How Do You Fill an Online Medical Conference? Two Phone Calls.

Short answer: pair a registration call with a reminder call. Registration calls fill the sign-up list; reminder calls make sure the people on that list actually log in. Below is how It’s Your Call (IYC) runs that two-phase program for a medical education client, and what it produces in a typical week.

What’s the challenge with online CME conference attendance?

An online conference doesn’t have a room to fill — it has a login screen. Whether it’s a physical seat or a login, the same two questions decide attendance: did enough of the right people register, and did the people who registered actually show up? Email invitations reach a shrinking share of busy clinicians, and every no-show wastes the grant funding and faculty time built around expected turnout.

How does IYC’s two-phase calling program work?

One of our medical education clients runs online CME conferences for specialties like oncology nursing. Instead of relying on email alone, they use IYC for two connected calling phases, run by the same callers from start to finish:

• Phase 1 — Registration calling: outbound calls to targeted clinician lists to drive new sign-ups, log literature requests, and flag callback interest.
• Phase 2 — Reminder calling: in the days before the event, calls to everyone already registered to confirm they still plan to log in.

What results does two-phase calling produce?

Here’s one representative week from the program:

8.0% Registration call connect rate

18.1% Reminder call connect rate

 

The reminder calls connect at more than double the registration rate. That’s expected: a registration call is a cold introduction, while a reminder call is a warm, expected touchpoint to someone who already said yes once. That second call is what turns a registration list into an actual audience.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is registration calling?

Registration calling is outbound phone outreach to a targeted list of prospective attendees — in this case, clinicians — to generate new conference sign-ups, answer questions, and log follow-up requests.

What is reminder calling?

Reminder calling is a follow-up call placed in the days before an event to everyone who has already registered, confirming their attendance and re-engaging anyone who’s gone quiet.

Why do reminder calls get a higher connect rate than registration calls?

Because the person has already opted in once. A registration call is unsolicited; a reminder call is an expected touchpoint with someone who’s already said yes, so more people pick up and stay on the line.

Does phone outreach still work for online events?

Yes. A live conversation still gets a response that an email reminder can’t, which is why pairing registration and reminder calls continues to outperform email-only outreach for online CME events.