Planning your next event? Not sure whether to opt for innovative name badges or a fully integrated Q&A technology for your sessions? Confused about canapés and how many drinks to allocate per head?
There seems to be hundreds of different options and solutions on offer when you’re planning a live event. So how do you make the right decision and pull off a really great event that comes in on budget and delivers results that will make your CEO smile too?
Simple – set really clear goals from the outset!
Yep, setting clear goals should be one of the very first steps when planning any event. If you understand exactly why you’re planning the event and what you want to achieve, the other decisions should become much easier, allowing you to focus on what’s important instead of fussing over the finer details.
So how do you work out what your goals should be?
Be Clear, Be Realistic
Make sure you set yourself and your event up for success by creating really clear and realistic goals.
What is a clear goal? Well, usually it would be something that includes a clear measurement for success, rather than a vague or subjective statement. Eg instead of saying ‘I want lots of delegates to attend’ make your goal quantifiable and time specific: ‘I would like to see a 30% uplift on last year’s attendance numbers by the end of the event’.
That way, you will get a very clear understanding of whether your goals were achieved and you can also report back to your client and your colleagues.
But you also need to remember to be realistic. If a 30% increase in attendance is totally unheard of for an event like yours, then don’t set yourself up for failure. Think about your goals to ensure that you are creating realistic goal posts that will allow you to demonstrate your success.
Use Event Tech to Help Measure Your Success
Set clear goals and now wondering how to measure your success? Live events move quickly and you must never lose focus on the most important component of the entire event – the delegate! Giving them a positive experience is every event professionals ultimate goal, so be wary of getting in their way with lengthy questionnaires or feedback forms that will impact their overall enjoyment.
Get smart about the way you measure your success!
Most event tech packages are designed to help #EventProfs gather really useful data about how their delegates behaved and what happened during the event, whilst also enhancing rather than diminishing the delegate experience. Win-win!
Innovative name badges with RFID, Q&A systems, and event apps all offer really efficient data gathering opportunities alongside great incentives and a smoother event experience for your guest.
What Data Can I Measure During an Event?
The possibilities are pretty huge! Using innovative name badge systems or event apps you can gather data about number of attendees, leads generated, engagement, year on year uplift, session attendance, length of stay, most popular sessions, networking, which delegates profiles were most popular, which delegates interacted the most, most successful exhibitors or even most popular exhibitor locations. And that’s just for starters. Event tech is fairly flexible, so if you have clear goals, start from there and then look at creating data gathering opportunities that help demonstrate whether you achieved those goals or not.
How Can I Convince Delegates to Hand Over Data?
So, you’ve got your tech systems in place, you’ve set clear goals and you’re ready to grab the data to demonstrate your success, but how do you convince delegates to interact with your data touch points?
At Noodle Live, we talk about data currency. We make a policy of never asking delegates for data without offering something in return. If you’re using innovate name badges and RFID systems, you should ensure that every point at which you are asking delegates to interact is also offering them something in return.
For example, at registration, you could be grabbing some great information about arrival numbers, who is yet to turn up, how many people are in the event and what industries are represented – but to ensure that your guests are motivated to interact, make sure it’s the most appealing option. A good registration system should make the delegate’s life easier with less waiting time, a smoother entry system and possible the offer of a digital program or brochure as soon as you tap to enter the event.
Want to know how many delegates are heading to each seminar? Add a touch point and the door and offer delegates instant emails with session notes and speaker profiles if they tap to enter.
How Do I Get Started?
Want to set your goals and start grabbing data to demonstrate how successful you’ve been. Feel free to get in touch with Team Noodle to talk about gathering data using RFID name badges and event apps. We have a team of event tech consultants who are always happy to have a chat about your specific event and the tech that would best suit you.
