Audio Only Version
Some call it “putting butts in seats”, today we’re calling it “How to Fill a Room at a Live Event”.
When planning a live event, by far the biggest concern is always making sure the room is full.
If it’s your first event, you may want to start off with a small 1-day event of, say, 50 to 100 people, depending on the costs involved.
As you get more comfortable with hosting events and knowing your strategy on how you’re going to attract attendees, you can build up to large events, such as a 3-day event with several hundred attendees.
A great strategy for attracting attendees is running Facebook advertising. This allows you to test your ticket sales process on a relatively small budget and it allows you to laser target the type of people your event is meant for.
Similar to many sales processes, there needs to be a sense of urgency for why people need to sign up now.
Most likely you will have minimum numbers that you need to reach with your venue to avoid extra charges. So, it is critical to know your attendance as far in advance as possible.
One way to create that urgency is through offering lower priced tickets to people to sign up early and raising the price as the event get closer.
For us, with our upcoming Ignite Event, we offered free tickets to anyone who registered by September 30th.
If you’re considering a free ticket offer, it is highly recommended that you still collect some sort of refundable deposit, such as a $97 deposit, so you know who is actually going to attend vs. who has great intentions to attend, but isn’t actually going to show up.
From there, follow up is key. Your attendees need to receive a confirmation email with the details of your event and any information they need to book travel.
If you’re working with a hotel and you’ve secured a hotel room block, that information needs to be clearly communicated to your attendees.
Following up with a welcome phone call is a great way to make your attendees feel special and to make sure you’re communicating important event details to them.
Another fantastic opportunity you have in your follow-up communication is to encourage your attendees to bring a friend.
Making the bring-a-friend process simple for your attendees can allow you to increase your attendance by up to 30%!
If you want to see how this whole process is modeled, go check out IgniteEvent2014.com.
And, even better, if you want to see how an entire 3-day event for 300+ people is run, AND learn amazing marketing strategies, AND gain an even more successful mindset, AND make incredible life-long business connections…
Then, plan to ATTEND Ignite!
It’s December 5th-7th in San Diego, California!
Grab your ticket today at IgniteEvent2014.com!
Fired up about hosting or attending a live event? If so, leave us a comment below and let us know!
And…
If you liked this episode, then you’re sure to like the episode on how to have an incredibly profitable live event HERE:
How to Plan a Live Event That Makes $100,000 in 1 Day
