Strategic event: how to define your objectives and analyse your ROI
"What is not defined, cannot be measured. What is not measured, cannot be improved. What is not improved, always degrades". William Thomsom Kelvin.
Everything in life needs to be measurable in order to be able to analyse it and move towards the results we want. Defining the starting point and being clear about what our goal is is essential in any strategy and when it comes to communication and marketing it is one of the factors that will help us to have more brand awareness, more sales, more clients, more leads...
Many people when organising an event wonder where to start and obviously there is a very attractive part when choosing the space, the catering, the decoration... but we cannot forget the pillar when organising an event which is to implement a communication strategy to reach more clients, to facilitate networking, to achieve more interaction between your employees, etc.
Phase 1: Defining our SMART objectives
Starting from that basis, the first thing to do when we want to organise an event is to think: what do I want to achieve with this event? For this, it is important that we define SMART objectives (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timely). In other words, it is not based on a vague idea, but rather, we must think about what exactly we want to achieve, detailing a measurable goal (in percentages, numbers, etc.) that is realistic, that makes sense for the company and is aligned with the general objectives of the event, and that is also designed for a specific period of time.
In addition, it is important to define how we will analyse these objectives, also defining our KPIs, i.e.: what metrics will we use to measure the results? They can be:
- Direct benefits/economic income: product sales, ticket sales, sponsorships, etc.
- Indirect: event registrations, number of attendees, mentions in the press, reactions on social networks...
Phase 2: Developing our creativity
Once we have defined the what for (objectives) we can work on our strategy. Now it is time to think about:
- What? Think about what kind of event you are going to organise, perhaps a product presentation, a press conference, a corporate cocktail for networking...? Define the format that best suits you.
- Who? Create your guest list: who are you doing this event for? Who do you want to attend? They can be clients, press, influencers, stakeholders, employees... When you have doubts about who to invite, review your objectives and think about whether you will achieve your goal with this event. A piece of advice: as a general rule, 30% of the guests on the list are missing, so give yourself room to be flexible.
- How much? It's time to think about a budget. We have been working on what we want to achieve and obviously organising an event is an investment but we need to work out what our budget is so we can move on to the next stages.
- Where to go? The time has come to define the space, to start making the event a reality. Where will depend on the format of the event you have in mind (is it a meeting and you need plenary rooms with technology? are you looking to organise a cocktail or banquet and need a space with a kitchen? or is it a workshop where you will divide the attendees into rooms?), the number of guests (are there 20 people on your list or 500?), the location (do you want it in the city centre?).
- How? This is the most awaited moment as you put your creativity in the air. How do you imagine the event? It's time for brainstorming, to let your imagination fly, to ask as if you were writing a letter to the Three Wise Men. And once this creative work has been done, we will move on to the choice of suppliers. In this case we advise you to hire an event agency or let yourself be helped by the space itself (from Portal de l'Eixample we offer this service) as they will help you to make all your ideas come true (or as many as possible) with the budget you defined in the previous step. If you are the organiser, you must take into account: catering (without food and drink an event is not the same), decoration (even if it is minimal, remember that the details make the difference), technical equipment (lighting, sound), services (transport, cloakroom, hostesses, etc.).
Phase 3: Analysing the results
The time has come. Let's take stock. Let's look at our ROI.
ROI (Return Over Investment) is what will let us know how successful our event has been. As our first step was to set our objectives and KPIs, we will take everything we wrote down and analyse them one by one.
Ideally, we would like to have achieved all the goals, but if not, the important thing is to learn for the future. That is why we advise that after an event we should always take stock and ask ourselves the following questions:
- What worked and why?
- What didn't work and why?
- Would you have done anything differently? What consequences do you think it would have had?
- What have you learned from this event?
If you find it difficult to reflect on any of these points, you can ask for feedback from the attendees and all the people involved in the organisation. The idea is always to improve and achieve all the results you want.
Now that you know all the steps, we encourage you to do face-to-face events as the energy that is transmitted, the good vibes, the power of having everyone together in the same space at the same time is sensational, incomparable. As we always say, Portal de l'Eixample more than organising events, it creates connections.