Event Assessment and
Evaluation
Roger Hubbard,
Kristin Gallegos, Malcolm Watkins, Sam Coatney, Steven Inman
MGT/373
April 25, 2016
Rochelle Concepcion
Event Assessment
and Evaluation
Introduction
Using thereading
materials covered in Week 4, our team will prepare an event assessment and evaluation
paper that describes the three strategies we’ve chosen and use them to evaluate
a tradeshow events success. The three strategies the team has chosen are:
conduct surveys after the event , use a net promotor score (NPS), and evaluate
costs/gather feedback.
In addition, our team
will provide information supporting these selected strategies and describe any
potential follow-up strategies that can effectively be utilized, as well.
Strategies
To Evaluate Event Success
Surveys immediately after an event can help
organizers understand the success of an event. A survey helps guests give
feedback on whether the event is what was expected, how a guest feels about the
event, and if the guest gave positive feedback or suggestions. Designing a
survey is important as shorter surveys may get a better response than longer
surveys. The survey should be self explanatory and easy to fill out (Snapcastr,
2016, p.1).
Using an NPS or Net Promotor Score, is simple and
asks guests ‘How likely are you to recommend this event to someone else, on a
scale of 1 to 10, where 1 stands for least likely, and 10 for extremely likely”
(Snapcastr, 2016, p.1). A 9-10 indicates customers are loyal and will say good
things about an event. A 7-8 indicates ‘they feel ambivalent towards your
event” (Snapcastr, 2016, p.1). A score of 0-6 indicates customers may criticize
the event (Snapcastr, 2016, p.1).
It is important to evaluate the finances spent on
an event to better understand the actual costs, actual revenues, and any
unexpected costs. These figures can then help organizers with expectations of
future event scenarios. Feedback from stakeholders is very important as
objectivity is involved in the feedback and to understand any concerns for
future events. Holding meetings with sponsors and local authorities can help
the organizer understand if all needs and expectations were met and to thank
everyone for their services (Snapcastr, 2016, p.1).
Support
the Strategies
Conducting a survey after an event is a successful
assessment strategy due to the results that come with the questions and how
they can provide input for future event success. Cvent.com gives examples of
questions that could provide good input for the event planner. These questions
include how do you rate the event location, how did you hear about this event,
how do you rate the presented content, how was the speakers performance
quality, would you be interested in volunteering in our next event, and could
you include other comments or suggestions about the event (cvent, 2016)? Each
of these questions, if taken seriously, can provide very clear and helpful
feedback which could be applied to the next event. Regarding event location,
feedback may show things that were missed during planning, like a lack of local
transportation, hotel, dining, or recreational services, or an abundance of it,
letting the planner know that this location is a prime area to plan events in.
How the person heard about the event could be important if it was a publicly
planned event, which had to promote with social and public marketing
strategies, if something like social media brought a lot more attendees than a
newspaper ad the planner will know which promotion strategy was more
successful. This question may not apply to other private venues though, as all
of the attendees are privately invited. The rating of the presented content is
important because if the presentation part of the event lacked certain things
the planner will know what to add or change for the next presentation related
type of event. The speakers performance quality is directly related to the
presented contend and can be taken into account when the planner has to choose
another speaker for the next event. Asking about the possible chances of
volunteer work in the future form prior attendees may be able to help plan
future events which have a public benefit from volunteer work due to the type
of event, maybe a nonprofit organization raising awareness for a certain cause.
This can greatly help save money for an event in the future that is not a
profitable venue and will give people the chance to volunteer for something
that have a personal desire for. Finishing the survey, added comments and
suggestions are a great addition to the survey because it will give information
to the planner that was not thought of during planning, and may give the
planner great new ideas that would result in success for the next event. These
suggestions could involve anything from food services to the event content,
which will give the planner a view of the event from the attendee.
Using a net promoter score (NPS) is a great way
to help measure customer loyalty and evaluate/build more loyalty, resulting in
more work. A simple rating of the event will give the planner a good idea of
how satisfied the customer really was. This can be applied to planning the next
event and making changes based on the results of the NPS. After changes have
been mane the planner can reissue the NPS after another event for the same
client and judge the result changes, determining if the changes were successful
or not (Beard, 2013).
Evaluating cost and gathering feedback is also
important as they relate to financial and customer satisfaction levels. The
cost evaluation will use financial statements to show the profit or loss of the
event and let the planner know how to financially plan for the next event.
Everything from vendor services to space and property rental/reservations is
taken into account with the cost, making is a necessary thing to change if the
results are not as desired. Getting feedback from the stakeholders will help
determine the satisfaction from the people funding the operation and if they
will continue with the same type of venue for future events. Without the proper
financial feedback the profitability in the future may go way down and could
have a negative outcome for the planner, making a cost evaluation a very
important event assessment strategy.
Describe
Follow-Up Strategies
The follow up is as important as the strategies
listed above all together. This is because if you fail to follow up, you can
potentially miss opportunities with possible clients, customers, partners, and
more. One of the best follow up strategies is to beconsistant with the prospects expectations.
“ If you promised to send literature, send it. If you promised to call for an
appointment, call. You will leave a lasting impression if you do meet your
prospects expectations.” (“Measuring And Evaluating Results”, 2002)
Along with that it is very essential to track your results. Following up does
not always mean following up with surveys or promises, but also tracking
expenses and finding out what could have been done to save money or spent more
on. This strategy can make future events financially better and take care of
any problems that may have affected the last event . Along with these strategies it is highly
important to debrief the event team. This is where you evaluate the success of
the event . Talk about what worked, what didn’t work, and what could possibly
be done next time. Setting goals during this process is also a very key
strategy. “ Once you have clearly defined (quantified) your goals, you can
measure success by comparing your results with your specific goals.”
(“Measuring And Evaluating Results”, 2002) Setting goals makes the
debriefing process that much more affective in every way. Debriefing can lead
to future success or continue success. It is very important to ensure that
everyone is on the same page and is willing to do what it takes to go through
each follow up strategy. Following up with prospects, tracking final expenses,
debriefing, and setting goals are all strategies that ensure success in post
planning and future events.
Conclusion
Our group evaluated a
tradeshows events success within our three strategies, conduct surveys after
the event , use a net promotor score (NPS), and evaluate costs/gather feedback.
As we can all see from the above information the three strategies the team covered
fully explains in detail why each of the steps is important to the suscees of
running tradeshows.
References
Cvent.
(2016). Leveraging Surveys For A Successful Event. Retrieved from www.cvent.com.
Robert
Beard. (2013). Net Promoter Score: What Is It (6 Benefits). Retrieved from www.clientheartbeat.com.
Measuring
and Evaluating Results. (2002). Retrieved from http://www.creativetraining.com/train/docs/MeasuringResults.pdf
Snapcastr
(2016).5 Surprisingly Effective
Strategies for Evaluating Event Success. P.1.
Retrieved April 24, 2016 from http://www.snapcastr.com/blog/5-ways-for-evaluating-
event-success/
