The Secret Code for Compelling Event Descriptions

Your event description is your pitch. It doesn’t just tell your attendees about your event, it tells your attendees why they should come to your event. People will glance at this description and decide if it appeals enough for them to attend, so it’s essential that your description is compelling. But how do you craft a compelling event description? We have 6 pointers to get you rolling.

Name of the Game

A great event name is the first step to getting people to actually read your event description. Great event names grab attention while communicating the gist of your event. A strong event name is not necessarily a summary of the event, but it captures the type of event and entices people to learn more. It should also be memorable and compelling enough to go on promotional materials. Some examples of strong event names:

-Free Shakespeare in the Park

-Happy Hour Silent Disco

-California Academy of Sciences Teen Night

-Exploratorium: Museum After Dark

Raise your Voice

Your event description doesn’t just tell attendees what will happen at your event, it tells them what your event will be like. The voice, or personality, of your event description, gives attendees a sense of your event’s personality. Will the event be a formal dinner? A casual meetup? An exciting trail run? The voice of your event description should match your event’s personality, so potential attendees can get a sense of what sort of atmosphere they can expect at the event.

How do you decide on what sort of voice to use in your event description? You can start by reading descriptions for similar events, getting a sense of their voice. Also, consider your attendees. What are they expecting to get out of the event? What experience would they like to have? Do they want a playful atmosphere or something more serious?

Above all else, your voice should be snappy. You have very few words to capture everything great your event has to offer. Every word needs to serve a purpose, giving key information and incentive to come. You don’t have room for any filler words. When writing and editing your description, strive to make it as lean as possible, cutting unnecessary words while still maintaining your description’s voice. You want to end up with a concise description that captures your event’s key details and personality.

It’s Not What You Say, It’s How You Say It

Your event description needs:

-Date, time, and location

-Event purpose and activities

-Ticket price

-Appealing details

-Call to action

Once you have those elements, it all comes down to how you put them together. If you stuff your description full of filler words and numbers, leading with boring facts, your attendees will likely be overwhelmed and disinterested. But if you stress enticing details like well-known speakers at the event or the good the event does or even free food, your reader will be able to connect with the description.

You’ll want to paint a picture for your attendees with your most important and appealing details, not just throw facts at them. You can always add an FAQ to the bottom of your event description if you have more facts or figures. Not only would people prefer to see the benefits of attending before the time and cost, but reading about the reasons to attend first makes them more likely to accept that cost.

Reading the Room

Where will your description be read? The location of the event description can shape its format and content.

The description on your own website:

Event description on your website gives your extra control, allowing you to shape its format and presentation easily. You can include enticing media like videos and high definition images, as well as links and call-to-action like ticket checkout. Event description on your site is extra effective if your tickets are also sold directly from your site, allowing for direct conversions. You can use Sparxo to post your event description and sell tickets for your event directly from your website with no redirects – all for free! Sparxo lets you:

- - Import your guest lists and sales lists from other systems
  - aggregate all of your customer data in one place
  - Keep 100% of your ticket sales
  - White Label, greatly improves SEO and Brand

Event Description in Email:

An event description needs to stand out more than ever in a crowded inbox. You’ll want to use a short subject line, ideally under 60 characters, personalized with the recipient’s name. Including some value proposition and urgency (Free Shakespeare, Tickets Limited!) may increase the email’s open rate. Making a picture of your brand and company name visible from the inbox will also help, especially if the recipient has opened your emails in the past.

In the email, the event description should especially be concise and compelling. The description should still stress incentives and the appealing details upfront, but everything should lead to a call-to-action button. Put one of these call-to-action buttons at the top and bottom of your email, making finding it as easy as you can. On your website, potential attendees are likely already in your funnel, tickets always a few clicks away. But in email, your goal is to get them into your funnel by clicking your call-to-action button. Your description should entice attendees to attend your event and learn more about this event by clicking the call-to-action.

Event description on social media:

Social media event descriptions will likely be extra concise, as you have less space and less control than on your own website. You’ll also want to take advantage of social media graphics, using thumbnails that grab interest. Including pictures of people in your thumbnail, especially emotional and expressive people, have been shown to increase click rates. On Facebook, inviting all your friends to the event can increase event visibility, especially if you invite them with a personalized message, stressing how they personally can connect with the event. You may also want to consider employing social media advertisements for your event, which tend to be more reasonably priced and accessible than other paid event advertising. Just be due the ad targets people in the event’s area and target demographics.

Keywords Are Key

Crafting an event description is a key step in search engine optimization or SEO. You want your event description to be seen by as many people as possible, but also as many interested people as possible. Use keywords in your event description that people interested in your event might search for. Pick out a few keywords, like, and then be sure those keywords are featured prominently and often in your event description. If your own website is already optimized for similar keywords, using free software like Sparxo to put your event description and ticket sales on your own website could improve SEO for this event and future events

Go Easy on the Eyes

TLDR (too long didn’t read) is the kiss of death for event descriptions. But too long doesn’t just mean there are too many words – it means the paragraphs were too long, that your event description contains big blocks of text that nobody has time to comb through.

Don’t overwhelm your reader with text. Instead:

-Split description into sections

-Use bold headings

-Use bullet points instead of long paragraphs

-Restate the important details at the top and bottom

An easy-to-read event description means more of your description actually gets read, which means more attendees.