Author: Ian McGonnigal

Event surveys are everywhere. You may rely on a simple post-event attendee survey, speaker / session surveys, or partner / sponsor surveys. You may even conduct a pre-event survey, several pulse surveys throughout the event, or even employee surveys to gauge performance. There are dozens of ways to measure the impact of your event on meeting your objectives, and diagnosing performance for continuous improvement. Chief among them are surveys. Here are some event survey best practices to keep in mind.

Always Start with Objectives

Before creating a survey, clearly define your goals and objectives to ensure that you use the right tools and ask the right questions and gather the information you need. These should be tied directly to your event objectives. You may find that a survey (or a specific question) isn’t the right / best way to get at the data you need.

Offer Incentives

Offer incentives such as discounts, gift cards, or major prize drawings (sweepstakes) to encourage participation and completion of the survey. The bigger the better (but don’t break the bank).

Keep Your Event Survey(s) Concise

Focus on questions that are “must-have” vs. “nice-to-have” and eliminate anything that’s not absolutely necessary in providing data you can and will act on. 10-15 questions is about the maximum for high completion percentages without survey length bias (respondents get lazy toward the end). Also, the most important questions should be up front and required.

Use a Logical Flow

Organize your questions in a logical order that makes sense and flows well. This will help survey respondents stay in the right mindset for the questions, and allow them to complete the survey with ease.

Use Skip Logic

Use skip logic to ask only the relevant questions to each respondent based on their previous answers. This will help respondents flow through the survey more easily, and give you nuanced information when necessary.

Provide a Progress Bar

Provide a progress bar or indication of how much of the survey is remaining to encourage respondents to continue.

Use Clear and Concise Language

Use clear and simple language that is easy for respondents to understand. Avoid jargon and technical terms.

Event Survey Demographic Questions – Is There Another Way?

If it’s possible to use registration questions to capture demographic data, and then tie this data to survey responses, this can save you a few demographic questions on the survey. Be mindful of PII and GDPR. Data sets should be based on database index numbers, not names.

Use a Mix of Question Types

Use a mix of question types, including multiple-choice, rating scales, and open-ended questions, to gather diverse data. Limit open-ended questions to areas where you’re looking for specific nuances. Analyzing thousands of open-ended questions is challenging at best, even with the latest language and semantic models.

Randomize answer options

Randomize answer options to prevent order bias and ensure accurate results. Otherwise your survey results could be overly positive or negative.

Send the Survey Promptly

Send the survey promptly after the event (or the session for speaker / session surveys), while the content, experience, and delivery are still fresh in the respondent’s mind.

Follow Up

We’ve found that 3-4 follow up emails over the course of 2-3 weeks following an event maximizes responses. Remember to remind attendees of the fabulous prizes they can get, as well as the value of the survey to you and your gratitude for their time and opinions.

Following these event survey best practices should help you create and send your survey, and maximize responses. In a future post, we’ll examine what types of questions to ask on Attendee Surveys, Speaker / Session Surveys, and Partner / Sponsor Surveys. Stay tuned!

The importance of imagination is re-awakened every time someone experiences the power of AI for the first time.

“Ask it anything.” The marketer said to his wife who’s a skeptical molecular biologist. “OK.” she said with a tell-tale smirk as she planned to stump the AI, and prove her husband wrong about all this gibberish he’s been going on about. “Can you please tell me if the Influenza A virus causes cell permeability?” She prompted.

Within a few seconds, the language model came back with “…it is important to note that the viral envelope, which is derived from the host cell membrane, contains viral proteins that are involved in viral entry, replication, and budding from the host cell. Studies have shown that IAV infection can cause changes in the host cell membrane, including an increase in cell permeability, which can lead to the leakage of cellular contents and can also facilitate viral entry and release. The viral hemagglutinin (HA) protein, which is involved in viral entry, has been shown to disrupt the cell membrane and increase permeability, leading to cell death.” And then it cited several scientific research papers on the matter.

“Holy Shit!” she exclaimed. “It would have taken me four hours to find the sources alone…”

There are three typical reactions to experiencing AI for the first time.

1. “I am going to be out of a job soon.”
2. “This is going to help me do awesome things.”
3. “Where is the whiskey?”

While AI models have certainly made impressive strides in recent years, they cannot replace the importance of imagination, creativity, and original thought. AI can analyze data and make predictions based on statistical patterns, providing some very impressive outputs. But, it cannot think or come up with truly original ideas. As Elon Musk once said, “The danger of AI is not that it will become too smart and take over the world, but that it will be too stupid and we will give it too much power.”

AI is having a significant impact on events and marketing in general. It is also changing the way we work. There are three fundamental impacts AI will have in the near-term.

1. Tasks that will be eliminated due to AI automation
2. Opportunities will be created for those who learn and know how to work with, and improve AI
3. Roles will be empowered and elevated as a result of leveraging AI

The more repeatable and routine the task, the higher the opportunity for AI automation. According to a report by McKinsey, up to 30% of current work activities in the United States could be automated by 2030. On the other side of this, is those tasks that require the most imagination, creativity, or original thought will enjoy the highest level of AI augmentation.

In events, AI is already automating audience segmentation, ad targeting, and media planning and buying for event promotions. It’s being used to run registration and check-in processes, as well as attendee customer service. AI can also format creative elements in different sizes, shapes resolutions, colors, etc. for different marketing channels.

New jobs are being created by AI, including those that focus on data science, machine learning, and AI engineering. These roles are beginning to become specialized by channel or discipline including events.

There are roles that are being empowered and augmented by AI including those responsible for experience design. This includes marketers, strategists, and creative directors who can leverage research and insights into audience behavior and preferences to create more targeted and personalized brand experiences.

Famous artists, marketers, and business leaders all agree that imagination is essential for success. Steve Jobs famously said, “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” No matter what your role is, it’s important to position yourself as one who is empowered by AI, not replaced because of it. There is imagination and creativity in every role. A survey by LinkedIn found that creativity is the most in-demand soft skill among employers. And research by the World Economic Forum found that creativity will be the third most important skill for employees by 2025, behind only critical thinking and complex problem-solving. And there’s good reason. A study published in the Harvard Business Review found that companies that prioritize creativity are more likely to have higher revenue growth and market share.

How are you using AI in your job? Which AI platforms are you using for your events and to augment your work and empower your success? Please share!

An event brief is an essential document that serves as a roadmap for event strategy, creative, planning, and execution. It’s a Creative Brief on steroids. A proper event brief provides clear communications throughout the team across both brand and agency. When integrated into your process, it helps:

• set realistic expectations,
• serve as a living, breathing reference point for all stakeholders,
• minimize risks,
• save time and resources,
• ensure your event meets brand intent and business objectives,
• and address audience needs in a way that inspires attendees to action.

Here Are 12 Elements Every Event Brief Should Include to Maximize Success:

1. Event Overview: Start by providing a general overview of the event, including its purpose, date, time, and location. Answer the ‘Why’ for hosting or participating in the event.

2. Objectives and Goals: Clearly state the goals and business objectives of the event, what you are hoping to achieve, and how you will measure success. Be as specific as possible, and limit yourself to no more than three objectives. Anything more is unrealistic to design for, and achieve in a single event.

3. Target Audience: Know your audience. Identify who the event is aimed at, including demographics, psychographics, techno-graphics, interests, media consumption habits, triggers, inhibitors, and any other relevant information. Who are they? The more information, the better. If you have a persona, it’s good to include it along with the event brief.

4. Context: Build a section that describes the environment in which the event is taking place. What social or economic trends are important? What’s happening in your marketplace? Who are the top competitors and what are they doing that is relevant?

5. Marketing Context: Also include information on how the event fits in the overall integrated marketing plan, campaign, or series of events. What role does it play? What other tactics are addressing different business objectives or audience needs?

6. Event Program (optional): If the agenda is set, outline the program of the event, including the order of events, keynote speakers, and any other entertainment or activities planned. If not, let the strategy and creative team suggest formats, programming, speakers, entertainment, brand experiences, to meet the spirit of the event brief.

7. Marketing and Promotion: Outline how the event will be marketed and promoted, including the target audience, channels used, and any key messages. Remember to think about what happens before, during and after the event for communications planning.

8. Venue Requirements: Detail the venue requirements, including the size of the space, seating arrangements, audio-visual equipment, and any other necessary facilities. If it is a uniques venue or outdoor event, be sure to include details bout the surrounding area as well.

9. Logistics: Provide details about the logistical aspects of the event, including transportation, accommodation, catering, and any other essential services required.

10. Budget: Detail the budget for the event, including estimated costs for each element of the event (again if this is planned before the brief) and any potential sources of funding. In general, provide at least a budget range for planners to suggest high, medium and low investments that meet the requirements of the brief.

11. Timeline: Include a timeline for the planning and execution of the event, including key deadlines and milestones.

12. Contact Information: Provide contact information for the key event organizers and stakeholders, including email addresses, phone numbers, and any other relevant information.

Summarize Strategy

Although there is a lot of information included in an event brief, you should be able to summarize the overall strategy in a single sentence. Follow the format “Verb | Audience | Audience Action | Reason.” For example, “Motivate healthcare providers to recommend Acme air casts because they are 30% lighter, easier for patients to use, and result in faster healing.” All elements around the event should then be aligned to accomplishing this brief, and answering the “how”. How will you accomplish this? Through paper sessions? Through product demonstrations? Through patient testimonials? Build your event around the experiences that achieve the strategy. No more. No less.

The Approval Process

It’s important the event brief be reviewed and agreed upon by all stakeholders who might have a say in the event, including those on the event team, marketing, PR, sales, and executives. The event brief is not only a good tool to serve as a foundation for the event experience, but early on, can be an alignment tool to ensure all stakeholders are in agreement before resources are allocated and money is spent on planning and execution.

A survey by Meetings & Conventions found that 84% of meeting planners said that a clear and concise event brief is essential to the success of their events. Ensuring your event brief includes these 12 elements, and integrating it into a robust event planning process will help align stakeholders and drive event success.