MEASURING SUCCESS

Measuring success

We’ve always admired the passion and commitment of people working in the live events industry. Those consummate organisers and technicians prepared to work 18 hours a day to make sure the project is perfect and the client is super delighted.

There’s always huge relief and satisfaction at the conclusion of a project but staging a fantastic event has to be about more than delivering an excellent project and a very happy client?

We should be thinking as much about the business objectives of the event and to what extent they were delivered.

At the beginning of each project clarity about the client’s aims, purpose and the expected outcomes to be delivered as a result of the event communications activity is essential.

Perhaps controversially, we might argue that if an event isn’t designed to change attitudes and behaviours why is it taking place?

Each project has different expectations and needs. Those of the client team, the audience and the agency managing the project. How much time do we spend analysing and understanding these expectations and needs?

Critical questions to raise are ‘how aware are we’ or ‘how front of mind’ are the project aims, objectives and outcomes, as the project progresses through the development phase?

What do the client team want to happen as a result of their investment in running the campaign or event? Changes to audience attitudes and behaviours?

How do we measure the effectiveness of the project?

Developing event measurement models will range from the all too familiar tick box ‘happy sheets’ to complex and time hungry surveys carried out over an extended time period.  

It is often quoted that you get out what you put in. Having all of the event management agency team ‘in tune’ with the event objectives will add a powerful dynamic to the outputs of the event.

So how do we achieve this? Just a few possible questions might include;

What steps can we take to ensure the best possible positive post event show report?

Do we have an internal agency peer group review process to support the effectiveness of challenging/improving a client’s thinking and testing our own recommendations?

Ask the team;what can we do to positively influence audience feedback?

Effective measurement, feedback and review adds real value, it demonstrates professionalism and it’s what turns one off projects into long term relationships.