Open Forum

We open our conference registration 5 months ahead.  Clearly, attendees do not know their travel plans at that point nor exactly what they plan to attend.  Do you have attendees sign up for meals/site visits this far in advance?  We ended up with alot of no shows for both which costs money!  Shuttle buses have to be rented for site visits and obviously food guarantees for meals.  We had 14 empty tables at our final night awards dinner.... OUCH!

We tried to encourage people to go back in to their registration and update their selections as we got closer, but that didn't seem to work.  Does anyone wait til closer to their event to offer the selections for meals and optional site visits?  Will they go back in at a later date to do that?  Interested to hear how you have overcome this problem.

Thanks!
#Classic-Creating/ManagingEvents

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Al James
VP of Marketing and Events
Philanthropy SouthwestUnited States
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I'm wondering if a 2-phase approach would work. I haven't done this yet, but it's been discussed for one of our upcoming programs. We need to get attendees registered at a very basic level (RSVP, Guestroom) now. In a few months, we will use the Attendee Hub as a "phase 2" for them to log in, download the app, select their breakout sessions, etc. I'm told from others who have done this that not everyone logs into the Attendee Hub, but most do as they want to pick breakouts and create their agenda. In your case, you may be able to do something similar - if not breakouts, maybe meals, etc. Making it clear that they cannot attend additional functions without responding.

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Gina Allega, CMP
Senior Program Manager
BCD M&E
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Thanks Gina!

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Al James
VP of Marketing and Events
Philanthropy SouthwestUnited States
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Original Message:
Sent: 11-14-2022 10:35
From: Gina Allega
Subject: RSVP Challenges

I'm wondering if a 2-phase approach would work. I haven't done this yet, but it's been discussed for one of our upcoming programs. We need to get attendees registered at a very basic level (RSVP, Guestroom) now. In a few months, we will use the Attendee Hub as a "phase 2" for them to log in, download the app, select their breakout sessions, etc. I'm told from others who have done this that not everyone logs into the Attendee Hub, but most do as they want to pick breakouts and create their agenda. In your case, you may be able to do something similar - if not breakouts, maybe meals, etc. Making it clear that they cannot attend additional functions without responding.

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Gina Allega, CMP
Senior Program Manager
BCD M&E
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I think a phased approach is your best option. What's missing from Cvent is being able to send emails to those who haven't registered for any sessions, i.e. someone that didn't pick ANY, indicating they haven't come back to registration. Maybe offer an incentive of sorts for completing their sessions? Depending on how big your conference is, you registration team can review their agenda with them upon check in? 

Sometimes long registration lead times hurt in the end - maybe sending out a save the date email to your potential registrants and then tightening up the registration window might also be an option.

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Beth Vriesen
Events Registration Admin
Associated Bank Corporation
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