Tip no. 1: rely on a solid database!

Ourinitial objective was to attract 6,500 ENT doctors from all over the world . We began by enriching our client's database, and to do this we implemented a number of levers enabling us to collect contacts (while respecting data collection legislation, of course!).

- National associations - We contacted all the member associations of the International ENT Federation individually. Some have agreed to send us their membership lists (under strict conditions of use), while others have relayed our communications blindly.
-A "contact/newsletter" page on our website - enabling future participants to ask questions and leave us their e-mail addresses so that we can contact them (and add them to our database)
- Competitions and prize draws - we organized several prize draws during the promotion of this event: the participant fills in his or her "form" with the information we're interested in, with the possibility of winning a free registration or an invitation to the congress dinner. This system works very well!

Thanks to these different levers, we were able to reach a total of 25,000 qualified contacts from all over the world. But human contact is just as important.

Tip no. 2 Pack your bags and travel the world!

To create the buzz and make this event a must-see, we went out to promote it all over the world via partner events: Prague, Barcelona, Lisbon, Rome, Istanbul, Dallas, San Diego, Nagoya, Dubai Cuba. In all, we covered 48,000 km!

Our method is simple: negotiate exchanges with partner events: banner on the website, insertion of the preliminary program in the bags, presence on site with a stand...
For each partnership, the aim was to negotiate maximum visibility for the congress and to adapt the request to the partner.

"If I want to be visible at a major congress, I'd try to negotiate a booth at their event or for my customer to speak at a session to promote the event."

"If the event is interesting but secondary for my target, I'd prefer to insert a "save the date" or a program in the bags, negotiate a banner in a newsletter..."

The secret was to capitalize on our customer's good relations with sister associations to build a network of partners around the world. This work of mobilizing energies was patiently carried out over several years.

Tip #3: Be digital ... of course
Promoting an event also involves word-of-mouth, and what better way than social networks to broaden your target audience? In 2017, it was already mandatory (or at least strongly recommended!) for any event to be present on social networks, to have a website and to interact with its community.

In the case of this world congress, we chose to first deploy a "mini showcase website" for the first communications from 2013. Then, we deployed a second, more comprehensive site to promote referencing. This 2-step approach enabled us to benefit from a site that was "up to date" with the latest technologies at the height of the communications.

We noted an average of 40% of connections to the website via mobile and an average of 15,000 visits per month.

To achieve this level of traffic, we produced a lot of content, writing articles every month on the life of the congress or on the profession. In particular, we wrote about our many travels. In marketing parlance, we call this storytelling!

Social networks also enabled us to reach another type of target: the "connected" participant, the one who can be an influencer and whom we wanted to make an ambassador of our event.
We worked mainly on Twitter. After 2 months of testing Facebook posts, it was clear that our Twitter account attracted far more people than our Facebook page. We might as well focus on one objective rather than spread ourselves too thin!
In the 90 days leading up to the conference, we had over 1,600 impressions per day and a 2% engagement rate. Our Twitter strategy focused on scientific content, highlighting (and mentioning) each of the international speakers. We also ran a number of sponsored campaigns at key moments in the promotion of the congress (opening of registrations, submission of abstracts, etc.).
The results were highly satisfactory: over 42,000 impressions and 150 followers in 5 days.

THE RESULT: WE WELCOMED OVER 8,500 DELEGATES AND NEARLY 1,800 EXHIBITORS FROM 130 DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. THE MOBILE APPLICATION WAS DOWNLOADED MORE THAN 5,000 TIMES, MAKING THE PARIS CONGRESS THE BIGGEST IFOS CONGRESS EVER!