Back on, September 20, 2019 was a scheduled event called is "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us" event in Rachel, Nevada, USA. If you ever considered getting anywhere close, I'd strongly advise you NOT to go anywhere close to the "mythical" military base.
For all the jest that is the "Storm Area 51" event, there are valuable insights. And you need not have a super-secret government facility as your event venue to benefit.
If you look at the current "Storm Area 51" Facebook page, you'll see that the Group page has over 76,000 members. There is also a public event listed as "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us" on Facebook with 5.4K Interested in attending and 2.8K Going.
Two news sources (CNN.com & Forbes.com) cite over 2 million people as attending until the original Facebook event page was taken down by the organizer.
According to today's most recent news report, around 150 people showed up to the "Storm Area 51" event.
Two million people said they'd show up and only 150 attended, thus far. What's the "Storm Area 51" event takeaway? It's very straightforward and an alien concept for most:
"Just because people say they're interested in your event, does not mean they'll actually attend your event."
It's basically effortless to get someone to click an "attending/going" button to a free event online. Showing up to the said event is a far more significant challenge.
A much better way to have people attend your event, is to have attendees purchase a ticket. If you have a free event, require attendees to have a ticket. The psychology of having an event ticket is far more compelling than your potential attendee clicking on a "Going" button.
There are also numerous additional future marketing and advertising advantages. So make sure they have a ticket!
"Live long and prosper"
Want to get more event ticketing advice? Check out the articles below:
- Event Marketing Idea: Blocking Your Tickets
- Smart Advance Ticket Strategies
- Event Promotion: The Psychology of Ticket Prices
- Leveraging Huge Ticket Discounts to Drive Advance Tickets Sales
- How to Sell Even More Tickets to Your Event
- When to Start Selling Tickets for Your Event
- Charging a Premium Event Ticket Price
- Getting Them to Buy Tickets Early