7 Top Tips to Maximize Your Event ROI

Event creators are businesspeople too.

The first goal of every event is to ensure smooth sailing of the proceedings, such that each and every attendee gets the full extent of the kind of content they signed up for. However, many event planners focus so much on that, that they forget another important aspect of the entire event process: generating revenue.

This ensures planners don’t break the bank and have a good return for their investment: in both time and money. You can also start smiling to the bank after every event with these tips.

1. Impressions Matter

So much focus has been given to first impressions these days that final impressions seem not to be considered at all. Especially if you are running a branding/ product-based event, you want your attendees to have a positive mindset about you as they leave.

This, you can achieve by:

• Delivering a short, rousing and sweet goodbye speech
• Having members of staff on hand to see guests out
• Doling out souvenirs, etc.

2. Location! Location!! Location!!!

No matter how great your event is supposed to be, or how amazing the content/ speakers are, location could be a huge dealbreaker for you.

Choose your location such that it is at the hub of your attendee list. That way, you make the event an easy point of access to anyone and everyone who wants to attend.

Some of the things to consider when choosing location for events are:

• Layout
• Accessibility
• Services and amenities – parking lots, convenience centers, etc.
• Ambience
• Capacity and
• Cost

3. Research your audience

A good percentage of the event planning budget will go into marketing and the creation of awareness. The effectiveness of your marketing campaign, in this regard, will be based on how well you are able to target your audience.

That said, you cannot target an audience you do not know. Thus, take the time out to create a profile of those you are planning for.

That way, you know just who to target and who to leave out – focusing your marketing spends better for an improved ROI model.

4. Speaker Assignment

We would most likely attend an event on tech disruption if Elon Musk was giving the speech instead of Warren Buffet. This is not because Warren is a poor personality, but we don’t see him as an authority in that field.

This tells you that you speakers should not only be chosen for their name, but what they stand for in the fields and niches you will be addressing.

Likewise, you get to leverage on the speaker’s following to come through for you when you choose them right. In other words, you get the word out to a larger set of people than you would have been able to reach on your own.

To recap, only choose a speaker for your intended topic based on:

• The kind of energy they can bring to the room
• Their passion
• Their area of expertise (don’t confuse this with passion) and
• Influence – ability to drive engagement and infuse motivation.

5. Sharing is caring

The doors of revenue generation are not closed on the event the moment it ends. Likewise, the ROI boosting moves are not restricted to those in the room alone.

Getting the juicy parts of your event to go far and wide for more impressions is what shareable content does for you.

For every event, make sure you create and curate content that can be shared across your networks. Carry the present audience along too: for example, they can join in on the online conversation by following a trend, using a hashtag to share their experiences, etc.

For information-based events, you could ask your speakers to write an eBook, package their presentations for SlideShare or leverage any other form of media to get the word out.

6. Audience Engagement

It is not a proper event if the audience have not been properly engaged.

Audience engagement is not what you do as an afterthought anymore. It is one thing that should always be at the back of your mind with every step of the program. That is how you can ensure attendees are kept in tune with speakers, speeches, presentations and other proceedings throughout the course of events.

You can kickstart this section by easing the attendees into the engagement profile with QnA sessions, polls and welcoming opinionated members of the audience on board. Event apps and event technology will also help you step up the game to a whole new level. Finally, consider exhibitions, booths, games, fun events, group/ team building activities and more.

7. Data

Data is king, and in more ways than one.

Never organize an event if you don’t have a way of collecting relevant user data from it.

The data you collect from attendees will keep you informed on such things as:

• The age distribution of your audience
• Societal class
• Average level of income
• Average corporate positions
• Location; and where they have come from
• What marketing channels they connect with, and much more.

The above data will help you draw up a more informed target audience profile for subsequent events. It also gives you an insight into what, and who, to focus on for better brand results.

Conclusion

Whether passively or actively, every event has a revenue-generating potential behind it. Leveraging the right tools, channels and tricks, you can trigger a solid ROI basis for all your events to come.