Using Text Alerts to Increase Attendance

It’s convention season and your National Conference is just a few short weeks away.  Your leadership team will be on the road, promoting your products and opportunity live and in-person, ready to take your organization to the next level. Use SMS alerts and text messaging tools to give your conference or live event a boost, encouraging feedback and audience interaction, and boosting attendance at key events.  We’d love to share the most creative uses of Text Alerts we’ve seen from our text marketing customers:

Sign-In & Opt-In: Grab your attendees’ attention right at sign-in.  Issue schedules that include keywords for sessions (IE: Text “Vibrant” for a class reminder).  Include your opt-in on banners, tabletops, and sign-in materials, to ensure you reach attendees from the start of the convention.

Lost? Share a Link:  On signs at major gathering points, remind attendees to text in to receive a link to a conference map or schedule of rooms posted on your website.  Texting a map or schedule link immediately aids the attendee, and drives traffic to your website, where guests can learn more about your company.

MMS & Video Broadcasts: Broadcast video clips, images, and audio at the close of each convention day, highlighting important announcements or high-profile announcements and guest speakers.

Meal & Transportation Reminders: Convenient food and transportation access can make or break a convention experience. Send timely reminders for airport shuttles, food truck locations, or taxi service to attendees. “PSA” alerts reduce confusion, relieve ushers and volunteers, and help attendees focus on what’s important – your brand.

Contests, Door Prizes & Scavenger Hunts:  Use text alerts to inject elements of fun into your event.  Build excitement on the convention floor with invitation-only flash mobs. Host scavenger hunts or trivia contests to drive attendees to featured booths and partner presentations. Include door prize keywords on flyers to encourage in-session opt-ins, which are key to focusing post-event outreach by topics of interest.

Audience Participation: Make the most of text-to-screen by displaying audience input in real time during large sessions or round-table panels. Text-to-screen is perfect for gathering audience questions, commentary, and testimonials. Add a social, crowd-sourced element to your event, investing the audience and increasing message retention.

Exit Polls: Get feedback in real time with exit polls for featured speakers and at close-of-conference.  Multi-option exit polls help you map your convention’s success in minutes. Gauge audience reaction to major announcements – or the whole convention – and establish the groundwork for post-event messaging.

Prospects, customers, and partners come to your convention equipped for mobile communication, with smartphones, tablets, and laptops. Our clients have seen up to 50% participation in live event text alerts.  The list you build at your convention is an excellent building-block for post-convention follow-up, helping you maintain your momentum long after the convention doors close.