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10 Ways of Increasing Event Revenue Beyond Ticket Sales

There are typically 2 key revenue sources for event owners. One is from exhibitors and sponsorships, from companies participating in the event. The other is from event attendees via ticket sales. But is there a 3rd revenue stream beyond the two?

Let’s take a look at how event companies can potentially generate revenue beyond pure ticket sales during the attendee registration process:

1) Merchandise

Merchandise is a great way to maintain your event branding, even after your event is over. It also offers a great way for attendees and exhibitors alike to get their hands on memorabilia to commemorate their participation in the event, especially if the event is a sell-out event, where demand for both tickets and booths are high.

2) Backstage passes

If you are holding a concert or having keynote speakers who are prominent in their respective space, offering backstage passes for a face-to-face meet-ups in small groups would potentially sell like hotcakes.

3) 1-2-1 sessions

If you are organizing an event where consultancy is of value to your attendees, having 1-2-1 consultancy sessions might interest both attendees and exhibitors alike.

4) Rooms

Event space is a precious commodity. Instead of selling pure booth, potential exhibitors who can’t afford a physical booth might be open to booking rooms for private meetings, based on selected session timings. Having a standard event ticket can also come as a pre-requisite so that you can ensure a revenue stream from both selling an event ticket and a participant meeting room.

5) VIP Tables

How would be seated in a table where the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies or Management team from brand-name companies sound to a potential salesperson? Networking during dinners and luncheons offers a great way of lead generation, and there are bound to be companies who are willing to pay a premium for VIP seating, to be closer to their targeted clientele who are decision-makers.

6) Networking dinner/ drinks

Networking session itself are great way to build leads after chatting over drinks so make sure you include this as an option. You can even include networking sponsor as an option for those who may want their brand to feature heavily during the session itself.

7) eBooks

Heard of eBooks from AppSumo? How about offering you a discount over similar eBooks from prominent and reputable writers, offering you great tips to increase your future revenue? eBooks are great if you have a digital audience, so make sure you explore this if your audience profile fits the bill.

8) Courses

If you are running an event management conference, how about offering at the same time courses for Certified Meeting Professional (CMP)? Or if you are running an Agile workshop, how about offering Project Management Professional (PMP) certification courses during the registration process? Matching your main event to augmented courses helps to generate revenue beyond the main event, which is always great if you can match the audience profile to possible courses that you can cross-sell.

9) Hotel Accommodation

If you are running an event where foreign delegates are expected, offering hotel accommodation as an option is always welcome, especially if you are offering special rates based on a partnership with a hotel, and if the event is at or near the hotel itself.

10) Free Audit Report

If you are running a digital marketing event, how about offering a free SEO Audit report to interested delegates? While this is offered free at no cost to your delegates, you could be well offering this as a pay per lead service to an SEO agency, as they could sell their SEO service after the audit report is churned out.

Photo Credit: Brent Finnegan/ Foter / Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0)

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