16 Ways to Fill Your Events and Reduce Attrition Rate

What’s Attrition Rate? “Attrition rate,” in this case, is the percentage of people who don’t show or who cancel after initially RSVP’ing for an event.  If 10 people RSVP but only 4 show, that’s a 60% attrition rate.  For most events the attrition rate is typically around 30%.  What a lot of hosts and presenters don’t realize is that they can have a huge impact on the attrition rate by taking some key actions leading up to an event. As an event host, you can sit back and watch the typical attrition rate affect your event, or you can take charge and motivate people to show by taking some of these simple actions.  You don't have to use all 16 suggestions: Adding one or more of these techniques to your pre-event strategy is sure to have a positive impact on your attrition rate. 1. Overbook the Flight Before posting an event, get clear on how many people you want at your event and then add 30%.  That total is the real number of RSVP’s you need to account for normal attrition rates.  <a href="http://ask.yahoo.com/20040423.html">Airlines account for attrition rates</a> and that’s why planes tend to be full. Of course, you don’t want to have to “bump” anyone, so make sure you would have room if everyone does show up. 2. Time to Marinate Post your event with enough advance notice so people have time to see it on the schedule and marinate in the idea of attending.  Offer plenty of lead time for people to notice, consider, and commit to the event—most people don’t look at event posts and community calendars every day.  For biznik events, post at least 2 weeks in advance. 3. Trick or Treat In your event title or description, tell people what they will come away with—something valuable or tangible and something they really need or want.  If you do not include a statement or bulleted list of what the prospective attendee is going to get, learn, or walk away with (and in their language) then your event may not have enough sticking power to encourage people to follow through on their RSVP, or sign up in the first place. 4. Remove the Invisible Cloak People are more likely to show up if they feel important and visible to the group. Remove anonymity by sending an email to attendees as they RSVP and welcome them to your event.  This elicits a feeling of importance and tells attendees that they are visible.  They’ll have a sense that not showing up will indeed be noticed.  By replying soon after they’ve RSVP’d, you reinforce their commitment while it’s fresh in their mind. 5. Be Specific and Personal In your welcome email, don’t just say “Glad to see you signed up…” but instead look at each RSVP’s profile and acknowledge a specific contribution you know they will offer at the event, such as: “Jeff, I am really interested to hear your deconstructionist take on website design.  You’ll be adding a lot to this discussion. I’m psyched you’ll be attending!” 6. Pre-Party Introductions Again, look at profiles or think of what you know about the attendees.  Then, introduce individual attendees to each other prior to the event and let them know why you are excited for them to meet each other. When you build relationships between individuals, you strengthen the group dynamic and encourage people to feel connected and invested in the community and excited to show up.  By connecting attendees in advance, it also makes meeting strangers less intimidating—a reason some people drop out last minute. 7. Get Their Feet Wet Another way to get the pre-party going is to send something to your attendees in advance—some questions to answer, some items to gather, or brainstorm a list of concerns they have on the topic.  On <a href="http://biznik.com/forums/community-wide-general-discussion/topics/thats-so-unbizniklike">the biztalk thread</a> that inspired this article <a href="http://biznik.com/members/barry-hurd">Barry Hurd</a> said he has attendees do some homework before his events to encourage their investment.  It’s a great idea. 8. What Can I Win? Remember those games at the State Fair, the feeling of scratching a lottery ticket?  People  get excited about a chance to win.  Offer a give-away at your event and include that in your event description. Something like “All attendees of this event will receive my step-by-step guide to doing your own PR.” or “I’ll draw names at the event and one lucky attendee will get a 2 for 1 session to hone their skills on this topic.”  You can make this fun and not schlocky. Find a way to be authentic in your offering and make it something valuable to attendees. 9. Feed Two Birds An even smarter giveaway that feeds two birds with one worm (I hate the “kill two birds” metaphor) is to ask one of your attendees if they’d like to market themselves by offering a give-away at your event.  This will cause the donor of the item or service to feel even more invested in attending as well as provide an incentive for the other participants to show up for a chance to win.  Again, make it something valuable.  10% off a service is not incentive enough to motivate people. Better to offer something more substantial like a 2 for 1 deal or a free item or a complimentary evaluation. 10. Mystery Thriller Create some suspense.  In your description and follow-up emails, allude to something that will only be revealed at the event.  This could be a secret, a tool, an answer to a burning question you know your attendees are interested in, etc.  It should be compelling—not an obvious answer.  Leave people wondering what it is and wanting to find out.  See how <a href="http://biznik.com/members/howard-howell">Howard Howell</a> did this for his <a href="http://biznik.com/events/2008/3/5/toot-your-own-horn-online">Toot Your Own Horn event</a>).  People are drawn in by suspense and mystery. 11. Confirmation Calls As <a href="http://biznik.com/members/helen-martin">Helen Martin </a>mentions in <a href="http://biznik.com/forums/community-wide-general-discussion/topics/thats-so-unbizniklike">this biztalk thread</a>, take some responsibility as the event host and call those who have RSVP’ed a day or two before the event to confirm they are coming.  Continue the conversation you started in your welcome email and again, be specific about why you are excited this person is attending.  Connecting to your attendees in advance not only encourages attendance, it may also help you feel less nervous as a host or presenter. 12. Waiting List Include in your event description “If the event fills, email me and I’ll put you on the waiting list and will contact you if a spot opens up.”  This makes people feel included and taken care of and it gives you an action to take if people drop out the day before the event.  13. Don’t Expect it to Grow Legs If you want to pack your event, talk it up. Increase exposure and announce your event at other events, on your blog, in your newsletter, post an event description in key locations, tell your customers and clients about it.  You have to market an event the same way you need to market your product or services: actively getting it out there for people to consider.  14. Join Conversations Find or initiate online discussions (<a href="http://biznik.com/forums">like biztalk</a>) on issues related to your event topic and get involved, then invite people to continue the discussion at your event and provide a link.  These are people who already have an interest in the topic: Offer a live venue for them to express or learn more about it. 15. VIP Invitations When you first post your event, or to boost low RSVP rate, send a personal invitation to those who haven't signed up and who you especially want to attend the event, to those who have attended in the past and to those who stayed on the wait list from your prior events.  Can’t say this enough: Tell them specifically why you want them to attend or what special quality they have to contribute to your event.  “Jen, I’d really like you to be at this event because you are so good at getting people to open up and speak authentically.” Not “I hope you’ll come.”16. Fee vs. Free Consider charging for your event.  True, sometimes it just feels right or may be strategic to host a free event. But it’s also true that people tend to follow through if they have put some money on the line. Sometimes we devalue things that are free.  Depending on your purpose for the event, this could also be a filter to self-select the serious participants and potential clients from those who might not value what you offer. Read a good discussion about <a href="http://biznik.com/forums/community-wide-general-discussion/topics/free-biznik-events-vs-small-fee-based-events-what-do-you-prefer">fee vs. free events here.</a> Try some of these techniques before your next event and then return to tell us how it impacts your attrition rate.  Looking forward to hearing about it! 2008-06-22T03:05:03Z

2008-06-23T13:38:41Z

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16-ways-to-fill-your-events-and-reduce-attrition-rate

2008-06-23T13:38:37Z

Learn what you can do as an event host to encourage higher turnout at your events and make those RSVP’s match the number who actually show up.

16 Ways to Fill Your Events and Reduce Attrition Rate

2009-04-04T08:34:21Z