29 Jul Effective Tips for Increasing Your Corporate Event Attendance
For many of our clients, event planning can be a daunting process; here at Seven Events, we are on hand to ensure that the process is as easy for you as possible. For those hosting events, we see a few common worries – where do I start? How do I get everything done in time? and most importantly, how can I guarantee everyone will attend? After all, there is no point in pouring effort into a live event that is only attended by a handful. Unfortunately, no one is immune to this possibility – an over-catered, large space with a skewed ratio of staff to guests.
The good news? There are many ways in which we can lower the probability of this reality; giving you one less element to worry about. Here we explore how to increase attendance at events.
Knowing how to boost attendance at events starts right from the root – the date. Consider your business, are there certain months when the team is incredibly busy, are there annual events that you know will be a high priority and lastly does the purpose of the event have a time limit? For example, an event for a product launch must take place close to the launch to ensure it is fully effective.
In thinking about the above three questions, this bespoke approach will help you narrow down a suitable date and month that slots in well with the company calendar. As always, try to avoid periods of time, such as those summer months, when we know teams are skeletal as annual leave is scattered throughout the calendar. Think logically and consider when most of the audience will be able to attend.
Choosing a suitable venue is also a great way to attract your desired crowd. While many focus on choosing a venue best suited to the type of event space and capacity required, it is important to not overlook the reputation and perception of your chosen venue. Choosing somewhere prestigious can always guarantee to wow your guests, in turn, heightening the desire to attend. Equally, new openings or places that your delegates would not usually have access to, make attending your event more aspirational.
When considering how to increase attendance at events, your invitee list is paramount to this success; as always, quality over quantity. It may be enticing to invite everyone on your contacts list, in the hope the more you invite, the more people will attend, and some favour this tactic. However, an event is all about the right people. It may be surprising to note that guests attend based on the other attendees going, so consider who to invite strategically. Having the right demographic at your event will ensure everyone is benefitting. From excellent networking to bring their own unique expertise, your audience will be genuinely invested in the topics up for discussion. If this is an event you have run previously, ensure you have looked at past attendance lists to capture those who have repeatedly shown an interest.
You need to ensure the event is engaging from the start, so take care when building that first invite email. To generate the best response; keep to clear, concise, personalised emails. Consider the information that you feel is most important to gain their attention and present this in the best way possible; too many emails can get overwhelming and will quickly put people off accepting an invite. Throughout the event life cycle, you want to retain and build engagement for the event. This can be done through teasers, effective social media advertising and content marketing. Drip feed your invitees with new information, to increase suspension.
Lastly, look at how to boost attendance at events by focusing on the event agenda; curated to ensure your target audience feels the event is worth attending. Consider the number of times guests would have to participate in the event, against dead time. While, yes, downtime is great for breaks and extra networking, guests may find that the effort of travelling for only 2 hours of content, may not be worth it. Make it worth it. Have a guest speaker, who resonates with your event demographic. This can be a major pull in heightening those attendance levels.
Overall, going beyond the basic levels of planning and taking the time to really understand your event and your desired audience is a foolproof way to ensure you get your desired event attendance. While this does benefit you as the organiser, you must also consider how the event will benefit those attending – take steps to incentivise and engage your audience. In turn, they will want to attend your events and you will find that once they are won over, the guest list will fill itself with minimal effort.