The Key Event Metrics Every Time-Poor Planner Should Track

Event metrics: As an event planner, you know a thing or two about being busy.  But when you’re caught up in so many different priorities, tasks and details, it’s easy to lose focus on your broader operations and, more importantly, how the data you generate via the events you create can be used to make your life much easier.  By knowing exactly which key event metrics or pieces of information you need to track, you’ll not only help to streamline your event operations, but save yourself that most precious of commodities: time.  In this blog, we’ll filter through a sea of data to identify the key event metrics you should track at each and every event and, more importantly, consider how this information can enhance your chances of creating a memorable, meaningful and valuable event.

1. Attendee Registration and Ticket Sales

First and foremost, every planner should be tracking both the number of attendees as well as the ticket sales associated with any event.  When it comes to the following fundamental metrics, you should always track the following:

• Registration rate: Take care to measure the percentage of website visitors who convert into registered attendees.
• Pricing Strategies: Track the effectiveness of your tiered pricing structures, discounts and promo codes.
• Revenue generated: Keep a close eye on ticket sales to ensure you’re meeting set revenue goals.

2. Event Metrics – Marketing ROI

Effective marketing is absolutely crucial to the success of any event and with that in mind, be sure to capture the following key metrics:

• Cost per acquisition (CPA): This calculation offers an insight into how much it costs to acquire each attendee through your marketing efforts.
• Return on investment (ROI): This enables you to assess the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns by comparing the revenue generated versus your marketing spend for every event.
• Conversion rate: From this metric, you can analyse how well different marketing channels (email, social media, advertising, etc.) enable you to convert leads into attendees.

3. Engagement Metrics

As every planner knows, audience engagement is key to creating memorable events.  By tracking the following key metrics, you’ll have a deeper insight into how engaged your delegates are with your event activity:

• Social media engagement: Monitor likes, shares, comments, and event-related hashtags to gauge and — if needed — to increase the buzz around your event.
• Email open and click-through rates: Keep an eye on these in order to measure the effectiveness of your email campaigns in engaging potential attendees.
• Session attendance: By gauging the number of attendees in every session, you can actively  evaluate the popularity of certain pieces of content, enabling you to create better-tailored events in the future.

4. Vendor and Supplier Performance – the Key Event Metrics

Vendor relationships can make or break an event and so it’s worth keeping an eye on:

• Vendor ratings and feedback: Collect feedback from attendees and assess vendor performance.
• Budget adherence: Ensure vendors are staying within budget and not causing unexpected expenses.
• Timeliness and reliability: Track how well vendors meet set deadlines and if they honour their contractual commitments to you.

5. Attendee Satisfaction

Attendee satisfaction is the ultimate testament of event success and so it’s well-worth collecting feedback and tracking the following metrics:

• Net Promoter Score (NPS): This piece of data measures attendee loyalty and the likelihood of your delegates recommending your event to their peers.
• Satisfaction scores: These metrics are used by attendees to rate various aspects of your event, including speakers, sessions, venue and overall experience.
• Post-event engagement: This metric gauges how delegates continue to engage with the content of your event even after it’s over.

6. Registration and Check-in Efficiency

As a planner, you know that time is like gold dust and so it makes sense to keep an eye on the following key pieces of data:

• Registration completion time: This measures the average time it takes for attendees to complete your registration process.
• Check-in duration: This metric tracks how long it takes attendees to check in at your event.
• Queue length and wait times: Use these details to optimise the check-in process and to shorten the time attendees spend waiting in a queue.

Keeping tabs on multiple priorities, overseeing every last detail — as an event planner, you’re well-versed in doing many things at once.  But let data guide your efforts and sharpen your focus; by tracking these key metrics, you’ll be increasingly more efficient at planning successful, impactful events and — what’s more — you may even find that you have more of that most precious commodity: time.