You can influence when your attendees register through advance announcements, personal invitations, and the deadlines you set.
We analyzed registrations for 24 conferences managed using our conference management system, Converia. It turns out that deadlines are a very powerful tool for managing attendee registration behavior.
Study details
- 24 conferences analyzed
- 17 conferences had two registration periods
- 7 conferences had one registration period
- 4.4 months average registration time
- 254 attendees on average
The Early Bird deadline as a registration magnet
More than 23% of the attendees in our study registered in the final week before the first registration period ended. These attendees clearly wanted to take advantage of the lower price and seized the opportunity at the last minute.
Registration rates rise again toward the end of the second deadline. In the final week before the conference begins, another 11% of attendees take the opportunity to register.
Interestingly, the number of registrations spiked specifically three days before the deadlines and on the day of the deadlines themselves. We suspect that many attendees used calendar reminders and had set them for this timeframe.
4 tips for optimizing registrations
More registrations occur at the end of deadlines than during the rest of the period. This increase is more pronounced when attendees can save money by meeting the deadline.
Take this registration behavior into account during your planning and stay relaxed in the weeks leading up to the deadline. We have put together 4 tips for you:
- Create multiple deadlines to increase the incentive to register.
- Issue vouchers with registration deadlines.
- Plan for additional staff resources for the final week before deadlines.
- Use event management software to automatically handle large waves of registrations and minimize the manual workload.
If you follow these tips, you will be well-prepared for the registration period. We wish you a high turnout!
