Intangibles of Event Success

So you’ve put on a huge event. Attendees you didn’t really expect to show up were there and the sound system blared until the wee hours of the morning. A good time was had and your social media feed is flooded with photos and comments. From all accounts, it appears to be a successful event.

However, when it comes to determining whether or not your event hit the mark, a critical analysis should be conducted to measure success that is not related to ticket sales or attendance. These intangibles are also critical to developing your brand. You want people to return!

In this blog post, we take a quick look at measuring the intangibles of your event’s success.

Define your success from the get-go. Utilise SMART goals for crafting a goal-setting framework and then work towards achieving that goal from the very start. Sometimes things don’t always go as planned and that’s ok because you can make alterations as needed.
If you hosted a seminar or corporate event, the degree to which your event stimulated new discussion and/or thinking is a critical success factor. You want to provide new knowledge and new ways of thinking, generating thought and vision for your cause.
During an event, if you were to ask participants or attendees for feedback, chances are they would say, “Great! Thank you for having us!” That isn’t necessarily the case. Engage in conversation with participants or attendees post-event. Social media and e-mail marketing are useful tools in this area. Keep it simple, with limited options such as “yes and no”, or point scales of 1 to 5. Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback!
Understand that successful results does not guarantee that there will be a positive impact on your business or organisation right away. Success may also come in the form of increased effort, teamwork, morale, operational excellence and creativity from your business or organisation.
Intangible awareness and values translate into returning patrons and customers. To truly capture your event’s success, calculating its intangible value is just as important as its tangible dollar value.

Events take time, effort and money to plan. You want yours to be successful.

Remember, you will not be able to quantify everything. Focus on your cause and your objectives, and treat every experience as an opportunity for growth.