Your guests may have left the venue, or logged off the webinar, but your job’s not done yet! Your next step is to report back on the success of the event.
As event managers, we know exactly which metrics we want to see in the post-event report for ourselves, as these reports are great for identifying points of improvement. However, don’t forget that you aren’t the only one who’ll be reading the report.
Who is this report for?
Before you write your post-event report, it’s important to identify who will be reading it. You already know the main purpose of the event, but it’s possible that each stakeholder has a different concern, and will therefore define success differently.
For instance, the CMO will want to know about social media reach, while the sales leader will care about leads. For this reason, you want to include data that pertains to their concerns, rather than the main KPIs alone. Here are the different departments you’ll likely report to:
C-Suite
The client who approached you to organise the event is likely C-Suite level, and would have provided you with the main goal of the event. C-Suite refers to executive-level members within a company, such as CEO (chief executive officer) or COO (chief operating officer).
They’ll be interested in seeing the main KPIs, budget, and ROI.
Sales
The sales team will also be interested in the budget report – more specifically, the revenue. How many tickets were purchased, and what did this amount to? Report on other strategies used to generate revenue as well, such as merchandise sales, sponsorships, advertising, and others.
Feedback on whether these channels were successful, and if so, identify the most effective ones. Did the business gain qualified leads? Showcase all this data.
Marketing
Whether you did the event marketing yourself or outsourced this service, you’ll need to include this in the post-event report. Include all used marketing platforms, as well as their performance.
Common metrics to include are impressions, reach, engagement, followers and clicks. Can you discern how many guests attended from word-of-mouth, compared to online? How many users landed on the event landing page from social media, or the emailer? If your event included feedback surveys for attendees to complete, use these along with other listening tools to calculate brand sentiment.
Event Team
And, of course, the rest of your event team! You all worked hard and deserve credit for the work you put in. Include the names of those who helped you make this event happen, as well as their roles. Showing who was in charge of scheduling or catering, for example, also allows stakeholders to direct their questions to the correct person.
You and your team will also be able to identify how you can improve and make the next event even better.
We hope this breakdown helps you feel prepared to write your next post-event report! For a more in-depth guide, check out our blog How to Create an Event Report here.
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