Some would say ask the person paying the bill, but the reality is,  if the audience had a good time it was successful.

The question is,  did you invite the right audience? And did their good time allow you to get them to take the next step? Did the organiser know what the next step was?

A very clever sales coach once told me, don’t get caught up in the moment, always be thinking what is the next step, ensure you are invited to go to the next step, it sounds a bit like a dance, or perhaps a date, but no it is just the sales process. And an event is usually selling to someone.

Often we get sidetracked in events with making sure all the i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed but often forget the objective of the event.  We get caught up in the details.

There are not many event management courses that actually teach you the real nuances of events or talk event objectives, but to be truly great at event management you need to understand the client objectives whether you are working in a hotel or venue, whether for a professional conference organiser an in-house event manager or a wedding planner. There are also not many event courses that teach you the long term sustainable outcomes of events or the true ROI.

Weddings are an interesting one, but the actual objectives can be varied, from avoiding family fights to not enabling the bride to drink too much to keeping within budget. You need to get to know your client to really understand the objectives of any event and you also need to re-think or reframe and suggest.

Incentives you would imagine are fairly obvious, the delegates must be wowed, every moment must be Insta-fabulous, and each memory in the brag book. But for some it might be an amazing act or experience of social or cultural immersion.

When is success measured, throughout the event, immediately afterwards or 12 months down the track.

An employee awards evening is an interesting one. How many HR practitioners look at the winners and see how long they last in the business?

A sales incentive, do the sales continue to rise with this motivation or is the carrot and the stick permanantly being bandied around, perhaps some personal/professional development should be introduced into the incentive to ensure it is not just the “prize” that is the motivator.

Educational events, how many of the attendees learned anything and what did they learn, and do they put it into practice, are these outcomes contributing to business improvement.

The great outcome for those working in the industry there will continue to be events that don’t really have a clear objective not one that is carried through, and the measurement will not always be truly and accurately measured. So chances are there will still be thousands and thousands of events occurring.

We just love it,  when we can work on the well thought out events, that have a clear objective that are carried through and outcomes measured. There is nothing sweeter than a clear creative vision, a carefully curated event and a cut through message that resonates with the crowd,  long after the event is complete. The added bonus is when you work with a venue where the people behind it get meetings and events.