We’re navigating a new world of events with truly limitless opportunities. How exciting is that? While the pandemic shut down live events as we knew them, it opened an entirely new world for those looking to host events—virtual events. And now, hybrid events as over 70% of companies start to get back to in-person meetings and events. Over the pandemic, nearly half of businesses that introduced virtual events to their 6-figure event strategy were able to increase or dramatically increase their attendance and reach.
Do you know what greater attendance and reach mean?
Firstly, greater opportunities to make money. Secondly, generate ROI with opportunities to create greater connections and engagement.
And honestly, who doesn’t want that for their business?
So, even though we’re returning to a world of slight normalcy, virtual and hybrid events are here to stay. When they’re added to your event strategy successfully, they can make you a lot of money. Today, I’m going to share my top tips for designing a 6-figure event strategy that includes virtual, hybrid, and in-person events. Ready to take some notes?
Step 1: Understand Your Revenue Streams & Use That to Determine Your Revenue Goals
The foundation of creating a 6-figure event strategy is understanding where you can make money on your virtual, hybrid, or in-person events. For each style event you’re going to incorporate into your event strategy, what can you monetize? Ideas could include things like:
- Registration – tiered with premium and group ticket options for greater income
- Sponsorship, advertising, and underwriting opportunities – virtual and in-person options
- Merchandise sales
- Paid training opportunities on-site
- Paid networking opportunities
- Supplemental events like golf tournaments or vendor art show
- Affiliate marketing opportunities
- On-demand content after the event available for paid membership programs
The list goes on, these are just to spark some options!
Step 2: Think About Where Your Audience Engages Most
Are you an organization with an audience that is hyper-local, regional, or within the same country? This is an ideal scenario for in-person or hybrid events. But if you’re a solopreneur business coach with followers across the globe, maybe offering quarterly virtual events and special VIP masterminds at idyllic international locations could work best for you.
You need to think about where your people are, what they struggle with, and how you can help them.
After determining those three things, make a list of how each format of event would create an impact or help your audiences and figure out the best way to deliver that experience. A mix of hybrid, virtual, and in-person events is a great idea to offer different experiences to different target audiences throughout the year. Each has its pros and cons, and each serves a different purpose with potential to generate revenue in different ways.
Step 3: Start Planning Early
The best way to generate a 6-figure event strategy is to plan out your entire year of events the year before, if possible. If that’s not possible, it’s not the end of the world, you’ll till be successful, but it’s just a teensy bit more stressful. When you plan when your virtual, hybrid, and in-person events will be you have more time to market to your audience and more opportunities to package sponsorships… which leads to our next step.
Step 4: Make Friends with Lots of Sponsors
Sponsorship is the key to successful events. Yes, you need attendees, you need engagement, but sponsors are really the money makers in your 6-figure event strategy. You need to create different sponsorship packages for each event style. Virtual will have more digital opportunities, whereas in-person may have more opportunities for paid C-Suite networking or physical product promotions. We have a few blogs and a virtual event sponsorship system bundle that will help get you started—check them out:
How to Create Hybrid Event Sponsorship Opportunities Sponsors Actually Want
Expert Tips to Create the Perfect Virtual Event Sponsorship Media Kit
Virtual Event Sponsorship System Bundle ($47 for $3,000+ in value!)
Step 5: Design Events that Engage
Engagement is how the good majority of event organizers measure success for their events. How many leads were generated? How many high-level connections were made? If you have an attendee or sponsor who was highly engaged, it’s very likely they’re going to want to attend one of your events again. Building up that solid repeat attendee base is the key to jumping into tiered event pricing options with upgrades attendees will want to pay for—because they trust you’re going to provide that value for them since they’re already engaged and have seen what you can do. From there, the sky is the limit!
All these steps will help you start to set up a 6-figure event strategy that enables you to manifest the success you’re dreaming of. You’ve got this!
Need Help Designing Your 6-Figure Event Strategy? Try 1-on-1 Coaching with Alecia!
As an event professional who has scaled many virtual, in-person, and hybrid events—Alecia is someone you want on your side if you’re struggling to start your 6-figure event strategy. She’s now offering individualized one-on-one coaching opportunities to help you map out your event goals and architect an event strategy that will enable you to reach that next level. Want to learn more? Schedule a complimentary strategy session to see if one-on-one coaching may be right for you!
