In this episode of Not The Same As Last Year, emcee Clare Forestier takes a closer look at who might be missing from your events — and why it matters. Clare reveals the often overlooked audiences who choose not to attend traditional B2B events, such as introverts, neurodiverse individuals, or those with sensory sensitivities.
Clare shares practical strategies to make events more inclusive and welcoming for these potential attendees. She highlights the importance of promoting inclusive features, like quiet spaces, varied networking opportunities, and thoughtful agenda design, to attract a broader audience. Discover how your event can stand out by reaching the people who wouldn’t normally consider attending.
Key Takeaways:
Tune in to find out how you can tap into this untapped pool of potential attendees and create events that appeal to everyone.
Ready to dive deeper? Download your free guide, five ways to elevate your attendee experience without breaking the bank HERE
Connect with Clare:
welcome back to another episode of not
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the same as last year so in my urge to
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make events more engaging and inclusive
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for everyone I want to look at something
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that I think is becoming more important
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than ever who is not in the room at our
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events and how do we get these people to
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come to them because we all know there
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is enormous competition right now for
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events more and more people are working
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out how valuable they are for business
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so there is a lot of competition and we
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want everybody to come to our events and
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they're looking at all the other options
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and of course that makes life really
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stressful for the event planners not
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knowing if people are going to come and
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indeed people are booking later and
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later often waiting till almost the last
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minute to confirm that they're coming
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and I've seen how this creates anxiety
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and uncertainty how do you plan when you
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don't even know your numbers until the
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day of the event now this reality of
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last minute bookings is something that
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we look into in in another episode
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really how do we deal with these short
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lead times but I was at an event
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recently where even the week before the
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were still biting their nails over the
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final head count despite putting on an
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amazing event they were really in limbo
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not knowing if they'd fill the seats and
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then of course on the day itself people
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booked in at the last minute great to
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boost the numbers but it was very
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stressful for the team it's happening
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more and more the same old audience is
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actually really hard to pin down and it
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feels like everyone is just waiting to
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see what else is out there that could be
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better before they commit but what about
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instead of competing for this same crowd
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of people why don't we broaden the scope
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what are we missing I think there needs
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to be a new approach to getting these
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bums on the seats and I think we're
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missing a trick trying to attract the
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same audience again and again I think we
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need to think about the kind of people
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who would never even have considered
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coming to your event in the old days I'm
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talking about people who would normally
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avoid B2B events completely introverts
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neurode Divergent people anyone who
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finds the traditional event environment
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overwhelming these are people who could
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bring really incredible value they are
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all customers but they don't feel like
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these events are designed with them in
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mind and if we want to stand out now and
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make events that people will choose I
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think we need to change the perception
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about what a traditional event is what
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events are think about it if we're all
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chasing the same audience with the
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similar content and the speakers we are
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just part of the noise and I have to say
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as an MC people reach out and they tell
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me we're going to do this event we'd
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love you to come and host it and they
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share their agendas and it's like I've
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Seen It All Before
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so it doesn't feel like many people are
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really doing different things but if we
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do different things and we reach out to
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the people who never felt like they
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would belong at a B2B event we're not
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just filling the seats we're actually
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creating a really new energy and
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excitement around these events and then
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you set your event apart okay fair
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enough but how do we attract the
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unlikely attendees should we call them
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how do we get them there how do we
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design events that they want to attend
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these are the things I think we need to
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be doing first of all it's creating this
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incredibly welcoming environment really
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thinking about the sensory experience at
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your event making sure that there are
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quieter low stimulation areas for people
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to recharge a simple space with
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comfortable seating maybe some plants
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noise counseling headphones can make all
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the difference just somewhere to go if
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you know you're someone who's going to
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not enjoy the
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noise offer flexibility and a lot more
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choice for people get rid of the very
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rigid very packed very prescriptive
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agendas make sure all the way through
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your day there are breaks opportunities
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for reflection and choice so people can
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say I'm just not going to be good in a
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big loud room I want to go into the
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small group discussions I'm only up for
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the quiet breakouts or even just the
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one-on-one sessions loud auditoriums not
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for me but if I know there's another way
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to engage I'll go to that event and
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rethink the networking experience even
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though I bang on about this all the time
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I still keep finding that there is just
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a half hour set aside in a large room
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for networking at so many events we've
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got to think about the people who hate
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that who just go I'm not going to go to
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an event if that's happening because if
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we think more and more people are going
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to events for networking then we want to
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encourage the unlikely attendee to come
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too they aren't going to go to an event
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where the networking is their idea of
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hell so they're going to need much
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smaller rooms structured networking like
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speed networking or small group sessions
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so you can make easy for all kinds of
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people to connect without feeling
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overwhelmed the other thing is make it
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really easy to get around make your
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navigation incredibly straightforward
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really clear signage simple Maps good
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communication that will reduce the
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anxiety and people who might not have
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come to your event before because maybe
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they've gone once or they've seen a
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video of it and they've thought oh that
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looks like hell how do you find where
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you're going and that is the case at so
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many events you spend a lot of time
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wondering where you are and getting lost
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and of course you're going to be making
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the event much more accessible to
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everyone if you do that I think as well
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the way you message about your event the
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way you talk about your event is really
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important if you make it very clear from
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the outset that your event is different
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that it's going to be incredibly
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inclusive and welcoming and adaptable to
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all people's needs that really helps if
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you ask attendees for their preferences
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before you start really planning this
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event and then you deliver on those that
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will really make you stand
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out and on that line that's the key
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you've got to be promoting what is going
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to be making your event different it
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isn't enough just to implement these
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changes so that the people who've come
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before go oh look it's different this
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year you've got to be telling everybody
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that you're going to be doing that
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you've got to be really talking about it
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make sure your marketing messages are so
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loud and clear about how different and
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how inclusive your event will be that no
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way people didn't know that I cannot
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tell you how I see these great things
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sometimes events but nobody knew about
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them it's chance that we find out about
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them I went to one recently I went to an
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event recently I was at a um a talk that
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I was giving and I asked everybody as
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part of the conversation because it was
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all about networking and finding out
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about people what are you loving about
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this event what's not working for you
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what's not working so well and it was a
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great way I thought to help people feel
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seen and heard and explain to them how
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that can be a really effective way to
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network but it got people talking and
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one person mentioned that he was so
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impressed that when he'd arrived at this
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event he was asked on the door is this
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your first time and of course when he
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said yes they said oh we've got a bunny
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system in place we can get somebody to
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join you now they can show you around
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they can help you get to your first
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meetings um they can give you some tips
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and ideas about sort of stuff that's
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going along alongside the meeting that
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you might know about they just be like a
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friend for half an hour and he was like
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that's amazing it made so much
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difference to him in fact he spent an
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hour with him and he got to see lots of
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different things and learn lots of stuff
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and he said it made a huge difference to
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his experience but then other people in
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my session went well I didn't know about
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that why didn't I know about that I'd
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have loved that so clearly it wasn't
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available when they walked in the door
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and it struck me as amazing that the
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organizers had put this incredible
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initiative into place but they hadn't
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promoted it enough because if people had
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known about it they'd have been asking
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about it on the door instead of just
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walking in and getting lost that's the
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kind of thing it can make such a huge
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difference especially for people who
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wouldn't normally consider going to an
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event if you are doing something great
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and special and unique at your event
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shout about it tell everybody it's front
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and center of your marketing so that
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every one who's coming knows that
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they'll get this extra help and how it
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is actually being tailored to their
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knees and how they're therefore going to
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be considered and that makes you much
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more likely to come the payoff by doing
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all this of course if you haven't worked
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it out is that by attracting this new
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audience you aren't just filling seats
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you're going to be doing it with a lot
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less stress and more predictability you
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are reaching out to people who will then
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be really excited to attend because it's
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the first time there's an event on offer
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that they're going to feel welcome at
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and that takes a lot of the last minute
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Panic out of the equation for the
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organizers so here's my challenge to you
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think about who isn't coming to your
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events like at the next time when you're
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in the room and you look out at the
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event go who's not here who should be
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here what what's missing in this room if
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I wanted to make it really inclusive but
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also wanted more bums on seats how could
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I change that if you just open up to new
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audiences you you aren't just
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differentiating your event you're also
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going to be making your life that little
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bit easier as a planner and who wouldn't
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want that okay that's all for today hope
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I've given you some food for thought on
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how to think about attracting those
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elusive attendees who usually avoid B2B
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events join me next time I'm going to be
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talking about how to bring more emotion
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into your
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events