Establishing Measurable ROI for Your Corporate Events
Corporate meetings and events are one of the last margin items of controllable expenditures for many corporations. Due to the intense demand for accountability, finding out the Return on Investment or ROI of any corporate event has become critical to the development of future events. By looking at what ROI is and how to calculate it, you can develop specific steps to measure the Return on Investment for your events, gauging the success in monetary terms as well as in terms of the tangible benefits that directly relate to the continued success of the company.
Return on Investment is a percentage of the net profit of an event over the investment. This is a standard computation that takes into account the amount of money spent on the event compared to the sales or estimated value the organization has received as a direct result of the event. However, the real story lies behind the numbers. While many event planners measure the success of an event by staying within budgetary guidelines and assessing attendance satisfaction, corporations measure its success by whether or not the event has met its objectives and what business impact was generated from this individual event. A complete evaluation of the event, both from the organization’s and the participants’ point of view, must be included with the financial calculations in order to give stakeholders a true reflection of the outcome of the event.
In order to fully evaluate the return on investment, specific strategic objectives need to be set. By questioning key stakeholders as well as a broad sample of invitees, planners can determine detailed and measurable objectives. Once in place, they will help determine the programming for the event including what presentations will be made, if workshops will be included and who the keynote speakers will be. A post event survey can help gather results that occurred due to the event. Did the attendees learn something new, get a better perception of the company, or want to take further action with the company? Once these questions are answered, they can be combined with the planner’s assessment. Further evidence of the business impact can be converted to monetary value after a six month period. Once all these factors have been fully evaluated, a report on the return on investment can be made so that improvements can take place for future events.
Although often used solely for large events, a more simplistic evaluation process can also be used for small events. Measuring the value of each event is essential to planning budgets and forecasts for the future. Business events are often considered investments for a given purpose. As with all good investments, an informed decision will better increase your chances of success.
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