Running events is no easy task and organising free events has its own unique set of challenges. In this post, we address three common challenges that organisers face when hosting free events, with our top tips for tackling them head on.
Challenge 1: Budget
When you’re hosting a free event, chances are your budget is pretty slim too. That doesn’t mean your event needs to suffer; it just means that you have to get creative with whatever budget you do have!
Top tips for tight event budgets:
1. Find sponsorship
Don’t have a budget of your own? Find partners that can help! Effective business partnerships can help create a win-win situation, where they supply complimentary product or financial support in order to access your audience. Not sure how to ask? Here are 10 tips for winning event sponsorship.
2. Get thrifty with event promotion
The more you spend on promotion, the less you have to spend on your event — but if you don’t promote the event, how will anyone hear about it? To address this catch-22, read up on the 5 thrifty, potent ways to promote an event.
3. DIY event decor wherever possible
Event decor doesn’t have to be expensive to be effective. Pinterest can be a great tool for organisers of free events, with loads of DIY inspiration and event downloadable props to be found. Can’t afford to hire than fancy photo booth? Check out how to make your own.
Challenge 2: Entry management
Free events are often unticketed to encourage as many people as possible to show up on the day. However, if you don’t know how many people are coming to your event, it can be hard to plan for how many staff/volunteers are required to manage entry. It also leaves you with no real information on who came, which can make it hard to prove the value of your event to venues and sponsors.
If you find yourself constantly printing long, confusing spreadsheets or deciphering scribbles on a guest list when trying to determine who to follow up after an event, these tips are for you.
Top tips for entry management:
1. Use a free online ticketing provider
Professional event ticketing isn’t reserved for paid events any more. Online ticketing platforms make it easier for free events to be managed well and look good.
Eventbrite is always free for free events. That means if you’re hosting a free event, you can take advantage of Eventbrite’s full suite of event management tools at no cost. This includes:
- Built-in social promotion tools to make promotion on a budget even easier
- A mobile-optimised event page with great SEO to help your event get discovered on Eventbrite.com.au
- Real-time analytics to help you determine the success of your event
- Tools to help you follow up guests with more information
2. Have an automated check-in process
It’s common when running free events for organisers to either use a manual process to check guests in, such as crossing names off a guest list. Or sometimes no process at all! This can be extremely time consuming and clunky for both staff and guests waiting to get in.
Using a mobile check-in process to scan tickets at the door allows staff to get through queues much faster, as well as giving organisers an exact figure of how many people attended. This also means when it comes to following up guests, you can tailor different messages to attendees depending on whether they came or if they missed out.
You can find out more about Eventbrite’s free check-in solution with the Eventbrite Organiser App.
Challenge 3: No shows
Unfortunately, people can be flaky when it comes to showing up for events. Whether it’s unforeseen circumstances, demanding schedules, or just plain forgetfulness there is no escaping that some people just won’t show up to your event. This is further exaggerated when you’re hosting a free event, as there is no financial consequence to not coming.
Top tips for coping with no shows:
1. Allow overages on your guest list
If you have capacity for 100 people at a free event, your guest list should have approx 150 guests or more on the list to allow for last minute cancellations and no-shows.
2. Have a waitlist
If your venue has a particularly small capacity and you’re nervous about overfilling, have a waitlist and provide guests with a way to release or cancel their spot to allow someone on the waiting list to take over. In this instance, still keep a handful of spare spots up your sleeve because people may not cancel with enough time to notify your waitlist.
3. Manage your RSVPs in a single location
When you’re hosting a free event, it’s tempting to broadcast it on as many platforms as possible, collecting RSVPs on your ticketing site, your website, Facebook etc. However, this can be extremely misleading for organisers when it comes to determining who is really coming to their event. Particularly on Facebook where people are in the habit of marking ‘I’m Interested’ to anything that takes their fancy, your numbers might be significantly overinflated. It’s not uncommon for a Facebook event to show 20,000 RSVPs only for less than 10% of them to be serious attendees.
This is where using an online ticketing platform to manage all RSVPs comes in handy. This page can be linked to your own website or Facebook, allowing for maximum exposure with minimum confusion!
