5 Ways to Increase Chapter Virtual Event Attendance

Updated: Mar. 10, 2025  |  Categories: Meetings/Events, Low Engagement  

The post-COVID 19 association chapter meeting world continues to be radically scattered, like a deck of cards after a game of 52 Pick Up. Some chapters have moved to completely virtual programming, while others have moved to hybrid programming with a mix of in-person and virtual events – perhaps their monthly meetings and educational programming are virtual, while some of their networking events are in person and others are online.

Whether virtual is all or part of your programming, chapter virtual engagement is here to stay; members expect and appreciate its flexibility, since with competing priorities, longer workdays and fewer people leaving their desk for lunch, they can participate without getting in their cars.

Knowing that, your goal should be maximizing your virtual chapter event registration as well as the actual attendance at these events. How can you get more of the people you want to engage to not just register, but show up?

Here are five things to keep in mind that can help increase attendance at your virtual chapter events, whether networking, educational, speakers or other programming.

Five ways to maximize virtual event attendance

Promote your event early and often. Create and follow a promotion plan for your virtual chapter event; posting whenever you remember isn’t going to engage the people you want. Start by sharing, at least a few weeks in advance, the link to the event landing page you’ve created on your website. To reach a wider audience of potential attendees, include a mix of channels in your event marketing strategy, such as email, social media and blog posts.

Send reminders. As the event date approaches, send reminders to those who still haven’t registered. And for those who have registered, give them the extra nudge to ensure they attend. Schedule a series of reminder emails or even text messages to go out a day, an hour, and 10 minutes or so before the start time to remind people of the event and help reduce no-shows. Be sure to include the link to the event in these reminders so people don’t have to go hunting for it.

Provide incentives: Everyone likes free stuff. Let people know that if they attend, they’ll get something in return, like exclusive content, discounts for future events or entrance into a giveaway. This should also include sharing that after they attend, they’ll find the event recording and other materials just for those who attended in your members only area.

Make it easy to register. Simple and straightforward chapter event registration can help increase your signup rates. Ensure people can register and pay for your virtual event online and ensure your landing page design and registration form are clear, easy to use and mobile-friendly.

Offer the webinar on-demand. There will be those who won’t attend the live event even once they register and they receive all those reminders. A recording of the webinar accessible from your website to watch on their schedule will give more people the extra boost to watch, even if they can’t be there in person.

The best days and times to hold a virtual event

Did you know that there are days of the week and times of day that can increase the likelihood of someone attending a virtual meeting? Research shows that the best day is Wednesday or Thursday, followed by Tuesday. According to a study by GoToWebinar, these days account for 77 percent of all webinars with the highest attendance rates. Mondays and Fridays are less ideal, as people may be busy at the beginning or end of the workweek.

And a study by ON24 highlighted in in their 2021 Webinar  Benchmarks Report showed that the best time of day is late morning at 11 AM or early afternoon at 2 PM — in the audience's local time zone. This allows attendees to join during the workday but not during their lunch hour.

Your goal? Attract the largest group of potential attendees

No matter what you decide, you’ll never be able to accommodate everyone’s schedule or interests. But when you intentionally set up your virtual events to maximize attendance, hold them on days and times that the largest group of people can attend and make it easier for people to access the event even if they don’t attend the event live, the chance that more people will be in your virtual room increases significantly. 

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