Most organizations revolve around membership and events.  Having (good, interesting, timely) events draws potential members. Yet so many organizations are not doing well at getting people to attend their events.

What should organizations do to boost attendance?

First, it starts with good event planning. I am not an event planner, but here are a couple of things to keep in mind:

Choose a compelling/timely topic and/or speaker

Choose a covenient location should be convenient and your date should not conflict with other major events

Make it easy to register.  Some organizations have archaic registration systems that ask you for the same information over and over.

Event is planned, now what?

Get the word out of course!

To your membership base

To people who have attended your events in the past (This is a failure I see from many organizations. You attend an event, you sign in with your contact information, and they do not include you on their mailing list because you are not a member)

To people who are potentially interested (affiliated organizations, for instance)

How?

Use your website/blog. Be sure your events/calendar page is fully updated

Email marketing was made for event promotion. Make sure your email is shareable/forwardable. Some systems let you share on Twitter/Facebook.

Twitter. You should have an organizational or event hashtag.

Facebook

