You’ve spent countless hours planning your season of events and naturally want them to be well attended, engaging, fun, and successful. By utilizing the best practices and MSR insights below you’ll increase the likelihood of encouraging more participants to attend your events, and ensure they have the information they need to have a great time and come back for more. 

List Your Events on MSR Early

Listing and promoting your event early helps create momentum and allows you to reach a larger audience. We recommend opening your event for registration at least 6-8 weeks in advance to ensure a wider reach. This also helps your potential participants clear out their schedules and make travel arrangements if necessary. Everybody is busy, and calendars fill up quickly with competing activities. The sooner your participants can commit to your event, the better. 

Did you know that 55% of event registrations occur during business hours Monday-Wednesday? Keep this in mind when considering what day to open your events for registration. 

MSR sends an email with upcoming events within 300 miles of a participant's location at the beginning and middle of each month. This email generates a significant amount of event registrations every month that you may be missing out on if your upcoming events haven’t yet been listed. 

Use Multiple Channels

What are channels? Channels are the methods you use to communicate and promote your event. Examples of channels include email, text messaging, social media, print materials, radio, TV, word-of-mouth, etc. When marketing your events it is important to use multiple channels in order to expand your reach into the largest possible target audience. By using a mix of channels, you’ll reach more people and increase the likelihood of a well attended and successful event. 

Be sure to tailor your message for the channel and focus on the strengths of each. For example, if you want to reach a wider audience, consider using social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Identity hashtags that your target audience are likely to follow and incorporate them into your message (#trackday, #autocross, #hpde, #karting, etc). For more targeted campaigns, consider using email or text messaging. Utilize your People list within MSR to send all of your existing loyal members a text message whenever you open a new event for registration. Work with your partners/sponsors and ask them to promote your events on their social media channels. Ask the hosting venue to post on your behalf. Invite a local influencer to attend and promote your event. Above all else, do your best to be creative and don’t rely on a single channel. 

One of the best ways to get people to attend your event is to offer them something in return (in addition to a great experience!). This could be an early bird discount for signing up by a specific date, a credit on their account for promoting the event on their social media channels, a free hat/t-shirt/mug for the first 25 registrants, exclusive access to certain parts of the event, a 10% discount code for first time participants, a sticker pack for first-timers, etc. Whatever you choose, make sure it is something that will appeal to the audience you are targeting.  

Attendees value event listings that provide all the relevant and necessary information to them prior to the event to help set clear expectations and guidelines. First-timers in particular can be easily intimidated and dissuaded from attending if a listing isn’t descriptive and inviting. Be sure to appeal to these folks by clearly inviting them to join in on the fun. 

Don’t overlook the importance of being thorough with your event advertisement, pre-reg requirements, and confirmation messages. To ensure you’re being clear and transparent with your audience, we recommend including the following in your event advertisement at a minimum:  

• A compelling hero image that stands out and accurately represents your event. 
• A catchy and informative event description which clearly outlines all relevant event details. 
• An event day schedule with starting and ending times. 
• Age/experience/license requirements if applicable.
• Nearby accommodations. 
• Sponsors message and incentives.
• Refund policy. As the event organizer, you’re responsible for setting a clear refund policy and responding to all refund requests in a timely manner. 
• FAQs
• Who to contact with questions.
  

Your event is over and you find yourself wondering whether your participants enjoyed their experience. What did they like? What didn’t interest them? How could you do better next time? These are critical questions every event organizer should be asking in order to continuously improve the attendee experience. 

Data is a critical resource you can use to learn more about your attendees. It’s smart to collect post-event data that will help you understand their perspective of the experience. Utilize the survey tool in MSR to collect this valuable feedback. Use this as an opportunity to promote participation in your next event by providing a discount code with an expiration date to those who take the time to offer their feedback. 

Do you have any other tips and tricks that have worked well for you? Agree or disagree with any of the above? Join the conversation below and share your thoughts. And as always, don’t ever hesitate to reach out to us for help and support at support@motorsportreg.com. 

Best of luck to you and your teams with your 2023 event season!