Every time you organize an event, you could be spending a hefty sum on marketing and advertising to create awareness about your event and convince people to attend. You can reduce your ad spend by tapping into the valuable pool of captive potential customers you already have ... previous attendees. For example, if you have previously organized an Auto Expo and have contact details of your past attendees, you already know that these attendees will be interested in attending a Classic Car Expo or any other event related to cars. They may also be interested in other events that you organize. By creating an attendee/delegate database of previous attendees, you can maintain contact with them year round, build a relationship with them and develop a database of loyal attendees/delegates to leverage future events. Another benefit of having an attendee/delegate database is that you can attract delegates to your event even when your advertising fail to create sufficient impact or if the economy is in the doldrums.

Here are some ways to build your delegate database:

1. Free: Offer some kind of discount or freebie. It doesn't have to something physical such as a CD, T-shirt; it could be immaterial such as information that doesn't cost you a rupee or a dollar. Keep in mind that this snippet of information should be of some value to delegate to ensure that he or she comes back for more i.e. willing to sign up and pay to attend your event in order to learn more.
   
   
2. Competitions: One of the easiest ways to collect information about potential delegates is to hold some kind of competition or contest. The temptation of winning a prize will entice people to fork over their information willingly. You can hold these contests at your events and use the information to leverage future events.
   
   
3. Newsletters: Regularly send out an informative newsletter that contains useful information in addition to a list of upcoming events. For example, if you hold conferences for doctors annually or semi-annually then you can send out a newsletter containing information about medical developments, medicine releases and other up-to-date relevant information. As long as your newsletter maintains a balance of useful information to marketing, they will continue to receive it happily, which allows you to remain fresh in their minds.
   
   
4. Referral campaigns: Previous attendees are not only a good database to leverage events. They are also a great source of new attendees. By adding a 'refer a friend' button to your newsletter, you provide them with the facility to easily forward your newsletter to friends or colleagues. Remember to provide an incentive such as a discount for an upcoming event to encourage them to forward your newsletter or offer.
   
   
5. Website forms: You can also use your event website to build your delegate database. You are presented with the opportunity to gather more information every time someone visits your website and has a query. Create a web form for visitors to post a query. Use drop-lists and checkboxes instead of text fields to make the process simple and short. This will earn their appreciation while gathering your information.

These are just some surefire ways you can build a great delegate database. We are confident you can think up of more. We wish you luck in your database building efforts!