Creating (or adding) a virtual race to your roster.

1. VIRTUAL RACES
Your RACE. Your PLACE. Your PACE.

2. Hello!
I am Natallie Young
I hope you are ready to learn about virtual
races and how to set them up in RunSignup!
You can reach me at:
Natallie@runsignup.com OR
Natalie@runsignup.com
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3. Today’s Topics:
▷ Virtual Races: What are they?
▷ Setup: Best Practices, Tips & Tricks
▷ Results: How to automate virtul results
▷ Referrals: Should you use them?
▷ Engagement: How to build a community
▷ Stats: Numbers make everything better
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4. Virtual Races
What? Why? Where?
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5. The deets:
WHAT:
Virtual events are
runs/walks that can be
completed by
participants
anytime/anywhere.
WHY:
❖ Unable to Travel
❖ Race Training
❖ Social Time w/ Friends
❖ Run for Bling
❖ Intimidated by physical
race crowds
❖ Motivation
WHERE:
That’s one of the best
parts - runners can
complete their virtual
race anywhere they
want. Treadmill, park,
neighborhood, trails,
track, beach, etc.
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6. Adding Option to Physical Race:
Some races will add a “virtual”
option as part of their physical
race.
1,400+ races added a virtual
option to their existing race in
2019.
Two Types of Virtual Events:
Virtual Race Only:
Just like it sounds - it’s a
virtual only race/event.
125+ Virtual only races on
RunSignup in 2019.
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7. Appeal of Virtual Races:
Quotes from virtual runners - (straight from the interwebs)
“I LOVE that
race, but I just
can’t afford to
travel this year”
“I’ve been
training, but I
am just not
ready to run in a
crowd yet”
“I’ll do anything
for bling.
SERIOUSLY”
“YES! We can
totally get dressed
up, go for a run and
then get brunch!”
“I’ll be out of
town, but I will
die if I don’t
have that shirt”
“It will be the
perfect training
run before my
half marathon!”
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“I’ll do it if I
don’t have to
leave the
house”

8. Virtual Setup
Best Practices, Tips & Tricks
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9. STEP 1: Race Wizard
❖ CLASSIFY the event as a
VIRTUAL RACE in Step 1 of the
Race Wizard
❖ This MUST be completed if
you are planning on using
Virtual Text Results
❖ Helps with SEO when runners
search for races
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10. STEP 2: Shipping Setting
❖ Race>>Registration>>Shipping
❖ Integrates directly with USPS
API to make sure your
registrants are entering a valid
address
❖ Helps force registrants to
confirm their shipping address
(not everyone remembers to
update their profile address)
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11. Step 3: Add Virtual Race Acknowledgement
❖ Add a mandatory checkbox question to make it clear that people are
registering for a virtual event
❖ This helps make it clear that the event is not a physical race (since we all
know that people struggle with reading)
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12. Step 4: Custom Place on Race Page
❖ Race>>Race Page>>Race Location
❖ We default to using the location set in Step 1 of the race wizard
❖ Custom Location Description - to customize the place text
❖ “Hide Place section” on race page - to show customized text
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13. STEP 5: Confirmation Email & Planning
Avoiding virtual events - gone wrong
❖ LET YOUR RUNNERS KNOW WHEN THEIR PACKAGES WILL SHIP! Make sure
to include a shipping timeline in your confirmation emails or in event specific
confirmation emails.
❖ PLAN AHEAD: Know your shipping plan and fulfillment plan ahead of time. It’s
not exactly “easy” to ship hundreds or thousands of packages. So, coming up
with a shipping plan ahead of time can prevent huge headaches!
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14. STEP 6: Make Your Virtual Race Stand Out
❖ DISPLAY: Add a custom section or add text to your race description to
let people know about the option. INCLUDE PICTURES OF THE GEAR!
❖ EXPLAIN: Virtual races are still relatively new, so a lot of people don’t
understand what a virtual race is. Make it easier on your runners and
your customer service team!
❖ GET THE WORD OUT: Virtual events don’t grow on their own. You can
add information about your virtual run to your incomplete registration
emails or emails to past runners “Can’t make it to the race this year? We
don’t want you to miss out on this sweet medal - check out our virtual
option!”
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15. STEP 7: Virtual Results
❖ When your virtual runners have a way to post their
results - it gives them a sense of accomplishment.
Here are a few different ways we have seen virtual races accomplish this:
❖ EASY WAY: Use RunSignup’s Virtual Text Results Services
❖ MEDIUM WAY: Create a Google Form
❖ TEDIOUS WAY: Email us your results and we will post your times for you
❖ HARD WAY: Send us a picture of your Garmin/Strava/Fitbit/MapMyRun
finishing time and we will post your times for you
❖ EXPENSIVE WAY: Build a custom runner tracking app
❖ NO RESULTS: Honor system - we trust you!
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16. Virtual Text Results
Make Results Easy For Everyone….Including You
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17. Benefits of Virtual Text Results
▷ EASY: for runners to submit times
▷ SAVE TIME: Your customer service team will
thank you
▷ OPTIONAL: runners can opt-out of submitting
times during registration
▷ INCLUSIVE: I’ve finished! Some virtual runners
don’t want to post times, but they can indicate that
they have finished
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18. Race Director Setup - Enhanced Virtual Race
❖ Go Race Day>>Enhanced Virtual Race>>Setup Virtual Race to enable the
❖ READ THE BLOG OR STOP BY THE DEMO ROOM: with the detailed steps for setup
(Customize email/text instructions and send times for race day welcome message
and result submissions)
❖ SET UP bib assignments and customize your email and text messaging
❖ ACCOUNT MANAGER REVIEW: when your setup is complete, your RunSignup
account manager will be notified so we can check and approve your settings.
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19. Runner Opt-Ins:
❖ OPT-IN: During registration, virtual
participants will have the option to
opt-in to submit their time by text or
email. They can also choose to opt-
out
❖ PHONE: Confirm Mobile Number
❖ TIMEZONE: Choose Timezone
❖ COMPLETE: When registration is
complete, virtual participants will
receive a text message so they can
confirm the opt-in process
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20. Race Day Messaging &
Submitting Results
BOOM!
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21. Referrals
Should you use them?
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22. The short answer is…..YES!
Duh, you should always use referral rewards
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23. But, why?
Virtual races have a
HUGE social
component to them!
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Do you know what’s more fun than running around your neighborhood by yourself?
Running with your friends, in matching virtual gear, and then showing off your bling!

24. What we recommend?
❖ REFERRAL REFUNDS: Use them!
❖ SWAG REWARDS: Stacking referral refunds with swag rewards will prompt
your registrants to keep referring friends - even after they have earned a
referral refund
❖ SOCIAL SHARING SETTINGS: Customize the text and images prompt
referrals and sharing on social media
❖ REG-FOLLOWUP EMAILS: Use registration follow up emails to remind
people to refer their friends
❖ WANT TO LEARN MORE? Go to RunSignup.com/swag to watch my referral
and swag rewards webinar. (or ASK ME - I am a total referral nerd)
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25. Engagement
Building and Supporting Your Virtual Race Community
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26. How to help virtual runners
engage with your event:
❖ FACEBOOK EVENT & GROUPS: Create an event for your virtual run/walk
○ PROMOTE THAT EVENT: Facebook can help you spread the word and get
people interested
○ ENCOURAGE EVENT POSTS:
■ “Post Selfies After Your Run Using #”
■ Approve visitor posts to encourage discussions about training, etc.
○ PRIVATE OR PUBLIC FACEBOOK GROUPS:
■ Community for sharing and a place to ask for advice
❖ STRAVA OR TRAINING CLUBS
❖ TEAMS: The more the merrier!
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27. It NEVER hurts to ASK
(And THANK YOU’s are always welcome)
❖ JUST ASK
○ Referrals - “Help us growour event by referring your friends”
○ Teams - “The more the merrier! Want to create a team?”
○ Share - “Please share/like/follow our Facebook page”
❖ GIVE THANKS:
○ Participants DON’T usually notice if you don’t thank them
○ But, MANY people notice and appreciate it when you do.
■ Thanks to you - we raised $XXX for XXX
■ How did it go? We would love to see pictures - you can post here!
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28. Virtual Race Stats
Yep, here comes the fun part….
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29. 128
Virtual Only Races
RunSignup’s Virtual Totals in 2019
1,455
Physical Races with Virtual Option
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30. 30
90,583
Total Virtual Registrations on RunSignup in 2019
50% Virtual only
50% Physical Races

31. What’s the Take Away?
3.
It’s all about
that BLING!
1.
Yes, Virtual
Races ARE
growing
2.
Physical Races are
missing out by not
promoting their
Virtual Options
MORE
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32. Who likes BLING?
(No surprise here...)
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33. Age Breakdown
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18 & Under 6.5%
19 - 30 13.8%
31 - 40 26.4%
41 - 50 25.5%
51 - 60 16.7%
61+ 11%
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34. Top States
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35. And Finally….
Some random notes from Natallie
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36. International Shipping
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❖ Shipping a 9 Oz Package from San
Diego with USPS First Class Postage
○ NEW YORK = $4.33
○ CANADA = $16.39
○ BRAZIL = $23.28
○ MEXICO = $20.43
○ INDIA = $23.28

37. Sales Tax
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❖ SALES TAX: Virtual Race Registration is viewed as a regular
race registration. Normal “registration” sales tax rules will
apply
❖ MERCHANDISE:
○ If you are selling extra merchandise, we assume that it
will be shipped with the virtual package.
○ This means that the merchandise sales tax rules will
apply based on the shipping address entered during
registration.

38. Virtual Race Pricing
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❖ AVERAGE COST: Of virtual registrations on RunSignup are in
between $25-$55
❖ BE CONSCIOUS OF PRICING: Approach virtual race
registrations like you would merchandise e-commerce.
○ A virtual half marathon registration priced at $150 isn’t
going to be very successful
○ Think about what YOU would want to pay for a shirt,
medal and bib as a consumer.

39. And, we’re done!
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40. Thanks!
Any questions?
You can reach me at:
Natalie@RunSignup.com
OR
Natallie@RunSignup.com
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