Get valuable feedback from your efforts in the form of event evaluations. This will help identify both successes and areas you can improve in the coming year.
If evaluations have been used in the past, look at the historical methods and results.
Outline why you are planning to provide evaluations and what purpose the information obtained will serve.
Determine what will be evaluated. Consider creating separate evaluations (or sections within the evaluation form) asking for feedback on:
Decide who will be responsible for drafting, distributing, collecting and tabulating the evaluation forms.
Decide which evaluation methods will be used (e.g. mobile app, scanned, web-based).
Create the evaluation forms.
Proofread the forms carefully, and obtain vendor approval if necessary.
Once onsite, distribute and collect the evaluations or send links to complete online evaluations before the end of the conference.
Tabulate the results, scanning the evaluations for testimonials that can be used for future marketing materials.
Establish the final format of your analysis (e.g. spreadsheet, overview or presentation).
Distribute the results to the appropriate people, who might include:
Name and contact information.
Overall evaluation of the conference.
Ease of the registration process.
Appropriateness of length and time of the conference.
Most valuable/least valuable aspects.
Conference materials.
Call for suggested topics, speakers or sites for future conferences.
Marketing research questions.
Specific speaker feedback, such as:
Logistics
Response rates are significantly higher if you collect evaluations onsite. Consider the following methods of encouraging and increasing response:
Take your evaluations seriously. They will help you build on the success of this year and make next year even better. Chat your results, and use appropriate metrics to evaluate your successes and areas for improvement.
