Events are a great opportunity to build relationships and drive new leads, as they connect companies with their clients in a more personal manner. Unfortunately, events can be quite costly, and it is often difficult to justify the outgoings without a proper understanding of its true value. To help, key performance indicators (KPIs) can be set and tracked at different stages of the event (pre, during and post) that help to measure an effective return on investment (ROI).
Consider your key objectives
You cannot expect to understand what you have achieved if you don’t know what success looks like. Depending on the type of business you run, have a think about some clear, measurable goals that you can set for yourself before the event. Some objectives might be; increasing brand awareness, lead generation, increasing sales/ conversion, or increasing website traffic.
Estimate overall costs
Costs can often become obscured but with thorough research, you should be able to accurately predict how much you will spend on your event. It will be difficult to judge whether or not your event was successful without a clear understanding of what you have invested.
Find out what attendees think
During your event, you should try and find out what your attendees think by conducting a short survey. Surveys are a great way to gather qualitative and quantitative data which will allow you to evaluate how beneficial your event was to people. When it comes to planning your next event, the results of your surveys will add valuable information for optimisation.
Revisit your objectives
Compare data from before and after the event to evaluate your level of success. This will help you to determine whether your initial goals were met or not.
Monitor social media
Have your followers on Twitter increased since the event? Are you being mentioned frequently? If there is an influx in activity across your social media channels, you can assume your event was engaging and effective.
Measuring your ROI should really begin at the point that you have decided to stage an event – so make sure you have a strategy in place. Once you have a clear understanding of how well your event has performed, you can plan for future events with confidence.
