How NMS Labs Drives a 71% Attendance Rate with a Timely, Expert-Led Webinar Strategy

Most marketers are happy when 30% of webinar registrants show up live. At NMS Labs, that’s just the starting line. Their webinar program consistently delivers:

68–71% attendance rates
+9,200 hours of engagement on their website
22% of attendees watching both live and on-demand

NMS Labs isn’t your typical B2B company. As the nation’s largest private toxicology lab, their work supports hospitals, attorneys, law enforcement, researchers, and medical examiners across the country. With more than 450 employees and 20+ PhD scientists, their reputation is built on expertise and trust.

When the Supreme Court ruling in Smith v. Arizona initially created confusion for some people across the forensic community, NMS Labs stepped in with a timely webinar that set records for attendance and engagement, led by Sr. Marketing Manager, Tiffany Scott. But that moment wasn’t a one-off; it was the result of a repeatable, well-structured webinar strategy that any marketer can learn from.

Here’s how they did it.

The Strategy: Education as Market Leadership

At the heart of NMS Labs’ webinar program is a clear philosophy: educate first, sell second.

Their webinars aren’t designed as lead-gen campaigns or product demos. Instead, they’re built to:

Maintain thought leadership by showcasing the expertise of scientists, toxicologists, and legal experts.
Move quickly on timely, high-stakes topics to position themselves as the first source of clarity in their industry.
Deliver content consistently to remain top of mind among diverse stakeholders, from attorneys to lab directors.
Build trust through transparency and credibility, not corporate messaging.

Hosting webinars on their own website is a critical piece of this strategy. Instead of sending traffic to a third-party platform, they keep engagement within their own ecosystem, allowing them to:

Extend visitor time on site (over 9,200 hours and counting)
Showcase other resources alongside the webinar
Own their data and better understand audience behaviors

NMS Labs’ webinars aren’t one-off events but rather a pillar of their brand awareness, audience education, and market leadership strategy.

Putting the Strategy into Action

So what does this approach look like in practice? NMS Labs uses a four-part framework: Preparation, Promotion, Production, and Post-Production Engagement.

1. Preparation: Choosing Strategic Topics

The team starts by asking: What does our audience need clarity on right now?
Sometimes it’s a new legal ruling, sometimes a forensic testing trend, other times it’s content aligned with a national conference or industry event.

By collaborating with internal experts, whether that be scientists, toxicologists, attorneys, or quality leaders, they ensure topics are credible, urgent, and audience-first. This credibility is the foundation of their high attendance rates.

Tip for marketers: Don’t pick topics based you want your campaign calendar to look like. Pick them based on the conversations your audience is already having or relevant news in your space. If it’s in their Slack channels or making headlines, it belongs in your webinar.

2. Promotion: Shrinking the Launch Cycle

Most companies spend months promoting webinars. NMS Labs often promotes within 2–4 weeks, and sometimes, like with Smith v. Arizona, in just 2 weeks.

Their promotion mix includes:

Email campaigns via their newsletter and sales outreach
Sales enablement so reps can invite key accounts directly
Social media posts to reach new audiences
Conference tie-ins, using in-person events to drive registrations for follow-up webinars
Team enablement for continuing education and amplification

Tip for marketers: Shorter cycles can build urgency. Don’t be afraid to launch fast if your topic is timely, you’ll often drive more registrations, not fewer.

3. Production: Expert-Led and Audience-First

Each webinar is built around subject matter experts, not sales people. Panels often include toxicologists, legal experts, and quality assurance leaders who can speak directly to the issues that matter most to NMS Labs’ audience.

Instead of slides packed with corporate branding, Tiffany keeps focus on practical takeaways and clear explanations. Audience Q&A is also prioritized to make sure attendees walk away with answers, not just information.

Tip for marketers: Put your experts front and center. The credibility of your speakers will drive attendance and engagement more than polished decks ever will. It also gives your audience an opportunity to connect and learn from people they might not normally interact with.

4. Post-Production Engagement: Extending the Lifecycle

The end of a live webinar is just the beginning. Tiffany and her team extends value to their audience with:

Certificates of attendance, critical in regulated industries
Follow-up surveys, both to capture satisfaction and uncover new content needs
On-demand replay access, which 22% of attendees watch even after joining live
Internal debriefs, ensuring the team captures lessons learned and scales what works.

Since NMS Labs’ webinar approach is to build thought leadership, the goal isn’t necessarily to secure a sale but to have their audience leave with valuable insights and motivate them to return for future sessions.

Tip for marketers: Don’t let your webinar end at the “thank you” slide. Think about the next touchpoint, whether it’s a certification, a resource link, or a personalized follow-up.

Outcomes and Recap

NMS Labs’ thought leadership webinar strategy has produced results any marketer would envy:

68–71% attendance rates (more than double the industry norm)
9,200+ hours of audience engagement on their website
22% of attendees engaging live AND on-demand

Their secret isn’t luck; it’s a strategy built on urgency, credibility, and repeatability. So what’s the takeaway for marketers?

Too many webinars are built in silos—driven by internal priorities while treating the audience’s needs as an afterthought. The most effective programs put the audience at the center. If you can move fast, bring experts to the table, and extend the lifecycle beyond the live event, you can transform webinars into one of your most powerful channels for trust, engagement, and long-term growth.

Your audience engagement shouldn’t live on a third-party platform. If you want to see how hosting webinars on your own site can drive deeper engagement and pipeline, we’d be happy to show you what that looks like.