After the Event… Don’t Relax Yet
How do I improve our future trade show or exhibtion? It's a huge task to plan an event. The process is extensive and by time the event finishes you will be tempted to breathe a sigh of relief and put your feet up for a minute… however the opportunity to relax hasn’t come yet. You will need to follow up so that you will be better prepared for the next event (and maximise your future trade show returns).
Thank you
Stressful as it is to organise and event, you understand that a team of people make the final product come together. Offering thanks to everyone who contributed to the success of your event adds pleasant conclusion to their experience and gets them looking forward to your next event. This includes your team, suppliers and expo attendees.
Debrief
A good review following the wind-up of the event can be quite effective in establishing what worked and what didn’t. Step back from the event and use a review process with your aims or goals in mind (or your client’s) so that you can easily assess whether you achieved them. Gathering everyone’s thoughts following the event can open up discussions, uncover hidden issues and assist you to produce ideas for improvement next time around.
Content
You can keep delivering good quality content to your audience with multiple online channels and extend the life of your event and its message. Any content that you didn’t get to use during the event can be published post-event, or you can repurpose content that you did use. You may also be able to create some post-event content, like a follow-up email newsletter with event highlights, or a Facebook photo album of attendees.
Promotion
Considering that the end of the event is not really the conclusion of your relationship to your attendees, you can continue to market your products and services to them once they leave. As a matter of fact, this can be the best time to take action. If your attendees are on a high from experiencing the event as well as what they learned, they are going to be much more receptive to promotional messages about complimentary services or products, or information regarding future events.
Follow-up (On Yourself)
During the event you'll have come across a number of things that should be followed up afterwards. Following through with this without delay will assist you to tie up loose ends before moving on to a new project. Having your notes still fresh in your head is going to make this process easier and a lot more effective, so why not get onto it as soon as you can.
Reflect
As soon as the important details are worked out, taking some time to reflect can provide you a comprehensible review of the event overall and how effective it was. We all wish to learn from each project we tackle, so this step is vital. Take into account the things you learned as well as what you'd do differently on the next occasion, to help you take these lessons back to your team or company.
Preparing to alter your approach for next time is an important step in the process of improving what you do, so treat this option seriously and use it to your advantage.