Your event is over. Hooray! You did it! But it's not the end. You’re probably tired and working hard to close out the event, but there’s one more big thing that you need to do. Throughout the event, you gathered tons and tons of data. That data is just sitting out there, ready to be analyzed, and used to make better events.
The Data You Have
With all of your event management technology in place, there’s no end to the amount of information you have following the event. From attendee information to exhibitor insights, there’s a lot to work with. Below is just a little of the information you can analyze.- Registration Rates
- Email Open Rates
- Website Metrics
- Attendee Engagement
- Leads
- Quality of Leads
- Ratings and Feedback
- Social Media Interaction and Engagement
- Social Media Metrics
- Survey Responses
- Session Metrics
- App Adoption Rate
- Ad interaction in App
- Route of Attendees
- Booth Visits and Duration
- General Metrics and Analytics
What Data to Look at Right After the Event
The last thing you want to do is sift through mounds of data. But, it’s the only way to improve. Your event is freshest in your mind right after it happens. If you wait too long to review feedback, you won’t remember as much. You don’t need to dig deep into every single piece of data after the event. Take it bit by bit. Most of it you already looked through during the event to make adjustments on site. The biggest piece of information you’ll need to review is the Post-Event Survey. Those results will give you a clear understanding of how successful your attendees thought that your event was.Data to Look at Later
Just because you can get away with not reviewing all of the data immediately, doesn’t mean you should never review it. Tracking the attendee journey is invaluable. When you know exactly where your attendees went and what they did, you can recognize patterns. Their movements and activity might show you that the layout of your trade show wasn’t conducive to the number of people you had at the event. You should dig into all of the information you received, but there is such a thing as analysis paralysis. Use your event goals to shape how much time you spend on different pieces of information.Implementing Changes Based on Data
The event is barely over, but it’s time to start planning for the next one. Whether it’s starting the planning for the next annual event or a completely different one, use the insights you gained to improve. Were there topics that didn’t have high attendance? Rework them or get rid of them. By using the data to change up event layout and address attendee needs, you’ll get higher rates of satisfaction at your next event. And, attendees remember. If you make a big change to the event setup, let them know. Emphasize that there’s been a big change in marketing to show them that you’re listening and improving.Conclusion
Events take time and attention to plan. Event success isn’t a mystery. When you set clear goals and work towards them, using actionable data and insights to adapt, you can increase event ROI. Make the most of the information you have and keep improving.Want more? Read The Business of Events: Digitizing Your Event Data
