Event Data Strategy 101

Planting the seeds for high-impact events

Watch Sophie Holt, our Managing Director, explains the fundamentals of event data

The trap of lagging indicators?

Data can be abundant in events, with metrics like attendance, meeting bookings, and even sponsors spending. However, in isolation, these metrics don't paint the full picture as they are lagging indicators that tell you what has happened - past tense.

Lagging indicators could suggest a rosy picture, like stable attendance and waiting lists of exhibits, but seemingly, these events have failed. With the right data, shifts in sentiment, satisfaction and loyalty could have been spotted to help predict and maybe invert the upcoming crisis.

Look beyond event metrics to data strategy

A robust data strategy allows you to not only react to what happens but also influence what might happen in the future. It's like having a crystal ball that will enable you to gaze into the future.

Data in isolation could lack the context needed to understand and act appropriately and thoroughly. Putting an effective data strategy in place, allowing the right data to be accessible to the right people to make informed decisions about event strategy, and then having those decisions tested and measured through the lens of data collection with the help of benchmarking may truly reach higher impacts with your events. This required discipline in setting clear, measurable objectives to determine the event's success.

Keeping clear and measurable objectives in sight

Keeping the wider business goal in sight to keep track of the rest of your measurement. Let's compare the objective setting to a farmer growing a crop - start with an end goal. Because if you're looking to harvest apples, there's no point in planting a peach tree. Here, the harvest is the wider goal. Sales lead, employee retention, and membership values, just for example. Because you need to keep this wider goal in sight to maintain direction and the rest of your measurement.  

Imagine a farmer planting an apple tree, and they're not coming back for another 12 months, just hoping they get a good number of apples. Whether the harvest is good or poor, they'll need more information on how to get a better product next time. This is where we recommend interim objectives that put the spotlight on the impact of the event itself. How should attending that event change sentiment and behavior in a way that recurs the final goal that you want to see? These are the environmental goals you need to meet, such as the program's quality, the appropriateness of the setting or the program's design, and the soil in which a successful event impact will grow. 

Ask yourself, did you shift how people felt or think in a way that aligns with your goals? Did visitors believe something more strongly than they did before?

How might they change their behavior after having attended your event?  Are they more likely to book a demo or schedule a meeting?

These indicators of behavioral change are powerful metrics for event planners because they can be tied directly to the event itself and analyzed within days of the event taking place. They allow changes and improvements to be made ready for the next event in the cycle, and the best practice starts to disseminate quickly. 

Additional resources

Download our Event Impact Playbook to learn more about how to set impact metrics, predict attendee behavioral outcomes, and use your analysis for strategic planning.