How can you evaluate if your event planning goals have been met?

During one of our largest sustainability conferences, I meticulously defined our goals to ensure we could effectively measure success. Our objectives included increasing attendee engagement, promoting networking among industry professionals, and maintaining a strict budget. We aimed to have at least 500 attendees, with 75% participating in networking sessions. To track this, we established clear KPIs such as attendee satisfaction surveys, engagement metrics from our event app, and budget variance reports. By setting these specific, measurable goals, we were able to monitor progress throughout the event and make real-time adjustments.

Uma coisa que achei muito útil é fazer um cross entre marketing e comercial para definição das metas. Em minha experiência, nossas metas sempre são divididas entre vendas e presença de marca, com esse cross entre comercial e marketing, conseguimos definir muito bem os objetivos que atendem a ambas as áreas e ajudam a definir o sucesso da participação do evento.

Set Clear Objectives: Define specific and measurable goals. Pre-Event Metrics: Monitor registration, sponsorships, and marketing reach. Attendance and Participation: Track actual turnout and assess attendee engagement. Feedback and Surveys: Collect participant feedback on satisfaction and experience. Revenue and ROI: Analyze financial outcomes against budget and calculate ROI. Post-Event Analytics: Conduct a comprehensive analysis of all relevant data. Comparison to Previous Events: Evaluate trends by comparing with past event results. Post-Event Debriefing: Gather the planning team for a discussion on successes and areas for improvement. These steps will help you gauge the success of your event and inform future planning efforts.

Tener claro los objetivos a la hora de planificar un evento es lo principal y sobre todo que estos objetivos sean medibles, es la única manera que tenemos para poder evaluar de manera cuantitativa si hemos alcanzado nuestros objetivos o no y de aquí recabados información valiosa que nos ayudará sin duda a mejorar a definir mejor las estrategias y mejorar los siguientes eventos.

In order to evaluate any goals, they need to be set. However, it's important to set realistic and measurable goals, specially when it comes to event planning. Using the SMART principle can be a good place to start to guide you in considering a range of goals. These goals can then be split into three categories: prior, during and post. Having clear goals, with realistic metrics and split into categories, will allow you not only to evaluate your success, but easily identify areas of improvement for future events.

One thing I've found helpful is to keep in mind the big picture - that is to remember how critical it is save our democracy.

One thing to consider with events, is that regardless of its' location, virtual or in-person, there should always be an allowance for things to go wrong. This should be considered when setting goals as well as when analysing and reporting your findings. Often they happen outside your control, but can be a great learning curve for future events, prompting you to consider circumstances you perhaps would not have considered otherwise.