Bright Futures Symposium

Story

The Daniel Morcombe Foundation was moving their Bright Futures Symposium, from digital to in-person for the first time on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland!

Unlike online webinars and workshops, this two-day symposium meant that attendees had to commit time off work, families (if interstate), organise travel and accommodation on top of the (very reasonable and subsidised) $300 ticket price.

Just five weeks before the event, only 100 tickets had been sold (under 30% of the goal). 

The target? 350 seats.

Our Goal

Drive 250+ new ticket sales in under 5 weeks and position Bright Futures as a flagship, in-person child-safeguarding event.

Solution

We built a conversion funnel that did the heavy lifting.

1. Meta lead generation ads offered value-first resources (guides and checklists) instead of pushing for a cold $300 sale.
2. Instant follow-up: anyone who downloaded went straight into an email sequence that educated them on the symposium, addressed objections, and nurtured urgency to buy.
3. Campaign 1: Multiple lead generation options for our different audiences: Safeguarding Kids Online Guide (one example)
   • Free downloadable guide via Meta lead form ads.
   • Triggered a 7-day automated email sequence built in Salesforce, educating on the symposium and promoting a 4-for-3 group ticket deal.
4. Campaign 2: Direct-to-ticket sales ads
• Meta ads drove traffic directly to the event page contributing to overall conversions.

We didn't just stop at ads.

Ongoing optimisations included:

• - New creative tests
• - Updated landing page and messaging
• - Media releases written
• - Email subjects, content and CTAs continually optimised

Results

Within 4 weeks, the campaign resulted in:

1. 89% of all seats sold.
2. Lead magnet funnel delivered the strongest ROI, driving the majority of sales.
3. Email open rates averaged 17 - 40%, reinforcing the value of pairing lead-gen ads with nurture sequences.

Symposium now positioned as a must-attend annual event for child-safeguarding in Australia.

Key Takeaway

By combining lead-gen ads, automated education flows, and urgency-driven messaging, we turned a slow start into a near sell-out for an incredibly important and purpose-driven not-for-profit.