
registration fee, they just need to contact us, and we’ll figure something out. And, honestly,
nobody has asked for that rate. So, I don’t see why we wouldn’t just keep doing that to address
people who are unemployed or underemployed,” countered Rita.
Gary responded, “Yeah, but that’s the problem, isn’t it? If people have to ask for the ‘special rate’
because they’re broke, they won’t because it’s humiliating and very personal. If we do that for
EPIC2020, I guarantee that most people won’t inquire about special dispensation – they’ll just
not register. Having a ‘pay what you can’ model allows everyone to pay what they can without
any judgment. I think we’d have much more success that way.”
“OK, but we can’t just let everyone decide on their own price. It would be chaos! How are people
supposed to decide what they should pay?” asked Rita.
“Yes, you’re right. People could ‘freeze’ during the registration process when they have to decide
on a value for the conference and then not actually register. Maybe we could just have two levels
of registration: the regular price and an economic inclusion price? We’ll explain that the full price
is to cover our costs, etc., but the lower level is for people who aren’t being reimbursed by their
employer, or people who’ve lost their jobs, or something,” Gary replied.
“OK, so what should those levels be?” Ken asked.
“Well, I don’t know. I imagine the economic inclusion rate should be about half the regular rate.
That would make sense to people and also avoid looking like we’re gouging people who have
expense accounts. Also, we should probably just put ‘registration fee’ on the receipts, regardless
of what they pay, so they can get their registration reimbursed. If we show both rates on the
receipt, people who pay the higher rate could have trouble getting reimbursed. More importantly,
people could worry about that and pick the lower rate to avoid administrative pushback from their
employers.”
© HEC 8
“So what should the rates be?” asked Ken.
“Look, I honestly have no idea. I imagine something like maybe $300 full registration and $150
economic inclusion?”
“How about $400 as the regular registration and $300 as the economic inclusion rate?” asked
Rita. “I find it hard to believe that people will pay that much for a virtual conference, but maybe
they will. Look, the problem is that I just don’t know what people are willing to pay! None of us
do! The only way to find out is to do a pricing survey. This is a one-shot game here. We can’t
price too high and then lower the price later on.
“Normally, for products, we could do price skimming and test the market. Or if we were offering
an ongoing service or a product on the web, we could do some A/B testing. But in this case,
we’re only doing the conference once. Well, hopefully once. And we have a fairly small
community. We should just ask people what they’re willing to pay in a survey. There’s really no
other way to do this – other than pricing so low that everyone will come. Make it free. Although,
if it’s free, we have another problem – people don’t value or attend things if they have no skin in
the game. I can’t tell you how many free webinars I’ve signed up for since lockdown – and I
don’t think I’ve attended a single one!” explained Gary with a wry grin.
“So, maybe we should just go for $300/$150?” suggested Ken, eager to finalize the pricing issue
and move on, adding, “EPIC can handle a one-time financial hit. We’ve already planned for the
possibility that EPIC2020 might have a loss, given the difficulty and cost for U.S. members to
travel to Melbourne – much like the challenge with Brazil.”
“Look, I’m serious. I can conduct a survey of EPIC members and past conference participants
and see what they have to say. I don’t want to leave money on the table and price too low – but I
also don’t think anyone wants a conference that nobody attends. So there’s a serious risk if we
price too high, but pricing at close to free clearly has some issues as well. Let’s get some data,”
urged Gary.
“OK, can you work with Rita and Jennifer on that?” asked Ken.
“Sure! It’ll take a few weeks, but there’s no need to open registration in May for an October
event when people don’t need time to make travel plans, buy plane tickets, and so on. We have
the luxury of taking our time. Let’s see what potential participants have to say,” concluded Gary.
The conference call ended with all three unsure how much more they knew after the call than
before it – other than that they had work to do.
EPIC2020 survey design and results

Gary met virtually with Rita and Jennifer to design and implement a survey of current EPIC
members and past conference participants. The survey went through multiple iterations to make it
as short, simple, and straightforward as possible – including only questions that were relevant to
the pricing decision.
© HEC 9
Jennifer sent out survey invitation emails, and Gary ran the survey using his HEC Montréal
Qualtrics account (see exhibits 2 and 3). Since it didn’t seem realistic to hold a conference for
less than $150 per person, the minimum price was set at $150, and the maximum at the regular
conference price of $650. If people answered “Yes” or “Not Certain” to Question 7 “Will your
organization cover the cost of EPIC2020 registration?” they were prompted to answer Question 8
“If for some reason your organization decided not to cover the cost of EPIC2020 registration,
what is the maximum you personally would be willing to pay (USD)?” This was intended to
provide a sense of what would happen if the economy got significantly worse and more people
lost conference funding.
The survey was sent to 1,727 people, 1,004 of whom were current EPIC members and 723 of
whom had been members within the past three years. Since everyone who had registered for a
conference since EPIC2017 had had to be a member, everyone who had attended a conference
since that time was included in the email solicitation. (Some members had not attended a
conference, but were still likely to attend since they were heavily involved with EPIC.) The
EPIC2020 co-chairs also sent the survey link to professors, alumni, practitioners, and current
students they would have invited to Melbourne to ensure their feedback was included.
An initial request to complete the survey was sent on Friday, May 7, with a reminder to those
who did not respond sent on Tuesday, May 12, and a final reminder sent on Thursday, May 14.
By Saturday, May 16, 281 responses had been received. After incomplete responses were
eliminated, they had 262 valid responses. These can be found in the Excel spreadsheet labelled
EPIC_Pricing_Challenge_May_17_2020.xlsx. All identifying data has been removed,
including IP addresses, longitudinal and latitudinal data, and any identifying comments.
Using other conferences as a benchmark

Many other conferences originally planned for 2020 were either cancelled or held virtually in
response to the pandemic. Ideally, EPIC could have used those as benchmarks to set registration
prices for EPIC2020, but there were two difficulties with that plan. First, EPIC was unique. There
were no conferences “just like” EPIC to compare it to. Second, it was difficult to find reliable
data on registration numbers, attendance, or attendee satisfaction for conferences that were, or
would be, held virtually. Details about other conferences, listed in chronological order, can be
found in Exhibit 4, including notes regarding pricing, registration, and attendance. Except for the
Behavioral Science & Policy Association (BSPA) conference, no one was willing to share their
registration or attendance figures.
The final step: Coming up with a pricing recommendation

Rita, Jennifer, the EPIC board, and the EPIC2020 co-chairs were scheduled to meet on Friday,
June 5, to finalize a pricing structure for EPIC2020, and they had asked Gary to join them to
present his pricing recommendations. It was time now for him to analyze the data and figure out
what to do. With so many competing objectives, he knew he couldn’t make everyone happy. The
annual conference had always been EPIC’s largest revenue source. Some stakeholders preferred
to keep prices high at the expense of lower attendance to protect the perceived value of the
conference and related on-line training offerings. Some wanted to maximize revenues to cover as
much of the conference and infrastructure costs as possible, while others wondered if attendance
should be
© HEC 1
capped to facilitate the pre-planning of discussion groups: the more attendees, the more complex
the task became. The EPIC2020 co-chairs were planning to host events virtually around the world
with three time zone-adjusted schedules covering Asia-Pacific, London to Mumbai, and the
Americas – so they needed enough attendees in each time zone to fuel meaningful discussions.
Still others wanted to maximize attendance (ideally over 1,000 participants) since “every
additional attendee costs us nothing once the conference is online.” This camp would be happy to
make the conference free to all members as a way to increase membership, maximize
participation, and generate income by offering year-round tutorials and on-line courses.
By analyzing the survey data, Gary hoped to find ways to achieve many, if not all, of the above
goals. It was time to get to work.
2021-08-16
© HEC 1
Exhibit 1
EPIC conference history 2005–2020
Year Theme Location Dates Registration fees Attendance Comments

in
USD
2020 Scale RMIT October 25– On March 30, EPIC announced that EPIC2020 would be
University, 28 an online/virtual, rather than in-person, event at RMIT in
Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia, due to the COVID-19 pandemic:
Australia “EPIC2020 Will Be a Virtual Event—Join Us from
Anywhere in the World!”
EPIC membership in May 2020: 1,004

2019 Agency Rhode Island November 9– Member: $650 425 Conference sold out in 48 hours.
School of 12 Student: $200 Simulcast access for all members.
Design (RISD), Waiting list:
Rhode Island Membership: $150 500 Approximately 200 new members associated with
conference registration. (Note: some of these were
Pre-conference actually renewals. Some people are “serial conference
tutorials: $100 goers,” so their membership renewal aligns with
conference registration.)
2018 Evidence Waikiki Beach October 9–12 Member: $600 600 Conference was originally planned for 300 people, but
Marriott Resort Student: $500 registration sold out in 24 hours. The conference
& Spa, Waiting list: location was moved to Marriott to accommodate more
Honolulu, Membership: $150 300 participants. There was still a waiting list after the
Hawaii increase to 600.
Pre-conference
tutorials: $100 Simulcast access for all members.
Approximately 350 new members associated with

conference registration. (Note: some of these were
actually renewals. Some people are “serial conference
goers,” so their membership renewal aligns with
conference registration.)
© HEC 1

in
USD
2017 Perspectives HEC Montréal, October 22– Member: $600 317 First year that:
Montréal, 25 (1) Every participant had to be an EPIC member
Canada Membership: $150 Waiting list: (2) Early-registration discounts were eliminated, but
200+ capacity was capped at 300; this was clearly
Pre-conference communicated
tutorials: $75 (3) EPIC members were provided full real-time
access to the conference through simulcast at no
EPIC members charge if they could not attend the conference.
could watch
proceedings The conference sold out (300) within 60 days, a first for
virtually in real EPIC
time
EPIC membership increased to 800 by the end of 2017.
2016 Pathmaking University of August 29– Early registration 330 Last year discounts offered for early registration.
Minnesota September 1 $650
Minneapolis, Capacity of Membership introduced at $150/year
Minnesota Regular and on- 350–375
site: $750 Between 200 and 300 members at time of conference.
Pre-conference Conference discounts for members:

tutorials: $75 10% off registration + 20% off tutorials
© HEC 1

in
USD
2015 Building Hotel Tivoli October 5–8 $650 early 250–300 Goal was to have another international conference to
bridges São Paulo, $750 on site appeal to communities outside the U.S.
Brazil
Special rate for Although participation met expectations, approximately
Brazilians: 650 150 participants were Brazilian, who registered in reals.
reals (US$170) Due to huge currency fluctuations, EPIC lost money for
every Brazilian who registered. Participation by non-
Pre-conference Brazilians was lower than usual, likely because of the
tutorials for $75 or cost and effort to travel to São Paulo.
75 reals
(US$20) Conference discounts for members:
10% off registration + first tutorial free
2014 No theme Fordham September 7– $650 early 300
University 10 $750 on-site
New York, New
York
2013 No theme Royal 15–18 $650 early 300 First year without a theme as a way to encourage the
Institution September $750 on-site “big tent” that EPIC had always been.
London, United
Kingdom
2012 Renewal SCAD 14–17 $650 early 300
Savannah, October $750 on-site
Georgia
© HEC 1

in
USD
2011 Evolution/Rev St Julien Hotel September Early (before July
olution Boulder, 18–21 15)
Colorado Regular: $300
Student: $250
After July 1
Regular: $350
On-site: $400
2010 道 Dō Tokyo Midtown August 29–
Center September 1
Tokyo, Japan
2009 Taking Care of Hotel Aug 30– Regular: $300 Registration was handled by the American
Business InterContinent September 2 Student: $200 Anthropological Association (AAA).
al Chicago
Chicago, Illinois After July 1 AAA members were offered the student rate from 2005
Regular: $350 to 2009.
Student: $250
2008 Being Seen University of October 15– 350 First conference outside U.S.
Copenhagen, 18 Very successful in terms of participation: 350 attendees,
Copenhagen, 100 from Denmark
Denmark
2007 Being Heard Keystone October 3–6 Regular: $165 Registration was handled by the American
Conference Student: $140 Anthropological Association (AAA).
Center,
Keystone, After August 1,
Colorado Regular: $235
Student: $180
© HEC 1

in
USD
2006 Transitions Intel September Regular: $165 280 “A discussion panel was added to the program in
Corporation 24–26 Student: $140 response to feedback from EPIC 2005 asking for more
Conference discussion within the program, specifically delving into
Center, what it means to practice in business settings and what
Portland, ‘success’ looks like.”
Oregon
Registration was handled by the American
Anthropological Association (AAA).
2005 Sociality Microsoft November Regular: $165 250 Inaugural Conference
Corporation 14–15 Student: $140 - 90 abstracts were submitted, but only 15 papers
Redmond, could be accepted
Washington
Registration was handled by the American
Anthropological Association (AAA).
© HEC 1
Exhibit 2
Survey invitation email
Hello Gary,
We hope you’ve heard the news that EPIC2020 will be a virtual event! It’s an
exciting challenge to re-create our conference in an entirely new “space.” Can you
spare a few clicks to help us create a participatory, global event?
3-MINUTE SURVEY
Conference registration will open in June, and we’re in uncharted waters. We
know that EPIC people are experiencing hardships—financial and otherwise—as a
result of the pandemic. We want EPIC2020 to be a valuable, interactive, shared
experience, with pricing that is accessible in difficult times.
Your anonymous feedback* will help us do that by shedding some light on levels of
interest and ability to pay among folks in our community around the world. Especially
now, we’re so grateful to you for taking the time to do this.
And speaking of participation...did you know that the deadline for submitting a
proposal has been extended to June 1? You can present and participate from anywhere
in the world, so please read the Call for Participation!
HOW TO SUBMIT A PROPOSAL

*All survey responses are anonymous. Here’s more info about how we’re collecting
and processing data. You’re always welcome to email us with questions or provide
feedback in a non-survey format: info@epicpeople.org
© HEC 1
Exhibit 3
Qualtrics pricing survey
EPIC2020
Survey Flow
Standard: Introduction (1 Question)
Block: Default Question Block (13 Questions)
EPIC2020 will be a virtual conference, and our program committee is working hard on this
formidable but exciting new challenge. Meanwhile, we know that many EPIC people are
experiencing challenges in the face of the COVID pandemic. We hope you’ll share some
information that will help us make EPIC2020 a valuable, participatory, global event for our
community. This survey should take about 3 minutes. All responses are anonymous. For more
information about how we’re processing this data, click here.
Start of block: Default question block– Second screen of survey
Q1 Were you planning to attend EPIC2020 in Melbourne before the pandemic?

o Yes (1)
o No (2)
o Not certain (4)
Q3 Now that EPIC2020 will be a virtual event, are you more or less likely to participate?
o More likely to participate (1)
o About the same (2)
o Less likely to participate (3)
Q4 The submission deadline for proposals has been extended to June 1, and presentations can
be made from anywhere in the world. How likely are you to submit a proposal for EPIC2020?
o I already submitted a proposal (1)
o I will probably submit a proposal (2)
o I am considering submitting a proposal (3)
o I am unlikely to submit a proposal (4)
o I will not submit a proposal (5)
© HEC 1
Third screen of survey
Although we expect the cost of producing EPIC2020 virtually will be lower than a face-to-face
conference in Melbourne, we will still need to charge a registration fee to cover the costs of
producing a high-quality event that is valuable to participants. Your feedback on rates will help
us understand the financial accessibility of registration this year and determine the trade-off
between participation and covering our costs.
Q6 In addition to the $150 membership fee (attendees must be EPIC members at the time of the
event), please choose the maximum you would be willing to pay for EPIC2020 registration
(USD):
o Less than $150 (1)

o $150 (2)
o $200 (3)
o $250 (4)
o $300 (5)
o $350 (6)
o $400 (7)
o $450 (8)
o $500 (9)
o $550 (10)
o $600 (11)
o $650 (12)
Q7 Will your organization cover the cost of EPIC2020 registration?
o Yes (1)
o No (2)
o Not certain (3)
© HEC 1
Fourth screen of survey, if organization will or might reimburse registration (Q7)
Display This Question if Question 7 ≠ 2

Q8 If Iffor some
Will your reason yourcover
organization organization decided
the cost of not registration?
EPIC2020 to cover the!=cost
No of EPIC2020 registration,
what is the maximum you personally would be willing to pay (USD)?:
o I wouldn’t attend at all (1)

o Less than $150 (2)
o $150 (3)
o $200 (4)
o $250 (5)
o $300 (6)
o $350 (7)
o $400 (8)
o $450 (9)
o $500 (10)
o $550 (11)
o $600 (12)
o $650 (13)
© HEC 2
Fifth screen of survey
Finally, a few more questions to help us understand your situation (again, the entire survey is
anonymous):
Q10 Have you attended EPIC conferences in the past? If so, which ones (check those that
apply)?
o No, I’ve never attended an EPIC conference in person (1)
o EPIC 2019 Providence (2)
o EPIC 2018 Honolulu (3)
o EPIC 2017 Montréal (4)
o EPIC 2016 Minneapolis (5)
o EPIC 2015 São Paulo (6)
o Oh, honey, even before 2015….. (7)
Q13 In which country do you currently reside?

Pull-down menu with 195 pre-defined Qualtrics countries and territories
Q15 Which best describes your current employment situation?

o Unemployed (1)
o Independent contractor/business owner (2)
o Work for a small business/consultancy (3)
o Work for medium-sized business (50-500 employees) (4)
o Work for a large enterprise (>500 employees) (5)
o Work for a not-for-profit (6)
o Work in the public sector (7)
o Work in higher education (8)
o Currently a student (9)
o I prefer not to answer (10)
© HEC 2
Q16 Has the pandemic negatively impacted your personal financial situation?
o Yes, very much (1)

o Somewhat (2)
o No (3)
o I prefer not to answer (4)
Sixth screen of survey
Q17 Please share any other thoughts you have about EPIC2020:
End of block: Default question block
Final screen of survey
Thank you very much for your input!!!

All about EPIC2020: 2020.epicpeople.org
You can always contact EPIC at info@epicpeople.org
© HEC 2
Exhibit 4
Comparison of conferences planned for 2020 that were cancelled or held virtually
2020 virtual
Conference Description 2020 dates prices1 2019 prices Notes
Virtual Conference run by March 30–31 Original in- N/A https://rosenfeldmedia.com/advancing-research-
Conference – Rosenfeld Media person 2020/
Advancing registration
Research US$1,795 Rosenfeld Media did not issue refunds for changing
2020 to a virtual conference. People could either get 100%
Revised virtual credit for a future conference or keep their
registration registration and get an $800 credit for a future
US$995 conference. The credit was good for three years.
One source (not at the company) claimed that only

20% of the registrants attended the conference and
that many people were disappointed. The credits
(versus refunds) may have caused some hard
feelings.
CHI 2020 in Annual conference for April 25–30 CANCELLED 2019 CHI in https://chi2020.acm.org
Honolulu, Computing Glasgow,
Hawaii Machinery’s Special Scotland, had “In extensive consultation with the
Interest Group on 3,855 SIGCHI Executive Committee and CHI Steering
Computer Human registrations Committee, it was decided that it is best not to hold
Interaction (largest a virtual CHI 2020, given the uncertainty of current
attendance in circumstances.”
CHI history)
1
Exchange rates based on USD/Foreign Currency. For example, if the USD/CAD is 1.4, it means that 1 USD is worth 1.4 CAD. Prior year exchange rates with USD are from
https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/yearly-average-currency-exchange-rates. 2020 exchange rates are based on May 22, 2020, exchange rates posted by U.S.
Federal Reserve: https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h10/current/
© HEC 2
2020 virtual
SCA Biennial: Society for Cultural May 7–9 US$10 for AAA N/A https://culanth.org/engagements/events
Distribute Anthropology (SCA), a members
2020 section of the “Like its previous iteration (Displacements 2018),
American AAA Distribute 2020 will be virtual and distributed: virtual
Anthropological Membership: in that it will be anchored by a dedicated conference
Association (AAA) US$49– website streaming pre-recorded multimedia panels;
US$349/year, and distributed in that presenters and viewers from
based on across the globe will participate in the conference via
income level local ‘nodes.’ Distribute 2020 will offer three full
days of streamed audiovisual panels and virtual (and,
where possible, in-person) nodes, where participants
can gather with others to view the conference
collectively. Our goal is a low-cost, highly accessible,
nearly-carbon-neutral conference that might pave
the way for rethinking the mega-conference model.”
© HEC 2
2020 virtual
UXLx UXLx is the “premier May 19–22 995€ 1495€ https://www.ux-lx.com

User Experience 795€ 1195€
Conference” in 595€ 895€ Even with discounts, attendance appeared to have
Lisbon, Portugal, 245€ 395€ dropped significantly compared to 2019. It was not
organized by possible to obtain actual registration and
Xperienz (a (+23% VAT) (+23% VAT) participation figures.
Portuguese UX
Consultancy) Levels reflect From personal correspondence:
number of days “We transitioned to online only two months before
and workshops the conference dates, and we had been selling
one could tickets for the conference (in person, at the time)
attend. since October. So we had to deal with attendees’
agreeing to attend virtually with a 30%–40%
Euro/USD = discount. Many of them refused and claimed a
0.917 Euro/USD = refund. We did not sell at the same rate as for the in-
0.893 person conference; on the contrary – it was very
slow and very last minute. Our best day of online
ticket sales was the day before the conference start
date.”
© HEC 2
2020 virtual
BSPA Behavioral Science & May 28–29 US$125 US$500 https://behavioralpolicy.org/about/

Policy Association US$75 students US$250
Conference students From private correspondence one week prior to
conference:
An academic research “Our registration is up from previous years. Also, as
and public policy- you know, around 20% of the attendees sign up in
focused conference. the last two weeks before the conference, so we are
Primarily academic expecting our numbers will rise. Because it’s virtual,
economists as a lot more people are able to register. The expense is
presenters. BSPA is a a lot less as they don’t have to pay for airfare and
not-for-profit hotel, etc.”
organization run out
of Duke University. From private conversation after conference:
Typical attendance for an all-day conference in NYC
or Washington, DC, is 220–250 people. The virtual
conference split over two days had 400+ attendees
and was considered a huge success. All registrants
had access to video recordings of the talks within a
week of the conference. Ran conference over Zoom.
High volume of registrations the last week.
© HEC 2
2020 virtual
ITP Camp New York University June 1–26 US$800 US$1,500 https://itp.nyu.edu/camp2020/
Online Tisch School of the (4 weeks!)
Arts Discounts up to Discounts up to From personal correspondence:
75% 75% “When we decided to go remote, we cut the price
“4-week crash almost in half, so the normal price of camp is $800
course/playground for with the same discount tiers applied.
creative and techy
people who want to “We didn’t know what would happen – if people
shake things up” would have Zoom overload by then and just not be
interested. However, the opposite happened. People
from around the world who always wanted to
participate in ITP Camp now can because we are
remote! The big challenge for us will be to
accommodate people from all different time zones
so there will be synchronous and asynchronous
meetings and recordings provided.
“Camp this year will be the same, if not slightly

bigger than when we hold it in person (about 150+
people). Of course, we have less revenue due to the
slash in the price tag, so we have had to make some
modifications on the administrative side of things.
But so far things seem to be working out.”
© HEC 2
2020 virtual
UXRC UX Research June 25–26 US$799 (sold CA$998 https://uxrconference.com

Conference in out)
Toronto, Canada US$599 CA$698 $99 level in 2020 is “For students, laid-off workers,
US$99 CA$499 and anyone who doesn’t have access to a
Privately run UX professional development budget.”
research conference +13% Tax
Premium level ($799) was for people who registered
CAD/USD = CAD/USD = before the pandemic for an in-person conference.
1.402 1.327 They could either get a 100% refund or keep their
registration and get a very significant discount for
2021. A large proportion opted to keep their
registration. Premium was closed (sold out) to show
that there was high demand at $799 level.
As of late May 2020, the $99 level appeared to be

the overwhelming choice of attendees; however,
total registration appeared to be closer to 1,000 than
the original in-person target of 1,500.
© HEC 2
2020 virtual
CCTC 2020 Consumer Culture June 25–28 CANCELLED CA$550 http://cctweb.org

Leicester, UK Theory (CCT) (Montréal, March 14, 2020, posting on website:
Conference Canada) “Given the rash of major event cancellations, this
disappointing news is most likely not a surprise to
“CCT is an CAD/USD = any of you. One immediate question you may have is
interdisciplinary field 1.327 whether the conference could be conducted in a
of research oriented virtual format. We considered that alternative.
around developing a Without bogging down in technical details, the
better understanding infrastructure and support staff needed to make this
of why consumers do transition is simply lacking. In the near term, for
what they do and why example, many IT resources are now being devoted
consumer culture on a grand scale to meeting cascading on-line
takes the forms that it teaching needs. Setting up for an on-line conference
does.” falls fairly low in the prevailing institutional priority
rankings.”
CCT is an academic
research-focused not-
for-profit.
Some CCT members
are also EPIC
members.
© HEC 2
2020 virtual
UX Australia “UX Australia is August 25–28 AU$700 Early Bird http://www.uxaustralia.com.au/conferences/ux-

Australia’s premier Conference australia-2020/
User Experience Ticket – AU$800
Design conference” (first 200
tickets)
Appears to be a for-
profit organization Standard
that puts on Conference
conferences. UX Ticket – AU$950
Australia is their
“main annual event.” AUD/USD = AUD/USD =
1.532 1.439
© HEC 3
2020 virtual
AAA Annual American November 18– 2020 in-person event CANCELLED https://www.americananthro.org
Meeting Anthropological 22 May 28, 2020
St. Louis Association (AAA) Working on replacement… “Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, AAA is cancelling
the 119th Annual Meeting in St. Louis… [Due to the
Largest anthropology Original registration (USD): pandemic] uncertainty remains unacceptably high,
event of the year with Professionals: and the health and safety of our members are of
7,000+ attendees. US$240 by May 7 paramount concern. We know how important the
Academic and US$255 by Oct 31 Annual Meeting is to the field and the thousands of
professional US$286 on-site members who look forward to [it] … and we remain
anthropologists. committed to bringing people together – virtually at
Many EPIC members Unemployed or underemployed: least – this fall. …we would like for you to complete a
belong to AAA and US$201 by May 7 brief survey that will help us plan virtual events and
EPIC receives some US$212 by Oct 31 activities we can undertake this Fall. Your responses
funding from AAA. US$240 on-site will help guide choices concerning content, scale,
timing, and pricing in accessible and affordable ways,
Students: and ensuring archiving and reliable technology are in
Professionals: place …. If you have already paid your registration
US$102 by May 7 fee for the 2020 Annual Meeting, your payment will
US$106 by Oct 31 be refunded in full within the next twenty business
US$106 on-site days…. We will have more news about plans for the
fall in the next few weeks, after reviewing the survey
AAA membership required: findings. Once a full plan is in place, we will share
US$49–US$349 /year, based on that information broadly with the anthropological
income level community. We appreciate your patience in the
meantime.”
© HEC 3

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An EPIC Pricing Challenge

EPIC – From conference to community

EPIC2017, EPIC2018, and EPIC2019

The COVID-19 pandemic

As the virus continued to spread, countries began implementing social-distancing policies to

Impact of COVID-19 on EPIC2020

On March 30, EPIC announced that EPIC2020 would be virtual.

Preparing for the EPIC2020 pricing conference call

Budget items Cost USD

Australian administration 11,000

Website, registration platform, and processing expenses 25,000

Virtual event platform 20,000

Keynote speakers 3,000

Video and content preparation 15,000

Miscellaneous platform costs (design and development) 7,000

RMIT social gathering; participant gifts 2,000

Sunk cost for Melbourne facility 5,000

An EPIC conference call

“OK, so what should those levels be?” Ken asked.

“So what should the rates be?” asked Ken.

EPIC2020 survey design and results

Using other conferences as a benchmark

The final step: Coming up with a pricing recommendation

Year Theme Location Dates Registration fees Attendance Comments

EPIC membership in May 2020: 1,004

Approximately 350 new members associated with

Year Theme Location Dates Registration fees Attendance Comments

Pre-conference Conference discounts for members:

Year Theme Location Dates Registration fees Attendance Comments

Year Theme Location Dates Registration fees Attendance Comments

Year Theme Location Dates Registration fees Attendance Comments

HOW TO SUBMIT A PROPOSAL

Start of block: Default question block– Second screen of survey

Q1 Were you planning to attend EPIC2020 in Melbourne before the pandemic?

Third screen of survey

o Less than $150 (1)

Fourth screen of survey, if organization will or might reimburse registration (Q7)

Display This Question if Question 7 ≠ 2

o I wouldn’t attend at all (1)

Fifth screen of survey

Q13 In which country do you currently reside?

Q15 Which best describes your current employment situation?

o Yes, very much (1)

End of block: Default question block

Final screen of survey

Thank you very much for your input!!!

One source (not at the company) claimed that only

UXLx UXLx is the “premier May 19–22 995€ 1495€ https://www.ux-lx.com

BSPA Behavioral Science & May 28–29 US$125 US$500 https://behavioralpolicy.org/about/

“Camp this year will be the same, if not slightly

UXRC UX Research June 25–26 US$799 (sold CA$998 https://uxrconference.com

As of late May 2020, the $99 level appeared to be

CCTC 2020 Consumer Culture June 25–28 CANCELLED CA$550 http://cctweb.org

UX Australia “UX Australia is August 25–28 AU$700 Early Bird http://www.uxaustralia.com.au/conferences/ux-

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