Surprise Signups

At a randomly chosen youth group meeting, allow those present to sign up for an upcoming event. This gives those present an advantage for popular events. Knowing that, during the time when this is likely to happen, attendance is better than usual.

• Publicize the event with a starting date for registration, but with the note that registration will open at some unspecified meeting. It is important to be honest about what is going to happen.
• Come to a meeting prior to the starting date with the signup sheet.

This is perhaps a questionable practice, I'm still not  sure what I think about it, even though I use it for selected events. This means that those in attendance that particular night have first chance at the sign-up sheet, and those not there might not get a chance to participate. In some cases, someone might not be able to come to the meeting for a good reason.

•  Limit how many places can be taken by those in attendance. In this case you might have to "raffle" off, draw for or award places.
• Reverse the process - reserve a few places from the general signup, then after, the initial offering is "sold out," offer the reserved places to those in attendance at less popular meeting.