If you’re hosting events, workshops, or webinars, you know that even after people register, it can be hard getting them to attend.
Even with confirmation emails and reminders, people can easily forget, especially if the event isn’t on their calendar.
Luckily, you can leverage free and easy-to-use tools like Google Calendar, AddEvent, and Eventbrite so it’s easy for your attendees to add your events to their calendars.
Please note, some of the links on this page might be affiliate links, meaning if you take action (ex. subscribe, make a purchase), I might earn a little something at no extra cost to you. Any recommendations I make for programs or tools are because I truly believe in them and have actual experience using them.
What's the Benefit of Sharing Calendar Events?
The fact is, business owners are busy and when they come across a task that requires work or multiple steps, they’re likely to put it off.
So once someone registers for your event, make sure they can easily add it to their digital calendar, and that the important details are always at their fingertips (ex. webinar link, event address, and PDF downloads).
Not only will this be helpful to your guests, but it will also benefit you for several reasons:
Increases Attendance: Providing customers with the ability to add your event to their digital calendars makes it easier for them to plan around it, keep track of all the important details, and ensure they don't miss out.
Streamlines Communication: Instead of sending email reminders and fielding questions about the location or meeting link, you can streamline communications by adding all the details to a calendar event. Plus, any changes you make will be updated live on your attendees’ calendars, so they’ll always have the latest information.
Enhances Customer Experience: By making it easy for customers to attend your events and find the details they need, you can build your brand reputation and increase the likelihood of repeat business and customer referrals.
The best part is, creating shareable calendar events doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated.
In the next section, I’ll spotlight some simple and free tools you can start using today.
How to Create and Share Calendar Events
There are several different ways for you to share a calendar event or series of events with your customers.
It can be as simple as an “Add to calendar” button in a confirmation email, or as robust as an event landing page with registration capability.
Choosing the right tool will depend on the type of event you’re hosting and the functionality you need.
I’ll share some of my favorite tools below, along with the situations they’re best suited for:
1. Sharing Events with Google Calendar
With Google Calendar, you can share a single calendar event or an entire series of events so that others can add it to their Google Calendars in just a couple of clicks.
It’s as easy as adding an event to your own Google Calendar and then sharing the link to that event with your attendees.
For individual events, you can use the “Publish Event” function to find your event-sharing link. For a series of events, it’s best to add all the events to a separate calendar in your Google account and then share a link to that calendar.
The nice thing about using Google Calendar is that it’s completely free and you don’t have to sign up for or learn any new programs to start sharing your events. However, the downside is that it won’t work for any attendees who don't have Google Calendar.
I recommend using this method when you host internal company events or when you have an audience of other Google Calendar users.
2. Using AddEvent to Share Events
AddEvent is an online program where you can create Add to Calendar buttons that allow attendees to easily save events to any digital calendar platform.
With AddEvent, you can also collect event RSVPs, create paid subscription calendars, and integrate your account with other popular programs like Mailchimp, Zapier, etc.
You can use a free AddEvent account to access some of their basic features, including a limited number of events and calendar subscribers. If you’re looking for higher limits and additional features, such as analytics, custom forms, and event landing pages, paid plans are available.
I recommend using AddEvent when you have an audience who uses a variety of digital calendar platforms, you’re hosting a series of events, or you want to automate post-registration actions with programs like Zapier.
3. Managing Events in Eventbrite
Eventbrite is an event management platform that allows you to create and share events, sell tickets, and manage registrations all with a free account.
As part of the service, Eventbrite provides automatic email reminders, an easy-to-manage event check-in process, and an "Add to Calendar" button so attendees can quickly save events to their digital calendars.
While Eventbrite doesn’t charge subscription fees or for hosting free events, they do charge a hefty service fee, on top of the payment processing fee, for every paid ticket you sell.
I recommend using Eventbrite when you want to offer different ticket types or price points for an event, when you are hosting in-person events where you’ll need to check people in, or when you want your event to be listed publicly for others to find.
Sharing your events on digital calendars is an easy way to increase attendance, streamline the communications process, and enhance your customer’s experience.
It will help you build your business reputation, which can help facilitate repeat guests, customer referrals, and growth in the long term.
And the best part is, you don't have to spend a lot of money to use these tools. So, go ahead and start sharing your events today!
And if you need assistance choosing, integrating, and automating a tool into your workflows, we can talk about what that might look like during a Discovery Call.
For more business tips and information to help save you time, money, and headaches, be sure to subscribe to my email list and follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.