The vast amount of data available in today's digital landscape is truly remarkable. Within the realm of hybrid events, capturing and analysing data is crucial for unlocking insights that drive continuous improvement and enable a deeper understanding of attendee and account behaviours. In this chapter, we explore the significance of collecting specific event data and highlight the value it brings.
The Importance of Selecting and Collecting Relevant Event Data
Effective data capture is essential for maximizing the potential of your offerings and delivering value to your organization and event sponsors. Failing to collect the right data may result in missed opportunities. In the subsequent sections, we delve into three primary categories of data to consider: event data, profile data, and engagement data.
By understanding which data points to capture and analysing them appropriately, you can extract valuable insights that inform your decision-making processes. This allows you to monetize offerings, enhance organizational value, and provide a richer experience for both attendees and sponsors.
Event Data
Event data encompasses various aspects of the event itself, such as event type, cost data, location choices, session totals, and registration count. This data enables performance comparisons between different events. Over time, it allows for a more comprehensive assessment of meeting expenses and a clearer understanding of the most successful event types, locations, dates, and more.
It is crucial to train yourself to consistently examine the available event data, from the initial stages of event promotion to the conclusion of the final session and beyond. Collecting analytics that you may not immediately use is a wise practice, as it ensures that no essential piece of data is overlooked and potentially lost forever.
Profile Data
Profile data provides insights into your event attendees. While it is essential to collect as much relevant data as possible, it is equally important to prioritize data security and comply with privacy regulations governing the event. Gathering attendee information allows you to create a better event experience and optimize future endeavors. Examples of profile data include demographic information (name, address, email) and firmographic data (company details), which can reveal patterns and help target specific verticals or attendee types.
Engagement Data
Engagement data provides a deeper understanding of individual attendee interests, as well as the organizations and accounts they represent. This data enables you to build genuine relationships based on real interests and needs, rather than assumptions. Capturing engagement data throughout the hybrid attendee journey—from registration and session participation to agenda selection, appointment scheduling, and mobile app usage—offers valuable insights into attendee behaviour and preferences. By effectively collecting and analysing engagement data, you can tailor experiences, provide personalized content, and foster stronger connections with your attendees, enhancing the overall event experience.
Prioritizing the Hybrid Attendee Journey
To effectively collect data at each stage of your event, it's important to focus on the desired actions you want your attendees to take, whether they are participating in-person or virtually. The following sections outline the four stages of the attendee journey and highlight key actions for both in-person and virtual attendees, which contribute to gathering interest data.
Stage 1: Registering for the Hybrid Event
Creating a compelling first impression on your event website is crucial. As discussed in Chapter 3, your website should convey professionalism and provide inspiring messages and information that motivate attendees to sign up. Encourage them to:
Stage 2: Preparing to Attend
To maintain excitement and minimize no-shows, it's important to guide attendees between registration and the event itself. Consider the following actions you want attendees to take during this phase:
Stage 3 : Re-engaging after the Event
Capturing data along the hybrid attendee journey
Evaluating Engagement Data
At every stage of the event, from the initial invitation to the post-event survey, there are opportunities to engage with attendees and gather valuable information about them. Now that you have identified the desired attendee behaviours and associated data elements for each phase, it's time to focus on evaluating the data collected during these event touchpoints.
To assess the level of attendee engagement, you can utilize an engagement scoring tool that allows you to assign points to various attendee behaviours. This scoring system helps determine the extent of attendee involvement and their perceived value in the event. By using this tool, you can obtain a snapshot of the event's overall engagement and tailor future offers based on attendees' levels of engagement.
When choosing an event technology provider, consider whether they offer this engagement scoring capability. It should be user-friendly and provide you with genuine insights into attendees' interests and preferences.
By evaluating engagement data and utilizing an engagement scoring tool, you can better understand attendee behaviour, identify their interests, and make data-driven decisions to enhance future events. This evaluation process allows you to continually improve your event offerings and deliver a more personalized and engaging experience for your attendees.
Using Data to Demonstrate Impact
The event landscape has undergone significant changes due to the pandemic, and many of these changes are here to stay. However, one thing that remains constant is the need to prove the return on investment (ROI) for your events. To meet this requirement, it's crucial to prepare well in advance and determine the specific data points that will satisfy management. This involves identifying the metrics that you will track throughout the attendee journey.
Emphasizing the use of data to demonstrate impact, there are several key metrics that can help you showcase the success of your event. Consider the following metrics:
Integration of event data with customer relationship management (CRM) software is of paramount importance. Your event data platform should seamlessly integrate with your CRM system and other marketing automation tools. This integration ensures that you can maximize the value of the engagement data you have collected. By combining event data with your existing CRM data, you gain a comprehensive understanding of attendee behaviour, preferences, and interactions, enabling you to improve future events and enhance overall customer relationships.
Effectively utilizing data to prove the impact of your events allows you to demonstrate the value and effectiveness of your efforts to management and stakeholders. By leveraging the insights gained from data analysis, you can make informed decisions, optimize event strategies, and continuously improve the outcomes of your events.
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