How to Achieve a 97% Attendance Rate at Virtual Events

I'm going to say it. We are Zoomed out!

If you’ve spent any amount of time staring at your screen, disappointed in your event attendance numbers, you’re not alone. We’ve been in your shoes. Putting together a virtual event is a lot of hard work– it’s more than just creating a meeting link and expecting the event to automatically be a success.?It requires hours of planning, resources, and a ton of dedication. So it feels incredibly deflating when people don’t show up.

But why is this happening?

Unfortunately, there is no one correct answer to this question, and there are multiple factors and reasons that have caused this significant drop in event attendance rates.

Maybe, people are now more interested in attending the few in-person events that are happening still. With this being our third year of living with the pandemic, people are craving that in-person interaction like in the “good old days.”

Or maybe, it’s that the novelty of virtual events has worn off. When virtual events and meetings started becoming the norm, people were intrigued and excited by the concept.

But now, everybody’s calendars are jam-packed with back-to-back virtual meetings, and having to attend another event can sometimes feel exhausting.

Or…maybe…people are just bored.??

Every event they go to is the same – somebody presents to all the attendees, some people turn on their mic (maybe their cameras sometimes) to talk to others, and then they leave.?

So as an event host, what can you do to make these events more interesting and exciting so the attendance numbers on your computer screen feel a lot more encouraging?

Well, I might have just the right blueprint to help you solve this problem.????

At Remo, we organize events to get people together. So when planning your virtual event, it is essential to keep humanity at the center.?

You want to keep your guests excited throughout the entire duration of the event – starting before they even enter your event. And this requires a few extra steps.

Since you’re already putting in a lot of effort into making your events a success, just a few more refinements can significantly boost attendance.

Please join me February 10th, 9:30am PST, when I go live here on LinkedIn to share the top secrets I've learned to significantly increase awareness and attendance for your online events.

Here are some of my top tips:

→ Pick a catchy event theme to gather everyone. Try to choose something that will stand out and make sure your target audience can relate to it.

→ Follow this idea with a well-scheduled marketing campaign and make sure to leverage all your communication channels such as email, social media, blog, community (if you have these, of course!).

→ Set up an agenda explicitly prepared for the needs of an interactive virtual event by incorporating elements like short movie streaming, online games, and virtual raffle wheel games.

→ But what I have found to be the ultimate secret sauce (pun intended) that helps bring people of all backgrounds and cultures together is food.

Remo was built to humanize virtual interactions and what is more human than sitting around a table and sharing a meal? Add to that the ability to easily move between tables – you can choose who you’d like to eat and interact with, leading to more authentic conversations and interaction.

And, we’re not just saying this. I have tangible proof that this works.

In 2021, we organized an event along with our Gold-tier agency partner, Lunchpool , where we provided pizza for all guests to enjoy during the event.

The guests simply ordered pizza through a link sent to them, and the pizza was delivered to their doorstep right as the event began. Then just like they would at an in-person event, they could mingle with each other while they enjoyed their food.

Photo courtesy of Ashley Groves

And the result? A 97% registration-to-attendance rate!?Of the 74 people that registered for the event, 71 attended.

Please join me February 10th, 9:30am PST, when I go live here on LinkedIn to share the top secrets I've learned to significantly increase awareness and attendance for your online events.

It’s no surprise that having food involved encourages people to attend events. Gathering around a table and sharing a meal has always been the best way to bring people together.

Photo courtesy of Lunchpool

While it is easy to last-minute change your mind and not attend a webinar that you signed up for 1.5 months ago, the same is not true when you have a pizza delivered to your doorstep.

“Event engagement is a huge part of having attendees experience a great virtual event. Everyone is tired of the 'talking-head...Zoom' syndrome. To really make a virtual event a truly unique and fun experience, consider providing food to attendees that magically show up at their door a few minutes before start time. Having a fun shared experience with others will make your event one to be remembered!"

Jarrod Goldsmith - eSAX Virtual Events

Yes, incorporating food means an additional layer of logistics to ensure that everyone can place their order on time and get their food. But the resulting event success is worth the few extra steps.

Photo courtesy of Lunchpool

While you might not get a 97% registration-to-attendance rate every time, consider this: Hoppier , an organization that helps you send your virtual event attendees lunches, cocktails, gifts, and more, reported that their customers producing external events have 30% attendance on average.

But when they added food to the agenda, attendance rates increased to 50%. That’s a 67% increase!

So, if you’re testing any new strategies to increase your attendance, then I enthusiastically recommend trying this one.

To give you a headstart, here is a list of vendors/service providers that you could use for your next event:

A. Global Delivery

• Pizzatime
• Hoppier ?
• Foodpanda
• Ubereats

2. The United States Only

• Cocktail Courier
• Saucey

Are you looking to increase your virtual attendance? Try Remo with Hoppier or Pizzatime.

Look at the image below. Doesn't this look more inviting than Zoom?

Thank you to Henri Timmerman who desinged the beautiful floorplan below. Henri is the owner of Unique Floorplan Design and his company can be found here: https://lnkd.in/eNQQqsmP .

Questions or comments? Please leave them below for me and I'd be happy to help!

Please join me February 10th, 9:30am PST, when I go live here on LinkedIn to share the top secrets I've learned to significantly increase awareness and attendance for your online events.