Where are the Attendees?
You are several months from your next meeting and ready to start recruiting attendees. How are you going to do it? Events and conferences of all types, across all industries, are experiencing a declining number of participants. Overall attendance is down almost 2% since 2007. In the mean time, costs for presenting a meeting are up almost 50%. Participants are being choosier about which meetings they attend and companies are sending fewer to educational and industry events.
It has become more critical than ever to get your event on the attendee’s calendar or in their company budget early and keep it there. A multi media approach is the surest way to keep your event in the mix.
Once you have completed the initial tasks of location, content and speakers, you can launch your first announcement. Often this is a postcard or simple email blast, asking prospective attendees to “Save the Date”. You can beef up that first contact by providing critical information about the meeting and a stating the return on investment for attendees. You could include a magnet or luggage tag highlighting the event as a keepsake that will repeatedly remind the recipient of the event. Postcards can be easily tossed, but a clever magnet or a brightly colored and useful luggage tag will be saved and used.
Web keys are underutilized for marketing events. An attractive web key sent to target companies directs the decision makers to all the facts and figures, “the why” for your event. It can also be a much less expensive tool for registration than the traditional printed material. The web key pulls the attendee right to the website where you can communicate the latest information and all the registration, exhibit, hotel or educational forms can be easily completed online or submitted.
If you are selling exhibit space a map that shows the attractions of the destination city on one side and a layout of the show floor on the other can be a powerful marketing tool, especially if you include attendance information from previous years.
Maps can also be used as a registration tool for attendees. You can show them great spots in the city they will be visiting, the layout of the show, and highlight critical times and events.
Another integral component to getting attendees is getting noticed. This means standing out from the clutter which lands on someone’s desk. Try sending a banner pen in a tube! The packaging stands out in the mail, the pen is functional, and as a result is kept. A banner pulls out from the side advertising your conference and inviting attendees to visit the web site and register.
We hope these “Save the Date” ideas have been both interesting and helpful to you. Please contact TheMarketPro when you are considering promotional products and corporate wearables so that we can provide the information you need to make the best possible purchasing decisions. TheMarketPro can be reached at 800-905-0073 or sales@themarketpro.net. Additional articles can be found at www.TheMarketPro.net in our “Going Green with Promotional Products” and “Coffee Break Reading” sections.
Author: Janet Glazier
Published: March 2010