though!). it gets more bums on seats (all the empty ones mentioned above) and should actually drive up overall numbers. people bring people and that can only be a good thing, heck givem 2 tickets. I think people can differentiate between big and small events and should expect more from these big events, after all they need a lot more volunteers. [QUOTE=thejoth;954327]all anybody wanted was a decent meal and a bit of respect, two things taken away by the outsourcing of volunteering.... Agree. Surely, a feed is the bare minimum?! If not, then it's little wonder they've needed to take this action. Good grief... Which is precisely my point. It probably needs to start with a touch of common decency rather than tickets and prizes. Catering for volunteers (I'd be happy with one of those delicious baked spuds!) and a genuine 'thank you for your time'. That would go a long way. Irrespective of whether it actually costs for the tickets or not, I bet the cost of the volunteers tickets is recorded as an expense for the event (for accounting purposes) and contributes to the fees - they're (fairly) considered a cost of running the event. Not that there is any actual loss in reality, as you say, they're just giving away spare seats.