How To Define Event Goals And Objectives That Make An Impact | Event Always

 

Event Goals


Before you begin planning any kind of event, it is important to define your event goals. Planning is often done by planners without taking this important step.

This is a mistake. Setting goals and objectives will make organizing your event easier.

For inspiration, we'll begin with the steps for setting goals for event. Next, we'll show you some examples of great event goals.

This post:

1.   5 Steps to Establish Event Objectives

2.   Four Event Objective Examples

3.   Event Objective Impact

4.   Here are five things to keep in mind when planning your event.

What are the Event Goals and Objectives

Often, the terms "goals", and "objectives", are interchangeable. They have their own meanings.

  • Goals should be specific and easily measurable.
  • These are the steps and strategies you take to achieve your objectives.

These 5 Steps will help you set event goals that maximize the event's impact.

Step 1: Identify your event goals

You are not defining the event's goals, but simply documenting its purpose. What is the purpose of the event?

These are key questions to ask when setting event goals and objectives.

1.   Why is this event important?

2.   Why invite attendees to your event?

3.   What are the most important things that attendees should take away from your event?

4.   What is the best way to measure your success?

Keep the big picture in your mind

The brand's overall marketing strategy and the company's mission should be used to determine the event goals. Event planners will find it helpful to remember the bigger picture, as their minds are often occupied with a million small tasks and deadlines.

Define your key performance goals

It is important to understand the "why", but it is equally important to quantify your goal.

Focus on the things you can control when working towards your performance goals. You can't control whether your attendees decide to attend next year's conference. However, you can evaluate the sales made during, after, and before the conference. How many qualified leads were you able to obtain. How many qualified leads were followed up by your team in the following months. This list could go on.

Although it may seem obvious, decision-makers may make suggestions that you cannot control when assessing the success of an event. When communicating expectations to higher-ups, it is important to clearly state your goals.

Step 2: Make your event goals "smart"

When setting goals, use SMART goals. These are:

  • Specific
  • Measurable
  • Attainable
  • Realistic
  • Time-based

It's not possible to say that you want "to host the best marketing conference" but it isn't very specific. A goal to "plan a country music festival lasting one week by the end of the current month" is specific and time-bound, but unlikely to be achievable or realistic.

While it's tempting to set your sights on the stars, try to be realistic about what you can achieve. Start by writing down a lot of ideas. Next, narrow down the list and combine all the ideas to create a solid goal.

You can find examples if you are unsure about the "smart goals" that should be considered.

Step 3: Determine your event goals using 20 event KPIs

No matter what your goal, any of these KPIs can be a great fit.

1.   Cost per customer acquisition

2.   Number of qualified leads at the event

3.   High satisfaction ratings from sponsors for the event

4.   Individual promo code tracking link performance

5.   Gross revenue

6.   Total number of registrations

7.   Use the designated hashtags on each platform to make social media mentions

8.   Most attendees are very satisfied with the event speakers

9.   Number of active community members following the event (compared with total before the event).

10. Results from satisfaction surveys of attendees in numerical form

11. As a percentage, number of event check-ins relative to registrations

12. Score of the Net Promoter

13. Online engagement of event community as measured by social media interactions or specific activity on the event app

14. Live event app polling

15. Shares, likes and comments on social media related to the event

16. Individual ticket sales and performance tickets

17. Ratio cost to revenue

18. Sponsor page engagement for the event website

19. Recurring events: Number of attendees who are repeat participants

20. Total acquisition of new customers

Event software can be used to measure these KPIs. Make sure you have a reliable platform that has all the features required to capture your data.

Step 4: Create an event strategy

Next, you need to think about your event strategy. Now that you have a clear idea of your event goal, and are passionate about them, it is time to determine how to achieve them.

Two perspectives are helpful when thinking about strategy:

1.   The planner is viewed from your perspective

2.   Your attendee's perspective

What will the attendees and the planning team do to help achieve the goals? Ask yourself these questions:

1.   What education measures (i.e. What educational measures (i.e. speakers, panelists), do you need in order to achieve this goal?

2.   Are you going to need speakers?

3.   What is the social goal of your event? How will you encourage interaction?

4.   What entertainment will you need to achieve the social satisfaction that you desire for this event?

Your strategy may include some mini-goals. You might need mini-goals or milestones to reach your ultimate goal. That is okay.

Your event plan will be created as you brainstorm. The plan could be an outline, project plan, or any other document. The plan should outline the goals you have set and the steps you will take to achieve them.

Step 5: Make sure your event goal is a way for people to make connections

Although no two events are the same, they all share the goal of creating connections. Perhaps attendees can connect with one another with content or an idea.

It is important to consider how you can create these connections. If the event's goal is to educate attendees, then you should think about what they are learning, why, and how you can help them.

These answers will allow you to begin building the necessary items such as speakers and content.

Make sure your goals are clear to your attendees in order for them to assist you with achieving your vision.


Find 4 examples of Smart Event Objectives

You can see the possibilities with real-world examples. These are some notes:

  • The majority of case studies published highlight exceptional events. These are not the norm. It's best to assume you will follow the rules when setting goals.
  • These examples show that the event was successful, and it also helped move the business forward.

1. GeekWire Magazine's event objectives and goals

Seattle GeekWire Magazine hosts an annual gathering for tech investors, entrepreneurs, and enthusiasts that draws more than 600 people each year. The one-day event is packed with speakers, demos of startup companies, and networking. Networking is the number one priority of most attendees as they are the only industry event of their kind.

They defined the event's goal

You need to find a solution that allows attendees to network and also measures event effectiveness.

  • Specific - Our goal was to solve this problem.
  • Measurable - They could track the relative success and failure of the solution using linked software.
  • Attainable - Attendees can choose from a variety of options to help them network.
  • Realistic - Limiting their goal down to one solution was a way to keep it realistic.
  • Time-based - Their deadline would have had to be far enough out that they could buy, test, and purchase it before the event.

Their event strategy

Event planners wanted to enhance attendees' experience in a way that was both brand-friendly and fun.

They came up with smart badges which allowed users to scan each others' badges to obtain virtual business cards and a variety of other cool features.

Their solution was directly linked to data-gathering software so they could track participation and other event KPIs simultaneously.

2. Maison & Objet's event objectives & goals

MAISON&OBJET is an event that focuses on lifestyle-related professionals and hosts four major events each year. It has an international audience.

They defined the event's goal

By the end of the first annual event, increase overall event engagement by 30%

  • Specific - They could have picked a particular aspect of event engagement, but they were focusing on the bigger picture for all their annual events. This unifying goal works out.
  • Measurable - Their mobile app made it possible for them to measure the community's engagement over time.
  • Attainable - They not only achieved their goal but also exceeded it by achieving a 350% increase in traffic.
  • Realistic - By setting low expectations (starting at 30%), they were capable of surpassing their initial goal. They would have been considered failure if they had increased their goal by 500% to reach a different sales or marketing objective.
  • Time-bound - This event can be made completely SMART by keeping a date in mind.

Their event strategy

Planners decided to put emphasis on connecting people on and offline in order to encourage engagement at events and increase participation in future events.

They created a mobile app to help them organize their events.

3. Marketing 360's event goals & objectives

One of Marketing360's clients wanted to get more people registered for their upcoming event.

The agency had previously done a similar event last year and knew how many they had achieved so they decided to set a modest but realistic goal.

They defined the event's goal

Convert 5% more visitors to your event ticketing website than in the previous year

  • Specific: The brand knew exactly what they wanted and how to get there.
  • Measurable: Since their goal was to improve their website's performance, it was simple to view analytics and track their progress.
  • Achievable: For website conversion, a single digit goal is considered modest. To make sure your event website is included in your goal setting, you should keep your numbers low.
  • Realism: The client hired a third-party marketing professional to manage the changes so that the client was almost certain of the results. They also took into account the success stories of similar clients.
  • Time-based Ticket Sales: Event ticket sales end at a certain date and time. These parameters determine the timing of these events.

Their event strategy

They were able to convert 6.84% more through an improved design and strategically placed tools.

4. Maritz Travel's event-planning goal and objectives

A client of Maritz Travel had one of their biggest goals: to streamline their event production and marketing. It sounds like a simple goal, but it was transformed into something more strategic.

They defined the event's goal

A single, scalable solution that can accommodate approximately 4,700 guests will be implemented. This will help both customers and partners learn about our latest products.

  • Specific: They only need one product to accomplish one goal.
  • Measurable
  • Attainable: Finding the right event tech solution can be difficult, but it is possible.
  • Realistic: Many solutions of this type deal with more guests than they expect, so any solution they choose could easily handle their 4,700 guests.
  • Time-based: The event date was used as the timeline because the solution was to take place at the event.

Events objectives also impact everything else:

All other planning becomes a piece of the puzzle when you have established your event goals and objectives. The budget, theme and speakers all have a place. They will all be in line with your event goal.

Based on your event results, you can adjust your future goals.

You must also learn how to duplicate success, learn from failures, and invent for future events based on the goals you have set. You will have all of the information from the event fresh in your mind after it's over. You can learn from your stakeholders what worked and what didn’t, and get feedback on how to improve it. This is a basic framework that you can use to improve future events.

Answer the questions you were asked during the pre-event strategy stage to get started.

1.   Are your goals achieved? Which were your successes and which were the challenges?

2.   What went well and what didn't? These were things that you could have controlled or did they fall out of your hands?

3.   Was the event strategy effective in serving stakeholders? The term stakeholder can be defined as both internal and external (i.e. A boss, the board chair, sponsors, exhibitors and vendors, as well as audience members and online communities.

4.   Did you set predetermined success measures?

5.   What were the brand's goals in relation to the event?

6.   Was the audience able to take the desired action? Why or why not

7.   Did the budget/budget range meet expectations? Is the budget adequate?

8.   What aspects of the event planning process proved successful? What were the most challenging aspects? What changes are necessary to move forward?

9.   How can you make your life more efficient?

These questions should be answered throughout the event's lifecycle. To capture feedback during the event process, a post-event debrief should be created at the beginning of the project. This is a much easier way to retain all information about the event than trying to remember it all at the end.

Mini-daily debriefs during multi-day events are essential not only to make in-the moment adjustments, but also to capture the success and challenges of each event.

Five Things to Remember When Planning Your Event Planning Strategy

1. What is the Event Vision?

Your events should have a vision and a mission just like a company or corporation. Your vision could be a mirror of your event goals. Why are you hosting events? What are you hoping to achieve by hosting an event?

The event's look and feel is another important aspect of the vision. Consider who your attendees will be to determine the appearance of the event. Are you hosting a business conference where your company launches a new product? Invite as many influential media people as possible to give the event a VIP atmosphere.

If it's smaller and intimate, then finding the right venue for your event is a smart idea. You can start to envision your vision by going back to the event goal.

2. What is the Planning Timeline?

It is essential to have a timeline for event planning in order to keep things on track. If you don't have time to plan an event, a timeline can help you stay on track. If you have the time, a timeline will help you coordinate as far as possible days or weeks before your event. Consider what you want to happen and when. Are you going to need to visit a site or create an event map? Or pay your vendors by a specific date? These are great additions to an event timeline.

It's also a good idea to add timing for the day-of and day-before logistics. If your venue has strict load in/load-out times for suppliers you will want to mention that on your timeline. Post-event timing is critical for following up with attendees. You should schedule any event marketing emails (e.g. thank you for attending) into your calendar.

3. What is the Budget?

Working with clients can help you determine the budget that you have been allocated. A good place to start is to plan your event budget based on items that you have hired, bought, or used for similar events. The basic budget should include expenses for the venue, staffing and service fees. If you are planning on hosting a large event, you might want to spend some money on your event marketing efforts. Don't forget about the guests!

You should always leave some wiggle room for unexpected expenses. The rule of thumb is to spend 15% more than the budget. This will offset any missed costs.

4. Are there VIPs?

Event VIPs can be celebrities, dignitaries or other event stakeholders. You can make sure VIPs are included early in your event planning strategy to ensure they have all the information they need to participate in the event. Speakers may need special equipment or microphones that were not budgeted. You can prepare for anything by anticipating what VIPs will need.

5. What is our Crisis Management Plan?

There is always the possibility of something going wrong when it comes to events. If you have a plan for dealing with crisis situations, it's not necessarily the end of the universe. A list of participants in the event with their contact information is a good way to direct any issues to the right person. In the same way, outdoor events should have a backup plan in case of inclement weather.

To help you manage the event, it might be a good idea hire an event security firm. If you are hosting a large event, security personnel can be present at the event's entrance to check in guests. To be ready for any eventuality, you can have security personnel roaming the venue.

Now you're ready to create event goals and objectives that are successful!

Have more questions about event goals?

What is an event goal?

A goal for an event is a specific, measurable outcome from an event. It doesn't matter if you want to increase app downloads, attendees, ticket sales, or money raised.

What's the purpose of an event planner?

Planners have the goal of creating memorable events that meet their clients' needs and those of their attendees.


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