Activation Points ​
In this chapter, we explain activation points in more detail.
What is It? ​
When creating activities in your event schedule you will need to enter an activation point if you are using automated lead/follow balancing. I.e. if you have entered a target ratio when creating the activity.
The activation point is the number of tickets to sell before DanceCloud starts balancing lead/follow sales. It allows you to have an initial period where you can sell tickets without worrying about the target ratio.
TIP
We refer to the sales period before the activation point is reached as the activation period.
Why is it Necessary? ​
There are two reasons why an activation point is needed.
Firstly, if DanceCloud immediately started balancing lead/follow sales, wait-listing would start as soon as the first ticket was sold. This is because the ratio would be 1:0, which is always worse than the target ratio. This would be a very poor experience for your customers.
Secondly, prior to using DanceCloud, organisers would traditionally sell an initial set of tickets before manually balancing the lead/follow ratio. The activation point allows you to replicate this process, while benefiting from DanceCloud's automation.
How to Choose a Value ​
When you set an activation point, you are deciding how many tickets you could sell at any ratio before balancing starts. So for example, if you have a lesson that can accommodate 30 people, and you set an activation point of 10, you are saying that at ten sales the ratio can be anything.
This means that if demand for one role is exceptionally high, then in theory you could end the activation period with a very imbalanced ratio e.g. in this example, 10:0, 9:1, 8:2 etc. Whether this is acceptable depends on how confident you are that subsequent sales will mean you reach your target ratio.
Confidence Levels ​
If you are confident that sales will balance out over the remaining sales period, then you can set a relatively high activation point. We would recommend somewhere between 20-40% of the total capacity. You could go even higher than that if you are extremely confident of selling out at your target ratio.
If you are less confident or do not know, then you should set a lower activation point. We would recommend somewhere between 10-20% of the capacity you expect to sell. I.e. use the sales you expect, not the total capacity, if you are not anticipating selling out.
Length of Sales Period ​
It is also worth factoring in how long sales are open.
This is because if you exit the activation period with a poor ratio, you will need time to balance it out. If you have a long sales period, then you can afford to set a higher activation point. Otherwise, you should be more conservative and set a lower activation point.
Lessons vs Social Dances ​
For lessons, we recommend a lower activation point because the ratio is more critical.
For social dances, typically organisers are less concerned about the ratio. Therefore, you can be more relaxed with the activation point and set it higher.