After the event: sustaining engagement and measuring success
Post-event isn’t post-mission – it’s prime time to boost engagement and build loyalty. Smart event professionals keep the conversation going with attendees through personalized follow-up messages, highlight reels, interactive polls, and sneak peeks of what’s next.
But it’s not just about just talking to your audience – it’s about listening. Gather both external feedback from attendees and internal insights from your team to spot wins and fix friction points. Use that intel to level up your next event – faster, smoother, and more attendee-focused.
After the event: sustaining engagement and measuring success
Post-event isn’t post-mission – it’s prime time to boost engagement and build loyalty. Smart event professionals keep the conversation going with attendees through personalized follow-up messages, highlight reels, interactive polls, and sneak peeks of what’s next.
But it’s not just about just talking to your audience – it’s about listening. Gather both external feedback from attendees and internal insights from your team to spot wins and fix friction points. Use that intel to level up your next event – faster, smoother, and more attendee-focused.
Keep the connection alive & thriving
Consistency is key
Research on the forgetting curve indicates that without continued reinforcement, information is lost over time. Event professionals can harness this knowledge to continue to build engagement with attendees after an event and create lasting memories.
Dr. Sahar Yousef suggests, “stagger more surprises and make it easy for your attendees to share what they learned and connect with the people they want to connect with.” This can make your event even more valuable and exciting.
For event professionals, this could look like:
- Content drips: Sharing exclusive and relevant resources after the event.
- Continued connection: Creating a discussion board or community forum for attendees to connect after the event.
- Social media: Tag attendees, repost stories, and encourage user-generated content.
Keep the connection alive & thriving
Consistency is key
Research on the forgetting curve indicates that without continued reinforcement, information is lost over time. Event professionals can harness this knowledge to continue to build engagement with attendees after an event and create lasting memories.
Dr. Sahar Yousef suggests, “stagger more surprises and make it easy for your attendees to share what they learned and connect with the people they want to connect with.” This can make your event even more valuable and exciting.
For event professionals, this could look like:
- Content drips: Sharing exclusive and relevant resources after the event.
- Continued connection: Creating a discussion board or community forum for attendees to connect after the event.
- Social media: Tag attendees, repost stories, and encourage user-generated content.
Mission accomplished? Measuring success against objectives
Plan, execute, evaluate, repeat
Reviewing metrics such as attendance, networking activity, engagement, and app interactions, can help event professionals better gauge how well they delivered on expectations. It’s also important to review feedback, often gathered through a post-event survey, from key stakeholders. Getting these insights from speakers, sponsors, and vendors may highlight a different perspective that would otherwise be overlooked. Matt Whisker notes that they gather both internal and external feedback to “continually evolve and learn.”
Measuring success is not one-dimensional. Event teams and marketers rely on a blend of qualitative and quantitative metrics, each tied to the unique objectives of the event. Depending on the audience, goals, and investment, different mechanisms are used to tell a complete story:
- ROI (return on investment): Tracking qualified leads, conversions, and revenue generation to measure financial impact.
- ROO (return on objectives): Assessing outcomes tied directly to event goals – whether driving sales, increasing brand awareness, or rewarding high performers.
- ROE (return on experience): Capturing attendee satisfaction, in-app engagement, session participation, and sentiment to evaluate the value and memorability of the experience.
Together, these metrics offer a holistic view of performance. By aligning measurement to strategic objectives and attendee needs, marketers can demonstrate event impact across every dimension – and apply insights to elevate future experiences.
Mission accomplished? Measuring success against objectives
Plan, execute, evaluate, repeat
Reviewing metrics such as attendance, networking activity, engagement, and app interactions, can help event professionals better gauge how well they delivered on expectations. It’s also important to review feedback, often gathered through a post-event survey, from key stakeholders. Getting these insights from speakers, sponsors, and vendors may highlight a different perspective that would otherwise be overlooked. Matt Whisker notes that they gather both internal and external feedback to “continually evolve and learn.”
Measuring success is not one-dimensional. Event teams and marketers rely on a blend of qualitative and quantitative metrics, each tied to the unique objectives of the event. Depending on the audience, goals, and investment, different mechanisms are used to tell a complete story:
- ROI (return on investment): Tracking qualified leads, conversions, and revenue generation to measure financial impact.
- ROO (return on objectives): Assessing outcomes tied directly to event goals – whether driving sales, increasing brand awareness, or rewarding high performers.
- ROE (return on experience): Capturing attendee satisfaction, in-app engagement, session participation, and sentiment to evaluate the value and memorability of the experience.
Together, these metrics offer a holistic view of performance. By aligning measurement to strategic objectives and attendee needs, marketers can demonstrate event impact across every dimension – and apply insights to elevate future experiences.
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