Can Your Event Planner Measure And Report On ROI?

In our second article on 10 things your event planner should know, but probably don’t, we take a look at return on investment (ROI). ROI has a bit of a reputation for being difficult to measure in the eventing space, and your event planner might try and steer clear of providing hard and fast facts and figures. If they do, call them on it – or, better yet, find an event planner who will. Measuring and reporting on ROI in eventing is not impossible, and is crucial to the success of your future events.

Your executive team, funders and partners are likely to require you to report on your event’s ROI. They’re going to need you to motivate whether your event’s budget was worth the investment. This information will likely inform the shape your event takes next time – or if it takes place at all – and your event planner should ensure that you have it on hand.

ROI begins with your business objectives. (This takes us back to our first article in this series. If your event planner isn’t interested in the long-term strategy of your business and how your event fits into it, you need to start looking elsewhere.) Once your business and eventing objectives have been established, setting up ways to measure and quantify the achievement of these objectives should be your event planner’s next step.

This might involve running pre-event surveys, integrating custom relationship manager platforms and other software systems that offer excellent reporting metrics, and ensuring your social media tracking is functioning properly. This information should be combined with post-event engagements, too. A qualified and skilled event planner will have the preparatory work in place before the event, collect the necessary ROI data during it, and offer a detailed and useful report to you afterwards.

Can your event planner measure and report on ROI?

Attribution: John Paul Waites