[latexr]

> But when the tickets were free, a lot less people showed up.

I can think of several reasons for that. It would be nice to know for sure which was the right one (or if there’s a combination).

E.g. Maybe being free, people reserved the tickets but then didn’t show up. Or if you didn’t have to reserve, people only went on a whim. Or they always assumed they would all be reserved in advance so didn’t bother to try.

I suspect that when you pay for an event you’re more likely to make a concerted effort to attend lest you “lose the money”.