Data is the ultimate storyteller, and today you have the opportunity to collect as much as possible at every point of your event. Collecting and analyzing data can help you see patterns you may otherwise have missed, measure your successes, pinpoint pain points, and identify areas for improvement. When it comes to event planning, data is a tool that can help you plan more memorable and meaningful events. Here’s how—
Understand Your Ideal Audience
You can tailor your event to attract the highest response rate by collecting data on your audience before the planning stage. With prior knowledge of your audience, you can appeal to specific interests, decide if it should be in-person or virtual, and deliver the proper messaging through the right channels to ensure communication is received and understood.
Data that can help you understand your audience include; attendees’ age, location and willingness to travel, job title, and general interests. While obtaining this information may take some time, understanding your audience will make reaching your event goals easier.
Define Your Success
Looking at data points from past events can help you set realistic goals and allow you to create benchmarks to work towards for future events. Some examples of data you can use are; attendance rate, the time guests spend at your event, social media engagement, and our favorite: the number of attendees that follow through with the action you want them to take, or conversion rate.
Maximize Engagement
During the event, you can collect data that will help you maximize engagement for future events or even make a mid-event pivot.
If there is a gamification aspect to your event, tracking what guests complete can help you understand what’s working and what might need to be tweaked. Gamification is also a fantastic trojan horse for data collection and user profiling.
If you notice a drop-off in participation in general, it will be important to note when that occurred to find the cause. For example, maybe your signage is confusing, or the subject matter your guest speaker is covering doesn’t directly apply to your group.
Real-time surveys during the event are another way to collect data that can help you determine if you should make any changes in programming or if your guests are experiencing any pain points that you can address. Thinking through ways to incentivize participation will drive a larger dataset for more informed decision making.
Increase Your ROI
Using data to plan events can help you save money and increase your return on investment. Understanding what works and doesn’t work towards achieving your event goals helps you with every aspect of your planning process, from what you spend your money on to who is on the guest list.
Leveraging your data can also help you prove the value of your events, ultimately giving you the backup you need to invest more in what is working.
Learn from Past Events
Looking at the big picture of your event can help inform how you approach the next one. Did the right stakeholders attend your event? Was engagement steady? Did your guests take the action you wanted them to? How close were you to reaching your event goals?
A great way to get even more data is through a follow-up survey. Some topics to include in your surveys are; input on the location, the ease of transportation to the event, how the user experience was online (if virtual), if they liked the schedule for the day, their overall feelings post-event, etc.
At Best.Day.Ever, we know how important data collection and analysis are to your success at every stage of event planning. We have mastered the follow-up through incentivized survey collection and provide you with a simple Who Why Why Report, breaking down the data with specific insights tailored to your goals. We are ready to help you analyze past events and make informed decisions for your next one.
If you’re looking for an event partner that works smarter, let’s talk.