First off, let me say that anyone who thinks $50 is too much for a day long conference (Pods related or not) has a right to that opinion. But i disagree completely. At the end of the day, you look back and see if you got your money's worth from a conference. Networking alone is worth $50 for me. Especially if people laugh at my bad jokes.

I don't think WordCamps regulars take the ticket price for granted. But I have gotten the rare feedback from locals about complaints that are so outrageous that it does warrant the question back: "You paid less than $30-$40, and you're complaining about that?" I should write a blog post on that.

I do see larger ticket prices - and rightly so - for non-WordCamp events. Even these are reasonably priced compared to the majority of professional conferences that exist.

In any case, tips to get more people with low income levels or just people that you might not normally think about in terms of WordCamp attendees:

1. Reach out as soon as possible to local colleges, high schools, and special groups (like GirlsWhoCode) in the area. Typical students usually have a rich desire to learn and not a lot of cash. Even free tickets to students usually have a high turnaround rate in Miami. Reach out to the technical (or similar) contact for each school. We have even posted flyers and posters at schools letting students know about the event and the discount.

2. Kids workshop attracted a variety of different types of families and individuals. Not every camp can have a kids workshop, but if your event is kid friendly then it might open more people to come. Making your event family friendly also helps.

3. Local meetups - talk about WordCamps months in advance to get the local word spread. Occasionally offering discounts to other meetup groups (as a courtesy for helping us support the local tech community) gets a decent response.

After five years in Miami, we have people come to WCMIA just because of the value and the networking... some don't even do WordPress at all. So thanks to the <$40 ticket prices, most certainly appreciate the value they get from the event.

Now if you excuse me I have to convince the wife that I need to pay $1000+ a ticket for A List Apart conference in Orlando.