…step-up your game with these powerful tips
After-Action Report. Captain’s Report. Post-con. Event Summary…whatever you call it, make sure you do it. That’s the best way to guarantee your next event will be a success. Here’s what you need to do…
If your business has an event; a special sale, customer appreciation day, vendor showcase, etc., make sure you create a well-documented record of what worked and what can be improved on (I don’t like saying “what didn’t work”).
With all that goes on during an event, there’s no way you can remember enough to ensure you’re better prepared when you hold it again.
But Steve”, you say, “I have a great memory and have been hosting this event for years. We follow the same formula each time and it works. Besides, I’m too busy and don’t have the time to write down everything that happens and I certainly don’t need more paperwork”.
I’m sorry, I don’t believe it, my friend. Great events don’t happen that way. I’ve spent 20+ years working in hotels producing high-end events and trust me, without accurate records, you’re destined to repeat the same actions that didn’t work (oh, there, I said it).
Use these 11 tips to guarantee your next event will be a success – AND to improve on what was done in the past:
1. How many people attended? Was this more or less than expected? What was the demographic breakdown? Were they buyers or lookers?
2. If the turnout was low, what marketing methods were used? What can be done differently next time to get a better turnout?
3. Did you have enough staff working the event? Did your customers have to wait to be serviced?
4. Did you run out of product, food, or patience?
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5. Were your overall expectations met? What about your customer’s expectations?
6. What feedback did you get from the attendees? What can you learn from this?
7. Did their feedback highlight any shortcomings in your business? If so, what are your plans to address it and when?
8. Did you collect email address from the attendees so you can market to them in the future?
9. Did you generate any new potential business leads? If you did, how many new clients can you expect in the next 1-2 months from this event?
10. Did you “rub shoulders” with most of the attendees, answering questions about your product or service and creating goodwill or did you spend most of your time with a select few? If it was the latter, why bother having the event in the first place?
11. Did you keep copies of all customer handouts, promotional material, employee schedules, sales receipts, and cost of goods used so you can evaluate their effectiveness? I sure hope so.
Bonus…
What do you plan on doing the very next day after the event? Will you:
- Sleep it off
- Clean-up the mess that was leftover
- Go through the above list and plan your next action(s), excited at what lies ahead
The best intentions don’t always come with the best results and success is never guaranteed. But accurate records will be the starting point of your future game plan and guarantee your next event will be a success.’
