Attendance

Attendance is the concept of people, individually or as a group, appearing at a location for a previously scheduled event. Measuring attendance is a significant concern for many organizations, which can use such information to gauge the effectiveness of their efforts and to plan for future efforts.

In education and work

In both classroom settings and workplaces, attendance may be mandatory. Poor attendance by a student in a class may effect their grades or other evaluations. Poor attendance may also reflect problems in a student's personal situation, and is an indicator that "students are not developing the knowledge and skills needed for later success".^[1]

For students in elementary school and high school, laws may require compulsory attendance, while students at higher levels of education may be penalized by professors or by the institution for lack of attendance.

In entertainment and social settings

In entertainment and commercial settings, attendance is often measured to determine the success of an event as a form of entertainment. Attendance at sporting events is particularly well examined, as sports teams with attendance too low to generate revenue may be shut down or relocated. "Attendance figures, average attendance, and percentage of stadium capacity filled are important indicators of fan support and how much advertisers and partners are willing to invest in a team".^[2] Attendance of other events, such as films, plays, and other performances, may similarly determine whether the production was a commercial success, and may influence the determination to make sequels or similar works. The expectation of certain levels of attendance at a particular kind of event is a significant factor in determining the seating capacity to be built into venues constructed for such events, and the distribution of events or performances.^[3] If an event repeats, as with a series of games in a sports season or performances of a concert or show, "the aim though should be to spread attendance across less popular days, or extend performances over a longer period of time".^[3]

Attendance is also measured and reported for a wide variety of other social events ranging from political rallies to religious services.^[4]

References

1. Cynthia Franklin, Mary Beth Harris, Paula Allen-Meares, The School Practitioner's Concise Companion to Preventing Dropout and Attendance Problems (2008), p. 3.
2. Daniel McLean, Amy Hurd, Kraus' Recreation and Leisure in Modern Society (2011), p. 336.
3. Ian Appleton, Buildings for the Performing Arts (2012), p. 138.
4. William R. Hoyt, Effectiveness By The Numbers: Counting What Counts in the Church (2011), Ch. 3

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