Given the huge amount of time, energy and expense that arranging an event requires, it would naturally be convenient for you to be able to assess how well that event goes.
If you are currently planning a corporate event, there are various Key Performance Indicators – otherwise known as KPIs, as Falmouth University explains – you could use to judge at various stages, including before, during and after the event.
Look at how many people turn up for the event
You might be able to recall when an event you have advertised has spurred a high number of registrations and ticket sales, only for you to realise on the big day that… well, these figures aren’t faithfully reflected in the actual attendance rate.
So, what has happened? You would need to ask yourself that if it happens at your next event, too.
Is your event generating interest on social media?
Once you have announced your upcoming event, you should share a specific hashtag for it and invite people to use that hashtag when taking to sites like Facebook and Twitter to discuss your event.
One article on the Eventbrite blog suggests that, on Twitter, “metrics can include the number of tweets using the event hashtag, or the number of retweets with that same hashtag.”
What do attendees say in post-event surveys?
Alas, you can’t assume that an event was successful simply because it sold out. Many people who attended it might not have been entirely impressed with what they saw.
However, you could be none the wiser about a lot of this unless you ask attendees to fill in a post-event survey. In this survey, you could touch on various subjects – including the main presentation and, if the event occurred in person rather than online, the venue.
How financially successful is the event?
To accurately answer this question, you need to weigh up the event’s incomings and outgoings. Spending big on a promotional event is only worthwhile if it garners a monetary haul that covers the overhead costs.
So, after the event has finished, you should look at how many sales leads you have generated from the event – and how many of those leads you have converted.
Are sponsors satisfied with the event?
As sponsorship money will be one big reason why you can afford to put on the event in the first place, the sponsors obviously need to be happy with how the event has fared.
Unfortunately, as sponsors might not quite perceive the event in the same way as attendees, you should remember to hold post-event debrief meetings with sponsor representatives.
How engaged are your event’s online attendees?
If any aspect of the event – or, for that matter, the event as a whole – took place online, learning what they think of proceedings as they are unfolding can be especially arduous.
This is why you could benefit from using a customer engagement platform like ON24’s Engagement Hub to keep track of which of the event’s content is making the most impact with the audience.