Today, we’re blessed with a plethora of data to help us make effective, evidence-based decisions.

This is especially true when it comes to events; not only do we get the benefits of regular insights from feedback forms, but the rise of digital and hybrid events means we can merge this with hard statistics to paint a comprehensive picture of our success. 

Event management software like evexus has made this even easier, making it possible for associations to gain access to extensive data insights in real time.

But, with so much information on tap, it can sometimes be hard to know which data holds the most value.

Here are some of the top sources of data associations should track.

Registration and attendance

Beyond the numbers, it’s also valuable for associations to gather event data on who exactly is attending. 

Taking the time to understand your audience is key to understanding what type of people are attending — and who might be being left out.

Depending on the data you have access to, you may wish to collect information on demographics, geographics, and even psychographics, such as:

• Age or generation
• Gender or gender identity
• Cultural or linguistic diversity
• Location
• Education level
• Career level
• Income
• Values and beliefs
• Likes and dislikes
• Lifestyle
• Interests and hobbies

A useful exercise for some associations may be to examine this event data against their wider membership. By doing this, they may be able to identify potential gaps in their offering.

For example, an association’s event data analysis may show an older average age than their general membership, which could indicate they’re not attracting younger members.

Event satisfaction

While knowing who is turning up is a great start, it’s important for associations to find out how much attendees are enjoying themselves.

The most popular way to measure satisfaction is via post-event surveys. It’s a good idea to ask attendees to shake their experience in a few different ways to ensure you get a comprehensive view.

Some of the questions you might ask include:

• How satisfied were you with the event?
• Do you think this event met its objective?
• Was there enough time for Q&A and discussion?
• What did you like most about the event?
• What did you like least about the event?
• How could we improve on this event next time?

While feedback surveys can be immensely valuable, it’s critical to remember that they have a low average rate of completion, usually between 20% and 30%. Even associations that have much higher response rates would benefit from finding an additional, less qualitative measure of attendee satisfaction.

One way to do this is by measuring your rate of repeat guests. Attendees who have a positive experience are more likely to return than those who don’t and are also more likely to recommend the event to others. 

Thus, making note of repeat attendees is a useful and quantitative way associations can measure satisfaction in event data analysis.

Net promoter score

Well-known for a reason, net promoter scores are a fantastic indicator of event success. 

For the uninitiated, a net promoter score represents the likelihood that your event attendees would recommend you to their friends, colleagues or family. 

This event data is most often gathered through feedback forms, where attendees are asked to rate how likely they are to recommend the event on a scale from 0 to 10. Registrants who sit between 0 and 6 are ‘detractors’, those between 7 and 8 are neutral, and attendees who score 9 or 10 are ‘promoters’.

To calculate your net promoter score, subtract the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters to achieve a score between -100 and 100. 

While anything above 0 is good, a great event will score more than 50, and anything over 71 is considered excellent.

Technology use

One of the many upsides of our increasingly digital world is the ability to access and gather more detailed information. 

If you’re investing in technology, like an event app, tracking its usage against your wider attendee base is a great way to see if it’s paying off. If your attendees aren’t using your app, you may find it useful to look at incentives, such as adding elements of gamification to boost engagement. 

For smaller events, it can be useful for associations to gather event data on interactives. Highly engaged attendees in online or hybrid events are more likely to participate in polls and surveys and to be active in chat, so tracking these activities can provide valuable insight into how interested they were in a session. 

Interestingly, this correlation works the other way too. Including interactive elements in your online events can have a positive impact on attendee engagement and satisfaction. 

Social media engagement

Another way to measure your success is by looking at the impact your event had on social media.

Having an active social media presence is vital for event planners for a number of reasons. Not only does it increase the visibility of your event and offer a cost-effective marketing tool, but it even helps your attendees engage in real-time with your organisation, sponsors and one another — and provides useful analytics and insights for you to use. 

When it comes to event data analysis, a key metric associations should gather is engagement with your event posts. Depending on the platform, this might include likes, favourites, comments, direct messages, replies, shares and reposts, as well as clicks or mentions. 

However, it’s also a good idea to look at activity generated by your attendees. This could look like sharing images and posts about your event or interacting with others’ posts. Gathering this event data can show which sessions created the most online buzz and can be a great indication that your event was a success. 

You can even boost your online presence by encouraging your attendees to post about your event. Some associations do this by providing a special hashtag for their event or by gamifying the process by offering a reward for the most creative post.

Find out more

Want to learn how evexus’ event management software can help you gather more event data and boost your insights? 

Find out more via our website or get in touch today to arrange a demo.