Firts of all: i very rarely can fly on events couse of my timezone, but i loved the huge ones, they were the best fun, big squads trying to work together.
But there are some events with low numbers, and they are not nearly as much fun (for me).
BAR's idea sounds better than mine for me, it would greatly encourage the teamwork, also more people would be awarded, what is tempting to the ones who are not sure if they wanna fly on that event or not.