Yesterday I was working with my client Susan, planning her conference in October. She’s done a fabulous job promoting the event and, even though it’s a month away, she’s just about sold it out.

We were talking about what happens next and I said, “OK, now let’s make sure we get them into their seats.”

Susan looked surprised. “What do you mean?” she asked. “They’ve already signed up and paid the registration fee; do we need to do anything else? Won’t they just show up on the day of the event?”

Maybe.

What many event organizers don’t realize is that while registered participants (free or paid) intend to show up, sometimes they don’t. They forget to write it down, they double-book their time, or something more important comes up.

How often does this happen? It depends but, generally speaking, the less expensive the event, the less likely they are to show up (since they have less to lose).

Happily, the solution is pretty simple. You need to do some things – two things in particular – to make sure you maximize attendance on the day of the event. 

1. Send an immediate confirmation at sign up.

As soon as a participant signs up for the event, send them an email.

In it, include all the details they’ll need to participate, such as the date, the time (and don’t forget to note the time zone) and the means of participating (log-in or dial-in numbers and codes if it’s online; location and parking information if it’s not).

It’s important to make this as simple as possible for the registrants. I like to explicitly tell them to “Mark your calendar now, print out this confirmation and put it in a safe place where you’ll find it on the day of the event.”

2. Send a reminder the day before.

I don’t care if they signed up three days ago; I send everyone a confirmation the day before the event (or the morning of, if it’s an afternoon or evening event). You’d be amazed how many people just forget about things they’ve registered for. Many actually thank me for the reminder.

That’s it, sweet and simple. You could also send additional emails along the way, particularly if there’s a large gap between sign up and the event itself, but these two steps are essential.

Remember, people are busy. If they register and don’t attend, at best they will be disappointed. At worst, they’ll ask for a refund if it was a paid registration. Avoid both with the Live Event Two Step (a good name for a country song)!

Last Monday I was in New York City, visiting my friend Greg in his office.

The receptionist seated me (on a nice, comfy couch, thank you very much!) and, while waiting, I noticed something that I’d never seen before. Instead of sitting behind her desk at the front door, the receptionist was walking around the office, doing a bunch of admin tasks like stocking shelves, making copies and delivering the mail.

My first thought was: “What if someone comes in the office? There’s nobody there to greet them.

What if the phone rings? Is she going to come running back to answer it?” (Not in those heels.)

Over lunch, Greg explained…

The first problem I imagined, someone showing up at the front door who needs attention, no longer exists. In 2013 NYC, nobody gains access to a building without first being cleared in the lobby. The doorman then calls up to the office to let them know that a visitor has arrived.

The second problem I foresaw, an inbound phone call, is solved with a wireless headset—something that (I hadn’t noticed) the receptionist wears as she moves around the office.

The good news? According to Greg, not only does this allow the receptionist to expand her responsibilities by a factor of three, she’s also happier since she’s no longer chained to a desk.

All of this got me thinking about the decisions we make (often by default) in our own businesses every day. Decisions that we no longer think about (if we ever did), simply because that’s the way it’s always been done.

Here are two examples of this that I often come across:

1. Unnecessary equipment. Technology changes quickly and, while you don’t need to be a leading adopter of the latest gadget, it’s good to take a look at your equipment from time to time.

For example, do you have a fax machine? If you bought it in the last two years, I bet it was more out of reflex than necessity. Thanks to easy scanning, ubiquitous e-mail and electronic send/receive options like eFax, most offices no longer need one. Lose your fax machine and you’ll save on the extra phone line, ink cartridges and wasted space.

2. Unnecessary processes. The key here is to notice what you’re doing every day and ask yourself why.

I was in my landlord’s office last week and I noticed that all the rent checks were being photocopied and filed. Really?! Somebody is still photocopying and filing checks? My guess is that, unless there’s a problem, they never look at these papers again. What if, instead of hard copies, they simply scanned the checks and filed them by year and month on their server? No added steps of filing, no extra expense for paper and file folders, no extra storage and more happy trees.

You get the idea.

In every business there’s a ton of equipment that needs to be purchased and two tons of processes that need to be put in place. But there’s also a lot that could easily be modified or simply avoided.

Rethink the norm and enjoy the benefits of reevaluating how and where you spend your time and money!