Attendance is mostly settled when an event is planned, weeks before the first email goes out. An event built around a specific member's reason to come, with that reason in its title, fills with ordinary promotion, while one built around what the organisation wanted to say struggles however often you announce it. Get the planning right first, then promote in three waves and read three separate numbers afterwards.
The advice here is for whoever runs the events programme at a chamber of commerce or association, usually alongside other jobs. The events a member came to are a large part of the value they weigh up when the renewal invoice arrives, which is why attendance sits so close to member retention and what to fix before renewal day. Everything below works whatever software you use.
When a room is half full, the usual response is to promote the next event harder. Sometimes that is right, because the email went to the wrong list or went out two days before. More often the promotion was fine and the event was the problem. It was planned around a speaker who happened to be free or a topic the board felt members ought to care about, and no member in particular recognised it as meant for them.
Promotion can only amplify a decision made at planning. Every email about a vague event asks the member to work out for themselves why they should come, and busy people rarely do that work.
Before anything is booked, finish this sentence: "This is for the member who..." The answer should describe someone you could find on your register, such as the owner of a small engineering firm about to send a first shipment to the EU, or the member who joined in the spring and still knows nobody in the room.
If the sentence will not finish, or finishes with "everyone", the event is a date in the calendar and nothing more. Give it a reason or drop it. A shorter programme in which every event has a member in mind is easier to fill, and easier on a small team.
The title does most of the promotion, because it is often the only part a busy member reads. "March member evening" asks them to guess what they would get from it. "Shipping to the EU for the first time: the paperwork, from members who have done it" tells them, and it tells the right people.
Apply the same test to the first two lines of the description. Say who the event is for, what they will leave with, and when it starts and finishes. Whether there is food, and whether they can bring a colleague, can follow.
A programme made entirely of formal briefings starves the members who come to meet people, and one made entirely of networking starves those who come to learn. Most organisations need both, in two layers.
The first layer is a spine of repeating events that members attend by habit, such as a monthly breakfast on the same weekday, at the same venue and time. A regular should not need to read the email to know it is on. The second layer is a handful of set pieces that give the year its peaks, such as an annual dinner or a briefing with a guest speaker members would travel to hear. The spine keeps the habit going, and the set pieces give members something to tell colleagues about.
Members decide at different distances from the date, so a single announcement only reaches the people who happen to decide on that day. Three waves, each with a direct link to book, reach most of the rest.
Send each wave to the members the event is for, as well as through the usual newsletter: the exporters' briefing belongs in exporters' inboxes. Then watch the bookings after each wave. If bookings only arrive in the last two days, the earlier emails may be going to the wrong people or saying too little. After a few events you will be promoting on evidence rather than habit.
Your own past attendees are the warmest audience you have. They know the format, and they have already decided once that it was worth an hour of their morning. A short note saying "you came to the breakfast in May, and the next one is on Thursday the 14th" is more personal than any general announcement, and it takes minutes if your records show who actually came.
This is where the repeating spine pays off. Each breakfast gives you the invitation list for the next one.
"Attendance" usually means one figure, and that figure hides three different problems. Registrations tell you whether the event and its promotion created intent. The show-up rate is the share of people who booked and then came through the door. Repeat attendance is how many came back for the next one. Each has its own causes and its own fix.
| Number | What it tells you | Likely cause when it is low | What to try |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registrations | Whether the event and its promotion created intent | A vague topic or title, or promotion sent to the wrong members | Replan around a named member, rewrite the title, send to the members it is for |
| Show-up rate | Whether intent lasted until the day | Booking cost nothing, or the date slipped out of diaries | A reminder the day before; a small charge for free events people habitually miss |
| Repeat attendance | Whether the last event was worth the time | The event did not deliver what its title promised | Ask the people who came, and fix the format before promoting harder |
For no-shows, the simplest fix is a reminder the day before that says when and where, and who to tell if plans have changed. For free events that members habitually book and then miss, a small charge changes the decision: booking something free is a reflex, and paying even the cost of breakfast makes it a commitment.
Repeat attendance is the most honest of the three, because members vote on the last event with the next one. None of these numbers can be read without a record of who came, taken by name at the door. A headcount tells you how full the room was, and nothing about who was missing.
Spend ten minutes after each event, while it is fresh, on three questions: what brought people in, who you expected to see and did not, and what you would not repeat. Write the answers in the same place each time, next to the three numbers.
Before you plan the next event, read the notes from the last three. Over a season you will see which formats and topics your members turn up for, and planning gets quicker because you are no longer guessing.
We make Portava, membership software for chambers of commerce, associations and professional bodies, and the team runs events from the same administrator portal as the member register.
Each event has its own ticket types, such as member, non-member and early bird, and each type has a price, a number of places and the membership tiers it applies to. A member who signs in sees only the ticket types for their tier, and their member rate is applied automatically, so there is no discount code to send out.
An automatic event reminder goes to everyone registered before the event starts. It sends 24 hours ahead by default, the team can set it anywhere from 2 to 72 hours, and they can reword it or switch it off. For the "you came to the last one" email, the team builds an audience under Communications with event attendance as one of its conditions and sends a campaign to it.
The Registrations tab on each event lists every booking with its ticket type, payment and check-in status. Dashboard attendance figures come from check-ins, and an event with no check-ins shows as "not tracked" rather than as zero. Members can also propose events of their own, which wait in Approvals until the team has reviewed them.
There are no recurring events yet, so a monthly breakfast is created as its own event each month, and an attendee-list CSV export is not available yet either. To see how an event is set up and checked in, request a demo.
Start at planning. Give each event a specific member it is for, and put their reason to come in the title. Then promote in three waves: an announcement, a reminder about a week out, and a final call in the last 48 hours. Invite past attendees first, and send a reminder the day before to reduce no-shows.
Usually because booking cost them nothing and the date slipped out of their diary. A reminder the day before, with the details and an easy way to cancel, deals with the forgotten date. For free events that people habitually book and miss, a small charge turns a booking into a decision worth keeping.
Some should be. A free event lowers the barrier for new members and for people who have never come before. When a free event is regularly booked and then missed, a modest charge that covers breakfast or refreshments gives people a reason to keep the date. Say what the price covers, and keep member rates clearly below non-member rates.
Announce it as soon as the date, venue and speaker are confirmed, so planners can book early. Send a reminder about a week before, when most members know what their week looks like, and a final call in the last 48 hours. Watch which wave brings the bookings, and adjust the timing for the next event.