One thing I've wondered about is what percentage of event ticket sales are pre-sold (versus sold at the Con)? What I'm getting at --- if you preregister for an event ticket and then return it at the Con, how likely is it that they will find a buyer for it? Personally, I make a schedule during wishlist time, but seldom try to track down additional events once I am at Gen Con.
Our group runs a good amount of games(mostly miniatures and board games ) and no shows are a definite problem. Cost does not seem to be a factor . Most of our games are sold out within the 1st hour or so or going live > and stay sold out . right up until less than the ticketed numbers show up . example : Game of thrones -3d - all sessions sold out in about 15 minutes . yet 7 of 10 sessions had at least 1 no show -tickets were $10.00 :some we were able to fill by generics - yes we waited for the players to show up -and mostly people with generics didn't want to wait the 10 minutes or so to see if there would be space -They preferred to go elsewhere . Most people not attending a game do not turn in their tickets prior to the game -so they continue to show as sold out online .
We do get players using tickets from other events -but it is minimal (I think this year about 8 tickets 4 of which were from our games which were cancelled due to no-shows )
unfortunately as a gaming group we are judged by the tickets turned in by us -not by the tickets sold and not exchanged - So there is the very real possibility of loosing premier status and location because of the no show situations. The majority of which are outside our control .