You are in the final stages of organizing your event and you already know it: it's going to be AWESOME! But even if you put your heart into it and even organize the craziest event of the year, Unfortunately, you are not immune to no shows... No shows are that annoying habit that people have of not showing up on D-Day, without warning you.

What you need to keep in mind is that professional events are now more and more numerous and original, and that your guests are therefore more and more in demand. If completely eliminating no shows is more like a fairy tale, reducing their number is a possibility within your reach!

Here are five actions you can take to minimize no-shows at your next event.

💌 Warn as soon as possible

Just like you, your guests need to organize themselves in advance ! Everyone's schedule sometimes extends over several months. The sooner you announce the date of your event, the more likely you are to gather as many people as possible. For your part, you need this time to find the perfect place, choose the activities, decide on the menu, etc., without stressing yourself out!

Be careful though, It's early enough and it's TOO soon. Because it is difficult to project themselves, people often have difficulty confirming their presence at an event whose date is too far away in time. They also have plenty of time to forget or change their mind. We recommend that you communicate the date of your event between 2 and 3 months in advance, more for large annual events.

🖐 Refresh your guests

Reminders are your best ally in engaging your guests. To boost this commitment, avoid generic emails and humanize the experience with a personal and/or original touch, for example by adding the person's first name and by arousing their curiosity about what is planned. The Teasing effect always works and can even generate word of mouth that is beneficial to your event. Of course, you will avoid falling into harassment by making too many reminders!

We advise you to do at least reminders

• 2 to 4 weeks before D-Day to ensure that the agendas are booked
• 3 to 5 days before with new information
• The same day or on D-1 with all the necessary information

😍 Inspire by teasing the event

This advice is certainly the simplest but it is ultimately the most difficult to implement. Do you want everyone to come to your event? Ok, so make them want to come!

For that, your invitations should serve as Teasing. All the subtlety lies in succeeding in arousing the curiosity of your guests without saying too much. What do you think are the highlights of your event? Perhaps there is an eccentric or unusual theme, a “guest star” or a great animation? Is the place particularly crazy? Feel free to drop in one or two small photos! Also, take care of the form of your invitation : a simple text that is easy to read, airy and contains all practical information.

If you want to make a difference, bet on an invitation that is different from the ordinary and that will make an impression. During 20 years of one of our customers on the theme “Back to the 90's” , we sent each guest a fake 90'S CD cover on which was a QR code that allowed access to a digital invitation. The CD included some musical classics from the 90s, to make you want to even before D-Day!

👍🏻 Facilitate registrations AND cancellations

We told you, your guests have no time to lose! Like an efficient website, your invitations should be intuitive so that everyone knows how to register in a few clicks. Forget immediately the idea of the form with 50 questions to validate the registration. In the digital age, you only have a few seconds to capture the user's attention and keep it.

It's exactly the same idea when it comes to cancellations. Contrary to what one might think, the fact of Simplify the cancellation process However, there is no incentive to do so. It is simply a reassuring factor: “ok I am registering, but I know that if necessary, I can cancel quickly”.

Don't lose sight of your objective: Reduce no shows ! This addition allows you to stay in control of your event since you are aware in real time of the number of guests present.

🚀 Simplify access to your event

The location of the event plays a lot on the motivation of your guests! Too far? Laziness! Underserved? Big strike? Oops, how do we do it?
In general, a central and/or easily accessible location always attracts a lot more people. In some cases, when the location is not easy to access, you should consider Setting up one or more shuttles to come and leave the reception area. If your budget allows it, for internal events, you can also offer your guests to take charge of their Uber.

To conclude, while it is utopian to think that 100% of your guests will be present on the big day, you are also not dependent on their goodwill. It's up to you to act to maximize the number of people present during the day: an accessible place, a well-designed registration system, personalized and relevant reminders, and above all, an event that brings value to your audience!