Back
FREE GUIDE:
Organizing Events on a Zero Budget
80 curated tips to hosting events without spending a cent delivered to your inbox
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

Unleash Your Event Marketing Superpowers with These 20 FREE Prompts for ChatGPT

Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

Follow us

December 9, 2021

Why “one and done” events don’t work!

Virtual Events
Remo Staff

You might be wondering if we’ve lost our minds, saying that “one and done” events don’t work since so many hosts are organizing “one and done” events on Remo! First, I should clarify a little…“One and done” events are those events done for a specific audience one time. Often the event happens once a year. Maybe the Annual Online Small Business Summit. All the Online Small Business crowd gets together for the event once a year, has a great time, and then it’s ”see you again next year!”Now it’s not entirely true that “one and done” events don’t work. You CAN have a fantastic single day or multiple day event, and it can go very well. It can: generate lots of energy around a topic, create sales leads, give guests great networking opportunities, and much more.But what happens after the event? What happens to all the work you put in to get people excited about coming and actually showing up? What happens to all the energy and fun that you created in the event to make sure that everyone had a great experience?What happens to all the knowledge that speakers shared and all the great connections that guests made?Typically, all of that wonderful stuff that you worked so hard to organize and create...dissipates away into the routines of daily life.And, of course, it’s no one’s fault.People are busy. It’s hard for guests to make changes, keep in touch, and stay fired up.And of course, everyone leaves with great intentions. They want to keep in touch with the new friends that they really do like! Without a doubt, they want to implement the new info that could be a game-changer for their lives or businesses! And they would ABSOLUTELY love to stay excited because the event was really, really exciting!But…It’s tough to stay on top of all these things once your audience are back in their daily lives.So, with all that in mind…What if I told you that there IS a way that you can sustain and even amplify the energy of the event you worked so hard to create. AND that you could use that energy to build your brand and expand your reach and revenue. AND that it could take waaaay less work than it took to create the initial event.Would that sound like something you should know about?If you’re nodding your head, then you should keep reading…Because I’m going to tell you about something that makes your life much easier after you’ve put the work into creating a successful event. But it’s bigger than that. What we’re talking about today will branch into expanding your brand, helping your audience build momentum and excitement around your content, and even as far as building communities!But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.The general idea here is to leverage the content, energy, and relationships that you brought to life in your original event and turn them into something that will live and grow beyond the lifespan of your original event. So what would this even look like?It would be a series of child or derivative events from your original event that we call...

Continuity Events!

And what exactly is a continuity event?Continuity events are ongoing events that build on the energy, content, and relationships that you sparked to life in your original event. Continuity events leverage all the good things from your original event to create more reach for your brand, more results for your people, and more revenue for your business — all without much effort from you.Sound too good to be true? Keep reading. You’re about to scroll into the good stuff!Let’s start with what you really need to understand about continuity events...In a nutshell, it’s all about paying attention to what’s working in your original event, whether that is the group dynamics and relationships forming in your event, the topics and themes that energize your audience, or the new ideas and discussions that come out of the event. And then turning what’s working into continuity event gold!

But the trick is in the timing...

You’ve already found a group of people that share values or an interest in a common topic. You’ve shown them that you know how to help them with a challenge they all face. Hopefully, you’ve shown them a great time as a group so they all want to see each other again.How do you turn these hard-won victories in the above paragraph - because let’s be honest, they are ALL hard-won victories - into a cascade of results, revenue, and a bigger audience?You need to bottle that lightning DURING your event or very shortly after (the longer you wait, the more the magic leaks away).Here are some of the ways you could approach keeping the spark alive.Notice during your event which groups have great energy or connectedness and see how you could serve them by creating opportunities to meet again.Or, read the energy of your audience and ask some perceptive questions like:

  • “Do you want more content or implementation help with what we've done today?”
  • “What other things do you want to talk about moving forward?”
  • “Do we need more conversations around today’s topic?”
  • “What are the obstacles and challenges in applying what you’ve learned at this event?”
  • “Would it be helpful for you to have a group of people working on implementing today's content to work with you so that you don’t need to go it alone?”

You can see that even from the short list above, that you could easily cook up several events for a hungry crowd, and you wouldn’t need to do any work to drum up interest or get people to show up again, and again, and again!Not to mention you’d be serving your people in a way that makes their lives noticeably better (can you say “having my cake and eating it!”?) So, now that you’ve got the vital secret of WHEN to act to make continuity events happen, let’s lay out a concrete hypothetical example so you can stop trying to guess your way through applying this idea to your business.Here we go…Our hypothetical event is called the Rapid Revenue Acceleration Summit, and you had 2500 people show up at this event, which ran over three days. Now, typically after the three days, your event would be done. Everyone would say “goodbye, hope to see you next year!” and that would be the end of it...But you know better…Continuity event number one!So, before your three-day Rapid Revenue Acceleration event ended, you had the presence of mind to invite all the guests, speakers, and sponsors to an afterglow event that would happen ten days after the end of your big event! The afterglow event would be a wrap-up of all the different topics covered at the Rapid Revenue Acceleration event to help the audience solidify and apply the content.You’d smartly planned ahead and created a landing page for guests to register on, which you shared with everyone on the last day of the event.And, of course, all your guests were excited to register for another event where they’d get to see all their new friends again so soon, and they wouldn’t even need to make any effort to follow up! The registrations for the afterglow event filled up quickly, and you finish your main event knowing that you already have substantial momentum towards your next event!Wasn’t that easy? And the surprising part is that you didn’t only create one continuity event during your main event, you made...Continuity event number two!Because during the main event, you used your powers of awareness and reflection to think to yourself, “Hmmmm, I noticed that the session ‘Getting massive traffic to your website even if you’re starting from scratch’ was really popular.”So you set up a survey during the Summit asking if people would be interested in a follow-up event on that topic. From your in-event survey, you got a bunch of replies that indicated there was a ravenous crowd for a follow-up event. So now, you’re armed with a list of people that want you to follow up with them to create a second continuity event. You also already have speakers and content, and if you want to be an overachiever, you could invite another speaker or two!That was easy! And it’s just the beginning.Because following the afterglow event, and the “Getting massive traffic...” follow up session, you now notice that people are really starting to warm to each other. So you reach into your bag of tricks and pull out...Continuity event number three!Maybe a week or two after your “Getting massive traffic…” follow up session, like an attentive host - you create an opportunity for your people to build on their growing trust and connection with each other by setting up a formal networking event. A chance for your guests, speakers, and sponsors to connect on a business level. This formal networking event could have a series of activities centered around the topics that your audience is particularly energetic about. This event will continue the momentum that you’ve built so far while allowing plenty of time and space for people to connect in a business context.After giving your guests the opportunity to connect on a professional level, it’s time to change things up again...Because just like how every networking event is followed by an opportunity to decompress from “business talk” in a more casual or entertaining setting, it’s only natural that you’d follow up your networking event with…Continuity event number four!This one will be an entertainment-based event with the same enthusiastic crowd (that are all becoming rapidly more skilled around your content, enthusiastic about your brand, and connected to each other!).Event number four may happen a week or two after your networking event and would focus on entertainment. It might include either an activity like a treasure hunt or a wheel of fortune style quiz night, or an entertainer, like a magician, mentalist, or even a caricature artist! This event will still revolve around the topics that came from the original event. So you’re still helping your audience to keep that content top of mind (which gives them more chance to put that knowledge to work in their lives), but at this event, the goal is entertainment and enjoyment. This kind of event cements a group bond that has been a while in the making now and gives your audience access to each other in ways that weren’t possible earlier.Having the entertainment event under your belt, you turn your attention to what’s next…And as you’ve been running these events, you’ve been paying careful attention to your guests, and of course, you’ve been surveying them in your events. So you know what issues that they’re excited about, topics they want to learn about, or what challenges they’re struggling with, and you’re able to offer them exactly what they need next in…Continuity event number five!This event is where you give your audience the next customized experience that they need to move closer to the success or outcome that they want your help with. At this point, you’re starting to experience the flywheel effect of needing very little effort to build more and more inertia for your events. Because you’re in close contact with your audience, and you’re able to give them what they need when they need it. So the momentum and success of each previous event is amplified into the next one!Continuity event number five can be tailored to what your people want or need. Since you now have a pretty good idea of what gets them excited and what challenges keep them awake at night. You can feed off the group’s growing energy to make your events exciting, and you can come up with the topics and themes that fit their needs perfectly. No need for you to wrack your brain trying to come up with compelling topics. You have a hungry audience that is telling you what they want!Are you seeing how easy this is? No need to build an audience from scratch; you already have a loyal following! You already have your topics and marketing materials because you’re working from your original event’s themes. All you need to do is repurpose, reposition, or adjust your content and marketing materials in a way that fits what your audience needs at that time.

The big picture is much bigger than just events...

At this point, you might be realizing something significant. You’ve built a group with a shared sense of purpose and enthusiasm around the content that you’re sharing and the problems that you’re solving.Congratulations, you’ve built a community!After all, what are events, if not the stepping stones to a thriving community?What happens with your continuity events now? Our experience at Remo has been that as people start to feel membership and even ownership of a community, they want to contribute by helping you to create continuity events! We’ve seen this happen many times in various groups.Once you have your community, you may want to start a formal online community and watch it take on a life of its own. Don’t be surprised as your online community spontaneously sprouts events without you needing to lift a finger!But what now? Does your online community no longer need you?No! On the contrary, people are now gathering around your brand and trusting that it’s the right place for them. So your brand is magnified by having a group of people that are constantly talking about what you’re doing and your events. And they’re talking about what a great time they’ve had with your brand. Not just at your main event, but at all the other subsequent continuity events. This all feeds into people’s experience of your brand and, of course, your reputation. With more people sharing their excitement about your work, that means more people are going to know about the great work that you’re doing! Are you seeing the possibilities for growing your reach here???And while it’s exciting to talk about continuity events being a supercharger for business growth, it’s essential to understand that the actual events don’t need to be a massive undertaking. Just 25 people, 75 people, or 150 people are plenty. You don’t need 2500 people at your continuity events. The events still provide value and create great experiences for your audience around your brand, no matter the size.So you might think of yourself, in the context of continuity events, not just as the owner of a brand, but as the creator of interactive experiences that serve your audience.Because that’s the fastest way we know to grow your audience, your brand, your reach, and your revenue. This is the formula that we’ve used at Remo to take us from 0 to over 1.2 million guests served in over 80,000 events, in just the span of a few short months!And we’re not stopping anytime soon because it’s working so well. And we see it working again and again for others.

Beyond one and done...

So now you understand the value of thinking beyond “one and done” events. Because there’s so much more you can get out of having a whole umbrella of events that feed on the spark of your large scale first event. And hopefully, you can see the value continuity events provide to your audience and how they can grow your following (even exponentially!) without you needing to build from scratch.Can you imagine now how much easier it would be for you to regularly build on the momentum of an enthusiastic crowd, than it would be to start cold from a dead stop once a year or once every three months? Unfortunately, this is still a common practice for most businesses. But not for you...

Next steps…

So your next steps are to find out what your audience wants more of from you during and immediately after your main event. And we’d encourage you to keep it simple. It’s been a winning recipe for us, and we’ve designed Remo to make it simple for you. So, if the idea of continuity events has struck a chord with you, then jump into the Remo Revolution Community to turbocharge your own continuity event abilities!You’ll have the opportunity to meet and collaborate with other brands, complementary businesses, and even businesses in entirely different industries to gain valuable insights and ideas for implementing the concept “Main Event + Continuity Events.”We’re delighted to see these ideas shared and grown inside our (free) community, and we’d love to help you lay down a plan and support you in implementing continuity events for your business. Because that’s what the community is all about!So what are you waiting for?Join the community and enjoy the greener pastures of continuity events!

Get Started with Remo Today

You might be wondering if we’ve lost our minds, saying that “one and done” events don’t work since so many hosts are organizing “one and done” events on Remo! First, I should clarify a little…“One and done” events are those events done for a specific audience one time. Often the event happens once a year. Maybe the Annual Online Small Business Summit. All the Online Small Business crowd gets together for the event once a year, has a great time, and then it’s ”see you again next year!”Now it’s not entirely true that “one and done” events don’t work. You CAN have a fantastic single day or multiple day event, and it can go very well. It can: generate lots of energy around a topic, create sales leads, give guests great networking opportunities, and much more.But what happens after the event? What happens to all the work you put in to get people excited about coming and actually showing up? What happens to all the energy and fun that you created in the event to make sure that everyone had a great experience?What happens to all the knowledge that speakers shared and all the great connections that guests made?Typically, all of that wonderful stuff that you worked so hard to organize and create...dissipates away into the routines of daily life.And, of course, it’s no one’s fault.People are busy. It’s hard for guests to make changes, keep in touch, and stay fired up.And of course, everyone leaves with great intentions. They want to keep in touch with the new friends that they really do like! Without a doubt, they want to implement the new info that could be a game-changer for their lives or businesses! And they would ABSOLUTELY love to stay excited because the event was really, really exciting!But…It’s tough to stay on top of all these things once your audience are back in their daily lives.So, with all that in mind…What if I told you that there IS a way that you can sustain and even amplify the energy of the event you worked so hard to create. AND that you could use that energy to build your brand and expand your reach and revenue. AND that it could take waaaay less work than it took to create the initial event.Would that sound like something you should know about?If you’re nodding your head, then you should keep reading…Because I’m going to tell you about something that makes your life much easier after you’ve put the work into creating a successful event. But it’s bigger than that. What we’re talking about today will branch into expanding your brand, helping your audience build momentum and excitement around your content, and even as far as building communities!But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.The general idea here is to leverage the content, energy, and relationships that you brought to life in your original event and turn them into something that will live and grow beyond the lifespan of your original event. So what would this even look like?It would be a series of child or derivative events from your original event that we call...

Continuity Events!

And what exactly is a continuity event?Continuity events are ongoing events that build on the energy, content, and relationships that you sparked to life in your original event. Continuity events leverage all the good things from your original event to create more reach for your brand, more results for your people, and more revenue for your business — all without much effort from you.Sound too good to be true? Keep reading. You’re about to scroll into the good stuff!Let’s start with what you really need to understand about continuity events...In a nutshell, it’s all about paying attention to what’s working in your original event, whether that is the group dynamics and relationships forming in your event, the topics and themes that energize your audience, or the new ideas and discussions that come out of the event. And then turning what’s working into continuity event gold!

But the trick is in the timing...

You’ve already found a group of people that share values or an interest in a common topic. You’ve shown them that you know how to help them with a challenge they all face. Hopefully, you’ve shown them a great time as a group so they all want to see each other again.How do you turn these hard-won victories in the above paragraph - because let’s be honest, they are ALL hard-won victories - into a cascade of results, revenue, and a bigger audience?You need to bottle that lightning DURING your event or very shortly after (the longer you wait, the more the magic leaks away).Here are some of the ways you could approach keeping the spark alive.Notice during your event which groups have great energy or connectedness and see how you could serve them by creating opportunities to meet again.Or, read the energy of your audience and ask some perceptive questions like:

  • “Do you want more content or implementation help with what we've done today?”
  • “What other things do you want to talk about moving forward?”
  • “Do we need more conversations around today’s topic?”
  • “What are the obstacles and challenges in applying what you’ve learned at this event?”
  • “Would it be helpful for you to have a group of people working on implementing today's content to work with you so that you don’t need to go it alone?”

You can see that even from the short list above, that you could easily cook up several events for a hungry crowd, and you wouldn’t need to do any work to drum up interest or get people to show up again, and again, and again!Not to mention you’d be serving your people in a way that makes their lives noticeably better (can you say “having my cake and eating it!”?) So, now that you’ve got the vital secret of WHEN to act to make continuity events happen, let’s lay out a concrete hypothetical example so you can stop trying to guess your way through applying this idea to your business.Here we go…Our hypothetical event is called the Rapid Revenue Acceleration Summit, and you had 2500 people show up at this event, which ran over three days. Now, typically after the three days, your event would be done. Everyone would say “goodbye, hope to see you next year!” and that would be the end of it...But you know better…Continuity event number one!So, before your three-day Rapid Revenue Acceleration event ended, you had the presence of mind to invite all the guests, speakers, and sponsors to an afterglow event that would happen ten days after the end of your big event! The afterglow event would be a wrap-up of all the different topics covered at the Rapid Revenue Acceleration event to help the audience solidify and apply the content.You’d smartly planned ahead and created a landing page for guests to register on, which you shared with everyone on the last day of the event.And, of course, all your guests were excited to register for another event where they’d get to see all their new friends again so soon, and they wouldn’t even need to make any effort to follow up! The registrations for the afterglow event filled up quickly, and you finish your main event knowing that you already have substantial momentum towards your next event!Wasn’t that easy? And the surprising part is that you didn’t only create one continuity event during your main event, you made...Continuity event number two!Because during the main event, you used your powers of awareness and reflection to think to yourself, “Hmmmm, I noticed that the session ‘Getting massive traffic to your website even if you’re starting from scratch’ was really popular.”So you set up a survey during the Summit asking if people would be interested in a follow-up event on that topic. From your in-event survey, you got a bunch of replies that indicated there was a ravenous crowd for a follow-up event. So now, you’re armed with a list of people that want you to follow up with them to create a second continuity event. You also already have speakers and content, and if you want to be an overachiever, you could invite another speaker or two!That was easy! And it’s just the beginning.Because following the afterglow event, and the “Getting massive traffic...” follow up session, you now notice that people are really starting to warm to each other. So you reach into your bag of tricks and pull out...Continuity event number three!Maybe a week or two after your “Getting massive traffic…” follow up session, like an attentive host - you create an opportunity for your people to build on their growing trust and connection with each other by setting up a formal networking event. A chance for your guests, speakers, and sponsors to connect on a business level. This formal networking event could have a series of activities centered around the topics that your audience is particularly energetic about. This event will continue the momentum that you’ve built so far while allowing plenty of time and space for people to connect in a business context.After giving your guests the opportunity to connect on a professional level, it’s time to change things up again...Because just like how every networking event is followed by an opportunity to decompress from “business talk” in a more casual or entertaining setting, it’s only natural that you’d follow up your networking event with…Continuity event number four!This one will be an entertainment-based event with the same enthusiastic crowd (that are all becoming rapidly more skilled around your content, enthusiastic about your brand, and connected to each other!).Event number four may happen a week or two after your networking event and would focus on entertainment. It might include either an activity like a treasure hunt or a wheel of fortune style quiz night, or an entertainer, like a magician, mentalist, or even a caricature artist! This event will still revolve around the topics that came from the original event. So you’re still helping your audience to keep that content top of mind (which gives them more chance to put that knowledge to work in their lives), but at this event, the goal is entertainment and enjoyment. This kind of event cements a group bond that has been a while in the making now and gives your audience access to each other in ways that weren’t possible earlier.Having the entertainment event under your belt, you turn your attention to what’s next…And as you’ve been running these events, you’ve been paying careful attention to your guests, and of course, you’ve been surveying them in your events. So you know what issues that they’re excited about, topics they want to learn about, or what challenges they’re struggling with, and you’re able to offer them exactly what they need next in…Continuity event number five!This event is where you give your audience the next customized experience that they need to move closer to the success or outcome that they want your help with. At this point, you’re starting to experience the flywheel effect of needing very little effort to build more and more inertia for your events. Because you’re in close contact with your audience, and you’re able to give them what they need when they need it. So the momentum and success of each previous event is amplified into the next one!Continuity event number five can be tailored to what your people want or need. Since you now have a pretty good idea of what gets them excited and what challenges keep them awake at night. You can feed off the group’s growing energy to make your events exciting, and you can come up with the topics and themes that fit their needs perfectly. No need for you to wrack your brain trying to come up with compelling topics. You have a hungry audience that is telling you what they want!Are you seeing how easy this is? No need to build an audience from scratch; you already have a loyal following! You already have your topics and marketing materials because you’re working from your original event’s themes. All you need to do is repurpose, reposition, or adjust your content and marketing materials in a way that fits what your audience needs at that time.

The big picture is much bigger than just events...

At this point, you might be realizing something significant. You’ve built a group with a shared sense of purpose and enthusiasm around the content that you’re sharing and the problems that you’re solving.Congratulations, you’ve built a community!After all, what are events, if not the stepping stones to a thriving community?What happens with your continuity events now? Our experience at Remo has been that as people start to feel membership and even ownership of a community, they want to contribute by helping you to create continuity events! We’ve seen this happen many times in various groups.Once you have your community, you may want to start a formal online community and watch it take on a life of its own. Don’t be surprised as your online community spontaneously sprouts events without you needing to lift a finger!But what now? Does your online community no longer need you?No! On the contrary, people are now gathering around your brand and trusting that it’s the right place for them. So your brand is magnified by having a group of people that are constantly talking about what you’re doing and your events. And they’re talking about what a great time they’ve had with your brand. Not just at your main event, but at all the other subsequent continuity events. This all feeds into people’s experience of your brand and, of course, your reputation. With more people sharing their excitement about your work, that means more people are going to know about the great work that you’re doing! Are you seeing the possibilities for growing your reach here???And while it’s exciting to talk about continuity events being a supercharger for business growth, it’s essential to understand that the actual events don’t need to be a massive undertaking. Just 25 people, 75 people, or 150 people are plenty. You don’t need 2500 people at your continuity events. The events still provide value and create great experiences for your audience around your brand, no matter the size.So you might think of yourself, in the context of continuity events, not just as the owner of a brand, but as the creator of interactive experiences that serve your audience.Because that’s the fastest way we know to grow your audience, your brand, your reach, and your revenue. This is the formula that we’ve used at Remo to take us from 0 to over 1.2 million guests served in over 80,000 events, in just the span of a few short months!And we’re not stopping anytime soon because it’s working so well. And we see it working again and again for others.

Beyond one and done...

So now you understand the value of thinking beyond “one and done” events. Because there’s so much more you can get out of having a whole umbrella of events that feed on the spark of your large scale first event. And hopefully, you can see the value continuity events provide to your audience and how they can grow your following (even exponentially!) without you needing to build from scratch.Can you imagine now how much easier it would be for you to regularly build on the momentum of an enthusiastic crowd, than it would be to start cold from a dead stop once a year or once every three months? Unfortunately, this is still a common practice for most businesses. But not for you...

Next steps…

So your next steps are to find out what your audience wants more of from you during and immediately after your main event. And we’d encourage you to keep it simple. It’s been a winning recipe for us, and we’ve designed Remo to make it simple for you. So, if the idea of continuity events has struck a chord with you, then jump into the Remo Revolution Community to turbocharge your own continuity event abilities!You’ll have the opportunity to meet and collaborate with other brands, complementary businesses, and even businesses in entirely different industries to gain valuable insights and ideas for implementing the concept “Main Event + Continuity Events.”We’re delighted to see these ideas shared and grown inside our (free) community, and we’d love to help you lay down a plan and support you in implementing continuity events for your business. Because that’s what the community is all about!So what are you waiting for?Join the community and enjoy the greener pastures of continuity events!

All stories

Get Started with Remo Today