What strategies can you use to increase virtual event attendance?

1 Define your goals and audience

Before you plan any aspect of your virtual event, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and who you want to reach. What is the purpose and value proposition of your event? What are the specific and measurable objectives you want to accomplish? Who are your ideal attendees and what are their needs, interests, and pain points? By answering these questions, you can design your event content, format, and marketing to match your goals and audience.

2 Choose the right platform and tools

Choosing the right technology is essential to the success of your virtual event. You need to select a platform and tools that accommodate your event type, size, and budget, while providing the features and functionality you need to create an engaging and interactive experience. Aspects to consider include ease of use and accessibility for both you and your attendees, streaming of live or pre-recorded video and audio, as well as the ability to share slides and other media. Additionally, you should look at options for chat, Q&A, polls, surveys, quizzes, and other forms of feedback and interaction. Integrating with social media, email, and other marketing channels is also important, as is the capability for analytics and reporting to measure your event performance and outcomes.

3 Create a compelling agenda and speakers

When planning a virtual event, one of the main factors to consider is the relevance and value of the content and speakers. To create an agenda that resonates with your audience, you should research their preferences, expectations, and challenges. Additionally, you should define the key takeaways and benefits of each session and speaker, craft catchy and descriptive titles and descriptions for your sessions and speakers, balance the length, format, and variety of your sessions and speakers, include interactive elements such as Q&A, polls, quizzes, and breakout rooms, as well as provide opportunities for networking and socializing among attendees and speakers. Doing so will ensure that your event is compelling and captivating.

4 Promote your event effectively

To maximize attendance at your virtual event, you need to create a marketing plan that outlines your goals, strategies, tactics, budget, and timeline for promotion. Additionally, a landing page should be created to showcase your event value proposition, agenda, speakers, and registration details. Utilizing email marketing to send personalized and segmented invitations, reminders, confirmations, and follow-ups is essential. Social media should be used to create awareness and interest about your event; content marketing should be used to generate blogs, podcasts, videos, webinars, and other forms of content related to your event; paid advertising should be used to boost your reach and visibility; influencer marketing should be employed to leverage the network of influential people in your niche; and referral marketing should be utilized to encourage attendees and partners to invite their contacts.

5 Optimize your registration and attendance process

To ensure your virtual event is successful, you need to optimize your registration and attendance process. This means reducing any friction or barriers that could prevent people from signing up or showing up. Additionally, you should provide incentives and reminders that will motivate people to attend and participate. This can be done by using a simple and user-friendly registration form with essential information, offering flexible and affordable pricing options, providing clear instructions on how to access the event, sending timely reminders and notifications, creating a sense of urgency and scarcity, and offering rewards for attending and completing the event.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?