Importance of measuring the performance of an event
Event managers are under considerable pressure to get metrics on their events and make sure they deliver a return on investment. Being able to get these stats and turn them into valuable information is something many event managers struggle with. It can be difficult to know what to measure, how to measure it, and then how to analyze the data.
The first stage in analyzing the performance of an event is to understand why the event is taking place in the first place. What are the objectives and goals of the event? There are many reasons why companies organize events:
Publicize the company or the product.
Generate sales
Generate qualified leads
Conduct market research
Enter a new market
To launch a new product or service
Influence or build relationships with the press.
Educate or motivate partners and / or employees.
To help retain current customers
To support the local community
It’s a good idea to set a primary goal and one or two secondary goals. Trying to set too many objectives will dilute the main purpose of the event and lead to mixed and confusing messages to delegates. Each event you run can have different objectives, but it is important to understand exactly what it is, as without a clear objective you will not be able to identify and measure the performance objectives of your event.
Try to keep your goals and metrics as specific as possible. For example, if the primary goal is to create sales and the secondary goal is to generate qualified sales leads, some of the focused metrics will be:
Income
Number of transactions carried out
Number of purchase orders received
Expense to income ratio (E: R)
Return on investment ration (ROI)
Number of new accounts / clients
Volume of leads generated
Quality of the leads generated
Once you have identified your goals and metrics, your next task is to obtain this information. This can be the hardest part of event performance analysis. It can be difficult to obtain this information and difficult to turn it into valuable data.
Many event managers are turning to technology to help with this process. Event management software solutions assist event managers in planning, managing, and analyzing events. They often come with built-in reporting and analytics modules, making event performance measurement a simple task.
If generating leads is an important goal, event management software can help identify the quality and quantity of leads. By understanding what makes a high-quality lead, event managers can create custom registration forms, capturing delegate information that identifies poor-quality and good-quality opportunities.
Understanding the messages you are conveying to delegates is also a key metric that often needs to be measured, but can be difficult to obtain. By using information that has been collected on or after the event, managers will be able to improve future events as well as improve customer relationships with delegates. Again, event management software can help in this metric measurement. By providing a comprehensive feedback management tool, administrators can produce surveys that delegates can complete within the day or that can be emailed after events. Online survey results can be automatically entered into the event management solution, ready for instant analysis.
Understanding delegates and their responses to the event will also help managers accurately qualify event leads. The event management software will provide analysis tools that allow administrators to quickly drill down into the data stored in the system. Providing customized reports, as well as standard management information reports, will illustrate how well the events are attended, how well booked they are, and how successful the program was.
In general, it is recommended that managers spend 5% of their budget on event measurement and analysis. By investing in a total end-to-end event management software solution, managers can ensure that accurate event results are consistently produced. Event management software tools not only aid in event analysis, but also make event planning, management, and promotion easier, more efficient, and much more profitable.