March 2004 Article                                                                   Back to March 2004 Email

10 Creative Ways to Boost Your Conference Attendance             
An interview with association marketer Rick Whelan

Association meeting planners have had it rough the last few years. The down economy has hit them with a two-edged sword. First, many companies have been cutting back on the number of staffers they send to annual conferences or have chosen to attend conferences every other year. Meanwhile, mergers and foldings have reduced the pool of exhibitors, and those remaining may be opting for smaller booths or opting out of exhibiting at as many shows as they used to. While this means declining revenues for the associations, it may also represent an opportunity for growth.

With the current brighter economy, the future scenario is more positive. However, to build attendance and exhibits back up, meeting planners need an extra measure of creative thinking.

Rick Whelan, president of Marketing General, Inc (MGI) of Alexandria, VA, has plenty of sympathy and advice for those planners. MGI is largest marketing agency in North America devoted specifically to the association profession. In the agency’s 25-year history, they have tested and learned much about promoting association membership and conferences. Here Rick offers ten nuggets of advice to put to work on your next conference.

1. Start promoting your 2005 conference at your 2004 conference. Many groups start just six months ahead. That’s now too late. Often, time out of the office or away from family are more of an obstacle than is cost in deciding which show to attend or exhibit at. You need to get on members’ calendars early. Rick’s simple advice, start your marketing earlier and end it later.
   
   
2. Market differently to different segments. For instance, those who have been attending every year for years don’t need a huge expensive show catalog to convince them to attend. A postcard reminder with an 800# or link to an on-line registration page may do. Those who have never attended a conference before need more information and persuasion. Mail more often to more targeted groups. Consider targeting by job title in a company or years in the field.
   
   
3. Brand your conference. Why change the whole design of your conference promotion every year? You should stick with one logo and build loyalty with it. Members should recognize your conference promotion from one year to the next. Busy people traditionally scan copy versus reading it word for word. They’ll give you just a few seconds to decide if they want to keep a mailing piece, read an e-mail or stay on the phone with you. Don’t confuse them by making them wonder who you are.
   
   
4. Provide and market real content. There was a time when networking and vacationing were enough to motivate attendance. Now, attendees must go home with something they can use on Monday morning, or something that they can take to their boss or staff to justify their time and expense of attending or exhibiting.
   
   
5. Look at alternate means of promotion. Include e-mail and trade publications, of course, but think about other ways of reaching your market. One possibility: package inserts on your conference in book shipments from trade publishers, especially if one of your sessions ties in with the subject of the book. Consider offering 10% off the registration fee on the insert.
   
   
6. Fill out the registration form ahead of time for your loyal attendees. Make it easy to say yes, easy to pay and easy to respond
   
   
7. Keep in mind where your largest group of members reside when you select a conference city. Get too far away from them and you may hurt attendance.
   
   
8. Enlist your supplier members in promoting the conference in their newsletters and other customer contact vehicles.
   
   
9. Get together with other association meeting planners in your area on a regular basis. Have breakfast once a month and share success stories, and failures. Both will lead to inspiration for you.
   
   
10. Finally, really think about your market and how you can approach it in new ways. How are your members used to getting information and what can you do to reach them that’s different?
    

Rick also had some advice on ways to improve member acquisition, with the basic message being: Don’t be wed to tradition. Consider flexible benefits, flexible terms (why not 6 months, instead of a year?), and deals on multiple-year memberships, he suggested. Marketing General publishes a tip of the month for associations on its website.

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