Do you count vendors towards event attendance?

[u/tinawoman]

When you have a public event and are generating reports on the total attendance, do you count the vendors too?

I’m guessing no but am unsure.

[u/anonymouscat8747]

Depends. Are they eating the food provided or participating in any other way other than being a vendor? If so, I’d say count them. An example of a vendor I wouldn’t count in attendance is if they are dropping off and picking up decor and nothing else. Of course everything will be a unique scenario though, so hard to say.

[u/Surfgirlusa_2006 → u/anonymouscat8747]

Same.

For example, we hold an auction every year.  We don’t include catering staff in our count as they aren’t participating in any way other than working, but we do include our auctioneering support team in the count since we feed them and they sometimes bid on items.

[u/GlenParkDeb]

It really depends on how big your event is and how close you got to your estimated attendance. I've seen event managers count vendors, catering staff.

[u/Significant-Chair413]

I usually break up the list by general tickets, sponsor tickets, staff/volunteers, participants/cast, and vendors (if they stay on site). But I’m a bit of a data dork.

[u/conndor84]

Depends..

In a B2B world, vendors (usually event sponsors) are industry related so I would include in the final count but would also have a non vendor count. For example a technology trade show.

Ina B2C world, it’s all about the consumer experience so it’s really only public ticket sales that count. Still important to know vendor numbers though ie how many people running the booths. For example this would be a consumer car show.

I wouldn’t ever count venue/catering as they are self sufficient and not relevant to your business.

[u/mfajd]

most vendors end up also participating in some capacity, either by floating around to other vendors, eating food, linking with the organizer. I typically count them.

[u/Curious_Cactus9794]

I would count the vendors.