Getting inside their head

One thing that always bugs me is when people make no effort to understand each other, when their first reaction is to assume the worst of another person, rather than examining the part they themselves play. If people aren't signing up for your event, don't just lay a guilt trip on them - reflect on the attractiveness and relevance of the event. Perhaps it is relevant, but sloppy promotion doesn't get that across. Perhaps the packaging's sexy but the content doesn't hit the mark. Maybe for your event to flourish it will need to achieve these things across a cultural barrier of ethnicity or age or money. Whatever the case, it could be that if you change things your end, you just might change everything.