Explori Blog

How Strategic Event Data Empowers Associations

Sep 1, 2022

Why does your association need an event data strategy and what are the risks of not having one? Event data—and being able to use and interpret it effectively—is essential for associations to understand the impact that events have on their members. It’s equally essential for ensuring that this impact grows rather than fades over time, that events stay front of mind for members and key stake holders alike. Explori has worked with thousands of event professionals and meeting planners to help them understand how benchmarking, attendee tracking, setting strategic goals and other practices can work to ensure that events fulfill their purpose, whether it’s driving business for members, bringing members together for networking or moving the dial for the industry. Sophie Holt, managing director of Explori, cautions that simply gathering event data without a strategic plan in place is not enough to achieve these goals. Holt emphasizes that metrics in isolation, including past attendance, only indicate what has already happened, not what will happen. Even events that were well attended one year can fall flat the next if a newer, more enticing show comes along. Perhaps the seemingly popular event was really a “hostage” situation that only attracted people because they had no other choices. An event data strategy, one that drills down into attendee behavior and examines their actual engagement with the event, can help predict future attendance and indicate what improvements may be needed to keep it on an upward trajectory. While some event planners may think data won’t tell them anything they don’t already know, Holt says that all too often anecdotal information, whether it’s an effusive email from a happy speaker or angry words from a sponsor, gets mistaken for data. “You can’t just rely on anecdotal information—it’s a psychological phenomenon that we retain information that confirms beliefs we already hold,” she says. “It’s data that gives voice to the silent majority and reveals hidden trends.” What are the risks of not having an event data strategy and why is it more crucial than ever? With the pandemic, business and marketing experts say that people have become more discerning of how they spend their time and are looking for more curated experiences. “We need a deep understanding of the customer journey and future behavior,” Holt says. “The risks of not doing so are clear—you will be less customer centric, and decisions will be made without addressing what people want or need. You will fall short in marketing goals.” She also notes that while the rise of event technology has brough in a flood of new data, it hasn’t brought in a flood of new insights. Unfortunately, data all too often gets trapped in silos within an organization and loses whatever impact it could have. With a strategy in place, data gets to the people who can use it to create better events, achieve organizational goals and predict behavior. How has Explori helped associations use event data to their best advantage? One example is the Chicago Dental Society (CDS), which has held its Midwinter Meeting every February for over 150 years. Feedback from the event had 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. Explori gathered data at three key points throughout the event journey. Attendees and exhibitors were asked at registration about their objectives in attending the meeting, data on their engagement was gathered at the event and responses were mapped to provide a post-event analysis. Following the meeting, Explori blended several key indicators together to provide a single overall event score, including overall satisfaction, likelihood to return, and event importance. Aggregated together, these points provided a clear picture of the event’s performance, without emphasis being placed on any single factor. From the data, Explori created an analysis that enabled the CDS senior leadership to understand the attendees and exhibitors’ experiences at the event and their attitudes towards it. They were then able to prioritize the areas of improvement that would have the most meaningful impact. Holt believes that employing an event data strategy for a successful event is not dissimilar to how a farmer ensures a successful harvest. It starts with planting the right crop, monitoring environmental factors throughout the growing cycle and making note of what can be done better next time. Like this? Download your copy of The Power of Data Insights for Associations - Turning Insight into Revenue.

Using Event Data to Get a Strategic Seat at the Table

Jul 25, 2022

An event data strategy is essential not only for designing more impactful events, but ensuring that event professionals are recognized by their organizations as strategic partners. The effective use of event data allows event owners to demonstrate the role they play in achieving wider business goals, improving customer loyalty and navigating an uncertain future. Why does an event professional need an event data strategy? Collecting data and, equally important, knowing how to interpret it effectively enables you to bring more value to your organization – not just by empowering you to make more informed (that is, data-driven) decisions, but to really gain insight into how your event contributes to wider business goals. This in turn allows you to secure a seat at the table as a strategic partner. While some event planners view data as a professional quagmire, the fact remains that data will be the biggest criterion separating the wheat from the chaff as event and marketing teams continue to combine, as tech becomes increasingly important and data-rich, and as tech-savvy generations ascend to senior positions in their organizations. Planners who master the art of using data strategically can play a vital leadership role in their organizations. But a common challenge for many event teams is finding the time and resources required to sit with the data and derive insights, or in some cases to develop the analytical proficiencies in the first place. For those without the capacity, working with a research partner can be a significant benefit. Planners gain access to benchmarking and other interpretative tools to create event experiences and events that are strategically effective and have the impact they intend. How does a data strategy help you bring value to your organization through more strategic decision-making? The rise of event technology has brought a flood of new data, but not a flood of new insights. All too often the data is trapped in silos without a connection to wider organizational strategies. It’s not getting into the hands of people who need it. Opportunities are blocked for creating experiences that really speak to customer preferences. Conversely, when a robust data strategy is in place, the organization can hold events that provide better experiences for participants and achieve company goals. It can also aid in the prediction of customer behavior, helping planners create even more effective events in the future. Sophie Holt, managing director of Explori, notes that some event planners think data won’t tell them anything they don’t already know. “All too often they are mistaking anecdotes for data, perhaps an effusive email from a happy speaker or the anger of a sponsor,” she said. “Anecdotes should not be used in place of data. It’s data that gives voice to the silent majority and reveals hidden trends.” Even looking at past metrics such as attendance may not be very useful for future events, as they reveal what happened, but not what will happen. With the right tools, data can help predict how people will behave in the future. Even events that have always been well-attended can suddenly see an unanticipated drop-off. Perhaps people were only attending the event because there were no alternatives and now they have other choices. With the right data and tools to interpret it, you get a more realistic picture of what people actually think of the event and what has to be done to retain their loyalty. Collecting and interpreting data from an event can answer such questions as whether people changed the way they think or feel, if they identify more strongly with the brand, if they will recommend the company as an employer, if they learned best practices for their work or if they might change their behavior at the next event. Indicators of behavioral change are powerful metrics for planners, allowing for improvements to be made for more impactful future events. How can you develop the competence required to take advantage of the data at your disposal? The first step is to recognize that you need a partner—not just a supplier—to help you achieve your goals. While a supplier can sell you a product, a partner goes beyond this by tailoring their services to fit your needs. In order to do so, the partner needs an understanding of your business objectives. “Start with sharing your goals, show the big picture and tell what you are hoping to achieve,” advises Explori research director Suzanne van Montfoort. “What are the decisions you’re looking to make, who are the key stakeholders? There are so many moving parts, and giving clarity early on helps avoid confusion and delays.” After discussing the goals, it’s important to look at the data you already have and what gaps are there. What formats or languages are required? Do you want raw data that you can manipulate or do you want a more finished product? Also, discuss your budget and what your procurement process is like. For their part, the tech partner needs to explain the process of working with them, whether they can meet your deadline, if the project can be scaled down or up based on budget and what happens if you need to change the scope of the project. “If someone promises too much, that should sound an alarm,” said van Montfoort. “Find someone you can work with. Taking time at the start to develop the scope and plan will save headaches later.” How can this strategic business intelligence give you something to contribute to strategic discussions at your organization? Armed with a rich array of insightful information, event pros can present top management and other stakeholders with a compelling visual data story on the influence events have on achieving organizational goals and creating customer satisfaction. Equally important in this uncertain era, planners can demonstrate how business intelligence can be used to help organizations avoid or at least minimize the harmful impact that unpredictable outside developments could have on future events and customer loyalty. IN CONCLUSION For event planners seeking to play a leadership role in their organizations, working with a research partner like Explori to develop an event data strategy is essential. Event data if interpreted correctly can go a long way toward helping organizations realize business objectives and grow customer loyalty. *** Explori allows senior corporate event leaders to go beyond number of attendees. With our behavioural, sentiment, and cognitive measurement tools, you can discover how effectively your event strategy influences what stakeholders think, feel and do. Find out how Explori helps corporate event organizers gather vital insights to demonstrate the impact of events against the wider company objectives. Know more

Research Predicts Virtual Events Will Remain Despite Industry Recovery

Mar 16, 2022

While many event professionals and marketers are eager to get back to the live events they know and love, research shows that virtual events and event components are here to stay. Covid may have forced the industry online in 2020, but advances in virtual event technology combined with changing attitudes towards remote working and commercial activities have given the industry plenty of reasons to continue investing in it as restrictions are lifted and normal activity begins to resume. Underscoring this shift is a continued call to action to make the industry more sustainable. According to a recent report in the Independent, 85% of the event industry’s carbon footprint comes from travel. Sustainability is the number one challenge corporate event planners cite as needing to be addressed by 2024, according to an ICE corporate benchmarking report from 2021. It’s not hard to see why virtual events are continuing to rise in popularity even as live events return. In fact, Amex GBT’s Global Meetings and Events Forecast predicted that 39% of meetings will be hybrid and 19% will be virtual in 2022, meaning that 58% of all events will have a heavy virtual component. A smaller study conducted by Explori on behalf of PCMA and AC Forum around the same time corroborated this, finding that 70% of survey respondents who intended to move forward with live events were planning a significant digital component, Research from the Explori Global Recovery Insights report has revealed that 80% of senior level decision makers in the US and UK who had not participated in a virtual event prior to the pandemic have now tried them, and 44% of those are now more likely to organise their own digital event. This is corroborated somewhat by a recent LinkedIn study that interviewed more than 1,800 marketers responsible for events across 13 counties, 85% of whom had held a virtual event in the previous year. Gartner predicts that by 2024, 30% of technology providers with at least $100m in revenue will extend their reach to additional audiences and roles by shifting to a ‘virtual first’ event model for both first-party and third-party events, compared with less than 5% before the pandemic. For marketers who take a ‘virtual first’ approach, virtual-only events are likely to dominate their portfolio, although live events will likely continue to feature in their annual event programs. The continued use of virtual events, particularly to deliver content-heavy programs and to expand the potential pool of live event attendees, may result in a re-tooling of event goals and success metrics. Where previously the quantity of attendees might have been a key KPI, success will now have to focus more on a more qualified audience and better engagement -- and for better or worse, virtual events are unparalleled in their ability to substantiate engagement on their platforms. This itself may motivate event marketers to use them more heavily where the virtual format doesn’t compromise delivering on stakeholder objectives.    Explori is the leading visitor and exhibition insight specialist in the events industry, working with some of the biggest event and exhibition companies in the world. To find out more about trends in the events industry, visit our Industry Reports hub.

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.

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 sponsor survey questions

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

11 most important post event survey questions for attendees

Jan 27, 2021

How do you know if your event is a success? Better yet, how do you know if your attendees will be back next year? The explosion in event technology means organisers have more data than ever about how attendees are engaging with events. From the number of meetings booked to sessions attended and questions asked. However, this data isn’t capable of telling you why. Why are attendees engaging, and will they come back to your next event? This is where surveys come into play. For the last decade, Explori have 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 analyse 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 definitive list of post-event survey questions. We will give you nine questions you can use in a live or virtual event survey and two bonus questions to include in your virtual event survey. What is a post-event survey? A post-event survey is a questionnaire. It is normally distributed via email to visitors, exhibitors, speakers, people who registered but did not attend, and any other participants. The survey normally consists of a combination of multiple/single choice and open-ended questions. The purpose of sending a post-event feedback survey is to understand the event through the eyes of attendees. Post-event surveys are crucial to any organiser interested in adopting a more customer-centred approach to their events. Types of survey questions There are different types of questions you can include in your post-event survey depending on the type of data you want to collect: Rating scales - measures the level of agreement with a question that can be quantified for reporting. It’s best to use a 5-point scale to avoid skewing survey responses. Multiple choice - useful when there are a few different options that could apply ie. when asking attendees about their reasons for attending your event. Open-ended - brings the attendee experience to life. It produces qualitative data which tends to be more emotive and specific at outlining sentiment. Screening questions At the beginning of your event survey it is important to include screening questions to ensure the integrity of the data you are collecting. When creating client surveys the first question we ask is ‘Did you attend [eventname] from [eventdates]?’ If the respondent says no they are routed to an exit screen. We then include a second screening question which asks ‘Did you attend as…’ and provide a single choice option of either Visitor, Exhibitor or Member of the press. If the respondent is not the intended recipient of the survey (i.e. an exhibitor receives the visitor survey) they will be rerouted to an exit page with a link to the relevant survey for their group. By including screening questions you can ensure your survey is being completed by the right members of your audience. General Survey Questions Use these questions in both your live and virtual post-event surveys for attendees 1. Overall how satisfied are you with [eventname]? This question allows you to directly measure attendee satisfaction and get a more bird’s eye view of how the event went overall. This is a great way to gauge the success of your event. You can also use it to unpick which aspects of your event are driving satisfaction by creating crosstabs with other questions in your survey. 2. What were your main reasons for attending [eventname]? In other words, what is your event helping attendees do? Our studies show that the top five objectives of trade show visitors are: attending the conference, attending seminar sessions, seeing new products and innovations, keeping up to date with market trends and seeking new business partners. When using this multiple-choice question include a list of common objectives and allow respondents to select more than one. 3. Please state how well you met each of your objectives at [eventname]? Allow respondents to state how well they were able to meet each of the objectives they selected at your event. This will give you an indication of what objectives you’re helping attendees achieve versus the objectives that are going unmet. For example, across the 3,000+ shows we have benchmarked, we found there are three common attendee objectives that are poorly met at trade shows: Keeping up to date with market trends Seeking new business opportunities Seeing new products and innovations Most importantly we discovered these three objectives are highly correlated with overall satisfaction. This suggests that if you improve the ability for attendees to achieve these objectives you will see an increase in attendee satisfaction. 4. Overall, how well did you meet your objectives? Not all objectives are created equal. This is why getting an overall score is important. Earlier in the survey attendees 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 on how successful your event is at helping attendees achieve their objectives. Alternatively with a tool like Explori, this can be calculated automatically based on the previous question responses. 5. How likely are you to recommend our event to friends or colleagues in the industry? Net Promoter Score is an industry standard when it comes to measuring attendee experience. This 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 suggests 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. 6. 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 score 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. 7. Considering the total investment of your time spent, how would you rate the value you received? As event organisers we are in the business of creating value for our attendees. Asking a question about their perceived value of the event is a great way to measure the usefulness of the event relative to the time cost. Our latest research found that attendees score virtual events as being better value for time than live events. Including this question in your post-event survey will allow you to spot commonalities between attendees who rate virtual as better for time and those who do not. 8. What was your favourite aspect of [eventname]? The main aim of gathering feedback is to understand how to improve your event. However it is important to keep an eye on what is going well to make sure you don’t eliminate those aspects from future events (ie. a networking format that attendees enjoy). This open-ended question can provide some useful information about what is working at your event. You may also be able to use these responses as testimonials if you ask respondents to opt in. 9. Do you have any suggestions on how the event could be improved? 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. Virtual event survey questions For use in your virtual post-event surveys for attendees 10. How likely would you be to attend future virtual events from the organisers of [eventname]? This question provides a double benefit. On one hand it can communicate a level of satisfaction with the virtual event you organised, but it can also indicate whether or not your attendees are likely to attend future events. This is particularly important as you might be assessing what role virtual events will play once we return to organising live events. 11. Overall, how would you rate the delivery of the virtual event? Whilst you might still be finessing exactly how to deliver virtual events this could be a great question to add into your post-event survey. Pair it with an open-ended follow up question where respondents can explain why they have given it that rating. Final point To create strategic events that keep its customers at the centre organisers need to collect consistent feedback. Post-event surveys are the only tools built to give organisers an insight into their attendees and exhibitors. If you would like to start measuring your events take a tour of the Explori platform.

How to measure the success of your virtual events

Nov 26, 2020

We recently conducted a study on behalf of ICE, the International Corporate Event Planners association. Two-thirds of respondents said a top challenge for them over the next three years is using metrics to effectively measure performance. However, despite these perceived challenges the research found that organisers are less likely to measure the performance of their virtual events compared to their live events. Respondents agree that measuring metrics such as the impact of the event on future behaviour, sales, and brand awareness is just as useful for virtual events as it is for live. However, 23% fewer organisers are measuring customer feedback for virtual events relative to in-person events. This suggests that organisers are missing out on a golden opportunity. There are three different types of data available to organisers to measure how their events are performing. Access to those three types of data is made even easier through virtual event platforms. But not all of them can tell you about the output of your event. What are these different data types and what role do they play in helping organisers understand the impact of their virtual events? I like to think of them as building a car... 1. Demographic data - Who are your attendees? The body of your car is your demographic data normally collected via your registration form. In ICEINSIGHTS’ report 2020, we found that over 90% of event organisers think registration data is useful for virtual events, however only 3 in 4 were measuring attendance for their virtual events. Demographic data takes your feedback from being a tangled mess to clear lines of activity. Person A did X. Person B did Z. In order to gather individualised feedback from other tools like your event app or matchmaking technology the registration data needs to be available. For your employee events which don’t require a registration tool, this information could be collected from your HR system. 2. Engagement data - What are your attendees doing and when? Engagement data provides the wheels for your car. Your engagement data builds a profile of what your attendee did at your event including: which sessions they attended, who they organised meetings with, poll responses, Q&A data and more. At an in-person event this is typically the data that is hard to come by. It requires investment in tracking technology to understand how attendees have moved around the venue and dwell time. For virtual events this data is usually built into the platform. Event organisers can see how traffic flows from one session or activity to another to establish patterns and unlock what engagement really means for their events. 3. Sentiment data - Why did your attendees engage and what do they intend to do next? So you’ve got the body of the car and the wheels, but a car without an engine isn’t much use to anyone. This is where your sentiment data comes in. Sentiment data is collected through feedback surveys and plays a crucial role in driving the event strategy forward. Survey data allows you to demonstrate the power of your events relating to impact on brand awareness, future sales and behaviour. Before I go any deeper on this let’s address the elephant in the room. I can bet you, like me, don’t wake up in the morning and think, ‘You know what I’d love to do today? A survey.’ We’d probably love to play with some AI-driven matchmaking apps, facial recognition software and see cool traffic session patterns. But surveys? Blurgh. That’s fine I’m not going to try and sell you on why surveys are the most exciting technology. However, maybe you’ll share in my understanding that they are the only event tech available which makes sense of; why your attendees took time out of their busy schedules to take part, what they got out of it, and why events matter to the business you work in. That being said a survey is only as insightful as the questions you put in it. You can use surveys to quantify attendees intention to purchase, intention to re-engage with the brand or likelihood of recommending your product or service to a colleague or friend. The most useful surveys build questions off the back of key event impact objectives for their virtual events. By asking these questions consistently across your events you’re able to establish a measurement language for the events function. You can compare events internally to see what good really looks like for your events. And if you’re using a tool like Explori you can benchmark your events against your industry. Thanks to technological improvements, feedback surveys have become less time-consuming to collate and analyse. You can easily make cycle-to-cycle comparisons for repeat events. The best survey technology will have built in benchmarking capabilities so you can easily compare how your virtual events today compare to hybrid events in years to come. If you would like to measure and benchmark your virtual events contact our team of experts who will be happy to help, or download the Event Impact Playbook for a do-it-yourself guide.

improve response rates for virtual events feedback surveys

5 top tips to increase your virtual event survey response rates

Nov 23, 2020

Some organisers are experiencing lower response rates for their virtual event feedback surveys compared to live events. When conducted properly, event surveys can provide a wealth of information about what to keep and what to drop at your next event. They can also provide useful insight on future revenue generating opportunities and how you can add value for your attendees. As event survey and research specialists, we have some tried and true tips for banishing survey blues. Here are our top five: 1. Market your surveys Too often surveys are the last thing mentioned in the last session of the day or as attendees are leaving the event. To increase responses make sure your attendees know it's important. You need to convince attendees that it is worth them spending the 5-10 minutes sharing their feedback with you. Simple ways to market your survey: mention the survey on holding slides that play throughout the event, mention the survey at the end of your content sessions in your pre-event marketing campaign highlight some of the changes/improvements you've made as a result of survey feedback. At the end of this post we have provided three free resources you can use to promote your surveys for your next virtual event. 2. Send out your surveys soon after the event In our 10 years working with clients to improve their feedback processes, we’ve found the most useful responses are delivered post event when attendees and/or exhibitors have had time to reflect on how the event was for them. That being said, you still need to strike while the iron is hot. I suggest you send out your post event survey within a week of your event. If you can send it out sooner then do! The week buffer gives you a chance to add in any last minute questions that may have popped into your mind during the event. Some advocate waiting 2-4 weeks to get exhibitor feedback. This would allow time for the blisters to heal, the hangovers to fade and importantly, for leads gathered at the event to be developed. However, our data shows that the further away from your event you try to collect feedback the more you will cannibalise your response rate. Consider highlighting in the email how long the survey will take to complete. On average respondents complete three questions per minute so you can use this to workout the length of your survey. Your attendees and exhibitors are not going to be happy if you say it will only take 10 minutes and 30 minutes later they still haven’t reached the end. With a well-designed, well-timed survey you can achieve a 20-30% response rate. 3. Bribe them! I mean incentivise them In April, I found myself sat at a table with a gentlemen who asked me, “Why don’t more event organisers offer incentives to fill out a survey? Maybe then I’d actually do it!” It seems he wasn’t wrong. One of our clients organised for all their headline speakers to sign copies of their latest books and offered the set as a prize. In return they achieved a 40% response rate! Decide whether or not you will give a high value reward to a small volume of people, or if you will give a low value incentive to a larger volume of people. Caution - beware of ubiquitous tech prizes that quickly lose their shine. It is sometimes better to give something specific to your event that will really fire up your attendees. Try to conspire with your exhibitors or speakers to offer a money-can’t-buy prize or experience, as demonstrated with the example above. 4. Create clear subject lines and calls to action As most surveys are delivered via email it is important to follow email best practice to maximise your event survey response rate. Make sure your subject line is clear and obvious. Create clear and concise copy which explains the benefits of taking part in the survey Include one clear call to action. Use the post-event survey email template as a guide. 5. Send out reminders A simple and effective way to increase your response rates is by asking your attendees for their feedback more than once. We recommend sending out reminders 3-5 days after the initial launch, followed by a final reminder 3-5 days later. Don't send your reminder emails on the same day of the week or time. It's best to try different dates and times to reach as many attendees as possible. Download these free resources to promote your surveys Video for holding slides Email/Website banner 1 Email/Website banner 2

Global study reveals optimism for trade shows

Oct 23, 2020

Having just released the full Global Recovery Insights report, produced in partnership with UFI and supported by SISO, project lead, Sophie Holt, takes us through the key findings of the priorities of our visitors and exhibitors as live events start to return. When we embarked on this project, as lockdown commenced this spring, I was apprehensive as to what we would find. At the end of 2019 we had produced the Global Exhibitor Insights, which made somewhat uncomfortable reading for the industry. It highlighted that some exhibitors were beginning to have concerns about the ROI of live events and question some of the figures that organisers were publishing. Add to that, the biggest disruption that many of us have ever experienced in our careers and some commentators were suggesting that our industry was on a knife edge, facing a fundamental shift away from live events. It was possible that we were about to produce research that could spell dark times for our industry. But as we analysed the results in late August, it was clear that there was much to be positive about. Not only were live events being sorely missed by both visitors and exhibitors, it seems that they have not found alternative channels that can replace the unique aspects of face-to-face networking. Live events support business generation: Two thirds of those who exhibit at trade shows reported their cancellation has had a notable detrimental impact on their business, reducing their ability to build awareness with their target markets. 50% of companies reported that the absence of live events was negatively affecting their ability to generate new business. And whilst our current visitors and exhibitors strongly prefer live events across every aspect, there were also intriguing hints as to the future of digital and hybrid events, which I will cover in a future article. What does the future look like? Both visitors and exhibitors reported some drop in how frequently they planned to attend live events in future compared to previous studies we have conducted. But when compared with data from 2019, the drop for exhibitors was very modest. This reduction in frequency seems to be part of a more long term trend where exhibitors in markets where the exhibition industry is very developed are planning to level out their participation. The more pronounced impact on visitor attendance is driven by short term concerns, primarily around safety. Visitors who were planning to reduce their attendance need to be reassured that robust safety measures are in place. They are also more drawn to the option of being able to attend an event digitally, for the time being at least. When will spend return? Possibly the most encouraging aspect of the study was exhibitors still feeling confident about the return of their spend for trade shows. 28% of exhibitors said their spend would return to pre-Covid levels as soon as live events were running again. Only 13% felt the drop in spend could be permanent. On average, exhibitor spending could return to pre-Covid levels within 11 months. This held true across widely differing sectors and countries. Whilst as of August, budgets for other marketing channels remained relatively unaffected, unsurprisingly there has been a big impact on spend planned for live events. Both trade show budgets and in-house event budgets have been cut on average by 50% at this time. It will be interesting to see how this survives contact with CFOs as planning for 2021 crystalises. But will these budget cuts manifest themselves in shows being dropped from a trade show marketer’s plans, or an overall belt-tightening? The picture is complex. Whilst we can definitely see that the more severe the budget cut, the more likely an exhibitor is to reduce the number of shows they support, it is also true that, even for companies experiencing the largest cuts to their trade show budgets (in excess of 50%) they are still equally likely to continue to exhibit as frequently as to start dropping shows. What is drawing audiences back to live? This study has confirmed that building connections by networking is a unique aspect of live events, that has yet to be effectively replicated by other channels. Two thirds of both visitors and exhibitors have experienced fewer networking opportunities whilst there have been no live events. This translated into fewer leads generated for businesses (48%) and ultimately lower sales (45%). Digital events are not currently filling this gap, with “quality of networking” being the area they scored most poorly in comparison to live events with only 8% of exhibitors feeling that digital could compete with live. Whilst our audience is supportive of sensible health and safety measures, they are reluctant to accept any measures that impede their ability to network, telling us that any reduction on social and networking activity reduces their likelihood to attend an event. This presents a challenge for organisers and venues alike. How can we offer high quality interaction whilst still following Covid Secure guidelines? And how can we offer an equivalent networking experience to our visitors who currently want to participate virtually? I’m sure many innovative solutions will emerge. Quality vs. quantity? We wanted to know what factors organisers should prioritise to ensure their show was a “must attend”. Here our respondents were unequivocal. They will be evaluating shows based on the quality of the visitors and exhibitors. Whilst visitor quality has always been an important factor for exhibitors, we can now see that it far exceeds the importance of visitor numbers, with 58% of exhibitors thinking it a priority for organisers vs. only 38% who were concerned about numbers. Exhibitors appreciate that visitor numbers may be restricted for a period of time, so they want to ensure that those they do meet are both relevant and purchase-ready. Interestingly, we also see exhibitor quality emerge for the first time as a critical factor driving visitor attendance. Where previously, we might have seen quality of education and content being the biggest factor, with 34% motivated by exhibitor quality vs only 14% motivated by high quality education, this is an interesting shift. Again we can see the unique aspects of live events at play; the ability to meet the most relevant suppliers in one place, being seen as much more important than education, an objective which can potentially be achieved elsewhere. For the first time, cost of attending has also emerged a decision factor for visitors, with 39% citing it as a priority. This in part may be driven by pressure on travel budgets, but it can also be seen in the context of the availability of digital events, which visitors recognise can now provide them with high quality content at the fraction of the cost of attending in person. Future insight plans As the situation is constantly evolving, both in terms of access to live events and uptake of digital events, we asked participating organisers to reserve a portion of their data to allow for a second phase of research beginning December 2020. The first report is now available for UFI members via gri@ufi.org Other verified trade show organisers and venues can request a copy here Sophie Holt, Managing Director, Explori This article first appeared in Exhibition World

What is NPS and why should event professionals care?

Jun 12, 2020

So what exactly is a Net Promoter Score (NPS)? Developed by Bain & Company and Satmatrix, Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a way to understand a customer’s perception of your product or service. It’s widely used across many industries and allows different sectors to benchmark themselves against each other – for example event planners could use it to compare their performance to other events, or even to other service sectors like hospitality or banking. It is one of the most important questions we ask our clients to include in every post-event survey they conduct. It leverages advocacy – the likelihood to recommend to a friend or colleague – as a way of understanding many different drivers of perception including satisfaction, ease of customer journey and return on investment in a single question. Respondents, in this case event attendees or sponsors, are asked to rate how likely they are to recommend the event to a friend or colleague in the industry. This graph is an example of how respondents are categorised based on their response as Promoters, Passives or Detractors. Net Promoter Score is then calculated as the difference between the promoters and the detractors and is expressed on a scale from -100 to 100. So an event with a plus score has relatively more promoters than detractors, whilst an event with a negative score has more detractors. So why does this matter? The impact of NPS has been extensively researched across many industries. With a finite number of potential attendees and sponsors in most sectors, when advocacy is low, it will get harder and harder to attract new attendees and sponsors and the existing customers will be increasingly sensitive to any price rise and over time may even withdraw their support. It is an important “leading indicator” as to how your event might perform commercially in the future. Explori has conducted research with events around the world that shows a positive NPS from exhibitors and sponsors means an event is more likely to experience commercial growth in three key areas: Attendee numbers Exhibitor numbers Exhibitor revenue Interestingly events with a positive exhibitor NPS are growing their sponsor and exhibitor revenue faster than their exhibitor numbers, indicating they may also be finding it easier to up-sell their existing customers to new and higher value services. Want to know more about NPS and other aspects of event exhibitor and sponsor experience? You can download our full report here, covering the experience of exhibitors all round the world. NPS for virtual vs live events At Explori, we have been benchmarking attendee experience metrics including NPS for virtual events since March 2020 and the results are clear. Advocacy is higher for virtual events than for live events. The data indicates that attendees are more likely to recommend virtual events to their colleagues and friends. But we have to ask why that is? Are virtual events delivering a better experience than face-to-face events? It is highly likely that the reason virtual events are seeing a boost in their recommendations relative to live events is because of ease of access. There is much less heavy lifting involved with making a virtual recommendation. If you’re recommending an event halfway across the world that would require flying to another country, booking accommodation and taking time away from family and friends, you’ll probably want to make sure that is a must-attend event before making that recommendation. However if you are sending a colleague or friend a link that they can access from their computer in the comfort of their home it doesn’t require as much consideration past the point of the event providing good content. And this is just the tip of the iceberg with what we have been seeing in the data regarding virtual events experience. >>> Download our latest research on virtual events How to improve your event Net Promoter Score In some circles NPS is viewed as the holy grail of measuring attendee experience. Oftentimes it is the single metric monitored by event organisers to understand if their event is doing well. Though NPS is an important metric to measure, it is often better understood in the context of other key metrics, such as Overall Satisfaction. Overall satisfaction is highly correlated with NPS. If you measure attendee objectives and Overall Satisfaction in your post-event survey you can run a correlation analysis to discover which objectives are driving satisfaction at your event. By focusing attention on how to improve your satisfaction score you should see higher Net Promoter Scores for your events.

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