Q: I work with Continuing Education at a University and we coordinate and handle registrations and other conference services. I am currently working on a per person rate for our services (currently charging a % of expenses) and wondered if you have guidelines for Continuing Education departments.

A: Thanks for your question regarding "per person" charges for conference services.

-To my knowledge there are no industry standards, but I am always concerned when CE Departments charge "per person," especially if the CE Department has no control over the marketing.

-In most cases it takes much the same energy to run a conference of 100 as 500, meaning you need to do all the same setup and coordination work.

-My preference is for you to determine a flat fee for your services and if registrations exceed "x" number then you would earn an extra "x" dollars.

-If that is not possible, then you need to project the cost for you to offer the service, double the cost, and divide by the number of projected participants. So if you are managing registration and you project the staff cost is $5,000, then you multiply by 2 to get $10,000 and if 500 registrations are projected you divide $10,000/500 to get $20 peer registration.

-If you need to provide an advertised price, I suggest a range depending on the number of registrations.

-If you would like to discuss in more detail, I am happy to do so.