Why Some Events Sell Out and Others Don’t (2011 session notes)

Why Some Events Sell Out and Others Don’t

Facilitator: Traci Browne
Scribe notes: Sarah Vining

Make invitation only, first come first serve
Build the reputation and the people will come
Ego building, make them feel VIP by invitation only
Charge a lot or just charge; in general more likely to show up
Monday morning events, low attendance
Couple of people to decide that the event is brilliant, they’ll tell everyone (i.e. attendees who blog, video-blog, tweet from the event; hire 10 people to do it for your event)
“Celebrity” hit a blog on your event – you become lucky!
Events on Tuesday/Wednesday (due to travel) or Wednesday/Thursday (in-city event) creates bigger attendance
Holidays don’t make a difference in attendance if event has built reputation
People don’t register if they don’t get anything out of it
Do people attend for TSR? (Tradeshow romance) Should there be date night at these events?
Events where you’re matched by interests
Continuing education credits @ events
Back to traditional marketing (buying lists) to promote social media – lots of noise, explore marketing outside social media
Push content all year long – it’s about being lucky and catching someone’s attention
Does seeing session titles and speakers’ names drive attendance?
Media partners for events are responsible for promoting the event after it’s over
People can learn in the office, so content isn’t everything
Benefit of attending – key connections + face-to-face, but most events don’t make time for this.
Badges with keywords, what you want help with at your conference
Match-making with people who have common problems, e.g. sitting on a bus going to an event
Approaching bosses for permission to attend – are title of sessions necessary?
Why do people go to events? One ECDC reason: gorgeous men throwing axes (who knew?)