Confirm RSVPs for Facebook Events

I spent this last weekend doing trainings for Arizona high school students who are interested in starting Young Democrats chapters at their schools. In a little experiment, we confirmed that by calling the people that RSVPed as attending or maybe attending to our Facebook event we dramatically increased turnout.

A lot of organizations utilize Facebook events, yet not enough take the second step of confirming attendees using alternative online and offline methods. It is a common practice to calculate a significant "Facebook dropoff" when determining how many people will actually come to your event. If 50 people signed up to attend, you expect 20-25 to actually show up. Instead of taking this as an inherent characteristic of Facebook events, a little extra effort will bring you much closer to the actual number of people that RSVPed.

The day before your event, have a couple of people go through the list of confirmations and maybes and call through it. Many of the people that you invited to the event will be people that you know personally and have contact information for, so contacting them will be easy. For those that you do not know personally, go to their Facebook profile and find their contact information there. Many people put their cell phone numbers and/or IM names on their profile. You can also see if those people share any friends with you. If they do, ask one of your mutual friends to call them or to share their contact information with you. If your organization has voter file access you could also look them up there if you are having a hard time contacting them.

Following up with RSVPs with phone calls and instant messages will not only increase turnout to your event, but will also give you a much more accurate count in determining attendance in advance.

What methods have you or your organization used to increase turnout for events listed on Facebook? Share in the comments.