Explori Blog (4)

Is Your Corporate Event a Success? 3 Strategic Benchmarks to Watch

Mar 1, 2022

The old standard for measuring the success of each event falls short when it comes to predicting the health of your event and brand. You need to view event performance in context to understand whether you're on the path to growth and future success. Many corporate event teams judge the merit of their event on ROI indicators for that specific event, like how much profit it generated, the number of attendees, or a straightforward customer satisfaction metric like the Net Promoter Score® (NPS). But these in isolation only paint a small portion of the bigger picture an organization needs to understand how well an event is really performing. Siloed event data relegates you to making strategic decisions about the future of the event based on a narrow view of how it performed. You may think that the engagement was good, but compared to what? To discern the true health and viability of the event and brand, performance metrics like these need to be viewed in context. This is because a business event doesn’t happen in a vacuum. There are previous iterations of the same event, other events within the organization’s portfolio, and in the case of a user-facing event, other events within the wider market to compare it to. The best strategy is to weigh its success in context with other indicators through benchmarking against Other iterations of the same event Other events in your organization’s event portfolio Other similar events within the market you serve Benchmarks allow you to go beyond the narrow ROI of a given event to determine how well it’s performing comparatively, and to establish trends that indicate where your event is going.  Event Benchmarks: Is the Event Actually Improving? Event benchmarks take a broader view of the data surrounding your event to help put its success rate in context with previous metrics for that same event. Rather than focus on the microscopic scale of whether an event made money or attracted the targeted number of registrants, tracking impact from event to event will better establish trends and show whether your event is continuing to deliver value over time or whether it’s being mired in habitual features and activations that eat budget without really adding anything. For example, let's say your first event in 2022 showed a 2% increase in engagement with your keynote. You might be thinking that you're on track. But if you look at your event’s historical NPS data and see that it drew a score of +63 in 2019 compared to this year’s +55, that could be a discrepancy worth examining. And if, upon examination, you were to discover that the score in 2018 was +68, and +70 the year before that, the trend is actually that your event has been delivering less and less value with every iteration, and that your current formula probably leaves something to be desired by your stakeholders. Establishing a trend helps you to begin to think about whether you delivering on the goals for the event, and whether changes need to be made to preserve its future. Organizational Benchmarks: Is the Event Carrying Its Weight? Organizational benchmarks compare the performance data of your event to an organization’s wider portfolio of events. There are a variety of reasons for a comparison against the benchmarks of the whole organization. How an event compares to others in the same portfolio determines whether it’s pulling its weight, how valuable it is for the organization, and whether it justifies the costs. The comparisons can also be used to influence your strategic decisions about that event, or indeed whether to even hold it going forward. If you have a quarterly sales meeting to keep your sales team apprised of the next quarter’s developmental pipeline, but the summer meeting consistently shows lower engagement because it interrupts a peak season in the sales cycle, you might consider alternative formats for disseminating the necessary information. Or maybe it makes sense to push it out and add a recognition element to keep people motivated. And if it’s a customer-facing event, could it potentially damage the brand reputation of the overall organization if it doesn’t meet the standards of the other events they are holding? There also could also be something to learn from other event teams within the organization. If your team is meeting its targets but trailing behind another department’s or another event series, it might be worth an audit and a knowledge sharing session to see if the performance can be improved using existing resources within your organization. Industry/Sector Benchmarks: Is the Event Resilient to Changing Market Factors? Industry or sector benchmarks provide market data that helps you understand how your event performs against other options in the market and how valuable or indispensable it is for the market it serves. Especially for user-facing events like product launches and user conferences, the best data points for establishing whether an event holds a robust position in the market are those that focus on what the customers think, like CSAT (customer satisfaction) or NPS. Explori uses a combination of sentiment and loyalty metrics to perform an analysis that determines whether people are coming to your event because meets their needs, or just because they feel like they have no other option. Attendees that fit into the latter category, labeled “hostages,” will switch as soon as another option pops up. If you have too many hostages, your event could be vulnerable to competitors discovering a need you are not satisfying and filling that void. But it’s critical to be able to appreciate these metrics in the context of the wider market so that you don’t prematurely pat yourself on the back for a positive NPS score that actually falls short of the industry average, or panic about the existence of hostages when other events tend to fare even worse. How Do You Establish Industry Benchmarks? The challenge is establishing these industry benchmarks. As individual events tend not to publicize their CSAT and NPS, how can you access a sample size of data that is big enough to be representative in your market? And in a time of relative upheaval, how reliable are these benchmarks anyway? The secret is in the supply chain. Tech and other suppliers support thousands of events across multiple sectors every year. They are often sitting on a wealth of data, and their databases are growing and replenishing constantly. For example, Explori’s industry benchmarks come from over 4,000 events across a range of market segments, and these form the basis of our performance analyses. This means that suppliers can establish robust benchmarks quickly and use all the historical data at their disposal to support their analyses. So Is Your Event Data Strategy Working? Benchmarks help you to set your event targets within the context of a trend so that you can go beyond whether an event was worth it this year and determine whether it’s on the right path in general. Event managers who neglect to track data over time and across a wider scope than the event itself are making strategic decisions without a view of the bigger picture. This can in turn make an event vulnerable to external market factors like competitors and alternative formats. Improve the resilience of your event brand by taking learnings from events in your portfolio that are doing well. Don’t assume a positive NPS or engagement score is a guarantee of success in future iterations, but don’t panic just because you have a few unhappy campers either. Use the data available to make an educated assessment of your performance.

Paving the Way to Higher Impact Expos with Event Data

Dec 9, 2021

How successfully are exhibitors connecting with qualified contacts? Are attendees finding the partners and suppliers they need? The answers to each of these questions rely on data, and the ability to deliver high-impact experiences to stakeholders depends on an event strategist’s ability to measure and interpret it. Measuring the impact of each event component offers a view to how both exhibitors and attendees experience an event, and tracking this data over time lends itself to better and more financially attractive events from one year to the next. Event organisers often track engagement and satisfaction across their stakeholders with simple post-event feedback tools, but there remains a lot of pandemic-related uncertainty around travel and the market is becoming more competitive. Associations and exhibition organizers are under increasing pressure both to deliver value and to substantiate it to exhibiting partners, sponsors, and other stakeholders. Measuring and benchmarking events and event components is essential to meeting that challenge. Avoiding Stagnation (or Worse) It may be tempting for long-running shows to treat a pattern of revenue growth as the rule. ‘We’ve been growing 3-5% per year for 10 years,’ they might say, ‘so we have nothing to worry about.’ The trouble with neglecting to measure things like satisfaction and impact on an ongoing basis is that organizers run the risk of missing changes in the market that might undermine a pattern of growth or positive impact. The crux of the problem lies in relying too heavily on lagging indicators. For example, let’s say you run an annual conference and expo that serves as a mainstay for your industry. If you’re plotting your revenue from year to year on a graph, you may see a comforting incline maintained by a loyal base. But if you’re not also tracking how actively satisfied that base is at every iteration of the event, you may not be picking up on pain points that need addressing -- or worse, a rising sense of discontent. What if a segment of the attendees wasn’t able to make relevant connections this year? What if they found the show less navigable for some reason? What if the exhibitors found the audience less qualified and the deals less lucrative? What if both camps simply come every year because they don’t feel they have another comparable option? In a world where exhibitors are increasingly prioritizing a highly qualified audience over sheer volume and customers are increasingly prioritizing highly curated, high-value experiences, show organizers can no longer afford to rest on the laurels of prior success. Intentional Data Mining Across the Customer Journey Gathering data across the attendee journey allows exhibition organizers to determine which steps of the journey drive value and which contain bottlenecks or pain points that need to be addressed. Understanding both is essential for ensuring a positive experience that continues to meet (or ideally exceed) stakeholder expectations over time and motivates the right behaviour at and after the event. There are plenty of tools in an organizer’s arsenal for tracking engagement and sentiment. These include surveys, social media engagement, polls, and analytics built into registration and other platforms. Sophie Holt, managing director of Explori, advises that organizers “consider which data sources will tell you the who, the what, and most importantly, the why?” in order to derive meaningful, actionable insights from event data. Being intentional about what you want to discover will help to set you up to track the right data points. For example, if you want to measure exhibitor satisfaction, purely looking at the number of leads generated is only one piece of the puzzle. Generating fewer leads at a higher conversion rate can be preferable to coming away with a higher volume that doesn’t amount to any revenue. Similarly, a high registration rate does not necessarily translate to a successful event or happy sponsors and exhibitors if it isn’t proportionally reflected in brand engagement. Only through tracking both registrations, engagement, and ultimately conversions will you gain perspective on the real value to each stakeholder category. Why might brand engagement have been subpar? Perhaps the show floor layout was suboptimal. Perhaps matchmaking could have been better utilized. Perhaps key brand activations were scheduled at times that competed with one another. Using the tools available to gather both quantitative usage and engagement data as well as qualitative feedback is the best way to discern these issues and ensure that an event maximizes its impact and drives desired outcomes for both members and exhibitors. You Have the Data; How Do You Know If You Did Well? “Using integrated research tools to benchmark an event’s success over time and against competitors allows a narrative to be drawn out of the data,” says Holt. Ultimately, it’s up to each organization to establish its own objectives and success metrics, but there are a number of common key performance indicators that are fit for purpose. The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is perhaps the most common. Derived from the disposition of your attendees (or exhibitors) to recommend the event on a scale of 1 to 10, an event’s NPS is a fairly clear indicator of success. That said, NPS surveys should include an opportunity for qualitative feedback to facilitate actionable insights. It may even be worth personally following up with outliers that give an event an especially low score. Holt points out that “being able to demonstrate to attendees that their feedback has been listened to, and what steps have been put in place to address any concerns, is incredibly powerful” when it comes to engaging members and, ultimately, delivering greater value. This will also help to develop a sense of community around an event as it conveys a sense of influence over how the event evolves; listening to and actioning feedback underscores an organization’s commitment to serve the member community. But directly asking attendees and other stakeholders how much they liked the event only offers one piece of the puzzle. A more comprehensive analysis involves an array of data from a variety of sources. Text analysis from social media sources, engagement data on virtual platforms and event apps, and longer qualifying surveys all contribute to the bigger picture. However, a challenge many organizers face when collating that data is an inability to reconcile it across a single event, nevermind a whole annual event program. Inconsistent data formats on the part of disparate tools and systems makes it rather difficult to compare events. One way to side-step this issue is to set top-down survey standards for collecting attendee and exhibitor feedback. Asking questions in a consistent format with consistent language across all events reduces the guesswork and interpretive lift when comparing one event to another. In this way, it makes it a lot easier to establish benchmarks as well -- and benchmarks are the ultimate goal for measuring progress in your event’s impact. Whereas a trend of moderate increases in revenue can come from a number of mechanisms (increasing ticket prices, higher volume registrations), the trend of consistent improvement in the user experience is what leads to a legacy of meeting objectives and changing behaviour -- in other words, value. While internal benchmarks give associations insight into how well their events are doing relative to other events they’re putting on, the same principle can be extrapolated for all the events within a given industry. In other words, your fall conference might be doing better than your spring conference, but only through industry benchmarks can you know how well either are doing in a more objective sense. Operating with established industry data conventions allows you to tap into insights that go beyond your specific organization’s event portfolio. Not only does it streamline the process for collecting feedback by somewhat answering the question of what to ask your stakeholders for you, but it allows the data you get back to stand apples to apples against the industry standard. Intentionally gathering and analysing data in consistent formats allows conference and exhibition organizers to not only demonstrate the strategic impact of their events, but to determine how they fare against the rest of the market. Want to find out more? The Event Impact Playbook which aims to help event organisers measure the impact of events so that they can underpin their next strategic event is available to download for free here.

How do corporates really feel about returning to live events?

Nov 19, 2021

This month, Explori’s Sophie Holt was invited by M&IT magazine to shares findings from the latest Global Recovery Insights study 2021, which reveals how corporate event professionals and their businesses really feel about returning to live events… Originally created for M&IT Magazine The great comeback One year on and businesses who regularly exhibit at trade shows are still sorely missing live events. While the absence of trade shows has meant some resources have been diverted into other channels, businesses have been unable to replicate the value of trade shows in key areas. 66 per cent of businesses reported reduced networking opportunities and 44 per cent felt fewer leads had been generated due to the lack of live trade shows. As a result, both visitors and exhibitors are now eager to participate in events at roughly the same frequency as they did pre‐pandemic (2018/19). With 72 per cent of existing visitors saying they plan to attend trade shows at the same or increased frequency, this indicates a positive appetite from attendee audiences for the return to the show floor. For exhibitors at trade shows, the intention to participate in future events has also returned to pre‐pandemic levels, with 62 per cent planning to exhibit at the same or increased frequency as before. Will the money return? While some event marketers are still having to reduce their trade show budgets, overall the cuts have been less severe and less widespread than feared. Three quarters of exhibiting businesses expect their budget to return to pre‐pandemic levels within 12 months. Spending on corporate events may also decrease, but like trade shows, the impact seems less severe than was suggested in 2020. Interestingly, there is evidence that event marketers are prepared to protect investment in the shows they do choose to support, suggesting that high‐quality shows could be protected from budget cuts. Of the marketers who will reduce their spend, three quarters are looking to exhibit at fewer shows and half will reduce their spend on travel and accommodation. However, of the respondents planning to save money by exhibiting at fewer shows, 60 per cent will maintain their spend on design and build and 67 per cent will continue to invest the same amount in floor space. Unlike previous years where visitor numbers were the driving factor, 86 per cent of businesses exhibiting stated visitor quality is a large influence on their decision to support a show, against 67 per cent who are influenced by visitor numbers. This ‘quality is judged primarily through previous experience at a show, suggesting established shows with high Net Promoter Scores (NPSs) are well placed to attract investment, but shows that are highly recommended are also valued, with over half of respondents saying this has a bearing on their decision. Going digital Across the entire survey, there is no evidence to suggest a wholesale shift away from live events towards digital – budgets for virtual events have remained flat. Whilst visitors appreciate the time and cost savings offered by digital and find it a convenient way to consume content, live events are still preferred across every aspect of the experience due to their unique ability to offer a high quality of networking and overall experience. For exhibit marketers and sponsors, the live experience is still valued across all aspects, and above hybrid. Only 64 per cent of exhibitors have participated in a digital event, up from just 52 per cent 12 months previously. Explori’s exhibitor NPSSM benchmark for digital events sits well below that for live events. This suggests exhibitors’ experience at digital events is a significant challenge for organisers who wish to pursue revenue for a digital model. Is hybrid the best of both worlds? Hybrid events would seem to have the potential to combine the best of live networking and discovery with the best of digital content consumption. However, the cohort of visitors who have experienced a hybrid event were not enthusiastic about them. While better than a purely digital event, hybrid was seen as a detraction from the live event and there is evidence that hybrid events are waning in popularity as live events return. Is there any future for digital and hybrid? Previous studies have shown that digital had the potential to attract new audiences, particularly where the show was new. This has been borne out by the many events which have seen an increase in visitor numbers to their digital shows. It appears this new digital audience has the potential to convert to a live audience in future, with around half of exhibitors and visitors saying they would be highly likely to attend an event in‐person given the chance, having previously discovered it digitally. The Panel For the first time, the Global Insights report surveyed a senior group of UK and US decision-makers who had no experience of using trade shows as part of their marketing mix prior to the pandemic. The results revealed that this group had been much more digitally engaged over the previous 12 months, having been much more likely to sponsor a digital event or organise their own than our exhibitor respondents. This group is also interestingly more likely to convert from digital participation to in‐person participation than either current visitors or exhibitors. They were also highly likely to continue to participate in digital with over two‐thirds saying they would continue to run their own digital events and sponsor and exhibit at third‐party digital events. Most strikingly, 55 per cent of this group now believe that they will exhibit at in‐person trade shows more frequently. What will the future of trade shows look like? The research identified four key findings regarding the future of trade shows. Digital has the potential to broaden both the exhibitor and visitor audience. It will play a part in enhancing communities around the event, providing better access to content and a more curated experience. The quality of the audience over quantity of numbers will rise in value. Future organisers will focus on engaging the highest quality audience and the narrative will shift away from selling based on the number of attendees. As a result, the floor plan will change. Future organisers will offer a range of sponsorships and activations to help exhibitors capitalise on more curated, meaningful engagement with high-quality visitors, rather than focusing on footfall. Booth design and exhibit strategy will change accordingly. Future organisers will also work more collaboratively with exhibitors at trade shows to ensure that the value proposition, both on and offline, is designed in conjunction with the exhibitor’s objectives and maximise investment is fully understood. In summary The Global Recovery Insights survey reflects the optimism felt by the exhibition industry that live events are returning to pre‐pandemic levels. Budget cuts have not been as harsh as predicted and spending is expected to return to pre-pandemic levels within an average show cycle. Quality shows are likely to be protected and digital has opened up new opportunities to convert naysayers to the power of live! The research was conducted by the live events research specialists Explori, in partnership with UFI and supported by SISO, has just been published. The global quantitative survey of trade show visitors and exhibitors, carried out in the summer of 2021, collectively gained 15,000 responses representing trade show participation in over 30 countries. The full Global Recovery Insights report is now available to download here.

How to Measure the Impact of Your Event on Membership Value

Nov 19, 2021

Engaging members, growing the membership base and generating funds are three major objectives for any association and are frequently addressed by hosting regular events. Richard Kensett, Explori's commercial director explains how drawing on data to measure the impact of events on audiences’ engagement can lead to better and more financially attractive events, and ultimately enhanced membership value. Originally created Boardroom Magazine From conferences and award ceremonies to specialist training and networking sessions, events can take a variety of forms and offer a range of benefits to members. Association event organisers tend to have a sense of how an event is received but lack a robust way of measuring how it has performed in the eyes of the attendees. Many gather post-event feedback by using simple tools, but as associations come under greater scrutiny to demonstrate the return on investment (ROI) from their engagement activities, more sophisticated survey platforms and analysis are needed. According to my colleague Sophie Holt, managing director at Explori, “as associations grapple with proving real value for their members, measuring and benchmarking events is one way to help organisers deliver real value to the association to underpin its goals.” Gathering meaningful data across the customer journey By gathering and absorbing the results of data-driven measures of success across not only their events, but also across many different touchpoints with their membership , associations can gain a clearer understanding of where they add value and where they need to alter their event(s) or their overarching membership value proposition. According to Holt, “having performance measurement tools allows associations to increase their efficiency and effective use of resources. They provide a picture of how individual activities contribute to the wider membership experience associations are trying to create.” Surveys, social media engagement, attendee tracking, matchmaking, polls, registration tools and apps that collate demographic and sentiment data are all ways that attendee data can be gathered and used to build a holistic picture of attendees over the course of the customer journey. That data can then be used to gain actionable insights to enhance future events, create a more attractive financially contributing event, and also deliver member value. Holt advises, “consider what data sources will tell you the who; the what; but most importantly, the why?’; only then consider how you are going to gather the data and turn it into valuable insights. “Using integrated research tools to benchmark an event’s success over time and against competitors, allows a narrative to be drawn out of the data. Being able to see where an event has succeeded and identify areas where it has fallen short gives the planning team valuable insights which they can use to improve future events.” Event measurement for association events There are a number of KPIs that help organisers predict the conditions an event may face in its next cycle. The Net Promoter Score (NPSSM) is one useful measure of advocacy (i.e. the likelihood someone will recommend the event), while another is the ‘loyalty versus ‘satisfaction’ matrix, made up of ‘hostages’, ‘apostles’, ‘mercenaries’ and ‘disaffected’. Hostages are categorised as unsatisfied but likely to return. A high percentage of hostages puts an event at significant risk if the organiser does not deliver for this group. Hostages are at risk of moving into the disaffected group (unlikely to return), so it is better to focus time and effort on this group as the event is still likely to be important to them, rather than risk losing them. Understanding the sentiment of these groups gives organisers the power to proactively address any hidden challenges that they might not be aware of. Holt points out that “being able to demonstrate to attendees that their feedback has been listened to and what steps have been put in place to address any concerns is incredibly powerful and likely to be a key way in which attendees are engaged, ultimately delivering greater value.” By effectively gathering and analysing data, associations can benchmark themselves against their competitors to demonstrate the strategic value their events offer members, ultimately delivering better value to those who matter the most. CASE STUDY The issue Like the majority of associations, the Chicago Dental Society (CDS) runs a programme of events throughout the year. From saving the compromised tooth to tax deductions most dentists miss, holding events is an integral part of its offering, sharing best practices amongst members and promoting continued professional development. For the past 156 years, The CDS has run a Midwinter Meeting every February. Feedback from the event has been gathered on rudimentary survey tools, which didn’t provide a robust way of understanding how the event performed in the eyes of the attendees and exhibitors. The CDS turned to Explori to help it understand how this annual event was performing against the global healthcare sector and to use robust data to underpin its instincts. The approach Explori gathered data at three key points throughout the customer journey: pre-event (demographic), at event (experience), and post event (survey). At the registration phases, attendees and exhibitors were asked about their objectives in attending the Midwinter Meeting. Attendees' and exhibitors’ engagement was gathered at the show, and the responses were mapped to provide a post-event analysis. Following the Meeting, Explori blended four KPIs together to provide a single overall event score: overall satisfaction, likelihood to return (loyalty), NPSSM and event importance. These different questions impact upon each other and aggregated together create an easily digestible single point of truth, without emphasis being placed on any single factor. Understanding whether objectives are being met and which are the most important is done using correlation analysis. The percentage of attendees who report their objectives as having been met is mapped against their overall satisfaction to understand if meeting a certain objective meant they were more or less satisfied with the event. From the data, Explori created ‘your event story’, an analysis that enabled the senior leadership to understand the attendees and exhibitors’ experiences of, and feelings towards, the event. The analysis allowed leadership to prioritise those areas of improvement that would have the most meaningful impact on the attendees’ and exhibitors’ overall experience. The outcome Strategic recommendations to improve future events were made as a result of this data and benchmarking. The CDS will continue to work with Explori to build-up an understanding of the value their Midwinter Meeting event offers their members and attendees over the next few years as the show reverts to live in 2022. Data will support intuition and ensure the best of the show is retained and change occurs when necessary. Want to find out more? The Event Impact Playbook which aims to help event organisers measure the impact of events so that they can underpin their next strategic event is available to download for free here.

The Global Recovery Insights 2021 report published: the road to recovery

Oct 28, 2021

Second part of the Global Recovery Insights 2021 report is now available. - Latest data reflects optimism in the industry as demand has recovered for live events from both exhibitors and visitors - Impact on spend has been less severe than feared - Visitor quality favoured over quantity Paris / London – 21 October 2021: UFI and Explori are today releasing the second part of the Global Recovery Insights 2021 report, conducted by live events research specialists, Explori in partnership with UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry and supported by SISO, the Society for Independent Show Organizers. This latest recurring quantitative global survey of trade show visitors and exhibitors, carried out in the summer of 2021, collectively gained 15,000 responses in 10 languages, representing trade show participation in over 30 countries. The report focused on five key themes which build on, and can be compared with, the findings of previous Global Insights studies. The study found that demand has returned to pre-pandemic levels for both exhibitors and visitors, with no signs of a fundamental shift away from in-person trade shows as a channel. 72% of existing visitors say they plan to attend trade shows with the same or increased frequency in future, with 62% of exhibitors reporting the same intention. The impact of the pandemic on spend has been far less severe than feared and 75% of exhibitors expect budgets to return to normal within 12 months. In previous studies, exhibitors favoured shows with high visitor numbers, but this appears to have shifted with 86% of exhibitors stating visitor quality is a larger influence on their decision to invest in a show against 67% citing visitor numbers. Where exhibitors are looking to make savings, high quality shows appear protected, and exhibitors who now consider the cost of exhibiting to be a large influence on their decision to support a specific show has grown to 29% since 2020. Live and face-to-face remains the preferred channel for networking and overall experience. Exhibitors are not diverting significant percentages of the budget to digital, although it is seen as a way to test new events and has the potential to deliver content and widen audiences. Many exhibitors are wary of future participation in digital and hybrid models, with low Net Promoter Scores (NPSSM) compounded by even lower scores for digital events, suggesting digital is a significant challenge for those who wish to pursue a revenue stream from this model. However, despite these findings, a new group was surveyed for the first time in this research who were strikingly more likely to convert from digital participation to in-person participation than either current visitors or exhibitors. Made up senior marketing decision makers based in the US or UK who had not used trade shows as a marketing channel prior to the pandemic, ‘the panel’ expect digital to remain part of their marketing mix, indicating that there is potential to convert them to exhibitors at live events and that the digital events that arose during the pandemic have attracted new audiences. “The report gives plenty of reasons for optimism, including quelling doubts about a possible shift away from live events and indicating which shows are likely to bounce back quickly. At a time where physical trade shows are restarting around the world, we hope that these findings will help the industry to a fast recovery and beyond.” said Kai Hattendorf, UFI CEO. Sophie Holt, Managing Director, Explori added: “Whilst the need for some exhibitors to make savings remains, the Global Recovery Insights reflects the optimism felt by the exhibition industry, that live events will soon return to pre-pandemic levels. Budget cuts have not been as harsh as predicted in 2020 and spend is expected to return to 2019 levels within an average show cycle. Quality shows are likely to be protected and digital has opened up new opportunities to widen audiences convert naysayers to the power of live!” The full report is now available to download free here.

Watch the ‘Metric Gap’: Measuring the Impact of Events on Business Objectives

Sep 7, 2021

Originally created for Exhibition News ahead of International Confex Explori, the leading metrics and benchmarking specialists to the events industry, are set to kick off the International Confex Keynote Theatre programme when the event returns to ExCeL London next week. Hosted by Explori’s Associate Research Director, Guy Garside, and Relationship Manager, Alex Temple, "Measuring the Impact of Events on Business Objectives" will delve into the vital role that event data plays in helping event managers understand and demonstrate the impact of events programmes. We spoke to Guy and Alex ahead of Confex to understand what event professionals can expect from this keynote session: The must have metrics Explori recently conducted corporate research in collaboration with in-house corporate event planner network ICE, and identified the ‘metric gap.’ One of the challenges facing event managers is capturing the must-have metrics needed to decipher value and the impact of events in delivering business objectives. Speaking to these challenges, Alex explained: “Measuring the impact an event has on wider business objectives has always been a challenge for planners. Anecdotal evidence or top line tactical surveys don’t give event managers the complete picture, yet we know 77% of organisers want the ability to benchmark event performance across their organisation.” Benchmarking across areas such as attendees’ future behaviour and their changing opinions and feelings give organisers a much better understanding of the true value of their event in respect of the overall objectives such as lead generation or employee retention. How to branch out Due to the recent surge in virtual events, the availability of data is greater than ever before. Attendees to this session can expect the Explori team to cut through the jargon and breakdown the subsequent challenges attained from data overload, drawing particular attention to audience feedback data: the epicentre of event impact analysis. By drawing on Explori’s highly respected Event Impact Playbook, the session will illustrate ‘how to leverage your event tech stack’, providing direction on how to layer data from different technologies to deepen your understanding of the attendee experience. Analysing event impact Explori will be breaking away from traditional methods of analysis by delving deeper into the potential of all the data sources at your disposal, such as engagement with content and connections made. Currently only one in five event organisers measure the impact of events on their attendees’ future behaviour and brand awareness, clearly indicating a misalignment between the organiser’s needs and the insight they currently have. Focusing on a case study with a positive outcome, the session will tackle the relationship between event data and wider corporate goals. This practical and visual demonstration will provide attendees with an immersive session on how to track and improve event impact. The takeaways This session will explore ways of interpreting event data from various perspectives enabling event professionals to implement tangible objectives specific to their event in order to evaluate their current measurement process. Relevant to event planners, agencies and event tech professionals, Guy and Alex will provide a thought-provoking session surrounding the direction of future event experiences: what data is out there and how can it be made to work harder? Attendees will leave with a greater understanding on how to assess their next event objectives with direction on how to propel forward into the strategies of the event world. Missed the session at International Confex? Speak to a member of the Explori team to find out more.

Explori and Evolio Join Forces in North America

Apr 20, 2021

LONDON and NEW YORK – April 20, 2021 - Event measurement experts Explori and Evolio Marketing are pleased to announce that they have entered into a North American strategic partnership, combining strengths to further expand their world-class expo and corporate event measurement services. Explori CEO Mark Brewster says, “We couldn’t have found a better partner at this stage in our strategy. Evolio’s experience, skills and reputation are second to none. Not only does this relationship deliver new resources, but it brings years of exhibit measurement specialism that is already adding value. The US has been the fastest growing market for us for the last three years. Having an expanded US presence and additional expertise sees us primed for further growth.” “Having worked in event measurement and strategy for more than 20 years, I am confident that Explori’ s platform and expertise solves the problem of delivering quality research at a massive scale regardless of the size and budget of an organization’s event marketing program,” commented Joe Federbush, President, Evolio. “There are strong synergies between our businesses and I’m very enthusiastic about the enhanced benefits and insights they will bring to Evolio’s customers.” Federbush has taken the role of Executive Vice President, North America, at Explori and will oversee customer success, business development, and talent acquisition for BtoB and BtoC events, while continuing his role as President of EVOLIO. “One of the most sought-after components of a strategic approach to measurement is the ability to provide largescale industry and client benchmarks,” added Federbush. “Explori leads the market in this respect, and through our partnership, we can further accelerate the development of our event and exhibit benchmarks for in-person, virtual, and hybrid events, benefitting our clients significantly.” Michael Dezso, Head of Experiential Strategy, Czarnowski says, "Providing our clients with measurement solutions is critical for their success and is an extremely important aspect of our business when managing strategic event programs. The combination of Evolio and Explori will be a great solution and I'm looking forward to seeing this in action.” About Explori Explori is an end-to-end, enterprise event measurement platform and consultancy. We measure the real business impact of events and our dashboards integrate data from multiple sources to create a crystal-clear understanding of event performance. Our technology joins up real-time data across businesses of any size and it produces organisational benchmarks and analytics that enable senior event leaders to make informed strategic decisions. Explori is chosen by over 3,000 in-person and virtual events worldwide and all our clients can compare their results to our uniquely robust industry benchmarks. In addition, Explori offers a range of managed services delivering in-depth insights and strategic recommendations. (www.explori.com) About EVOLIO EVOLIO helps brand marketers deliver the best results for their event marketing experiences and activities. We do not build exhibits and we do not produce events, but we have friends who do. Instead, we develop effective strategies, conduct measurement with actionable results, and provide superior training and staffing so you can deliver the best event experience. It’s all just part of our event marketing portfolio at EVOLIO. EVOLIO’s distinctive process is specifically designed for companies of all sizes and budgets. EVOLIO helps answer your toughest question: How do I successfully align our events to our business strategy and make sure they deliver effective results? (www.evoliomarketing.com) ### EVOLIO Marketing and the EVOLIO Marketing logo are trademarks of EVOLIO Marketing in the United States and other countries. All company and/or product names may be trade names, trademarks and/or registered trademarks of the respective owners with which they are associated.

Charlotte Penn talking about good post-event survey response rates

What is a good post-event survey response rate?

Mar 29, 2021

How do virtual sponsors and visitors feel a year on?

Mar 22, 2021

Event feedback experts, Explori, began measuring visitor and exhibitor sentiment towards virtual events from March 2020. Their latest examination reveals two things: attendee sentiment is increasing, and despite low exhibitor sentiment there is a notable minority who are having a positive experience. The company’s initial benchmarks demonstrated that attendee sentiment towards virtual events was positive. Attendees scored virtual events better across key metrics such as Value for Time and Net Promoter Score. However, as Overall Satisfaction scores were in line with the live events benchmark, this suggests NPS may be higher because it requires less effort for the recipient to interact with a virtual event. A year on, the benchmarks show attendee sentiment for virtual events is increasing. This is led by increased virtual trade show scores. Attendees are scoring virtual trade shows even higher for satisfaction and their likelihood to recommend compared to the 2020 benchmarks. Though content-led events typically perform better in the digital landscape, digital trade shows appear to be catching up. However, initial exhibitor benchmarks revealed that exhibitor sentiment was not so positive. Exhibitors scored digital events lower than their live event counterparts for Overall Satisfaction and Return on Investment. A year later and exhibitor sentiment is still low. Interestingly, when Explori’s researchers dug into the data some unexpected insights emerged. Explori examined the relationship between loyalty and satisfaction for exhibitors. The loyalty-satisfaction chart can be separated into four quadrants: Apostles, Mercenaries, Hostages, and Disaffected. Apostles - high loyalty and high satisfaction. They enjoy virtual events and will exhibit again. Mercenaries - high satisfaction and low loyalty. Their low loyalty is usually for reasons outside of an organisers control (.i.e. the event isn’t important to their company). Hostages - low satisfaction and high loyalty. This can sometimes represent a lack of competition in the space. Exhibitors aren’t happy with the virtual event but it is their only option. Disaffected - low satisfaction and low loyalty. These exhibitors are not satisfied with the virtual events and do not plan to exhibit virtually in the future. Explori found that 41% of exhibitors fell into the Disaffected quadrant. These exhibitors have low levels of satisfaction and are less likely to exhibit at virtual events again in the future. However, one-third of exhibitors fell into the Apostle quadrant. These exhibitors are highly satisfied with virtual events and plan to exhibit at more virtual events in the future. Overall low exhibitor sentiment scores appear to mask a notable minority of exhibitors who are having a positive experience with virtual events. To find out more about the virtual benchmarks and Explori services click here.

Post-event survey questions - for sponsors

Mar 12, 2021

What do you want to know about your exhibitors and sponsors? Typically, event organisers want to understand how satisfied they were with the event, if they will exhibit or sponsor in the future, and what would make the event unmissable? For the last decade, Explori has been helping organisers use surveys to gather post-event feedback to develop more customer-centred event portfolios. We benchmark attendee experience for over 3,000 events globally and hold over 3 million data points on attendee and exhibitor sentiment. We are a trusted research partner for the Global Association for the Exhibition Industry (UFI), supplying annual reports to organisers. Our expertise lies in creating surveys that provide strategic insights to event teams. In this post, we will share with you our ultimate list of post-event sponsor and exhibitor survey questions. 12 key questions to ask exhibitors and sponsors in your post-event survey Which of the following were objectives for your company at [eventname]? Please state how well you met each of your objectives for exhibiting/sponsoring. Overall, how well did you meet your objectives for exhibiting/sponsoring at the event? How satisfied were you with the following aspects of the event? What was the total value of the orders/purchases/contracts received by your company at the event? INCLUDING sales you have already made, what is the total value of the sales you expect to generate over the next 12 months as a result of exhibiting at/sponsoring the event this year? Considering the total sum of business you expect to generate as a result of exhibiting at [eventname] this year, how would you rate your overall return on investment? Overall, how satisfied were you with [eventname] this year? How likely are you to exhibit/sponsor [eventname] next year? How likely are you to recommend [eventname] to a friend or colleague in the industry? Please tell us why you gave that score? i.e. recommending the event to a friend or colleague How would you improve [eventname]? Examining Customer Objectives 1. Which of the following were objectives for your company at [eventname]? The most common objectives for exhibitors and sponsors are to generate new sales leads, increase awareness for their product/service and/or increase their brand position. Monitoring what objectives your exhibitors are trying to achieve through your event can be useful information when designing your event. 2. Please state how well you met each of your objectives for exhibiting/sponsoring. Allow exhibitors and sponsors to state how well they were able to meet each of the objectives they selected. This will give you an indication of what objectives you’re helping them achieve versus the objectives that are going unmet. 3. Overall, how well did you meet your objectives for exhibiting/sponsoring at the event? Not all objectives are created equal. This is why getting an overall score is important. Earlier in the survey exhibitors and sponsors may select five different objectives and only score one as being well met. But that one could have represented their main objective for attending the event whilst the others were ‘nice to haves’. This question will give you an overall view of how successful your event is at helping attendees achieve their objectives. Alternatively, with a survey tool like Explori, this can be calculated automatically based on the previous question responses. Identifying highlights and pain points 4. How satisfied were you with the following aspects of the event? With this question, you can gauge your customer’s satisfaction with different aspects of your event. In particular, options we think are useful to include are: Quality of visitors Quantity of visitors Quality of sessions Networking Assessing the value of your event 5. What was the total value of the orders/purchases/contracts received by your company at the event? Where relevant include this question to encourage exhibitors to consider the monetary value of participating in your event. This can also serve as a marketing metric to use in the promotion of your next event. 6. INCLUDING sales you have already made, what is the total value of the sales you expect to generate over the next 12 months as a result of exhibiting/sponsoring the event this year? There are some events where exhibitors and sponsors do not complete transactions on their stand. In this instance, it can be helpful to understand how they expect their participation in the event to convert into sales over the next 12 months. Measuring ROI and Importance 7. Considering the total sum of business you expect to generate as a result of exhibiting at [eventname] this year, how would you rate your overall return on investment? Return on Investment is one of the most important metrics to track for your event. Our global research shows that an unclear return on investment is the biggest driver of exhibitor dissatisfaction. Difficulty demonstrating ROI is the most frequently given reason for low advocacy scores. This question is a great temperature check to identify what proportion of your audience is struggling with the return so that you can intervene with relevant training and educational materials ahead of your next event. Evaluating overall exhibitor and sponsor sentiment 8. Overall, how satisfied were you with [eventname] this year? This question allows you to directly measure customer satisfaction and get a more bird’s eye view of how the event went overall. Use it to discover which exhibitor/sponsor types are most satisfied. This is a great way to gauge the success of your event. 9. How likely are you to exhibit/sponsor [eventname] next year? Ask exhibitors and sponsors this question to predict the environment your team will be selling into. Are your customers saying they are unlikely to return and are therefore disengaged? This will mean the team will have to work harder to get new customers through the door. However, if there is a larger proportion who are planning to return the following year this can be a good signal of engagement. Your team probably won’t have to work as hard to get them through the door. 10. How likely are you to recommend [eventname] to a friend or colleague in the industry? Net Promoter Score is an industry standard when it comes to measuring attendee experience. It allows you to measure your attendees’ likelihood to recommend your event and can be included in your post-event surveys for both virtual and live events. Respondents rate their likelihood to recommend on a scale of 0-10 and are banded into groups based on their scores. Promoters (9-10 rating) Passives (7-8 rating) Detractors (0-6 rating) The Net Promoter Score is then calculated by subtracting your percentage of Detractors from your percentage of Promoters. Organisers often ask what is a good Net Promoter Score. Technically speaking anything above zero means you have more Promoters than Detractors and is therefore a good score. The Explori platform benchmarks NPS for live and virtual events globally. This allows clients to compare the performance of their events against the industry standard and get a real sense of how their events compare to the industry benchmark. 11. Please tell us why you gave that score? i.e. recommending the event to a friend or colleague Open questions are a great way to collect qualitative data that can be used to explain scores. We always suggest adding an NPS reasoning question. It allows you to do some meaningful analysis of your detractors and promoters. For example, in the Explori platform clients can filter by NPS to see all the responses given by detractors or promoters. Filtering in this way can give you a sense for why some attendees are detracting and why some are promoting. 12. How would you improve [eventname]? Including a question about improvements is an easy way to spot what aspects of your event haven’t landed well with attendees. Depending on the tool you use, you can filter based on satisfaction or NPS to see what improvements are suggested by attendees. Survey your exhibitors and sponsors with Explori With an event feedback platform like Explori all of the above questions are templated to save you time creating your survey. The Explori platform collates responses and presents them using responsive dashboards. Your event dashboard shows you your Overall Event Score as well as KPIs including Net Promoter Score, Overall Satisfaction, Loyalty, and more. With the click of a button, you can compare the metrics for your event with industry benchmarks as well as your own company benchmarks. Click here to find out how we can help you measure the success of your events. Further reading Post-event survey email template How to increase email survey response rates Post-event survey questions for attendees

How to monetize your virtual events

Mar 3, 2021

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