Every year, event planning is rated as one of the most stressful jobs in America. With so much stress involved with event planning, evaluating success is easy to overlook. This assessment is crucial—it should help dictate all future events.
To do this, key performance indicators (KPI) need to be identified. At least four or five measures should be used. Measuring experiences and return on investment (ROI) is tricky, but combining some of these measures will build a clear picture.
1. Registration Numbers
Record the number of registrations as well as that of actual attendees. The difference between those numbers will reveal patterns, especially for recurring events.
2. Social Mentions and Brand Awareness
Social media reach is always significant. Nearly every brand participates in social media outreach and marketing.
For social media, tracking visitor, follower and engagement numbers is fundamental. EventsTag can help by monitoring several social media pages, such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, at once. The service captures activity regarding a specific event by seeking out its set hashtag. Be sure to interact with users when they mention or tag you on social media, as well as request additional information from feedback.
EventBrite, an event management and ticketing technology company, offers a service with clear standards for quantifying earned digital media. Also, since social media mentions can potentially drive traffic, display ad prices can be compared when assigning a value. An online CPM estimator can provide further estimates.
Although social media is crucial for your event marketing strategy, don’t disregard coverage on TV, radio, print and various websites. As evidenced by $5 million-dollar Super Bowl ads, traditional media outlets are still incredibly impactful resources for brand awareness.
3. Reinforced Relationships
Feedback from customers, sponsors, influencers and partners is vital. This group should not only be pleased with the event but with your company as well. Take note of whether future collaboration is possible or even suggested. Lasting connections are more worthwhile than single or open prospects.
4. Opened Opportunities
Creating new opportunities is often a main goal of holding meetings. Each prospect is assigned a specific value which depends on three factors:
–Average marketing cost of landing a new lead
–Frequency of leads becoming closed contracts or proposals
–The value of a contract
5. Monetary Gains
Typically, events aim to increase sales or raise money. Sales should be monitored for several weeks after the event. Both the number of sales and clients are key. For customers, identify amounts of first-time and returning customers. Did first-timers attend the event or hear about it? If they are returning, how long has it been since they last made a purchase?
Consider some comparisons when assessing monetary outcomes. Compare projected cost with actual cost, anticipated revenue with final revenue and actual cost with actual revenue.
6. Attendee Feedback
Feedback can be collected digitally by emailing or posting a survey. To optimize response rates, send or post it immediately after the event, when attendees are most engaged. Make the survey straightforward and limit the number of questions.
To make results tangible, assign a value to each response. All positive responses above neutral should be added together and divided by the event cost—forming a cost per satisfied attendee. Subtract the number from other events. Is it positive or negative?
