Imagine this: you’ve just hosted a successful auction, bringing in tons of non-dues revenue and providing an engaging experience for your members. Through this event, you’ve built relationships with new members and strengthened connections with existing ones.

However, you put so much time and effort into planning the event that you’ve forgotten to focus on keeping in touch with attendees. 

Don’t let all the hard work that went into planning your event go to waste. Nurture your member relationships—both new and old—with a strong post-event engagement strategy.

The tips in this guide will help you foster year-round connections with your members, even long after your events have ended.

1. Send personalized follow-up communications.

Keep your event and association top of mind by following up with attendees soon after your event concludes. Start by thanking members for their support. 

Aim to send thank-you messages to attendees within 24-48 hours of the end of your event to demonstrate your appreciation as quickly as possible. Include details about your event’s success, such as the funds you raised or the number of attendees you hosted.

Using information from your event registration software and member database, personalize your communications with data points like:

• Attendee names

• Membership history

• Donation history

• Past event attendance

• Other involvement with your organization

For example, you may thank an avid event attendee for their continued support and provide them with a sneak peek of your next event. On the other hand, you may highlight your appreciation for a first-time attendee’s willingness to show up and participate and encourage them to attend another event in the future.

Tailoring these post-event communications shows you’re committed to building lasting, individualized relationships with members. Plus, attendees will receive more targeted messages that resonate with them and push them to engage further with your association.

2. Solicit feedback.

Demonstrate that you care about providing the best event experience possible for attendees by soliciting their feedback. Surveys are a great way to gain input about your events and constantly improve your event management approach to thoroughly engage your members.

In your post-event surveys, you may ask questions like:

• How would you rate your overall experience at our event?

• Which aspects of the event did you enjoy most, and why?

• Which aspects of the event could be improved, and why?

• Did the event content align with your interests and expectations? Why or why not?

• Did you have enough opportunities to network with fellow members?

• How likely are you to attend another event of ours in the future?

• How likely are you to recommend our events to your colleagues or peers?

• Is there any additional feedback you’d like to share about your event experience?

Once you’ve collected all member responses, store the insights you’ve gleaned in your constituent relationship management (CRM) platform for future reference. Update attendees on which ideas of theirs you’ve implemented to show that you’ve truly taken their suggestions into account.

You may also create a segment of survey respondents within your database. Filling out your survey and submitting positive feedback are signs that these members are engaged and likely interested in attending future events. Consider developing a specialized newsletter for these members to share event news, discounts, and updates.

3. Develop an online community.

Use your association’s event app to keep engagement high after your event and build an online community. By continuing to use the platform your attendees have become familiar with, you can streamline post-event communication and keep them involved with your organization.

Within your event app, you can continue engaging attendees by:

• Enabling appointment booking. Let attendees foster connections after your event has ended through appointment booking. Members can identify fellow attendees they’d like to network with and seamlessly set up meetings with them through your event app.

• Uploading session recordings. Attendees can revisit key sessions from your event by accessing the recordings. Add closed captions so these recordings are accessible to all attendees.

• Updating the activity feed. During your event, an activity feed is a great way to keep morale high and encourage interactions between attendees. After your event, you can keep the activity feed going with event photos, videos, and memorable quotes to reignite the spirit of your event.

• Starting an online forum or discussion. Try posing a question related to your event’s content to spark further discussion. For example, you may ask attendees how they think a current industry trend will affect their work in future years.

In addition to your event app, you may also leverage social media as a community-building tool. Not only can you use your social media platforms to keep attendees engaged, but you can also show those who didn’t attend what they missed out on and share event content to market your association and events.

4. Gamify the member experience.

When people compete in a challenge or have a reward to work toward, they’re more likely to be engaged and motivated to participate in your activities. This strategy is called gamification and involves incorporating game-like elements into your event.

As EventMobi’s event app gamification guide explains, “This technique repurposes gaming tactics for an event context, inspiring friendly competition amongst attendees and incentivizing active event participation.” While many event organizers incorporate gamification into their events themselves, you can also leverage this strategy after your event to keep attendees engaged.

To gamify the member experience, your association can:

• Award achievement badges. Consider recognizing attendees who have gone above and beyond by awarding them with achievement badges. You may give badges for attending a certain number of events, helping your association secure event sponsors, or contributing valuable content to your event.

• Launch a contest. The possibilities for a post-event contest are endless. For instance, you could encourage attendees to share event content on social media with an event-specific hashtag. Give a prize, such as branded merchandise, to the attendee with the best content.

• Host a giveaway. Increase social media engagement and encourage members to attend future events with a post-event giveaway. Have attendees like, comment, and share your association’s giveaway post, and randomly choose a winner to receive discounted or free access to your next event.

Market these efforts on your events page, social media, and newsletter. For an extra boost, work with your sponsors to provide prizes and promote your gamification efforts. In exchange, you can publicize their commitment to your organization and willingness to contribute to a good cause.

5. Provide additional professional development opportunities.

One of the top reasons why members attend your events is to develop their professional skills and form connections with others in the industry. Keep this momentum going by providing professional development opportunities for attendees after your event.

According to eCardWidget’s member appreciation guide, members-only (or attendees-only) resources “can make your members feel like they’re part of an exclusive, valued community.” Consider providing gated content for attendees, such as:

• Webinars

• Interviews with event speakers

• Certification opportunities

• Job listings

• Members-only podcast

Feature these resources on a dedicated section of your website and your association’s event app, where attendees can easily find them. You may link to it on your event page and send the link to attendees in your follow-up communications.

It’s one thing to recruit new members or attendees, and it’s another to retain them. With these tips, you can build an event community that lasts and encourage attendees to continue engaging with your organization in meaningful ways.