Let’s face it, trying to grow attendance at your meeting is one of the hardest jobs in this new economy. Dates, locations, content and so many other items are vital when trying to grow your meeting. Below I have put together some great tips to try and help you increase your meeting attendance and your overall ROI.

BE SENSITIVE OF THE CALENDAR AND OF THE CLOCK... attendees prefer morning schedules and Tuesdays and Wednesdays are preferred meeting days.  Avoid Fridays and Holidays if at all possible.

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION...just because you are getting lower hotel rates and free meeting space in 2nd or 3rd tier cities doesn't mean that registrants will follow!  Attendees are looking for ROI also so choose locations with more to offer your attendees and choose cities that are strong convention cities.  Also, something as simple as choosing a city/state that has the highest percentage of your members is a great place to start!

GIVE THEM A REASON TO COME...does a meeting titled "Annual Meeting of Corn Growers" sound boring?!?  YES!  How does "How Corn Growers Can Increase Revenues" sound?!?  Something as simple as the name of the conference can help increase attendance.

EXPAND YOUR ATTENDEE LIST...does your Association or Corporation only invite your members?  WHY?!?  Expand your attendee list to include corporate sponsors, vertical markets, competitors, educators in your field, students, etc.  Many companies are expanding their reach to get new business so if you expand your attendee list, you will expand your attendance!

MAKE YOUR CONTENT VALUABLE...you must have content that helps your attendees and their ROI, not yours.  Focus your education on helping your attendees with their bottom line and in the end, they will help your bottom line.

SHARE THE MESSAGE...after the meeting share additional handouts and materials referenced by presenters.  This will also give you a great opportunity to thank them for coming and to give you direct feedback on what they would like to see in next year's conference and what was their most memorable experience.

These are just a couple of tips that I came up with and I hope you find them useful. If you have any other “tips” that you would like to submit on this topic, please contact me directly at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .