After an event, you want to know that your attendees had the time of their lives. But unless they reach out to you, you can’t confirm that they enjoyed your event. It’s not as if you can just ask them—or can you?
At Overland Park Convention Center, we understand the importance of communicating to your clients, which is why we send out surveys to everyone who plans an event with us. This helps us better understand the highlights of working with OPCC and how we can make the experience even better.
So if you’re hosting upcoming events, and you’re wondering how to measure programs’ success, send out a survey!
Asking the Right Questions
Before you send out any surveys to your guests, you need to make sure you find the most effective questions. Don’t just ask guests whether they enjoyed the event—get into specifics.
Ask them about the food, the decor, the wait staff, the parking—and anything else that a guest might have an opinion on.
Once you finish compiling your survey, make sure your guests can find it! If you have an email guest list, you can send the survey through that. Alternatively, you can post the survey on your company site or socials.
After you’ve received a critique, make sure you take action to resolve it. For example, if a guest complained about the wait staff or the speaker, schedule a meeting with the team so you can understand the problem and solve it together.
Positive feedback also matters, and not just for a self-esteem boost. If an attendee complimented the food, be sure to pass these compliments onto your chef, so they understand their work is appreciated. This can give them the motivation to maintain their performance.
And when you understand why one aspect of your event works, you can use these insights to improve other, more lacking areas.
Alternate Measurement Methods
Surveys are valuable because they let you hear it from the guests’ mouths. But those aren’t the only ways to measure the success of an event. One way is to monitor event attendance. This is especially useful if you host an annual event.
If you hosted 500 guests last year, and 1000 this year, you can neatly demonstrate the value in hosting your event again.
Most businesses these days have a website. You can use your site to monitor event effectiveness. If you see a sudden surge in conversions following your event, it’s a good bet that your gala, conference, or trade show had something to do with it.
Get Event-Planning Assistance From OPCC
The work doesn’t end when the event does. By measuring the outcome of your program, you can continue to improve your planning process. Successes and failures can teach you how to build better events.
Now that you know a bit more about how to measure programs’ success, reach out to our team at Overland Park Convention Center, and we’ll help you create your ideal event.
