We’ve hosted a bunch of events at The Createry, and attended many more all over Europe over the years. In that time, we’ve gleaned a lot of real-world tips about what makes an event successful.
And although some of it comes down to luck, a lot of it is about careful planning and good decision making. In this blog post, we’re sharing a lot of top tips on how to make your meetup a success.
Let’s get started!
Put yourself in their shoes
The first thing to do is to thing about the types of people you want to attend your event, and how you can develop and present your event to maximise its appeal to them.
This is the key to success as it’s vital to get details such as topic and timing spot on.
For example, holding an event for mums in business at 6pm is going to be difficult for most to attend. Similarly, holding an event for full-time employees at 3pm on a Tuesday isn’t going to grab the interest of a lot of people.
It’s also best to check when half-term holidays are, as this can make a big difference as to whether your attendees can show up or not. For some people, it’s the best time as they have another parent to handle things at home for a few hours, whereas others have non-stop family commitments planned.
Another option can be to give people the ability to join online, if they can’t or don’t know if they can make it in person. Our Meeting Owl is great for hybrid events, as it gives a whole room view as well as automatically changing the sound and image to the person speaking!
Choosing the right theme or topic
This is often the single biggest factor that determines whether people will buy a ticket to your event or not.
Think about:
- What’s hot at the moment (e.g. AI).
- What’s genuinely interesting to people (as opposed to things they feel they “should” do but don’t really want to. If your topic doesn’t automatically sound interesting to people, it’s going to be a harder sell).
- What people already have a vague/general understanding of, but want to learn more about, e.g. Instagram reels for their business. (This is the sweet spot to grab people; they know enough to know the topic is right for them, but they don’t know so much that they won’t learn anything new).
- What works in terms of timing (people often like to set goals at the beginning or end of the year, rather than halfway through, for example).
When thinking specifically about your target niche:
Questions to ask yourself:
- Is the topic/theme mostly just interesting to you, or is it interesting to a lot of people?
- If you’re not the speaker, are you interested in the topic, and would you genuinely attend an event based around it?
- If you’re not the speaker, are you just getting someone to plug a gap in the event schedule, or are you interested in what they’re talking about?
- Is it useful? (If it’s fun but not useful, people may be reluctant to buy a ticket for it).
Go broad
A broader topic has more appeal than a niche one, so if you’re looking to build up numbers, it’s a good way to go. For example, instead of a talk on designing pins for Pinterest, broaden it out to creating social media content. A topic that’s very niche probably works better as a one-to-one service rather than an event.
That about what applies to the majority of businesses and business owners, regardless of their model, products/services, or stage of business. For example, people always want to know how to sell more, how to make the most of social media, how to work smarter, how to be more productive and so on.
Ask the audience
Poll your target attendees (or borrow someone else’s audience; Facebook groups can be really helpful for this).
Keep the question super simple, and encourage additional information/comments in the thread or via message so you can find out more.
Giving people a few different options and asking them to pick one topic often works the best, as people don’t like to come up with their own suggestions.
Although you don’t want to listen to just one or two loud voices, polls can be invaluable for finding out what times, dates and topics work best for people. You’re not going to please everyone, but also you want to please more people than just yourself!
Branding & expectations
What’s your unique selling point (USP)? Maybe your event is designed for women, or has an interesting activity or opportunities, or has great swag or snacks. Over time, and with some consistency, you’ll develop a positive reputation and a strong community too.
Setting the tone
The vibe is one of the most important factors in seeing returning attendees. People want to feel a sense of belonging and community, and it’s one of the most judged factors of an event.
If possible, email new attendees a couple of questions beforehand so you can find out more about where they’re currently at and what their challenges are or what they’re looking to achieve.
Your event listing will also help you set the tone, but you have to deliver on what you’re promising! If you say “we’re different” and immediately start with a generically styled powerpoint presentation, you’re going to see some raised eyebrows.
Events can vary from formal powerpoints and suits to casual chats (swearing optional!); events aimed at bigger corporates and YMOYL (your money or your life) business owners such as accountants and HR consultants are likely to be more formal. Events with a lot of creatives or targeted at tech industry audiences are likely to trend more casual.
One example of this is icebreakers. At a more formal event, you may want to go around the group and have everyone do an elevator pitch, or have name badges and people pairing off for business introductions. At a more casual event, you may want to leave people to speak to each other naturally.
Set expectations so people know more about what they’re signing up for. Is it lecture style? A workshop? Will it be a smaller intimate group, or are you aiming for as many attendees as possible? What interactive elements will there be? Will you do lightning talks? Consider gamifying the event to boost value. You could have a leaderboard with points,networking achievements, or challenges. Prizes could include mini-consultations with experts or early access to exclusive content.
Pricing & Value
Pricing your event is another big factor in determining how many people – and who – are attracted to your event.
While pricing low may seem like a logical move, especially if you’re in the early days of running events, in reality it can cause all kinds of problems.
Events are a lot more work than most people realise, and it’s easy to be out of pocket. Furthermore, people will notice price increases in the future and so it’s better to set expectations by pricing your event at the upper end of what you’re comfortable with early on.
Paying for a ticket, no matter the price point, means you want to highlight the value to attendees. As well at the cost, there’s also a time investment as self-employed people are leaving their business to attend your event.
Start by doing some preliminary research – look at similar local events on Eventbrite to see what kind of prices and benefits other organisers come in at. While you don’t necessarily want to match or undercut them, it gives you a reasonable starting point, so you’re not charging £50 for something others are charging £20 for. Remember that listing your event online may have a monetary cost – it definitely has a time-based cost – for you, and also that attendees may have other costs associated with attending your event that are unrelated to you (such as travel or childcare).
The more expensive the cost of attending, the more people want to see a visible return on their money. As self-employed people, this is likely to be in the form of new clients and skills, and better ways of doing things they’re already doing. For example, you can charge more per ticket for a specific skill-related class as opposed to a general business event.
With a more general networking event, the volume of people is more important, so you make up the income that way. It’s also important to factor any extra payment costs (e.g. if a ticket has a fixed price of commission for each sold, it’s going to be more expensive to sell 10 cheap tickets than one high priced one, and more expensive to have 10 lots of refreshments vs 1).
Expressing the benefits to people potentially attending (making sure you have clarity yourself on what those are), is key to a successful event.
They could be things like: learning something new, making meaningful connections, finding support, targeted business promotion, or being inspired.
Secondary value-adds, such as drinks, snacks, swag or gifts (e.g. we can provide wildflower seeds in branded bags for a reasonable extra cost!) all contribute to making the ticket price “worth it” and can also set you apart from other events. Loyalty cards, giveaways, and group goody bags (where everyone brings an item and you make up the bags) can also be good points of interest.
Keep your pricing as simple as possible. While it’s tempting to offer a range of different options, having a single option reduces analysis paralysis.
Once your event becomes more established, you could look into sponsorship. Typically, sponsors provide a drink or food for the attendees in return for a short pitch, website, event listing and email mentions or similar. Sponsors could be relevant local companies, or even national companies that offer services or products relevant to your attendees. Another option is to go grassroots, and have an attendee sponsor refreshments or a giveaway in exchange for pitching their business.
Promoting your event
The next thing to look at is promoting your event. Leave enough time to promote; several weeks (or even longer) can be effective as many people plan ahead.
Listing it on sites like Eventbrite can help you reach a large audience of people looking for events like yours, so it’s a quick and easy way to get relevant eyes on your event. Adding keywords and using an interesting title is a must.
Once you’ve listed your event, consider where else you can promote it. Make a list of relevant places such as your LinkedIn, your social media profiles, relevant local Facebook groups that have a promotion thread, creating an event if you have your own Facebook group (and sharing it to others), and so on. You could also message good contacts and ask if they’d share it for you (you could always share something of theirs in return).
If it’s not your first event, you could ask past attendees to share the event for you; it gives you a reason to get back in touch with them. An incentive – such as a discounted ticket or in-person treat – doesn’t hurt either!
Don’t be worried about sharing too much; give people every chance to see your event. You can always switch the messaging and imagery up so it feels fresh to people. Highlight a different advantage or feature of the event every time you post. Another thing you can do is to add value in your caption or email so that people gain something from each one and look out for them. This could be a tip or trick on a topic related to the event.
Saying something different each time you post or email can be a challenge, but you can make it easier and faster by having a general list of ideas you can quickly draw on for each event, and pre-done images or background templates where you can easily change the text.
Your post list could be something like:
- Introduce early bird ticket sales
- About the speaker
- Key element of the event topic
- About the event location
- Why people are interested in the topic (and why you should be too)
- About the event refreshments
- Key nugget of info based on the event topic (value add)
- Last chance for tickets (make sure it’s clear in the subject line)
- Reminder of details for the event (e.g. parking info)
- Consider reaching out to some people personally to ask if they’ve seen the event listed and if they’re interested in attending. Encourage them to bring others along, such as a friend or coworker. An invite that feels personal, as opposed to a general social media post or mass email, can be very effective.
If people tell you they can’t attend, ask them if they know anyone else who may be interested in attending. You can also use your event listing and ticket confirmation email to remind people to share the event details with a friend.
Directly ask other small businesses and relevant local groups or accounts if they could share your event. (Search “Nottingham” to get ideas on Instagram). If you’re hosting an event with us, tag us in your posts (@The CreateryUK) and we’ll share them for you.
You could look at hiring or collaborating with an influencer. Some are happy to promote in exchange for a ticket to the event (a good chance to make them feel like a VIP!), while others require payment. Check out UK influencer groups on Facebook to reach them for free, and then ask ones you work with if they know of any other local influencers to extend your reach.
Use the event itself as a form of promotion. Have a hashtag and remind people to use it, mention your social media handles and ask people to tag you in photos and so on. This also reminds people to create content during the event. You could also have people tweet to win a prize. At The Createry we have pegboards we can set up for your event with your hashtag and details – just let us know you need them.
You can also have people pre-register for the next event, or sign up for your mailing list. It’s also a great time to get testimonials from people to use in your next event listing and in future promo. Make it super easy for them – have them write a quick card or message at the time, or even ask in person at the end of the event so you don’t have to follow up later.
Don’t give up on the follow up
After you’ve finished your event, you’ll likely to want to have a rest! But plan ahead for follow up, so you’re ready to catch up on social media and communicate with attendees shortly after (remember that Stories expire within 24 hours).
Send a post-event email with key takeaways, resources, and a call to action to be memorable and stay connected. If you have a Facebook or WhatsApp group they can join, don’t forget to link to it.
In the email (and/or on social media) you can also gather feedback. Send a very short (maximum 3 question) survey using something like Google Forms to find out what went well and what you could improve. Be open to constructive criticism, but don’t take everything personally or as gospel. People can have very niche comments or opinions!
If you have your next event planned already, consider an incentive for past attendees. This could be in the form of a limited use discount code for their next ticket, or a reminder of their loyalty card, or some information about the next event that could grab their interest.
Some final tips
Make everything easy – Easy to decide on tickets, easy to buy tickets, easy to get info, easy to contact you, easy to find the event. If people have to work hard, they won’t bother.
Personalization is huge – Small-scale events allow you to cater to individual needs. Tailor elements like discussions, workshops, and even food choices to attendee preferences. People will really value the effort you’ve put in.
Use tech to save time and increase attendance – Don’t replace human interaction, but use tech to your advantage to take ticket sales, promote your event, send out reminders and help people connect and engage following it.
Taking on the door payments? Have people still pay a deposit online ahead of time. People feel any kind of loss strongly, so they’re more likely to show up rather than waste their deposit, whereas no shows are more likely with no upfront commitment.
Assume at least 10% no shows – For seated events, you can oversell by 10% as a buffer and still maximise attendee numbers.
Consider physical items – You could provide attendees with personalized takeaways beyond business cards. Create custom notebooks with event notes and discussion prompts, or gift small, thematic items relevant to the chosen theme.
Could collaboration contribute? – You could capture key takeaways and ideas from discussions in real-time using collaborative tools like Miro or Padlet. Share this document with attendees afterwards, creating a lasting resource and fostering ongoing engagement.
What objections can you eliminate? – Consider all the main reasons why someone may not purchase a ticket and think of strategies to eliminate or minimise them. For example, many people are nervous about attending an event alone, so having a buddy system to match people or have someone greet them and spend some time with them can really help. For higher priced events, having a payment plan can be effective too. Assisting with travel arrangements such as best public transport options or even arranging car shares could also be beneficial.
Think about how you’ll estimate numbers – Ticket sales, email RSVPs, confirming with people in person or individually on messenger, looking at the number of attendees as a Facebook event etc are all valid options. After running multiple events you’ll have a better idea of how to more accurately predict final attendee numbers.
Rethink the elevator pitch For easy introductions or pitching without a salesy feel, ask people to write on a sticky note how they can help someone else (and on another note, something they need help with). Or have a table to take and leave flyers and business cards. Or arrange a group giveaway or goody bag (a tote bag with your logo that every business owner can contribute an item to, and then you distribute them among attendees).
We hope you found some useful gems from this blog post that you can test out for your own meetups moving forward. Best of luck with your event!