Event Organizers new to the online game need to be aware of the different challenges they will face. Why? Well, as the saying goes ‘forewarned is forearmed'. Organizing an online event is slightly different from organizing an offline one and lack of knowledge about these differences might effect attendance levels at the event. The aim of this article is not to discourage event organizers from taking their events online rather to arm them with knowledge on how to tackle the different challenges they might face and to encourage them to proactively devise marketing strategies to resolve any problems that might occur.

Here are 3 challenges event organizers will face and how one might tackle them:

1. Attracting Attendees:
   Just like you promote an offline event, you need to promote your online event. The only difference is that you need to promote your event website 'URL' alongwith the event. This will make your target audience aware that they can register for your event online. Here are couple of steps you can make to promote your event website:
   
   
   1. Add your website url to all your communication from hoardings and press releases to brochures.
      
      
   2. Market your event online using online mediums such as emails, e-invites, banners etc.
      
   Tip: An added benefit of using online marketing mediums is that you can add a link directly to your event website where you can provide potential attendees with more information about your event. You can also link your banners to your event registration facility to encourage them to register immediately. After all, if your attendees don't know that they can register for your event online, they won't. there.
   
   
2. Simple Online Registration Forms:
   The internet is renowned for is quick and instant abilities. By adopting the internet as a registration tool, you are subconsciously informing your potential attendees that they can register for your event online quickly and easily. After which, if the potential attendee finds a lengthy and complicated registration process, he or she will abandon the process mid-way. Research indicates that an online user abandons registration processes that exceeds a 5 to 10 minute limit. You can prevent registration losses due to abandonment by employing the K.I.S.S. rule when creating your online event registration form. What is the K.I.S.S. rule? K.I.S.S. stands for ‘Keep IT Simple, Stupid. When creating your registration form you need to make it simple and compact. You can achieve this by remembering the following:
   
   
   1. Relevant Information: You need to make sure that your registration form asks for only relevant information. If you don't need to know who your attendee's parents are, don't include the question. Asking for such irrelevant information simply adds to your forms without providing you with any value.
      
      
   2. Check Box Format: You can reduce the amount of time the attendee spends on a page by adopting a multiple choice check box format wherever possible. This means the attendee only has to tick the right option. There is no effort of framing answers.
      
      
   3. Convenience: You can further add value for previously registered attendees by pre-populating the form wherever possible. This will not only reduce the time required but also add value to your brand in the minds of the delegates.
   
   
3. Payment Options:
   An online registration facility gives you the option of securing the registration with a payment. How? Despite registering for an event, people still go back and forth and doubt their decisions. You can reduce the number of no-shows and no-payment registrations by accepting payments directly online. If you decide to accept payments online, here are some facts you should keep in mind:
   
   
   1. Target Audience: In western or developed countries having only credit cards, as payment option is acceptable because most of the populace owns one or more card. However, if your target audience hails from a credit card adverse country like India having only credit cards as your payment option will restrict the number of registrations and increase the number of abandoned registrations. Thus, negatively affecting attendance at your event and revenue generated.
      
      
   2. Multiple Payment Options: Events tend to diverse audiences and you need to have multiple payment options to capture these different audiences. For example: In India, majority of people do not have a credit card but they do have a bank account. So, if you offer net banking facilities as part of your payment options, you will be able to target and capture a wider registration base successfully. Offering multiple payment options may sound expensive but it need not be. There are online event management solutions that include multiple payment options as part of the package. Moreover, these solutions do not require a large investment from the event organization or client company.

The challenges listed in this article may sound obvious but a surprising number of event organizers overlook these details when launching their events online for the first time. The point of creating awareness about these challenges is to prevent event organizers from failing to generate sufficient revenue from their event and dismissing this profit-generating medium as worthless.