MBSR Registration No Shows and late cancellations

Oasis Institute
#1

I provide MBSR through the Charlotte Center for mindfulness and while we have plenty of people register for our classes, we have been seeing an increase in last minute cancellations as well as no shows for the orientation. We have thought about asking for a small deposit to hold their place in the class and then applying this money towards the cost of the class, and keeping the money if they cancel or no show in less than 72 hours. Is there anything that you all are doing to help insure attendance to the orientation? Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

Kind regards,

Jude

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#2

Hi Jude,

Thanks for starting this thread. I hope others from around the country and
world will share their experiences too.

Here at the CFM, thus far, to my knowledge we haven’t considered requiring
deposits in advance like you suggest, but it is an interesting idea. We are
watching the trends in interest and participation as we have done for 38
years, and as our practice and our history calls for, we respond when and
as we find appropriate, to the best of our understanding.

I’ll be interested to hear what others are seeing and doing.

Warmly,
Eowyn

#3

Thank you Eowyn! On a side note…I see that CFM offers live MBSR via Webinar and the all-day retreat is on-line. Do you know if the format is any different from the traditional all-day retreat? Warm wishes, Jude

#4

Hi Jude. Are you tracking how persons that register for the orientation and don’t show up/cancel go onto to register for the MBSR course?

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#5

Our online course is highly consistent with our in-person course, including
the All-Day format. I was happily surprised when I taught my first online
All-Day at the great degree of integrity with our curriculum that was
possible.

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#6

Hello Jude,

Thank you for bringing this question. From the other side of “the pond”, I have noticed the same trend as you have. Due to the important administrative costs of this (management of registrations, waiting lists, cancellations, etc.) and knowing that the venue requires us not to exceed a certain number of people, we have, for this Fall, asked for a small fee that is then deduced to the class fee if people choose to register. And to my surprise, we still have had quite a number of last minute cancellations and no shows.

I feel there is no “perfect” procedure, and also I’m curious about this trend that I’ve also noticed. I also wonder how it works for other MBSR teachers.

Warmly,
Gwénola

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#7

Hi Gus,

No we are not tracking this but I am thinking that we can through eventbrite. I am thinking you are asking about how they find out about the course and register? Great questions and something that would be helpful for us to look in to.

Kind regards,

Jude

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#8

Hi Jude,

I used to experience the same thing. In one class, I had 24 people registered for the information session and only nine showed up. I found it pretty challenging to handle this sort of variance.

I started asking folks to put down a deposit of roughly 25% of the class fee. Now, I would say over 80% of the folks who sign up for the IS show, so it’s made a huge difference.

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#9

Thank you Daniel,

What is your refund policy?

I really appreciate your feedback.

Warm wishes,

Jude

#10

Hi Jude,

If people come to the info session and decide not to take the course, I
refund their money. If they miss the info session, my policy is that they
don’t get a refund. But, what’s happened so far, is that everyone who has
missed has just told me to hold onto the deposit for a later session, which
I allow. Occasionally, someone will write a couple days beforehand and say
they can’t take the course for whatever reason. I’ve refunded money is this
case.

In general, I’ve had a really good experience with this system. It’s made
enrollment a lot easier to predict and I don’t think it’s created any
friction between me and the participants.

Best,
Dan

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#11

Thank you Dan! Best wishes,

Jude

#12

Thanks, Jude, for raising this issue. I have been seeing a trend toward this too, so now I request a deposit when registering for the class, and my refund policy is 50% refund when cancelling 7 to 14 days prior to Class 1 and no refund within 7 days of Class 1, less a $25 processing fee. The Orientation is typically held about a week before our first class, so if someone decides not to show up for Orientation, they lose their deposit.
Another reason this works better for me is that folks were attending the orientation as if it was an information session, and several people consistently decided not to do the 8 weeks and dropped out. That was super frustrating.
This way, even if someone drops just days before we’re set to start, I’m not taking a financial bath, and I at least have a deposit to cover the time I’ve put in with people. It also sends a message about the seriousness of this course, and the commitment it requires.

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