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FILLING THE ROOM HOW TO BUILD ATTENDANCE
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BY LORI SMITH
very planner knows that attendance is the linchpin of an event’s success. Fill the room and you’re a hero. Fail to bring in the crowds and your job is on the line. But building, maintaining and growing attendance is becoming increasingly challenging. Education is available online. People are short of time. Management has to be convinced of the ROI of going to a conference, convention or trade show before signing off on it. A new generation of attendees is placing greater demands on all elements of major events. It’s no longer an “if you plan it, they will come” world, if it ever was. Understanding the make-up and motivations of today’s attendees is crucial to the creation of a marketing campaign that will increase attendance. Fortunately for planners, new research looking at what makes today’s attendees tick is now available. “The Decision to Attend Study for Conventions & Exhibitions: An examination of the behaviors behind the decision to attend” was released this January by The Experience Institute® and its partners, the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) and the International Association of Exhibitions and Events™ (IAEE). The stated objective of the research was to “identify the factors impacting the decision to attend relative to the total visitor experience” with the intent of providing meetings/exhibitions professionals and destinations information to “build attendance promotion strategies.”
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In order to achieve this objective, The Experience Institute surveyed members of 10 American associations. It received 7,171 responses from which it was able to construct a picture of the factors that people consider when deciding whether to attend an event—or not. TODAY’S ATTENDEES The study delivered good news for convention and conference planners and show managers. Respondents fell into five groups: Haven’t Attended (22.9 per cent), No Longer Attend (3.3 per cent), Occasionals (23.2 per cent), Frequents (30 per cent) and Always (20.6 per cent). These five groups represented four generations: Gen Y/Millennials (11 per cent); Gen X (26.7 per cent); Baby Boomers (53 per cent); and Pre-Boomers (9.3 per cent). Collectively they showed a workforce that valued—and wanted to attend—face-to-face events. Likelihood to Attend (Propensity) questions revealed that 91.7 per cent of respondents were likely or highly likely to attend versus 8.3 per cent who said they were unlikely or highly unlikely to attend. However, the meat of the study is in its exploration of factors that influence the decision to attend. It showed that the top three attendance drivers are education, networking and destination. Education or “staying abreast with profession/ industry” included program, content, speakers and exhibits,
Photo: Michele Piacquadio/Hemera/Thinkstock
15-03-19 2:16 PM