It used to be that when a client told you the event you planned was a home run, that was all you needed to hear to equate success. But in today’s event planning industry, there is so much more that you can measure to determine an event’s level of success. And the event metrics will be essential in helping you make necessary improvements. It’s the analytics that will ensure you continue to increase engagements, streamline efficiencies, and grow your event planning business.
Event Metrics Gauging Attendance
One of the first metrics you’ll look to collect and analyze for any event is attendance. Yes, you’ll need to tally how many people came. But look beyond those entry-level totals, too. Determine variances between how many RSVP’d versus the guest total that showed. Compare returning and new attendee data, as well. These event metrics can tell you how successful your pre-event marketing campaign was. They can also help you calculate per-person costs by dividing your total expenses by the number of attendees. Dive in further, especially with certain types of New York conferences, to see how your attendance numbers correlate with sales metrics, too.
Audience and Guest Engagement
Secondly, you’ll look to try and put a success metric on audience engagement. This is a big data point event planners should always be measuring. Some of the questions you ask as part of your event registration, along with your ongoing communication with guests, will allow you to collect the details you need to measure engagement. Having an attendee’s email address, for example, will provide you with a way to send event updates and interactions. Here are a few other methods for gauging the mission-critical audience engagement data.
- Polls and questionnaires during the event
- Participation during event sessions or in breakout opportunities
- Q & A metrics before, during, and after the event
Post-Event Surveys
The more you can gather from post-event survey efforts, the more you’ll learn about your audience’s preferences for engagement. Make your surveys easy to complete, with simple questions that will provide mountains of information. Inquire about how guests felt about every detail, including the meal, the entertainment, and any guest speakers. Ask what they liked least about the overall engagement. In addition to the surveys, you can connect with colleagues or others in attendance from your circle to identify areas for improvement. And you can apply all of those lessons learned to the next event you plan.
Audience and Guest Demographics
Don’t just count the members of the audience or measure their engagement. Also, look for ways to collect data about who your guests are. Attendee demographics, including job titles and industries, are huge in helping you understand the personas behind your guests. This will make for smarter marketing efforts and better engagement experiences overall.
Tickets Sales vs. Registration
The event metrics you collect regarding ticket sales and registration will also be key. These are easy analytics to determine which ticket sales channels worked best and how interested the audience was in following through with their purchases. You can use these datasets to estimate future marketing budgets for similar events, as well. On the registration side, you can compare early registration to last-minute registrations. These event metrics will help you better understand the various marketing stages leading up to the event date, including where you might stand to make improvements and what methods worked well.
Net Promoter Scores
Are you measuring Net Promotor Scores? These event metrics, usually based on post-event surveys, can be great assets for New York event planners. When you pose questions like, “how likely are you to recommend this event to colleagues?” you can use those one through ten ratings to generate an NPS. Obviously, nine and ten scores are great. When scores are seven or eight, it indicates an average or “sufficiently engaged” event. When NPS ratings are six or below, those metrics can help you identify areas of improvement. To calculate your NPS, start with the percentage total of positive responses. Then, subtract the percentage of negative responses.
Post-Event Social Media Metrics
An attendee might give you a seven or eight on the post-event survey. But if they loaded up their social media accounts with event pictures, hashtag posts, and lively content about your event, it’s a win. You can’t necessarily track everyone’s social media profiles. However, proper use of hashtag strategies can provide an idea of just how popular your event is. The increased visibility online can help you develop a more robust marketing strategy, targeting social presence. Additionally, social-based KPIs, including likes, comments, shares, and hashtags, will also provide insights for next year’s strategy.
Breakout Sessions and Networking Success
If your featured event includes networking, special guest speaker series, or breakout sessions, you can be collecting data on those engagements, as well. Track which breakout topics were hits and which were flops, based on the engagement totals. Improve by eliminating or bettering topics for future events and capitalizing on those efforts that were absolute home runs. These are equally important with hybrid events and virtual events. There you can track who subscribed, who watched, who stayed, who left, and page views for the online portions of your event.
Cost-to-Revenue Analytics
Finally, event planners will always want to analyze the metrics associated with costs and bottom-line revenue. Sit down with your event goals and begin assigning values to each expense and revenue metric. Consider sponsorships you sold and any financial supporters your event had. Calculate any unforeseen expenses that arose and do the math to determine your cost-to-revenue ratio. It’s a KPI that will help you improve your budgeting process and, ultimately, will keep you on track to make money.
Consider adding these event metrics to your event planning process. It’s managing the analytics that will ensure you continue to improve and grow your business. You can always find helpful event planning suggestions and business tips when you follow The Event Planner Expo blog series. And get in touch if you want to learn more about this year’s Expo. It’s our 10-year anniversary and is slated to be one of the biggest event planner events ever! Contact our team to book your exhibitor space or inquire about remaining sponsorships!
