Briefly, here are the charts & graphs we discussed at this year’s weekend. Check back later for more in depth analysis.

 

 

The pink bars in this chart represent the percentage of newcomers as compared to the percentage of returnees in the purple bars. As you can see, in the first year of YDW, 100% of attendees were newcomers! Since then, the percentage of newcomers dropped steadily for a few years and has leveled out around just over 40%. For the first time this year (2014) we adjusted the lottery to ensure that at least 40% of attendees were newcomers.

 

Since 2011, YDW has operated on a “pay what you can” system, where attendees can pay any amount they want over $90. Every year the average payment has been within a couple dollars of the actual cost per person that we quote. For the past few years this cost per person has been $120, but this year it raised to $130. However, this is the first year since adopting the system that the average payment has been above the quoted cost per person! Very exciting!

Note also that the below minimum category includes all attendees who payed either nothing or a discounted price because they were hired to be at the weekend (musicians, callers, etc.) or because they were one of our supervolunteers who help make the weekend run smoothly.