People remember a host best in the first day, while the room is still fresh. If you wait a week, your message competes with everything else in their inbox and reads like a form. Aim to send the thank-you the next morning, even if it is only three lines. A short message on time beats a polished one that arrives on Friday.

Your invite list is not the list to follow up with. The people who checked in are, because they are the ones who chose to show up. Work from the check-in record, since it is the only list that shows who walked through the door.

1. Export the check-in list as soon as the event ends, while you still have it open.
2. Split it into three piles: people who came and talked with you, people who came and left early, and people who registered but did not come.
3. Remove anyone who asked not to be contacted, and anyone you have no permission to email.
4. Write the pile sizes down. Say 40 people checked in, 28 stayed past the first hour, and 12 left early. Those numbers tell you how much writing the next step needs.

A good thank-you is short and names one specific thing from the night. Generic thanks are easy to skip. This script is one you can copy and change, and it works for almost any small event:

Subject: Thanks for coming on Tuesday. Hi [first name], thanks for coming to [event name] on [date]. I liked your question about [a specific thing they said or did]. We are planning the next one for [date]. Want a seat? Reply to this email and I will hold one for you.

Notice what the script does not do. It does not ask for a review, a referral or a purchase. The only request is a reply, and that gives you a conversation to continue. Read it once out loud. If it sounds like something you would say to someone at the door, it is ready.

Three people who all came to the same event have three different reasons to hear from you. Send each group the message that fits what they did, not the same blast to everyone.

• Someone who talked with you: a personal note that mentions the conversation, plus one invitation to the next event.
• Someone who left early: a shorter message with the one thing they missed, such as a handout, a recording or the date of the next event.
• Someone who registered and did not come: ask once whether the date was wrong. Do not send five reminders after that.
• Someone who asked for something at the event: do that first, before anyone else on the list, and say when it is done.

A follow-up list only works if you can see what is due and when. Give each person a status and a date, then check the list every morning for the first week. A spreadsheet with three columns, name, next step and date, is enough for a small event.

If you run your events on Connections, you can mark a contact for follow-up with the Mark follow-up action. Its label then shows as Needs follow-up, Due today or Overdue, so the list you check each morning is already sorted for you.

Wait two or three weeks after the event and send one update. Tell them what you learned from the night, give them the next date and ask one question, such as which topic they want next. Then stop and wait for a reply. Three messages that each carry something new do more than ten reminders that repeat the same invitation.

Write the follow-up plan on one page before the event. Include the date of the thank-you, the date of the update, who sends each message and where the list lives. A plan written in advance takes ten minutes. A plan improvised on Monday morning, after the event, usually takes an afternoon and still misses people.

• Putting the whole guest list in the To line. Use a tool that sends one message per person, or a mail merge.
• Asking for a review, a sale or a referral in the first message. People who just met you will not do it, and they will remember the ask.
• Following up with people who said no, or who never gave you an address to use.
• Leaving the follow-up without an owner. Name one person who sends it, or it will not get sent.

Keep the follow-up list short enough to finish in one sitting. Twenty people you can message properly beat one hundred you will never get to. If the list is longer than that, send the thank-you to everyone, then split the rest across two weeks and say so in your planning note.

Before you leave the venue, put a reminder in your calendar for the next morning to send the thank-you. A follow-up that is not scheduled usually does not happen, however good the intention was.

• How to keep track of the people you meet
• How to grow an email list from your events
• How to check guests in fast at the door

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