What’s Driving Attendance?
What if you had a meeting and no one came? Ok, so it’s not that bad, but aren’t you worried that the decline in attendance this year may leave your members and customers questioning the value of attending in 2010?
“Do I really need to be away from the office? What did I really miss? Can’t I get most of what I need from the website, publications, and webinars held each month?”
I hear from meetings and marketing folks that all bets are off this year,“with attendance declines from 5% to 50% what do we have to loose?” Two for one offers, discounts to trade show exhibitors, reduced room rates, and other “deal sweeteners” are common. But, be careful in the “race to the bottom”. Discounts are temporary and they erode your value proposition. While price reductions work, there are other options. Promoting your meeting by giving potential attendees a chance to sample the content through a Livecasting event can really make a difference —sending video testimonials in an e-mail from the attendees who are coming and providing a “self-scoring quiz” that makes it clear that only at your event can they learn and experience the latest insight and knowledge available in your industry.
What are you doing to drive attendance this year?
June 23rd, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Hi Don,
My name is Melanie Hopkins; I work with the American Association of Orthopaedic Executives (AAOE), a specialty society of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), Rosemont, IL.
“Race to the Bottom” reflection is a great perspective, I agree. We are in the center of an economic uncertainty unlike I have ever seen. Our Annual Conference this year was in Austin, Texas, May 3-6, 2009, right in the center of the Swine Flu Pandemic; this caused some concern and ultimately several meeting cancellations stacked on our lower then usual attendance. We narrowly escaped the dreaded “A” word…Attrition.
Our members and attendees network, A LOT, we have a busy List Serve and the word was out immediately after the conference with posts like, “this was the best conference I have ever attended, I am already looking forward to next years conference” and “My Docs have repeatedly commented on the ROI of sending me (the Practice Administrator) to the AAOE conference, they feel it has paid for itself over and over with the knowledge I bring back to the practice; this will be a repeated continuing education venue”.
I am looking forward to your presentation tomorrow at Destination Showcase in Rosemont.
Thank you for your time.
Melanie