Hosting an event at LBF but not sure how to get people there? Here’s our top tips!
Building a healthy event attendance is something that concerns every organisation when planning an event, especially when budgets and targets are a factor to consider. Your event needs to reap the desired rewards, and that can only be achieved when you have enough and the right people there. With the Leicester Business Festival having run for seven consecutive years, we’ve put together some of our best tips to help you increase your event attendance.
Location, location, location
Location plays a huge part in building your attendance and getting people to your event. There are obvious factors to consider such as transport links, parking in the area, and distance you’re asking your attendees to travel, but location is a lot more than just practicalities. By choosing a unique venue and location, more people will be drawn to your event and get excited by the thought of attending.
Try hosting your event in a renowned venue which people may not usually get the chance to visit, or hold your event outdoors, embrace the natural light, and show off the surroundings of your local area. We have a long list of local great venue partners who are ideal for LBF events and will offer you free or discounted pricing to host your event there!
Media coverage
Media coverage is a great way of ensuring news of your event reaches the biggest, and more importantly, the right audience. Media coverage of your event can come in three forms, paid, owned, or earned media. Paid media covers everything that, unsurprisingly, has to be paid for - this can include boosted social media posts and google ads, which all can be targeted to reach the correct people. Owned media covers other content that you publish on these channels organically. Owned media is a great way to build the foundation of your event as people look to learn more.
Finally there is earned media, arguably the most important. Earned media provides a platform to reinforce the credibility of your event through trustworthy third party media outlets - such as industry magazines, reviews, and news coverage. Here at LBF we ensure that every event gets a spotlight on our social media and communications channels, to help you reach a wider audience.
Be unique and innovate!
It’s likely that your attendees are tired of the same old corporate events, being spoken to over a PowerPoint with no real interaction. That’s why it’s now more important than ever as the events industry takes off again, to be unique and innovate! If your event consists of multiple interactive activities, networking opportunities, and fun activities that will allow your attendees to have new memorable experiences - more people will be attracted to the event and willing to set the time aside to get involved.
Planning ahead
If you want to fill your event, planning ahead and getting a head start is crucial. When planning an event, thought goes into what each attendee can individually bring to the event. You don’t want to miss out on having important people in the room because you left it too late and they’re diaries are all blocked out! By getting news about dates as early as possible, you encourage people to mark the calendars and keep the date clear to attend your great event. This year at LBF you also need to get your applications in early as we only have 80 event slots with no overlaps, and it’s first come first serve!
With the Leicester Business Festival running for seven years, we’ve seen what it takes to host a hugely successful event and understand what works. We’re excited to see what the local business community has in store for LBF 2022, get your applications in to host now and if you’re attending then check out our live events calendar!
