One of the biggest stressors we hear from clients during the event planning process is how to maximize attendance and ensure invitees not only RSVP with a yes but show up on event day. After all, corporate event planning is serious, time consuming work that requires excited and engaged attendees to make it all worthwhile.
Here are four strategies to boost your next event’s attendance.
1. Get serious about date strategy.
The timing of an event can be a make-or-break factor for attendance. And different event types require different date strategies. It starts with knowing when and where the big events of the world are occurring. Then depending on your event type, it’s time to decide if you need to avoid those dates or if you want to piggyback.
If you’re planning a more intimate and niche networking mixer, dinner, or perhaps a smaller team offsite, it could be a good idea to align travel schedules with a larger event like SXSW, AWS, or RSA. This alignment can increase your event’s visibility and drive higher attendance as your potential attendees are already gathered in one place and seeking post-event activities.
If you’re planning a larger scale event or conference, you need to avoid the event overlapping with key, large scale events and competing events. Not only will this maximize your potential attendance, but it also can save you on pricing and availability challenges for venues, vendors, and even accommodations.
Did you know cred maintains a database of 22,000+ global industry events and conferences that we have been tracking since 2015? We utilize this database to help clients hone in on date options that align with their strategies and ensure competition is avoided or used to your advantage.
2. Personalized Invitations and Follow-Ups
All of us are inundated daily with emails and messages. So a personalized invitation can go a long way in boosting attendance to ensure your event is catching a potential attendee’s attention. Rather than sending generic event invites, tailor your outreach to each recipient, send from a trusted connection rather than a mass email, and highlight why the event is relevant to them.
And once you send the first invite, don’t give up if you don’t get an initial response. Follow up with well-timed, new event developments like added attendees or speakers that could make the event more valuable.
The personalized touches don’t end once the RSVP is secured either. Make sure you send a personal calendar invite with all the event details and instructions. As the event date nears, continue to share updates and onsite event instructions to stay top of mind for your attendees and build their excitement and engagement for the event. A personalized reminder tells your attendee that they’re an integral part of the event!
3. Offer Unique Content and Experiences
In the wide world of events and on demand content, it's more important than ever to rise above the noise and distinguish your event. Think about your core audience and what type of unique content or experience you can offer as a hook to supercharge attendance.
For a micro event, consider a venue with a wow factor. Is it a trendy, hard-to-secure reservation? Would a private event setting secure a view and experience that can’t be attained by a normal reservation? These are key elements that provide a feeling of exclusivity that can drive demand from attendees.
For larger summits and conferences, ensure your speakers showcase fresh content that isn’t recycled from other events or podcasts and that your agenda is featuring expert speakers that attendees otherwise do not have access to.
4. Dynamic Networking Opportunities
Great events are built on the connections made during the event, which are even more important in today’s more distributed workforce. Build specific networking time into the agenda so attendees aren’t tempted to skip out to catch another session or activity, and offer a range of formats from 1:1s, small groups, birds of a feather lunches, and moderated roundtables.
Intentional matchmaking and networking opportunities show your investment in your attendees’ personal experiences, and builds pre- and post-event connection opportunities, making your event more memorable and impactful.
Setting your event apart as convenient, personal, and valuable for your invitees is critical to boosting attendance. Keeping these tactics in mind will hopefully yield more “yes” responses to your event invites and more engaged attendees onsite.
Looking for more support and ideas on supercharging your events? Get in touch and make sure to sign up for our newsletter.
