What's the secret of this incredible virtual events? Fostering FOMO

May 6, 2023

The world is now aware of the benefits of events on the internet, and marketers everywhere are jumping on board. But, it's much harder than ever before to design your event to stand out in the ocean of invitations.

How can you ensure that your event online stands out among today's crowded event space?

A lot of event organizers will try to convince you that the answer lies in getting famous speakers or throwing flashy giveaways. However, after running the events for more than 17 years with companies such as Bizzabo, the American Red Cross, HubSpot and Bizzabo I am convinced that it's far simpler and much less costly than that.

The key to running effective, memorable events in the current, no matter what competitors are up to involves fostering an inherent anxiety of not being noticed (FOMO) among potential guests. In this article we'll look at the reasons FOMO is a factor in marketing events and the ways to leverage it before, during and after to increase attendance, create anticipation and increase your events' ROE.

What we'll cover

  1.       Create an atmosphere of belonging to a
  2.       Make your event appear unique, current and only available
  3.       Let the significance of your occasion be crystal-clear
  4.       Stoke attendees' competitive spirits
  5.       The wrap up
  6.       Explore's Virtual Event platform.

Facilitating FOMO in order to increase registrations at Events

Event-related events -- whether online or in personoffer a fantastic opportunity to foster a sense the community. In reality, however the idea of creating FOMO isn't a way of creating a feeling of excludedfrom the events or programming.Instead, FOMO in your event marketing is based on a tri-part plan in which you:

  • Your event should be exclusive in time, on schedule and limitless
  • Your event's value is is crystal and clear
  • Stoke attendees' competitive spirits

Let's look at why each of these actions is effective and how to apply them practically for the next occasion.

Create a sense of belonging to a

If you are a fan of a musician who performed in your town, but you couldn't get tickets you may feel an anxiety-like feeling.

But, what happens if your favorite artist was coming to town, there were no tickets available, and all of your pals were able to attend? That FOMO could reach hyper-speed.

Similar to the way the most successful business-to-business (B2B) occasions don't happen by themselves. In fact, they are event poles connecting established communities and those that are already in existence. If potential guests hear about your event and are interested in it, they should consider it an opportunity to connect in real-time with those they believe they share a commonality (even in the absence of having had the pleasure of meeting).

How can you achieve this? It's called FOMO funnel. FOMO funnel.

  • Level 1.On your page's landing pages, content from social media and email sequences, add social proof, as well as emphasize brands you'll have at the occasion. This establishes your event as credible and relevant to potential guests.
  • Level 2. Show off unique people as well as actual people who will be attending your occasion. Through spotlights for attendees and a feeling of anticipation about "Who's coming? What are their issues? What lessons can you take from their experiences after having been in the same space?"

Fortune is a good instance of this. An established business publication, Fortune also hosts over 50 occasions every year. But, Fortune does not promote these events to a fresh public each time -- as they've already developed their ideal audience being part of their Fortune Connect community.

The Fortune Connect conference

In the Fortune Connect app, members have access to exclusive information and take part in livestreams that are regularly broadcast by leaders in the business world, communicate and connect with their fellow members and take part in the training sprints.

They say that they feel like they are " part of [thecommunity" and have the capacity of being able to " establish real connections" among those who are members of Connect. These community members feel that Fortune's events aren't just the opportunity to learn and get away from their daily routine for a few days; they also act as an opportunity to strengthen your connection with a group that is comprised of their fellow members.

Naturally, creating the environment for community does not mean that you have to build your own exclusive application. In lieu, you could:

Make your event appear timely special, exclusive, and limitless

In the past "Register now" might have been an appropriate invitation to act to promote an event, but it's no more the case.

Due to the huge number of events that are available, a growing number of educated buyers are buying at the time they're fully informed and committed to buying. Before registering to attend an occasion, they're asking questions like:

  • Do you think this is worth the money?
  • How long will I have to commit?
  • Can I convince my employer to allow me to take part in this course?
  • Are you in a rush?

In order to get attendees to say "yes" to these issues, it's important to make your event appear to be one that is specific, timely and an exclusive event. This can be accomplished by:

  • By limiting the quantity of tickets in order to create the impression of being in a state of
  • Attendees interested in attending should sign up for the waitlist or giveaway with limited entry before releasing tickets.
  • Include a timer on your registration form, so that potential attendees know that they'll lose their spot in line (and tickets) when they fail to complete the purchase on time.
  • A limited VIP level ticket which grants access to special products during the evening.

If you're seeking some inspiration, look no further than Web Summit's roundtables and roundtables. These require attendees to sign up for a small number of seats, which are allocated on a "first come, first served" basis. Web Summit asks participants if they'd want to "make it to the top table during Web Summit" and warn participants to plan their roundtables with care as you can only join a maximum of three.

Screenshot of the Web Summit's exclusive roundtable program

SparkToro is also doing a great job in promoting FOMO through hosting SparkTogether Summit. SparkTogether Summit. In contrast to other virtual conferences, SparkTogether sessions aren't recorded to be shared later, because the talks of speakers are categorized as private, outside of the event itself.

Example of SparkToro's confidential case studies
If attendees do not sign up to attend the live event and attend the event, they won't be able to experience the juicy, unfiltered details that the speakers will share. Attend it or lose it.

Make the meaning of the event be crystal-clear

"Make your event's purpose crystal clear" might seem to be the best advice you can get. but you'll be shocked by how many event planners are focused on the details of their event in the creation of marketing materials and not focus on the benefit of the benefits to attendees.

A way to get rid of this routine is to make sure that your advertising materials are consistent in answering the question "Who will attendees be when they participate in this specific celebration?"

Collision is a conference that lasts four days that covers twenty different technological content streams. But on their homepage, rather than focus on what topics the talks will address, the site focuses on describing the journey of the person you'll become when you attend Collision.

In addition, Collision promise attendees that they'll be part of the "people and businesses that redefine the industry of technology globally," but they also give a list of notable previous participants. It's also easy to comprehend what you'll be gaining out of the conference -specifically, networking, education leads, learning, and exposure.

Examples of value propositions if you attend the Collision Conference

Show and tell attendees exactly what your event is going to accomplish for the lives of attendees. This can be done by:

  • Positive reviews from past attendees
  • Industry experts are encouraged to participate as speakers, guests, or even media
  • The bundle of event tickets as well as limited-time discount offers, such as access to a course or resource, which will increase the value of the occasion for all participants.
  • Be sure the titles of your sessions are focused on what participants will gain from your presentations.
  • Answer the question: "Who are you going to be after this specific gathering?" Be sure to share the capabilities they anticipate to improve and develop, or to improve
  • If you've gathered information from a follow-up survey, inquire about how they improved their skills because of the fact that they attended your event.

If you're seeking social proof, make sure you're including reviews by two categories of users: those who are relatable to the audience you're targeting (and share similar titles in their jobs or titles and company size in common with the audience) in addition to those with the most ambitions, are admired and highly powerful to their followers. Therefore, the attendees have the impression that they're attending together with other people, and also see themselves transforming into the influencers they admire and want to be.

The idea behind FOMO at events is taking the "you should be present"approach, one that emphasizes the quality of relationships made while in relationship with each other. This is why we teamed together in collaboration along with The Vendry to create an intimate, private dinner party that caters to global event organizers working in big cities, such as New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

We're event experience specialists, but we rarely make investments in our own learning. We're responsible for our customers as well as hosting amazing events nevertheless, we're in dire need of that is competent in validating strategies, measurement as well as experience design. We've designed a space for people to engage in genuine and intimate discussions with other event professionals regarding new trends that are coming up in the industry of the event industry.

Stoke attendees' competitive spirits

The majority of attendees at events expect to mainly be consumers of media: they participate in talks, watch speakers and are given gifts. They do network, but they may also pose a speaker a question or two in a scheduled Q&A session. They don't usually see themselves as active attendees in any occasion.

Participating attendees can be a great way to engage them, and will increase the enthusiasm of attendees to attend the event. Highlighting attendees with awards or other praise from friends will also provide a fun and lively approach for your event.

What could this look like? Every year Webflow organizes their Webflow Conf where Webflow users gather to learn about the latest features, exchange experience with one another, and build a network. Webflow doesn't focus on just sharing information about the latest features, but also keeps participants engaged and involved by hosting Webflow Awards and Speed Build Challenges. Webflow Awards as well as their annual Speed Build Challenge during the occasion.

It is a Speed Build Challenge also builds anticipation for the conference one month prior to the conference's start and 16 contestants competing for the chance to compete in a virtual qualifying round on YouTube. Four of the finalist will be flown to the conference to compete in the final competition, which takes place in real time.

Also, Webflow highlights attendees' passion to face the challenges at the forefront in their testimonials from the conference:

To tap into the competitive spirit of participants Get them to participate by:

  • Host a challenge in the morning
  • Participants are asked to nominate a colleague or industry figure for a prize, which will be awarded at the event.

Infuse FOMO throughout the entire marketing cycle

Keep in mind that building participants' excitement isn't a thing which happens just when the event begins. It's an essential part of marketing and it's important to find inventive ways to enhance the anticipation of attendees in the lead-up to, during and following the event -- because this will increase the anticipation for attending the coming event.

In the course of your event, you can develop FOMO throughout the day:

  • Letting them see the extra advantages that VIP or more upscale participants enjoyed, and cause them to want to pay for a higher-end pass next year
  • Video of the event through social media

The process of developing FOMO for your next event must begin immediately following the event wraps. Do not wait six months from the end of the event to begin the process of marketing for the subsequent event. Make them aware promptly and keep the event on their list of priorities with

  • Offer your guests early registration for the next time you host an event (you may even offer them with some exclusive benefits including mentorship, matchmaking or even a matching session, if they sign up early)
  • The distribution of additional tools including toolkits and events' highlights after the celebration.
  • Looking to decide on your next conference's speakers or sessions, and what you can expect to see over duration

The conclusion

Are you eager to start designing your next FOMO-filled online event? The virtual event platform from's lets you easily design custom websites, forms for registration and reminder emails for your event for maximum participation and excitement before the event.

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