Why Should You Measure the Success of Your Conferences?
Which KPIs Make Sense for a Conference?
How to Set Up Feedback Loops
From Data to Improvement
Summery
Most conferences are evaluated based on gut feeling. “It went well.” “The participants seemed happy.” “The food was good.” But can you demonstrate that the event was worth the investment? And can you use data from this conference to make the next one even better?
At Comwell Hotels, we regularly help our customers structure their meetings so that they not only deliver a positive experience, but can also be measured and improved over time.
A conference is an investment. The venue, food and refreshments, transport and your employees’ time all come at a cost. Without measurable data, you cannot assess whether the investment delivered a return or whether your next conference should be organised differently.
Data-driven evaluation gives you three things: evidence that demonstrates the value of the event to management, insights that can improve future events, and a shared language for discussing meeting and conference quality across the organisation.
It depends on the purpose, but there are a handful of KPIs that most organisations can benefit from tracking:
Participant satisfaction is the most obvious, but it should go beyond an overall score. Ask specifically about the venue, food and refreshments, programme, technology and the overall experience. This allows you to identify where there is room for improvement.
Net Promoter Score (NPS) for the event tells you whether participants would recommend it to a colleague. It is a simple indicator of perceived value.
Engagement during the meeting can be measured through participation in workshops, questions during Q&A sessions and interaction with digital polling tools. Low engagement is often a sign that the programme or setting is not working.
Post-meeting action rate is the most ambitious, but also the most valuable KPI. How many of the decisions made at the meeting have been followed up on one month later?
An evaluation sent out a week after the conference is likely to have a low response rate and produce less accurate answers. The most effective organisations integrate feedback into the event itself.
A short digital survey on participants’ phones immediately after the final session captures their impressions while they are still fresh. A follow-up email a week later can ask about the action rate and their longer-term assessment.
At Comwell Hotels, our MeetingDesigners can help structure evaluation points that reflect your objectives and provide data on the elements we control, such as the quality of the food and refreshments, room setup and the performance of the technical equipment.
What matters is not the amount of data itself, but what you do with it. Summarise the insights in a short report, share it with the relevant decision-makers and use it as a starting point when planning your next event. Over time, you will build a knowledge base that helps make each conference a little better than the last.
Conferences should be evaluated using data, not just gut feeling. Relevant KPIs include participant satisfaction broken down by individual elements, NPS, engagement during the meeting and the post-meeting action rate. Feedback should be collected immediately after the event and followed up a week later.
At Comwell Hotels, our MeetingDesigners help structure evaluation points and provide data on the elements we manage, so you can demonstrate the value of your event and improve it over time.
Few things undermine a professional presentation faster than technology that does not work. A presentation that will not open. A microphone with feedback. A video signal that disappears in the middle of a live demonstration for the board. These situations cost more than time. They cost credibility.
Where you hold your next conference, kick-off or seminar sends a message. To your employees, new talent and the business partners attending. The setting says something about who you are as a company and shows that you invest in your employees. It demonstrates to the outside world that you take your own ambitions seriously.
When a company needs to document its carbon footprint, conferences and meeting activities can form part of its carbon accounting. But how do you ensure that your choice of venue actually provides the documentation you need for your reporting? And what should you look for when choosing a conference venue with ESG reporting in mind?
