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Explori Blog
Updates, announcements and articles you need from the Explori—all in one place.
Benchmarking: Understanding Event Success Within Context
Sep 5, 2023
What exactly does event success mean? At first glance, event success might seem straightforward. One can easily categorise a profitable event as a successful one. Or where the sales team have a lot of hot leads to go home with, we can be quick to term this exhibit activation as very successful. Some event planners simply stick with NPS and CSAT scores. However, these metrics only begin to scratch the surface of what an event brings to a business or industry. Success can also be measured by the impact an event has among its attendees, the connections forged, and the impact it has on the industry ecosystem. Success can be determined within the context of where the particular event stands when compared with previous events that has been held within the organization, within businesses in your portfolio, and ultimately within the entire industry. Benchmarking: The Ultimate Measure of Event Success To truly understand the success of an event, we need benchmarks. Benchmarks are like guideposts that allow event organizers to compare event's performance against established standards, whether they are within their organization or across the broader industry landscape. They provide context, which helps to make informed judgments about the effectiveness of event strategies and the real significance of the achievements. Chloe Richardson, VP Senior Corporate Relations, Explori INDUSTRY guide The Explori Guide to Benchmarking A detailed insight into using benchmarks to understand the ROI and impact of your corporate events program Download Guide There are three major types of benchmarking within the events industry: Historical Benchmarks These benchmarks offer a retrospective view, which allows you to look back on past events. By comparing current data with past iterations of the same event, you can quickly gain insights into trends, whether towards growth or a decline. This insight is very valuable towards identifying patterns to make informed decisions on how the event is performing over time. Organizational Benchmarks Individual events are parts of a portfolio within a larger organization; they all come together to achieve a set objective within a business. Comparing the performance of an event to others within the same portfolio helps to easily reveal whether that event is contributing effectively or not. This data influences strategic decisions about the business value of an event. Industry Benchmarks Beyond comparing your events within your business, imagine the level of insights you can get by comparing it to similar options available within your entire industry? This makes you fully aware of its value, where it stands against others in terms of NPS and CSAT and the overall indispensability of your event. Gaining a Competitive Edge with Explori's Industry Benchmarks The true value of benchmarking lies in contextualization. It's not just about knowing your event's performance, but also understanding how it compares to past iterations and its peers within the industry. By placing your event's data within the larger context of industry benchmarks, you gain a clearer perspective on what constitutes success. However, a major challenge in benchmarking events lies in acquiring accurate and representative data. Most events don't readily share data like customer satisfaction (CSAT) and Net Promoter Scores (NPS), making it difficult to create robust benchmarks. However, the solution lies in the hands of dedicated event industry suppliers who have access to extensive historical event data. And this is where Explori comes in! Explori is a supplier of choice to over 7,000 events and conferences around the world, amassing a wealth of data that forms the basis of performance analysis for benchmarking solutions. Explori's industry takes your important metrics of isolation and measures it in context, leveraging its robust database of historical data to offer reliable insights needed to understand the full ROI and impact of the experiences your events are delivering. "Any metric in isolation only paints a small portion of the bigger picture that an organization needs to assess how well their events are performing. To understand whether you're on the path to growth and future success, you need to view event performance in context." - The Explori Guide to Benchmarking As event organizers seek to understand the impact of their efforts, event benchmarks emerge as indispensable tools. These benchmarks offer the much-needed context to interpret event data accurately. By comparing an event's performance historically, within an organization's portfolio, and against industry standards, organizers can make strategic decisions that ensure success not just in isolation, but in the grander scheme of the events landscape. Check out Explori's Benchmarking solutions tailored for you. Get started with Explori, let us set you up with benchmarks that provide insights to guide your event measurement and innovation to increase your ROI. Book a demo with our events specialist today.
Dataphobia: is it a rational fear in a world of corporate event instability?
Aug 24, 2023
Originally created for M&IT There is an undercurrent of fear in the meetings and events world – rarely verbalised, even behind closed doors - of robustly measuring the performance of our events. A fear of collecting data that might put a spotlight on the flaws we didn’t even know existed. We’re scared that these insights might make our function more vulnerable to business criticism - or that knowing what’s not working is worse than knowing nothing at all. But in a world where corporate events teams are being cut and senior event leaders are facing redundancy, now is the time to combat those fears to leverage event performance data properly. How can we turn our insights from being the monster under the bed to a tool that secures the future of corporate event programmes? Turbulence We are living in a time of corporate event turbulence. And the instability comes from not having the right insights to truly evidence our business impact and value. The fear of measurement is holding us back. Absolutely, measuring performance effectively may show us that certain events are falling short. But it’s far from scary – it’s incredibly useful and empowering. As event leaders, data is the only tool that puts us firmly in the strategic driving seat. Understanding where individual events aren’t hitting business KPIs is the first step to doing something about it and, by contrast, allows us to leverage those highly performing events that change attendee perception and behaviours. But you don’t know what you don’t know, and running from the data is much more dangerous than using it to strategically to make the right decisions. So the question is – what should every corporate event leader apply to rid themselves of dataphobia forever? Collect the right data Gone are the days of using attendee numbers or revenue generated as rational event performance metrics. Not only are these purely reactive metrics (by the time attendee numbers have started to drop or we’re losing revenue, it’s too late to make strategic changes to our event design), they don’t tell us the most important longer term insights that really count – how attendees perceive us/our events, how their behaviour is changing because of them and what the longer term impact will be to the business. As we move away from measuring these more reactive metrics, we can start to be proactive in strategising and evolving our event programmes accordingly. There is no fear of the unknown if you know exactly what data you should be collecting. Communicate findings effectively You could have collected the best data in the world, but if this is poorly relayed to the event’s stakeholder group, then the effort risks being wasted. Communicating findings effectively to the business will not only arm you with control and confidence to alleviate your fear, but enables you to demonstrate your strategic position to your non-event peers. Like with many things, you have to consider what that end presentation might look like from the very beginning. It’s critical to understand before you even start collecting your event data what success looks like for a given event or portfolio, and what data points are central to measuring performance against this success criteria. Deliberately consider who are the different stakeholders, how should the findings be communicated back to them, and what you want them to do about it? Use your insights as a strategic planning asset Once you’ve collected the right data and communicated findings effectively, it’s then imperative that you actually use your insights strategically – closing the loop. If, during steps one and two, you’ve established that an event isn’t performing as the business would like, rather than being fearful of how this reflects on the events function, use this knowledge to strategically review the future of that particular event or portfolio. Closing this loop allows you to redistribute budgets, consolidate assets, make justified decisions and strategically redesign the future of your events programme. For a long time, there has been a fear of robustly measuring the performance of our events. Yet if we let dataphobia reign supreme, we will never have the right tools to defend our functions, our roles and our teams. The real scary thing is not being able to demonstrate crucial event value in a period of corporate event instability. Explori is powering the events industry with the right data and insights.
Exhibitor Insight Report - Beyond the surface
Jul 24, 2023
The Exhibitor Insight Report investigated beyond the impact of the pandemic. This comprehensive research captured the sentiments of exhibitors from various industries and sizes, shedding light on the challenges ahead of the event industry. Exhibitors valued trade shows as effective cross-marketing and sales channels for the ability to gather immediate feedback and gauge their audience's perceptions of their products or brands. However, there has been budget pressure from senior leadership and rising costs. Unlike other marketing channels where data is accessible instantly, exhibitors find it challenging to demonstrate exhibit return on investment (ROI) to justify their spending. Exhibit professionals seek solutions and alternatives to cope with tightening resources. The risk of compromising the attendee experience looms large, threatening to create a downward spiral. The report also underscores the significance of bridging the generational gap regarding data. Senior exhibitors prioritize demographic insights, while junior counterparts seek metrics like dwell time and engagement. Collaborative efforts within the industry have become imperative to address the budget and data issues that we share. Amidst all challenges, a game-changing solution is developed in collaboration with prolific exhibiting companies, an exhibit analytics tool called Maxbi. A platform that helps exhibitors overcome the measurement gap, empowering them to predict better, justify event expenses, and demonstrate exhibit ROI. Watch Beyond the Surface: Exhibitor Insights Report Watch Beyond the Surface webinar, presented by Exhibitor Insight, unveiling crucial perspectives on the exhibition industry. Hosted by: Emily Olson Jessica Sibila Chloe Richardson Managing Editor Executive Director VP Senior Corporate Relations EXHIBITOR Group The Exhibitor Advocate Explori Want to learn more about Maxbi? Visit our Maxbi page or book a demo with Chloe Richardson.
Introducing Maxbi: The Revolutionary Platform On Course to Transform Exhibit Performance Measurement
Jul 10, 2023
Today, sees the launch of Maxbi, our brand-new tool designed to empower corporate event organizers and exhibit marketers with a holistic understanding of their performance and returns from their participation in trade shows. We’ve created Maxbi to revolutionize the way exhibit performance is measured and optimized. By combining Explori's deep understanding of the exhibitions industry with advanced data analytics and reporting capabilities, Maxbi empowers exhibit marketers with actionable insights to make informed decisions about strategy and spend to drive the success of their exhibit programs. In developing the product, our team have collaborated with a working group of representatives from numerous prolific exhibiting companies, which included the likes of Cummins, Verizon, Bradley Corp, Formulaction and The Exhibitor Advocate, an organization that represents exhibit and field marketers. These organizations, who invest heavily in exhibitions, recognised the compelling need for a product like Maxbi to deliver structured, comparable data to deliver new intelligence for events professionals. Our CEO Mark Brewster explains: "With Maxbi, we aim to solve one of the greatest challenges both the trade show industry, and exhibit marketers face - measurement." “Our recent research shows that exhibitors’ inability to demonstrate event ROI to senior leadership is the greatest internal challenge after budget pressures. Whilst many senior leaders view trade shows as a valuable marketing channel, 30% are now unconvinced that they are essential. There continues to be a real friction caused by rising exhibit costs and the absence of data. This puts exhibit marketing at a real disadvantage when competing for budget with other marketing channels, which are often perceived to be more measurable.” Find out more about what Maxbi can do for you and your exhibit programs.
Exhibit Leader Insights Report 2023 published: The state of the exhibition industry – The exhibit marketer’s perspective
Jun 8, 2023
Explori, Exhibitor Group, and The Exhibitor Advocate have today released a state-of-the-nation report that provides unique and unparalleled insights on the exhibition industry from the perspective of exhibit marketers. This comprehensive report conducted by live event research specialists Explori is the culmination of extensive quantitative research and represents findings from 255 exhibit marketers currently running event programs for organizations of all sizes covering a range of industries. The report’s aim is to provide deep understanding of the current challenges, strategies, and opportunities facing exhibit marketers who either have direct decision-making power or advisory influence over the decision to exhibit at trade shows. Overall, the study found that exhibitions remain a valued sales and marketing channel amongst event teams and their senior leadership. However, the global inflation situation, along with increasing exhibit costs, are changing the way spend is distributed between events or decreasing per-event spend on in-person events for 2023. Budget cuts for exhibit-related activities are looming for those who are struggling to clearly demonstrate exhibit ROI against business and commercial objectives. Commenting on the report, Mark Brewster, CEO of Explori, stated, “Many of our clients amongst both exhibition organisers and corporate event teams have expressed real concerns over the current inflationary conditions. There is little doubt that the demand for 'in-person' is high and trade shows have bounced back with a vengeance. However, the research identifies a friction between the spiralling costs of exhibit programs and pressures on budgets with the absence of measurement data on the real value exhibitions have on achieving business objectives. For this reason, when we were approached by the Exhibitor Advocate, we were enthusiastic to deliver and fund this important research.” Jessica Sibila, Executive Director of The Exhibitor Advocate adds, "This report is a game-changer for the exhibit marketing industry. It offers a comprehensive view of the challenges and opportunities faced by exhibit marketers and provides actionable recommendations to drive success." Mark Johnson, Owner of Exhibitor Group, said, “We're excited to partner with Explori and The Exhibitor Advocate to deliver this timely and relevant content that is vital for event professionals.” Key findings from the report shed light on the dynamic nature of exhibit marketing in 2023. Among the standout statistics include: · 94% of the exhibitors we surveyed expect some level of change to their exhibit programs in the next three years. · 82% of those planning to exhibit at fewer in-person shows said exhibit-related costs were a factor in their decision. · 61% of exhibitors say that previous experience at a show is a key factor in their decision to exhibit. · Exhibitors’ inability to demonstrate event ROI to senior leadership is the greatest internal challenge after budget pressures. · Whilst many senior leaders view exhibits as a valuable marketing channel, 30% are now unconvinced that they are essential. "Exhibit Leaders Insights Report" is now available for download.
IMEX Frankfurt Seminar: Data wins arguments
Apr 21, 2023
Ahead of her education session at IMEX Frankfurt month, we asked Chloe Richardson, VP Corporate Relations to give us a sneak peek into what attendees can expect from her session. IMEX Frankfurt, one of the MICE industry largest events, returns next month, and the Explori team will be there! Chloe Richardson, VP Corporate Relations at Explori, will be taking to the stage on Wednesday 24 May to discuss the importance of data and measurement within corporate events. Ahead of IMEX Frankfurt, we asked Chloe to give us a sneak peek into what attendees can expect from her session. *** “It has been years of uncertainty for the meetings and events industry, and with an upcoming recession, increasingly time-critical sustainability expectations and a talent shortage unlike any we’ve seen before – it isn’t going to get any easier for corporate event leaders. In fact, our organizations are already looking for quick ways to tighten the purse strings. Where can we cut budgets? How can we redistribute resources? Which department is most dispensable? And let’s face it – meetings and events functions have not always prioritized how to present performance in a way that the wider business understands. We’ve been so busy doing our day jobs – juggling a multitude of skills for stakeholders whilst drowning in irregular working hours and travel schedules that defy time zones -- that we’ve yet to really leverage the most important thing when it comes to evidencing value and impact – the science. Sure, we’ve GOT data. Even too much of it perhaps. With an accelerated worldwide digital transformation and the increase in event technology platforms, obtaining data is no longer the challenge. The struggle is collecting the RIGHT data, and then effectively interpreting it to evidence that events are a valuable business channel. In fact, in an Explori study into the long-term challenges faced by event planners, measuring (and thus communicating) event performance came top with 68%. With case studies from corporate event leads, practical tips and actionable insights, this session has been designed to help you make sure you’re collecting and using the right data to win arguments.” *** Don’t miss Chloe’s session Data wins arguments: What should corporate event leaders be collecting to evidence the impact of their program?taking place at 13:00 on Wednesday, 24 May at the Research Pod. Can’t wait until May? Book a discovery call with Chloe today. Chloe Richardson VP Senior Corporate Relations
Event Leaders Exchange reconvene at IMEX Frankfurt 2023
Feb 15, 2023
Event Leaders Exchange, an Explori-backed initiative, has announced the latest upcoming in-person event, ELX @ IMEX Frankfurt, May 22 - 23, 2023, where ELX members will reconvene to tackle pressing matters faced by the event industry and for immediate actionable measures to enhance their event programs. Corporate leaders will come together on Monday, May 22, from 1pm, for a half day of in-person discussion groups and collaborative learning sessions. Followed by an evening experience for the event leaders to relax and be inspired. And reconvene on the opening morning for more content rounding off at 1pm giving ELX members plenty of time to enjoy IMEX Frankfurt and connect with the wider industry. Founders and members of Event Leaders Exchange are calling for leading global event professionals to join them at ELX @ IMEX Frankfurt to unleash your event programs' potential through thought-provoking conversations and collective intelligence. Learn more about ELX@IMEX Frankfurt.
Made to Measure Live Series Launched
Jan 16, 2023
Made to Measure is Explori’s new live series that delivers a hit of digestible event insight directly into your ears once a month. Hosted by the Explori team members, who among them have over 40+ years of event experience, Made to Measure tackles some of the most common questions we receive from our clients and event professionals. It’s all part of our continued goal to serve the events industry. With two episodes under our belt, a round-up of the conversations so far was in order. What have I missed? Event surveys are important tools for gathering feedback essential for the success of future events, but not knowing the facts about surveys and how to execute them can backfire. The first episode in the Made to Measure podcast series, hosted by Chloe Richardson and Alex Temple, reveals some common myths about surveys and how best to get the important feedback you need. The second episode, hosted by Alex Temple and Richard Kensett, looks at the Net Promoter Score (NPS), an important metric used to measure events, and what makes it a useful but potentially dangerous tool. Survey Myths People don’t complete surveys. If people didn’t complete them, they wouldn’t be such a robust tool and common research methodology. Only the lovers and haters complete surveys. Research shows that in the case of post-show online surveys, the majority of responses actually come from those who have neither strong positive nor negative reactions. In-person feedback is better than online survey feedback. For many reasons, this is not true, including the fact that people will often temper their opinions when speaking to a live interviewer and that it’s best to get feedback from people not during but after they have experienced an entire event. Survey data isn’t useful. If the methodology is done properly, the data can give in-depth insights on how the audience experienced the event and enable you to create a framework to benchmark your company’s event program. Survey Best Practices Market the survey and let people know why their feedback matters Put the survey out not immediately after but within a week of the event Encourage survey participation with a gift card or other incentive that makes sense for the particular audience Follow e-mail best practices, including a clear subject line Send out reminders, as sometimes people need an extra nudge What is NPS? The Net Promoter Score was developed two decades ago as a way to measure customer loyalty and the likelihood that customers will advocate the use of a product to others. For events, NPS offers valuable insight into customer sentiment and whether the show is poised for growth or decline. It can tell you if your event team is swimming with or against the tide. However, there are pitfalls to be aware of. Although NPS surveys are easy to conduct and are great tools for benchmarking, there can be problems when businesses don’t understand NPS limitations or how to put the scores in context. These two episodes will show how to get the most out of surveys and effectively use and interpret NPS to ensure successful events. Catch up now available here Don't miss episode three
Event Leaders Exchange and The Opus Group Announce New Partnership
Dec 20, 2022
Industry-leading organisations come together to fuel new, invitation-only, global community of event leaders from the world’s largest brands Event Leaders Exchange (ELX), an Explori-backed initiative and The Opus Group, a powerhouse global agency network and partner for the world’s most influential brands, announced a new sponsorship deal that will provide ELX members with an agency perspective on experience design and strategy. ELX, an invitation-only community of global event leaders, strives to evolve and drive positive change within the industry. Facilitated by veterans Kimberly Meyer, David Kliman, Chloe Richardson, and Mark Brewster, the network is experiencing significant growth. The group consists of more than 60 c-suite global heads of events from such companies as Allianz, Cisco, Google, Siemens, T-Mobile and Walmart, who come together to share ideas, receive industry insights, solve problems, and engage in strategic, actionable conversations. The Opus Group will consult and collaborate with the ELX community throughout 2023. “We’re thrilled to be part of this community of global event leaders,” comments Kim Kopetz, President and Chief Operating Officer of The Opus Group. “Our agency network is built for the modern era of marketing, in which brands are looking to inspire action and drive change through events and experiences. ELX is composed of like-minded professionals, and we are eager to share and gain insights with this community.” The Opus Group will host a group discussion at the inaugural ELX Annual Congress, which takes place February 1-3, 2023, in Chicago, and, throughout the partnership, will engage with peers and share thought leadership in the ELX community platform. Chloe Richardson, Managing Director of ELX, adds, “When we launched ELX, it was the dream of the steering committee to partner with industry leaders. We’re thrilled to join forces with The Opus Group. Its team brings a wealth of experience and a positive reputation within the events industry. By having leading event partners on board, such as The Opus Group, we’re able to offer the community opportunities like never before to grow and support event leaders, continue to share insights, and ultimately look to better event programs across the world.” About The Opus Group The Opus Group is a purpose-built network with a shared mission: creating experiences that drive action for the world’s most influential brands. Across three industry-renowned, highly-awarded agencies, Opus Agency, MAS, and TENCUE, The Opus Group is a trusted partner for over 70 global companies, including the world’s most influential brands. To see the results our teams drive for Google, Microsoft, Salesforce, and many other global leaders, visit theopusgroup.com. *** Find out more about ELX - eventleaders.com
Trade shows and the pandemic effect
Nov 28, 2022
The effect of the pandemic on the events industry has been well-charted; you would be forgiven for thinking you knew the whole story. Explori has access to event feedback data collected from attendees and exhibitors at 4,000 trade shows in 50 countries, a dataset that is representative of 200 million trade show experiences. This data tells the story of thousands of individual events, but at an aggregate level it also provides an unparalleled view of just how the pandemic has shaped the industry – for better and for worse. All of Explori’s post-event surveys collect attendee and exhibitor data to create key benchmarking metrics. These benchmarks allow event teams to compare individual events against industry standards, and to track the progress of their own events over time. So what can these metrics reveal about how the industry has changed – and how should this knowledge inform event strategy? Post-pandemic, NPS is on the up One of Explori’s key benchmarks is the event’s Net Promoter Score, or NPS score, which measures how likely a participant in a particular trade show is to recommend the event to a friend or colleague. In previous years, the average NPS score for trade shows remained relatively static, moving by a few points at most year-on-year. From 2021, however, when events began to take place in person once again, the NPS average shot up by almost 20 points. Good news? It’s not quite so simple… The complicated role of event importance When a previously stable datapoint changes dramatically, it’s a clear sign that something is happening behind the scenes. After years of pandemic-induced disruption, professionals in every industry looked forward to the return of business-as-usual trade shows. Some events began to return, tentatively, to in-person formats. The importance of these events – another of Explori’s benchmarks – was increased by the scarcity of the last few years, with each event representing a rare opportunity to connect with colleagues in-person. We all want our events to be thought of as important – right? Well – yes. But the importance isn’t always a dependable metric. A show might be rated as important by attendees one year because its only competitor was cancelled, or because – hypothetically – it’s the first time the show is going ahead after, say, an unprecedented global pandemic shut down in-person events for two years. That benefits the show in that particular year – but what about the year after, or the year after that? Analysis by Explori found evidence of an ‘importance bump’, meaning that enhanced importance scores can inflate the NPS of events with lower satisfaction scores, another Explori benchmark. Events with high importance scores and low satisfaction scores tend to pull in ‘hostage’ attendees, who are there in the absence of a better option – leaving the event vulnerable to disruption. The reality is that NPS scores should not be considered in isolation – we need to be looking at what’s going on under the hood. Higher NPS scores may be indicative of a post-pandemic bubble, rather than telling us that events are back and better than ever. In fact, a closer look at the data tells us that attendee and exhibitor needs have changed significantly in this new era. Redefining success: Quality over quantity What do you imagine when you picture a successful trade show? Walkways thronged with people; a rising swell of conversation; meetings at stands, in lounges, over lunches. Understandably, many of us equate high attendance with success. And yet Explori’s data suggests that there is no correlation between the number of visitors and exhibitor satisfaction scores. Four in five exhibitors say that visitor quality has a strong influence on their decision to exhibit at a given show, compared to three in five who say the same for visitor quantity. Creating a positive exhibitor experience is clearly integral to the success of a show, and Explori’s analysis has found that higher exhibitor NPS scores lead to higher spend. So what else are exhibitors looking for? Post-pandemic, exhibitors are more likely to give an event a high NPS score if they feel they were able to meet with existing customers and launch new products into the market. Conversely, generating new sales leads and taking orders were less likely to correlate with high NPS scores, indicating that sales-based objectives have taken a backseat. Attendees, too, are keen to meet disruptive exhibitors bringing new products into the market. Post-pandemic, successfully discovering innovative products and solutions is the biggest driver of attendee satisfaction. What does this mean for event organizers? Exhibitor satisfaction is crucial. Trade show organizers should work closely with their exhibitors to understand their objectives and take the time to train them so they can work at their best. Organizers should shift their focus, prioritising quality of attendees and exhibitors over quantity. Armed with the data, event organizers should feel bold enough to attract fewer, higher-quality visitors. The exhibitor mix is also incredibly important. Attendees report higher satisfaction when they attend trade shows that introduce them to new, market-disrupting suppliers and products. The most nimble, disruptive exhibitors tend to be smaller, newer organizations, with smaller marketing budgets. Alternative pricing models that moved away from a strict price-per-square-metre format could make it much more attractive for these organizations to exhibit.
Tools of Engagement: 5 Ways to Capture Customer Data
Oct 18, 2022
Regardless of what many corporate event planners think, post-event and meetings surveys alone are not enough to give you the kind of event data you need to understand attendee behavior and engagement. Instead, planners looking for real insight on customers and prospects should be turning to a variety of tools to source event data and make the most of its value. What are these tools and what can they do? Mitch Deeming, head of operations and customer success for Explori, identifies several that are valuable and explains how best to use them. Not all of these tools will be relevant for all events. Understanding your attendees’ objectives and your own will help you decide which are right for yours. 1. CRM A place where many event professionals and marketers will already have data on customers and prospects is the customer management platform (usually shortened to CRM). Records are generated in the CRM when customers engage with the company brand in ways that include signing up for something, purchasing a product or attending an event. Deeming recommends that planners continually populate and update their CRMs with relevant information, thereby gaining better understanding of customers and the segments they fall into. Important information for segmenting customers include how this person came to appear in the CRM; points of engagement you’ve already had with them, such as whether they have appeared at your events and in what capacity; their annual budget and the sector they work in. 2. Registration Platforms The event registration platform, which should be one that integrates with your CRM, is another important tool. Registration is valuable for collecting demographic data that enriches customer records and contributes to meaningful segmentation of customers, attendees and other stakeholders. It can answer such questions as why people came to the event—was it primarily for networking, educational content or purchasing? Which sessions did they sign up for? Deeming advises planners to be conscious of the customer data they already have in the CRM and to avoid making the registration form too long by asking for information they already have. He also advises planners to make sure the registration form is relevant to the event—should it have separate pages for buyers or VIPs? Another consideration is awareness of relevant data privacy laws in the event location. 3. Virtual Event Platforms Virtual event platforms are a valuable new source of engagement data. They can track which sessions people attended and for how they long they stayed. They also capture live chats, which are a useful source of feedback, and questions from the audience, which can be helpful in creating future content. Engagement metrics such as “likes” and sessions attended are available in real-time, enabling planners to report and act on them quickly. Virtual event platforms come with some caveats, however. Deeming cautions that engagement with sponsored content is often low, recommending that it be incorporated into the main content to ensure the audience views it. Other things to be aware of is who actually owns the audience data and whether the format of the data exported will be consistent with other platforms. 4. Mobile Event Apps & Event Websites While registration will tell you who your customers are, a mobile event app and event website (if you use a platform that allows) can help you determine what they’re actually doing at the event and their level of engagement. Mobile apps and websites can give you “passive” engagement data from just the way people are interacting with the platforms and “active” engagement data through activations and activities within the app itself. Apps also support other types of data collection by prompting users to complete surveys and providing instant feedback on various event elements. Specifically, apps enable you to gather data on what sessions and speakers attendees preferred, which exhibitors they visited and which attendees they connected with through the app. Apps with note-taking functions even allow you to see which sessions prompted the most note-taking. Many also support a suite of measurable activations within the app, including session polls and gamification. The major consideration with event apps is that their adoption rate is often low. Because of the valuable information apps provide, Deeming believes it is well worth encouraging adoption through support, promotions and incentives. 5. Surveys Sentiment data, which is key to understanding the hearts and minds of customers, is primarily collected through surveys. While surveys are traditionally done after an event, Deeming recommends also using them during the planning process, a useful way to determine the types of content and networking opportunities to provide. Among the benefits of surveys are their ability to provide direct feedback from customers. They can provide answers to important questions such as how your event compares with other channels for learning, purchasing and networking within the industry sector. Surveys are also useful for filling in gaps in the CRM on the information you may not already have. For effective surveys, it’s important to make sure that questions are consistent between events in order to allow for comparisons. Good response rates are often highly dependent on repeated promotion and intelligent survey design. More Tips On How To Use Event Data To Build Valuable Insights? Like this? Want more know tips and advice on how to maximize your event data to build valuable insights? Download our Event Impact Playbook designed specifically for corporate event professionals.
Delivering in partnership for DEIB
Oct 13, 2022
At IMEX Las Vegas, the Event Leaders Exchange (ELX) community announced immediate, practical initiatives designed to help event professionals, suppliers and the industry as a whole deliver event environments that allow all people to thrive and engage our industry in embracing DEIB. These include The Neu Project, originating at Google, which encourages new practical tactics of inclusion for neurodivergent communities, starting with event spaces and programming, workplaces and beyond. Phase one of The Neu Project provides foundational education and enablement resources for event professionals to speak the language of neurodiversity and empowers them to promote acceptance and advocacy within their teams and organizations. Practical tools such as “An Event Professional’s Guide to Neuroinclusion” explore the topic of neurodiversity, its benefits, and the significance of creating events that consider neuro differences, and “The Neuroinclusive Event Checklist” a framework to help event professionals make inclusive choices at every phase of an event lifecycle. Both are now available at www.theneuproject.com Megan Henshall, strategic solutions lead for event solutions at Google and project lead on this initiative said: “Learning about neurodiversity and partnering on this work has not only empowered me to be a better event professional and strategist, it has given me such permission to be a fuller and more authentic version of myself. My dream is that The Neu Project will give those gifts to as many people as possible in our industry.” The event also marks the announcement of a new supplier framework developed by ELX participants to bring transparency and urgency around DEIB throughout the supply chain, launching for consultation at IMEX. Developed by event leaders in conjunction with the supplier community, the framework aims to create positive change in months not years. It will be made freely available to the wider events community to help raise awareness of the importance of this topic to the industry. Kate Scully, global business travel manager at Howden Group Holdings and member of the ELX Steering Committee added: “Projects like NEU and the DEIB framework show just what is possible when groups of event professionals come together to create active change. That’s where initiatives like the ELX community have a huge value. I can combine my voice with my peers, harnessing the power of decades of industry experience and focus on changing things for the future and encourage and welcome new talent and new ideas to the industry.” *** More information about the framework and the wider work of the ELX community can be found at eventleaders.com
How do you get buy-in from stakeholders
Oct 12, 2022
Originally created for Association Meetings International read the full article here One of the ongoing challenges facing many event professionals operating within associations, networks and membership organizations is the ability to implement change. This is particularly an issue when looking to modify a significant element of the event such as the format in which it’s delivered, location or frequency. Many businesses collect vast amounts of data post event but fail to put the results to use. In a recent podcast, the vice president of Meta, Nicola Mendelsohn, spoke to the challenge of change: “I’m open to change my mind if I see evidence and data. There’s a poster on the [office] wall ‘Data Wins Arguments’. I like that because I think it’s true. Data allows you to really look at something and know if something isn’t going well to stop it.” Effecting change can be difficult, with time, resources and inclination being three of the prevalent blockers. At Explori, we believe framing the data and insights garnered from your events in a proactive and productive way can help influence change and overcome many obstacles, particularly amongst your most senior stakeholders. Know your audience Being able to play the data back to your stakeholders in a way that engages them, and more importantly, encourages them to act on the insight, is vital. From the beginning, your event data strategy should speak to the wider organizational goals and objectives and be agreed by all parties. What does success look like for a given event or portfolio of events, and what data points are therefore central to measuring performance against this success criteria? You should also detail how the findings will be communicated back to the different stakeholders involved with the event and how will the findings be acted on. These elements are interlinked – the more apposite the communication of the findings, the more likely they will be acted on. Communication is key You can have the best data strategy and collection process in the world, but if the findings are poorly played back to the event’s stakeholder group, then the effort risks being largely wasted. At the heart of this, the key mantra is that one size absolutely does not fit all. Each of your stakeholders with have different levels of seniority, with different business focusses and insight needs. Some will respond well to granular details whilst others will want headline statistics. Others will enjoy a more visual presentation; others simply want the numbers! A fundament task when mapping out the stakeholders for your data project is to fully understand who your stakeholders are and how they like to be communicated to. For example, it’s unlikely that the C-Suite level stakeholders are going to want to be presented with a 10,000-row spreadsheet with raw data. Whilst those in an operational role, who are perhaps more likely to have a remit to implement day-to-day changes on the back of the data, will find a 'Top 3 takeaways’ summary insufficient. However, both groups will be reassured that the other type of output exists – the C-Suite, that there is a detailed data analysis underpinning the key messages, and for the operational stakeholders, the takeaways provide an initial steer into the data that they can follow-up on with the more granular outputs. Here are some top things to consider when presenting insights: Think about the optimal timing of the playback session. All day is likely to be too long and difficult to keep focus, and from an organizational perspective, very tricky to coordinate calendars and get everyone together. One hour? Likely to be too short. Think about what you want the outcomes to be, then use an estimate of how long you think each section will take to determine the optimal meeting length Be as engaging and interactive as possible. Be clear, visual and pitched at a level that can be understood by the whole group. Try: “What do we think about this?” “Can we shed any light on it?” Talk to them personally For example, “I know you felt there was a problem with the app. Here’s what we found re. the extent of the problem, and some suggested solutions from users. Do we believe any of these would work?” Qualitative findings can help engage the audience, building on any quant data. Hearing customers’ voices directly adds colour to the quantitative findings. Additionally, look to get your stakeholders involved in recommending customers to participate in the research process - this enhances their engagement and buy-in from the start of the process and they will be particularly keen to hear the results from their nominated contacts. Act Accordingly The next critical step is gaining buy-in to ACT on the findings. In other words, what will come of all the efforts that have been expended to collate the data? This is partly empowerment – ensuring (again, ideally provided from the outset) that team members have authority to implement changes on the back of the findings. But it also once more comes down to communication approaches. You will likely have brought all your stakeholders together to agree a data strategy based on your organization or event’s specific goals and objectives. It’s now time for you to reconvene this group and determine an action plan based on the results. Be clear here on priorities and make sure the number of actions is kept to a manageable number – particularly for an individual stakeholder/team. Some actions may be small, however some of the more significant changes will involve engaging third parties and may not be ready to action immediately. Don’t kick these into the long grass, instead look to reschedule a meeting to review these changes on a regular basis and allocate a time in which they will be addressed. Documenting this process is key to engendering accountability amongst those involved and overall, ensuring the insights successfully leads to actions. In conclusion Change within business can be tricky to navigate. At times it can feel like an uphill task, particularly when your faced with multiple stakeholders. Remember, it’s human nature to resist change and can make some individuals feel vulnerable or nervous. Having a good data strategy in place, well-delivered insights, and a measurable action plan will help alleviate many fears and give your organization a solid foundation on which to build a positive customer-centric future. *** Like this? Download your free copy of The Power of Data Insights for Associations - Turning Insight into Revenue.
BPA Worldwide Acquires Digital Events Data Standards Group, VSef
Sep 14, 2022
BPA Worldwide, a leading global assurance provider of media, technology, events and sustainability standards compliance today announced the acquisition of VSef, the global data format for the digital events industry. VSef was launched in early 2021, as a response to the rising uptake of digital event platforms and the increase in virtual event experiences. Its goal of creating a global standardized data format for digital events received backing from many world-leading organizers and platforms, including Informa Markets, Reed Exhibitions, Tarsus Group, Emerald Expositions, Clarion Events, Grip, Balluun, Notified, Swapcard, Accelevents, ExpoPlatform, and many more. Within a short time, VSef recruited the support of the event industry’s leading strategic partners, including the Events Industry Council (EIC), UFI, Society of Independent Show Organizers (SISO) and International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), which were keen to assist in expanding the global reach of the initiative. The lack of data standardization was an issue simultaneously identified by BPA, which launched the Reporting Standards for Digital Events (RSDE) initiative with the support of its own working group. Over the next nine months, BPA and VSef began a collaboration with the goal of creating a single industry standard for digital events. Richard Murphy, President and CEO of BPA Worldwide, commented, “Digital events and digital components of in-person events are important elements of an event organizer’s portfolio. After levelling off after pandemic highs, we expect the digital channel to grow. The ability to gather, process, and share data efficiently is critical to achieving scale.” Murphy continued, “We want to recognize the excellent work of Explori and the VSef team to mobilize industry support and develop this data format. We are excited to take the lead and continue the journey. We will work with the industry associations and industry leaders to increase awareness, adoption and advancement of digital events, and digital events data solutions.” Mark Brewster, Founder and CEO of Explori and VSef, added, “The pandemic saw the formidable emergence of digital events and the positive effect that this has had on the digitization of the events industry both in-person and online. The platform market has developed more rapidly than it has ever done in the past. It became clear that a data standard for digital events was essential in enabling event organizers to have consistent data and insights across the plethora of digital event technologies used. “It has been a pleasure to work on such a progressive initiative for the industry,” Brewster continued. “Data is key to the evolution of the events industry and to ensure the betterment of our sector. Under Explori’s leadership, the VSef initiative was launched and now we believe that BPA is the perfect party to continue with this work into the future, drive awareness and increase adoption of common data standards.” David Audrain, CEO of ExpoDavCo and SISO, commented, “Data standardization is an incredibly valuable resource for all of the industry as it provides efficiencies, time and cost savings to both providers and users, as well as better quality data, which is the ultimate goal of all. The industry has been well served by the efforts of Explori in creating VSef, and we look forward to further success under BPA.” Next steps will be announced by BPA in the coming months, including a licensing opportunity for audit bodies to offer certification to the standard. To find out more about VSef visit www.VSef.io. To learn more about RSDE, please visit www.RSDEGlobal.org.