How to Help Attendees Prepare for an Upcoming Event

It’s essential to create a seamless experience for attendees from their first touch with your registration process through the end of your event. Keeping your guests informed throughout the process encourages them to stay engaged with your material, which leads to happier attendees and, in turn, return visitors.

Sound appealing? We think so! In this article, we’ll show you how to help attendees prepare for your event and give them the best experience possible. So let’s dig in.

Design a comprehensive event page

To begin, build an event page that gives your attendees (or prospective attendees) all the information they need to prepare for your upcoming event. Start off with a header image that immediately clues your audience into what your event will be like. We have lots of strategies for creating an eye-catching header image that you can read about here.

Next, add all of the event details, including date and time, venue and organizer, and event website. If you will be hosting a virtual event, make that clear on the event page so there’s no confusion for your attendees. A great way to denote your event as virtual or hybrid is with an event symbol, which comes standard with our Virtual Events plugin. This makes it easy for your site visitors to identify what kind of event you’ll be hosting. The Virtual Events plugin also allows you to generate Zoom links from your WordPress backend, embed your  Facebook Live and YouTube Live streams, and display your event links only to your registered attendees.

Add an RSVP or ticket to your event page

Adding tickets or RSVPs to your event can help keep participants engaged, making them more likely to attend. This will not only help you prepare by knowing who’s coming but also capture email addresses that you can use to email attendees throughout the event process.

When guests RSVP or purchase a ticket, an email will be sent to guests with the event details. They can use this email as a reminder of their upcoming event so that they don’t miss a beat. If you’re hosting a virtual or hybrid event, this email will also include a link to the online meeting location.

Stay in touch throughout the event process

Now that you have all of your attendees’ email addresses, you can easily send them emails throughout the event process beyond the order confirmation email. Although the emails that you’ll want to send for each of your events may vary, the same general principles will apply.

The first email touchpoint to send is the “welcome email” telling your guests any additional details that you may not have included on the event page, like social media hashtags, what to wear, and COVID precautions.

Next, send a “reminder” email shortly before the event. Reiterate the event details, especially where the event is located, so that attendees are prepared well in advance of the event. Invite questions at this touchpoint so that you can work out the kinks now instead of minutes before the event.

Although it doesn’t help attendees prepare for the event per se, sending a follow-up email is also a good idea to get some repeat customers. Use this as an opportunity to thank your attendees for coming to your event and maybe even include a place for them to provide feedback about your event.

Pro tip: Create campaigns for your events with our email marketing service, Promoter.

Create exclusive content only available to attendees

Another way to help attendees prepare for your event is to provide them with individualized content created specifically for them. Think course materials, e-books, and recipes, so that your attendees come prepared for your event. 

The best way to make this happen is with Restrict Content Pro. Integrating with Restrict Content Pro is easy for all of your events. Once installed you’ll be able to limit certain content, including conditional content like event details, or additional materials only available to attendees. Then, when attendees register, they instantly have access to all of the content now available on the event page which they can download, print, and bring to your event, regardless of whether it’s virtual or in-person.

Bundle and save on all of your event needs

By using The Events Calendar suite of plugins, you’ll have all of the tools you need to best prepare your attendees for your upcoming event. Even better, you can bundle our products, save money, and generate additional revenue in the process. Our Virtual Events Marketing Bundle comes with Events Calendar Pro, Virtual Events, Event Tickets Plus, and Promoter, making The Events Calendar your one-stop-shop. Select the Virtual Events Marketing bundle on our demo page to try before you buy.