As an event professional, you may have planned roughly dozens of events spread through the years. But you know that the struggle to achieve ‘good enough’ attendance rates always stays raw and real. The truth is simple: great events don’t market themselves.
Your agenda could be brilliant, your speakers may be industry leaders, your venue can be spectacular, but none of that matters if people just don’t show up on D-day. The answer to the burning questions of ‘what is it that makes attendees excited’ and ‘what makes registration numbers shoot u’ lies in what happens before your event begins. It is in those critical few weeks leading up to the big day that you either make your marketing or falter and fade into the background of forgotten calendar invites.
Here are 11 pre-event communication tactics that will help you increase registrations and attendance for your events to come this year.
1. Send Personalized Video Invitations for Greater Attendance
Generic email invitations get deleted. Video messages get watched and remembered.
Record short videos for your VIP guests and key stakeholders. Address them by name.
For larger audiences, create different video messages for different attendee groups. Speakers receive one version. First-time attendees get another. Past participants see something that speaks to their history with your events. This takes time, yes, but the return on that investment shows up in registration numbers.
2. Create an Event Hashtag Early for More Anticipation
Don’t introduce your event hashtag the week before. Launch it when registration opens and use it in every single communication.
A good hashtag creates community before people arrive. Feature the best posts on your official channels and make sure to reward participation in any capacity. This shows people that their voices matter even before they even walk through the doors to your conference or event.
3. Host Pre-Event Sessions That Deliver Real Value for Attendees
Give your audience something worth their time before they tune into the main event day. Things like free webinars, live Q&A sessions and panel discussions also work equally well amongst potential participants and those who hold even the slightest interest in your event. Anything that gives your audiences true value that is not superficial and builds positive anticipation is worth investing in.
It is also important to keep these pre-event communications focused and time-limited. 30 minutes on a specific topic works better than a wandering hour-long presentation. Also, make sure to record everything. It is this recorded content that eventually becomes promotional feed for your future events.
4. Spotlight Your Speakers Like They Deserve
Your speakers are one of your biggest assets. Use them.
You can start by creating speaker profiles as well as what they intend to do with their expertise at your specific event. This type of content works well everywhere: email, social media, your event website and blog posts. It tells your potential attendees what they can look forward to and exactly what they can get.
5. Build a Private Community Space to Encourage Attendance
Setting up a dedicated community space, whether that be via social media or otherwise, is a worthy investment to make in 2026. We’ll tell you why. It is in these spaces that registered attendees or even potentially interested onlookers can choose to join and connect before the day of your event.
The goal here with these types of community-driven spaces is to make more people curious about your event as well as break down any anxiety that registered attendees may have before they show up on event day. Attendees know some faces and they’ve already started some conversations. The event then becomes a continuation rather than a beginning.
6. Send Progressive Information Updates to Attendees
Nobody wants a massive information dump the day before your event. Therefore, spread your communications over several weeks and make sure that each one of your messages builds on the previous one. Ensure that they are not random.
Start broad: date, location and general schedule. It helps to then add some more layers of useful information such as descriptions of sessions, announcements of your speakers and even things like where to stay and where to eat near your event venue for overseas attendees.
7. Create Shareable Teaser Content
Give registered attendees shareable content. Video clips, statistics, speaker quotes and behind-the-scenes photos all work. Anything that makes them look informed and connected when they share it.
Make sharing effortless. Include pre-written social media posts they can use. Provide graphics sized correctly for different platforms. The easier sharing becomes, the more people will do it.
8. Run Challenges or Contests That Build Anticipation
Create interactive challenges that get registered attendees involved before the event.
A photo contest related to your theme, predictions about session topics or a scavenger hunt with prizes all work well. Anything that creates participation and connection. These activities keep your event fresh in people’s minds. They build connections between participants who might not otherwise interact. The event begins before the event actually begins.
Prizes don’t need to be expensive. Even recognition works and so does exclusive access. Small upgrades to the event experience often motivate participation more than cash rewards.
9. Develop a Countdown Campaign to Spruce Up Attendance
Simple countdown posts might seem basic, but they work because they create urgency and anticipation. Each countdown update should include something valuable: a speaker announcement, session details, networking tips, venue highlights or local recommendations. The countdown becomes a delivery mechanism for useful information rather than just marking time.
Mix up formats. Graphics one day, videos the next, carousel posts and text updates. Feature different aspects of your event with each post. Make people look forward to the countdown instead of scrolling past it.
10. Connect Your Attendees Even Before They Arrive
Help registered attendees find each other before the event. To do this, you may send introductions between people with similar interests, industries or goals.
Do this manually for smaller events. Use your event platform’s AI matchmaking features for larger gatherings. Some platforms analyze attendee profiles and suggest connections based on shared characteristics. Either way, the goal remains the same: give people a familiar face to look for when they walk in. These pre-event introductions often become the most valuable relationships formed at your event.
11. Help People Prepare for Success Upon Attending
Share preparation tips in the weeks before your event.
What should attendees bring?
How should they prepare?
What questions should they consider in advance?
Create a pre-event checklist covering everything: travel arrangements, which sessions to prioritize, what to pack and how to maximize networking time. Offer advice on taking notes, making the most of breaks between sessions and following up with new connections afterward.
This content shows you care about their experience. It increases the likelihood that attendees show up prepared, which improves the quality of the event for everyone. Prepared attendees participate more, ask better questions and form stronger connections.
The Work Before the Work
Pre-event communication has more to do than just sending in occasional and spammy emails that your registered attendees are likely to miss. And not to forget that your paid flyers placed on the corner of a website also do not garner sufficient interest about your event. In 2026, it is important to go not one but multiple steps further and ahead of your competitors.
The 11 pre-event communication tactics we’ve listed in this article are guaranteed to increase attendance because they respect your audience. They provide value and they focus on building community. And these are the number one priorities for the average event participant today. And when people show up already connected, excited and prepared, that’s when events become experiences people talk about for years.
Dryfta’s online event management platform handles everything: registration, ticketing, attendee communication, networking features and the tools you need to build pre-event momentum that fills seats. We help you create events people actually show up to. Visit Dryfta today and see how we turn your planning into experiences that matter. Sign up for a free demo now.