Online Magician: How to Promote a Virtual Event So People Actually Attend
Online Magician: How to Promote a Virtual Event So People Actually Attend
Organizations book a virtual session, promote it once in an email, and get a third of the turnout they expected. The conclusion is usually that people weren't interested, when the more likely explanation is that most of them never registered it was happening.
Attendance is a promotion problem considerably more often than a content one. I'm Magical Katrina, an award winning magician and mentalist, and I want to set out what actually drives turnout when you've booked an online magician, since the session is the easy part.
Registrations Overstate Attendance
Start with the number to distrust. Virtual registration is free and frictionless, which means people sign up in the moment and forget, and a registration list routinely overstates turnout by a wide margin.
Plan for that rather than being surprised by it. If you need a certain number in the room, you need considerably more registrations than that, and if you're reporting afterwards, use attendance rather than sign ups. It also means a big registration figure isn't reassurance, since the gap between the two is where the disappointment happens.
The Subject Line Does Most of the Work
Practically, this is where attendance is won or lost. People decide whether something is for them from a subject line, in about two seconds, while scanning.
A line describing the occasion performs poorly, since employees receive a great many announcements about occasions. A line describing what's actually happening performs considerably better, since it's concrete and unusual. "Something worth an hour on Thursday" outperforms almost any variation on a category name, and it's the single cheapest change available to you.
Describe the Thing, Not the Category
Related and worth stating clearly. An invitation to a wellbeing session, a team event, or an engagement initiative tells people which internal category it belongs to and nothing about whether they'd enjoy it.
An invitation describing an online magician who does something genuinely baffling gives them something to picture. People attend things they can imagine rather than things they can classify, and the difference in turnout between those two framings is larger than most organizers expect. Describe what will happen in the room, not what it's for.
Announce Twice, Not Once
The rhythm that works. A single announcement three weeks out is forgotten by everybody, and a single announcement the day before reaches whoever happens to be reading.
Announce when you book so it enters diaries, then remind at intervals, then remind again on the day. That's three touches minimum and it roughly doubles attendance compared with a single message. Nobody resents being reminded about something optional and enjoyable, which is the difference between this and the internal communications people do resent.
Send a Calendar Invitation
Small and disproportionately effective. A link in an email is a thing people intend to find later and don't, whereas a calendar entry is a thing that appears in front of them at the right moment.
Send a proper invitation with the joining link in it, and make it optional rather than mandatory so nobody feels compelled. The people who accept it will largely turn up, which is not true of the people who read an email and thought it sounded good. It takes two minutes and it's the highest return thing on this list.
A Senior Sponsor Changes the Numbers
Worth arranging, since it's free. If a senior person mentions the session in a team meeting, replies to the announcement publicly, or says they're attending, turnout moves noticeably.
That isn't about permission exactly, it's about signal: people are unsure whether an optional session is a genuine invitation or a box to be ticked, and a senior person treating it as real answers the question. Ask them directly rather than hoping, since a specific request is easy to accept and a general one is easy to miss.
Ask Managers to Mention It
The channel most organizations underuse. An announcement from communications is read by a fraction of the workforce, whereas a manager mentioning something in a team meeting reaches everybody in that team.
Send your managers a single sentence they can use, since asking them to promote something is more work than giving them the words. That one step, done across twenty teams, outperforms any amount of central messaging, and it's particularly effective in organizations where people don't read internal email closely.
The Objects Message Is Also Promotion
Specific to participatory sessions and worth using deliberately. A message asking people to have a couple of ordinary household items ready reads as a practical instruction and functions as an advertisement.
It signals that something is going to happen to them rather than in front of them, which is a considerably more compelling proposition than a session they'll watch. Send it with the invitation and again on the day, both because people miss it once and because it's a second legitimate reason to appear in their inbox.
Don't Hide the Finish Time
A small thing that removes a common objection. People decline optional sessions partly because they're unsure what they're committing to, and an open ended invitation reads as a risk.
State the finish time clearly and honor it. A session advertised as forty five minutes that finishes at forty five minutes teaches people that your invitations are accurate, which affects the next one as much as this one. Among promotion details for an online magician session, a stated end time is the one that most reduces hesitation.
Why Book Magical Katrina
If you'd like something worth promoting, here's my case. I'm a member of the Magic Circle in London and the Academy of Magical Arts in Hollywood, I've earned multiple magic awards, and I've performed for companies including Formula 1, the Olympics, Porsche, Zapier, and the Ritz Carlton, with appearances on Penn & Teller: Fool Us. My sessions are genuinely participatory rather than something people watch, which gives you something concrete to describe, and I'll tell you exactly what to put in your invitation and your reminders.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does registration overstate turnout?
Because virtual registration is free and frictionless, so people sign up in the moment and forget, and lists routinely overstate attendance by a wide margin. Plan for it: if you need a certain number in the room, you need considerably more registrations, and report on attendance rather than sign ups afterwards.
What matters most in the announcement?
The subject line, since people decide whether something is for them in about two seconds while scanning. A line describing the occasion performs poorly because employees receive many announcements about occasions, whereas a line describing what's actually happening is concrete and unusual, and it's the cheapest change available.
How should we describe it?
By what will happen rather than which internal category it belongs to, since an invitation to a wellbeing session or engagement initiative tells people how to classify it and nothing about whether they'd enjoy it. An online magician doing something genuinely baffling gives them something to picture, and people attend things they can imagine.
How many times should we announce it?
Three at minimum: when you book so it enters diaries, a reminder at intervals, and another on the day. A single announcement three weeks out is forgotten and one the day before reaches whoever happens to be reading. Nobody resents reminders about something optional and enjoyable.
What's the highest return step?
A calendar invitation with the joining link in it, marked optional, since a link in an email is something people intend to find later and don't, whereas a calendar entry appears in front of them at the right moment. The people who accept it largely turn up, which isn't true of people who read an email.
Does senior support make a difference?
Noticeably, and it's free. People are unsure whether an optional session is a genuine invitation or a box to tick, and a senior person mentioning it in a team meeting or saying they're attending answers that. Ask directly rather than hoping, since a specific request is easy to accept and a general one is easy to miss.
What channel do we underuse?
Managers, since an announcement from communications reaches a fraction of the workforce whereas a manager mentioning something in a team meeting reaches everybody in that team. Send them a single sentence to use, since asking them to promote something is more work than giving them the words.
Should we state the finish time?
Always, since people decline optional sessions partly because they're unsure what they're committing to and an open ended invitation reads as a risk. Stating it and honoring it also teaches people that your invitations are accurate, which affects the next session as much as this one.
Promote It Like You Mean It
Booking an online magician is the straightforward part, and the turnout depends almost entirely on what happens in the two weeks beforehand. Describe what will actually happen rather than the category it sits in, announce at least three times, send a proper calendar invitation, ask a senior person to say they're coming, give managers a sentence to use, and state the finish time clearly.
Do those and attendance stops being the disappointing number on your report, which has considerably more to do with your promotion than with what you booked.
Reach out with your date, and I'll tell you exactly what to put in your invitation.