Post-Event Evaluation

Hello hello! It feels like it's been quite a while since I made a new post since I blog so often, hehe. I had quite the busy week - interviews (yay!), wedding prep and a beautiful wedding (where I was a bridesmaid).

Today's post is about post-event evaluation. A lot of people think an event is finished right after it is complete and that is just not true. You need to thank anyone involved in the event, update any processes and more importantly, evaluate your event. It's really important to review your event from start to finish to really determine what went well and what needed improvement. By doing this, you can know your successful areas and weak spots and this will make for very successful future events.

The following are some key guidelines/tips when performing your post-event evaluation:

•  Provide surveys. When possible, hand out surveys at the end of your event or send out surveys via email to your event guests. If you ask people for their opinion they will often give it to you and if you don't ask you won't really know what they thought. Ask questions like - What was your experience like? What were areas that needed improvement? What was your favourite part of the event? Try and give open ended questions so that your guests can really give you specific answers. A fair warning that you may not get a lot of responses so a good way to increase response is by providing your guests with an incentive. The incentive is usually a draw for some type of prize - restaurant gift card, gift basket, passes for next year's event (if the event is yearly).
  
  
• Ask the right questions. You need to ask the right evaluation questions so that you really figure how the event went. What needed improvement? What went well? Did anything unexpected happen? Were there any conflicts and if so how were they resolved?  What was the general feedback from guests? Were the outlined event goals met?
  
  
• Create a report. It's a good idea to create a detailed report after each event that you do. Depending on your event, it can include the following details: name of the event, date, location, number of guests in attendance, objectives that were met/not met, schedule, expenses, revenue, successes and improvements, testimonials/feedback.
  
  
• Have a team discussion. If your event involved a number of staff/volunteers (which it usually does), it's important to have a meeting/discussion with this team to discuss the event areas of improvement and successes. Each person will have their own opinion on what went well and what didn't, which is great because you will get a variety of responses. The team will also feel appreciated that you asked for their feedback.
  
  
• Evaluate Promptly. You should do your post-event evaluation I would say no later than 2 weeks after your event is complete so that it is still fresh in your mind. If you put it off for an extended period of time, you won't remember all the details of the event very well.
  
  

Have a great day off tomorrow everyone!

-Shira :)