What is attendee acquisition?

Attendee acquisition is outreach that finds the specific buyers a trade show's exhibitors want to meet and gets them registered, instead of waiting for them to find the show. It is how organisers get more attendees, and the right attendees, without buying a list or spending more on ads.

It is the difference between promoting a show and filling it.

Most event marketing broadcasts: ads, email blasts to last year's list, social posts. That reaches the people who already know the show exists. Attendee acquisition goes the other way. It starts from the exhibitors' side, asks which buyers they actually want to meet, builds a named list of those people, and invites each one personally.

At Bison Outbound that means a list of roughly 2,500 named decision makers per show, personal email and LinkedIn invitations written around the exhibitors and sessions each buyer would care about, a call to anyone who replies or shows interest, and registration through the organiser's own link so every result lands in their system. A typical campaign puts 40 to 100 net-new qualified buyers on the floor.

It runs in the eight weeks before doors, with a two-week prep phase before that. Pricing starts at $4,000 for a one-month campaign on one show. See the , or .

Attendee acquisition, answered

We don't sell you a list or spray ads. We build a named list of the specific buyers your exhibitors want, invite each one personally over email and LinkedIn, qualify the replies, and get the right ones registered through your own link. You keep every name.
$4,000 per month for a one-month campaign, $3,500 per month for two months ($7,000 for the term) or $3,000 per month for three ($9,000 for the term). The two-week prep phase before the campaign starts is included and not counted against your paid weeks.
A registration platform processes the people who have already decided to come. Attendee acquisition goes and finds the buyers who haven't, invites each one by name, and gets them registered through that same platform. One handles demand; the other creates it.

Want more of the right attendees?

Tell us the show and the dates and we will size a campaign against your floor