Managing and organising events has always been a very time consuming and complex area. Given the backdrop of the current economic climate, event managers must now also ensure that the events they are running produce a high Return on Investment (ROI). The number of events being organised has dropped since the recession, and of those that are still taking place have seen a fall in delegate numbers. So analysing events and ensuring they have a fast and solid ROI is now more important than ever.
There are many ways of analysing event success, but first event managers must know why they are holding the event, and how they would class the event as a success:
o Why are we planning this event?
o Are you organising the event to increase sales?
o Trying to reposition or create awareness of a product or service?
o Are you simply hoping to raise visibility of your company?
o What are your event success criteria?
o What would you deem a successful event?
Once event managers understand why the event is taking place, they will have a better awareness of the metrics they must measure in order to evaluate its success.
One of the best ways of gathering information is by requesting feedback from the delegates themselves. This can be done in a variety of ways such as talking to them at the event, giving them a feedback card to complete at the end of the event, or calling them after the event to ask them their opinions. However, one of the most effective and efficient ways of amassing this information is by sending out tailored event feedback questionnaires via email, directly to delegates after the event. Email is a popular tool of choice for many event managers; it is fast, effective, inexpensive and a modern tool that the majority of people have access to.
Event managers can use event software to create the questionnaires online - built within their own website. An email is then automatically generated to ask the delegate to complete the questionnaire (a link will be provided in the email). This is an excellent way of gathering the information from delegates; because the form is online on your own website, the information can be automatically populated into your event software application, removing any form of manual data entry. The event software can also be integrated with your CRM platform, automatically updating this as well.
Asking delegates to go online to complete the questionnaire also means that they are directed back to your website. If your event was trying to sell a product or create brand awareness, you can use this opportunity to direct them to the relevant page on your site, boosting sales and conversions - helping to further increase the ROI.
Once you have gathered the feedback data, it is important that event managers are able to analyse it effectively. One of the common complaints from event organisers is that creating the post-event reports can often be more time consuming than organising the event in the first place!
This is where event software is able to help again. By automatically pulling in all the information gathered by the delegate feedback surveys, the event software not only removes the time involved in inputting the data, but it also means that reports can be generated with a click of a button. Managers can choose between standard reports or create fully customisable ones based on a particular event.
Event software reporting tools can also measure other event metrics such as
· Expense to Revenue Ratio (E:R)
· Conversion rate of invites sent vs. delegate registrations
· Delegate registrations vs. Attendance
· Delegate Lead Quality and Quantity
· Delegate Quality and Quantity
· Sales Cycle and Opportunities
Because event software uses the latest technology, all these reports can be created online, and can be split up or drilled down into, for a closer or more general view.
Using delegate feedback tools and reporting software can help make the analysis process faster and easier for event managers. However, using these applications independently from one another may cause conflictions and IT issues. The best way to apply event software to your event planning process is to invest in a full end-to-end event management software application. Event management solutions traditionally encompass online feedback and integrated reporting, but also offer a host of other event software tools:
· Website integration: Integrate your event software with your existing website without the need to re-design or re-brand
· Registration management: Create fully customisable online booking forms allowing you to capture the most relevant information from your delegates
· Email Marketing: Sophisticated, integrated & fully functional email marketing tool enabling organiser to send highly targeted email campaigns marketing to the relevant delegate audience
· Invitation Management: All-inclusive, easy to use, integrated invitation management tool
· Payment Processing: Providing a variety of options to allow your delegates to pay online securely
· Resource Management: Manage and allocate all resources through a comprehensive calendar feature, providing event managers with total control of all aspects of the event management process
· Badge Production: Produce individual delegate badges pre or during the event
· Survey & Feedback Tools: Integrated and automated feedback management tool, allowing event planners to action the opportunities from your events immediately
· Event Reporting: Determine the true ROI through powerful reporting and analysis suites, enabling event organisers to simply and quickly drill down to the data in just a matter of seconds
Using an all in one event management software provides the highest level of organisation and efficiency to event organisers. No longer do you need to manage all your event planning on a dozen different spreadsheets; using an all in one event software solution means you can automate many of your manual tasks and gain not only improvements in efficiency and control, but will benefit from a reduced cost of event planning; further increasing the ROI from your events.
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