Crowd Sourcing! How to Boost Event Attendance: 10 Proven Strategies

You’ve poured months into planning your event—securing speakers, crafting an agenda, and promoting it to your audience. Yet, with the big day approaching, registrations are lagging, and panic sets in.

But don’t worry; there’s still time to turn things around. By focusing your efforts, leveraging partnerships, and thinking creatively, you can attract a crowd.

Here are 10 proven strategies to increase event attendance and make your event a success.

Understanding Common Reasons for Low Event Attendance

 First, understand why attendance might be low:

• Lack of awareness: Ensure potential attendees know about your event through social media, email marketing, and promotional partnerships.
• Uncompelling content: Make sure your event theme and sessions are engaging and relevant to your target audience.
• Subpar speaker lineup: Recruit influential and knowledgeable speakers.
• Inconvenient timing or location: Choose dates, times, and venues that encourage participation. Consider virtual options.
• High costs: Offer ticket discounts and affordable packages.
• Competing events: Avoid scheduling conflicts with other relevant events.

Proven Strategies to Increase Event Attendance

1. Optimal Date, Time, and Location

Choose dates, times, and venues that are convenient and accessible. Consider factors like holidays, competing events, and attendee work schedules.

1. Flexible Attendance Options

Offer both in-person and virtual attendance options to accommodate different preferences and increase accessibility.

1. Address Audience Pain Points

Understand your audience’s needs through market research and tailor your event to address their challenges and desires. Gather feedback from past events to continually improve.

1. Leverage Event Technology

Use event technology to create an engaging experience before the event. Create an easy-to-use event website, build hype on social media, offer live streaming, and use event apps for networking and updates.

1. Customizable Agendas

Allow attendees to create their own agendas by offering multiple tracks and sessions.

1. Streamline Registration and Check-In

Make registration and check-in quick and easy with user-friendly registration pages and QR code scanning.

1. Invite Your Contact Database

Leverage your connections to invite people with whom you already have a relationship. Personalized outreach to select contacts can yield a higher turnout.

1. Early Bird Discounts

Offer discounts for early ticket purchases to encourage advance sales and create urgency.

1. Personalized Marketing

Segment your audience and create targeted marketing campaigns. Use marketing automation tools and personalized content to engage potential attendees.

1. Engaging Email Reminders

Send periodic email reminders before the event. Include compelling messages, key details, and a call-to-action button.

By implementing these strategies, you can boost event attendance and ensure your hard work pays off.

Engage your community, leverage technology, and offer valuable experiences to make your event a success.

Credit: SpotMe.com Blog   Author: Kathryn Humphries