Discounts in the form of early bird and other reduced-price options are common devices used by conference organizers to stimulate sign-ups for their events.

Here’s a tactic that’s a new one to me – sign up for a conference and get your air fare covered by the event organizer.

Ragan Communication are making this offer if you sign up for their Corporate Communicators Conference taking place in Chicago, USA, on May 6-8 – sign up for the $1,195 event and they’ll pick up the cost of your plane ticket.

Before you get too excited thinking that a trip from Europe to Chicago is now well justified, read the small print and you’ll see that the offer is good for travel with Southwest Airlines – which flies only within the US, more’s the pity – and is worth $200.

Still, even $200 is not to be sneezed at these days. And that amount nicely adds up if you have a group of colleagues intending to go to the Ragan conference.

Nice idea!

(Ragan Communications is a sponsor of the For Immediate Release series of podcasts that I co-present; you can hear CEO Mark Ragan talking about this free flight offer in FIR 437 yesterday, at about 4 minutes 10 seconds in.)