A compilation of common “definitions” for event data
One of the hardest components of traditional events is deciding pre-event which data you’d like to capture and analyze. Event virtualization makes this easy with the fluidity and granularity of the data available.
Many virtual event platforms provide actionable data to help enable your actions in real time, while the best virtual event platforms enable that data for you via dashboard integrations with two-way syncs on your CRM and other systems.
Today we’re taking our discussion from listing key ingredients of successful events, both small and large and turning to the data collected from these events. Consider this your event data cheat sheet, complete with a list of common terms related to event data and a focus on virtual events.
- Stack – sadly, this stack does not have to do with pancakes. Your stack is the collection of technologies that your business uses to enable your goal or objective. This could include a CRM, publishing tool, or social media platform. Consider how these systems talk to one another when mapping out your event.
- APIs – a connection between two separate software systems that enables them to interact. Because virtual events can often involve many different pieces of software, (hello, stack!), allowing API’s to automate the workflow between them is crucial to ensure your
APIs for the rest of us https://t.co/q5UnGQngba pic.twitter.com/G4dFrUt7qM
— Full Stack Python (@fullstackpython) December 22, 2020
- Automation – a triggered response to a user’s activity or behavior. If a visitor downloads content or information from your website or event, the automation triggered could be an action such as adding them to an email list or generating a new sales lead.
Product Review: Documate is a modern, cloud-based document automation software with easy-to-use features for complex template building, client intake and data management. @jaredcorreia @DocumateLawhttps://t.co/wRHcZXhKjK pic.twitter.com/Z27Tbrl8tz
— Attorney at Work (@attnyatwork) December 26, 2020
- Conversion Rate – this rate is calculated when a user takes a specific, defined action that you want them to take. Whatever the goal in mind – the conversion rate is measured and optimized to deliver the best experience for your guests as possible.
- Personally Identifiable Information (PII) – you might have heard this term before, but to clarify, PII refers to any type of data collected from a user that can help distinguish them from another. These could be anything along the lines of phone numbers, mailing addresses, or emails. PII tends to have varying levels of security and sharing requirements, make sure you loop in your general counsel to make sure you remove any liability.
- Touchpoints – these are the different interactions that a user has with your business along the path to new lead generations. By tracking different touchpoints from each of your users, you can gain a better understanding of which are the most valuable going forward.
You cannot focus only on touchpoints if you hope to make the journey to amazement. You must be equally focused on the impact points that support the touchpoints in order to have a direct impact on the customer.
— Shep Hyken (@Hyken) December 28, 2020
- Gamification – as we’ve mentioned before, with gamification, points can be awarded to encourage attendee engagement and participation throughout the event. This could be anything from event registration, contests, or downloading content. Measuring the average points per attendee can help evaluate how engaged your audience members were overall.
- Dwell Time – typically, dwell time is associated with the length of time someone stays in a session, a virtual booth, or the event itself. The higher the average participation time, compared to the overall event time, the more engaged your audience was.
An amenity such as free cell phone charging helps extend dwell time & provides valuable data https://t.co/zDbuNdiHJ7 @ChargeItSpot #cre pic.twitter.com/uvL4heRgcG
— PREIT (@PREIT) February 8, 2017
- Latency – this refers to the time difference between your company’s content source and its streaming. In more simple terms, the time it takes for the data to get from point A to point B. Take the time to keep latency in mind when choosing your platform, as it will greatly affect user engagement.
- Engagement Rate – a term used to measure how “engaged” a visitor is with your company and can be calculated in several ways. For example, when a user visits your website and clicks on multiple pages, stays for an extended period of time, or contacts your team, that would be considered a higher engagement rate than that of a user who only visits your website once.
More numbers on @NHLSeattle_’s Seattle Kraken name reveal:
➖Over 2.31 MILLION impressions on Instagram across 7 measured posts in 24-hr period between 7/23/-7/24. Engagement rate nearly 12%.
➖Value via 100 Facebook posts: $162,155
(via @Zoomph data)https://t.co/oC9tK6X7Ki pic.twitter.com/6xJhpFeJJP
— Mark J. Burns (@markjburns88) July 26, 2020
- Cookies – not only are they a delicious snack, but the term cookie also refers to a small file kept on a user’s browser when they visit a website. These cookies allow businesses to track behaviors while on their site, retarget previous visitors, and map the path that users choose to take once on their page.
At Best.Day.Ever., we’ve found data to be crucial during our event operations, to keeping our guests happy and engaged, and in justifying the ROI from our event spend. We hope that this list of commonly used data terms can help you orchestrate the best virtual events for your business and clients. For more information on how BDE can help you understand your event data to better help your business, click the button below.