Seed Talks on Using Eventbrite Tools to Drive Global Expansion

Plant an idea. Watch it grow. The Seed Talks tagline is at the heart of everything founder William Mclean does. “We’re genuinely trying to make people’s lives better by giving them an opportunity to discover an enriching hobby or support their mental health,” he says.

And just as the events are dedicated to helping people flourish, William is always looking to “identify bottlenecks and develop ways around them” to achieve his expansion goals. 

Since starting in late 2021, Seed Talks has already established a presence in seven UK cities and the volume of events has rapidly increased – “we hosted three in January 2022, then 30 in January 2023 and hosted around 50 in January 2024” – with sales skyrocketing from 30,000 tickets in 2022 to 66,000 in 2023.

The event’s diverse programming has been key to attracting new attendees and enticing existing ones, with the team recently adding culture to an existing mix of topics ranging from psychology to psychedelics and quantum physics. 

“Recent successes include talks on the art history of Studio Ghibli and the cinematography of Wes Anderson,” William reveals. “And in early 2024, we’ll look at the gut-brain connection and the history of Nintendo. This means we’re reaching entirely new audiences and, as we always cross-promote our events, we hope they’ll return.”

“The automated emails that go out to our 20,000+ Eventbrite followers generate a lot of sales each time we post a new event.”

Having launched in Ireland in spring 2023 and sold 2,700 tickets in under a year, Seed Talks now has its sights set on Madrid, Amsterdam, Berlin, and Oslo – in addition to tripling its revenue in 2024. 

“I don’t think it’s common for event creators to think as big and expand as quickly as we have,” says William. “However, delivering inspiring and informative content is a stronger driving force than simply making sure the numbers keep going up.”

Currently searching for venue partners in Europe, the team is deploying the same tactics they use in the UK – including Googling events that require the same kind of production (such as comedy shows) and searching Eventbrite for similar events in their target city to see what venues are hosting them.

These venue partners will ideally support with operations — from stage management to scanning tickets – and marketing. “It’s great when they are dialled into their local community. If we sell 250 tickets and a venue sells 50 tickets independently of us, it makes a big difference to the event’s margin.” In addition, event managers in each of the four cities will join the 50-plus team running the UK talks.

Driving revenue in tough times

With the cost of living crisis reducing people’s spending power and the economic climate driving up overheads, Seed Talks has demonstrated resilience and adaptability. “The numbers we have control of like engagement get better because the audience is clicking on our events, but fewer people are parting with their money right now.”

That said, Eventbrite has played a part in maintaining a robust conversion rate. “We’ve listed events on various ticketing platforms in the past but the conversion rate on Eventbrite was more than 20% better and, in some cities, it was even higher. Plus the automated emails that go out to our 20,000+ Eventbrite followers generate a lot of sales each time we post a new event.”

In response to decreasing profit margins, Seed Talks has reviewed its pricing strategy and plans to increase the cost of a ticket by between 50p and £1. Other plans to boost revenue include capitalising on the success of online events – “we launched these as one of several initiatives to combat the early signs that there was a decline in ticket sales” – and increasing average attendance for each event by asking audiences what they want. 

This includes a feedback form that’s accessed via a QR code and a post-event survey sent to 1000 of their most engaged fans – the people clicking on email links and interacting on social – asking what style of event they’d like to see. The result? An appetite for the workshops and courses they’ve already hosted and an interest in coaching, conferences, and festival-style events. 

Paying attention to the details

It’s not just direct feedback that Seed Talks leverages in order to make business decisions, as William says: “We keep colour-coded spreadsheets with all our marketing data, collected from Eventbrite and social media, which allows us to assess the strengths and weaknesses of each event.”

“You only have two seconds to capture someone’s attention, so we use Eventbrite and social media to test our titles when hosting the same event in different cities.”

The data-driven approach enables them to identify gaps within the sales funnel. William shares an example where poor engagement on social media prompted the team to adjust their marketing material. “People weren’t really clicking through to Eventbrite, but those who did tended to convert. We knew people who saw the event listing were engaged, so we adjusted the artwork to attract more clicks and sales.”

A/B testing also plays a pivotal role in refining communication strategies. “You only have two seconds to capture someone’s attention, so we use Eventbrite and social media to test our titles when hosting the same event in different cities.”

As William admits, it’s not a controlled experiment as there are other factors to consider, but it can give an insight into which version receives a better response. “We’re always looking for marginal gains to get our conversion rate up because, when you’re selling 100,000 tickets a year, it makes a huge difference to your bottom line.”

Wrapping things up, it’s clear William and the team will continue to improve their offer and overcome any obstacles that stand in their way: “It might sound intimidating to launch an event in Madrid, but it’s not that hard in reality — it’s a limitation you place on yourself, and we look at those limitations and find ways around them.”