• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Great Garden Speakers

  • Home
  • About
  • Search Speakers
  • Search Talks
  • Upcoming Events
    • Submit Event
    • Edit Events
    • Edit Locations
  • Learning Center
    • General FAQ
    • Program Manager Tips
    • Speaker Tips
  • Contact
  • Member Login
    • Become A Member
    • Support
    • Buy Spotlight Ad

How Successful Was Your Event? Determining Event ROI

March 17, 2022 By Jenny Peterson

After every event, no matter how large or small, you always want to determine if it was successful. Did it go over well? How are you determining that? What measurements are you using? Sure, your sense of accomplishment means a lot, but it’s not necessarily going to tell you the full story.

While this is a fairly intense topic and you can dive in as deep as you want or need to, we’d like to go over a few metrics to help you determine your event ROI (return on investment).

Metrics for Determining Your ROI

These are basic questions to ask after your event is over—each one can give you an immense amount of information to help you plan even more effectively in the future.

  1. What does your data tell you? Whichever event platform or technology you used to run your event will have loads of insight for you in terms of tickets sold, your revenue from those sales, the number of no-show ticketholders, and more. Start with this info and go from there.
  2. Was your event profitable? If you don’t know how to determine that, there’s a simple calculation. Subtract the total cost of the event from the total sales revenue, then divide that by the total cost of the event and multiply x 100. The result is your profit percentage. If you doubled your investment, that’s amazing, and if you barely squeaked by, you’ll want to dig down and figure out how to increase sales while decreasing some expenses.
  3. Did you meet your primary goal for the event? Before each event, you should identify your primary goal. Is it lead generation, product sales, ticket sales, fundraising, brand awareness? Now look at your event metrics and you’ll know if you met your goal.
  4. Were your attendees happy? The only way you will know this is if you ask them. Plan to send out a survey immediately after the event to all those who attended. Ask them what they liked, what they didn’t like, any suggestions for future events, and the best thing about the event for them. Lots of negatives? Time to regroup. Lots of positives? You’re on the right track; keep building on it.
  5. Are your stakeholders happy? Check in with your sponsors and your board members, for example, and find out how they felt about the event. Was it profitable for them, was it worth their while? Do they have any feedback? Were there any glitches to address for the next event?
  6. How did this year’s event compare with last year’s? If you have a large annual event, start comparing this year’s results with those of previous years and notice your attendance/revenue trends. Sometimes there’s a reason for a dip in sales or attendance (hello, pandemic or high gas prices), but if there’s nothing obvious to account for it, start looking more closely at your survey results, quality of vendors, and selection of speakers.

Tip: After you define your primary goal for the event, determine how you will know if you met it. For example, if your goal was high ticket sales with a 75% profit margin, it’s easy to determine if you met it. But what if it’s brand awareness? Then start looking for metrics like social media coverage (likes, comments, and shares as well as organic posts and “check ins”), if any influencers came to your event (did you invite them?), press coverage, increased social media followers, and the like. Set a goal for each of these measurements before your event, and then track to see if you met it. And aim high!

Filed Under: Program Manager Tips

Jenny Peterson

About Jenny Peterson

I am a garden designer, author and speaker and I'm passionate about how gardens and plants enrich people's lives physically, emotionally and spiritually.

More Posts

GGS-JANUARY SPEAKER BLOG-ORGANIZING A SUCCESSFUL BOOK TOUR

GGS-JANUARY PM Post-7 WAYS TO ATTRACT YOUNGER PEOPLE TO YOUR EVENT

10 WAYS TO NETWORK AT AN EVENT WITHOUT FEELING CRINGEY

DOES YOUR EVENT NEED A FACEBOOK EVENT?

Primary Sidebar

Search Talks

Search Speakers

Search for:

Learning Center Categories

Speaker Tips
Program Manager Tips
Speaker FAQ

Talks In The Spotlight

Grow With Great Garden Speakers

Get weekly tips for creating exciting online and live programs!
* indicates required
Garden Speaker Interests

Footer

Speaker’s Quick Links

My Speaker Profile
My Talks
Member Login
Member Resources
Speaker FAQ
Upcoming Events
Spotlight Ads

Customer Service

My Account
Reset Password
Member Admin Area
Get Support



Copyright © 2023 Greatgardenspeakers.org · Owned and managed by The Garden of Words, LLC · Sitemap · Privacy Policy ·Terms of Use

Content posted by speakers and advertisers is owned by them and may not be reproduced without their permission.

Great Garden Speakers is not a party to any contract between a speaker and a venue, and is not responsible for the actions that may result from any contacts made through this site.

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Do not sell my personal information.
Cookie SettingsAccept
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT