This is the last post in a four-part series of my conversation and brainstorm with Kate Whitehair and Tamsin Stanley, two veteran event organisers at Zing, on how to plan, prepare and manage events. Links at the bottom will re-direct you to the previous posts.
Prepare a suitable and immediate evaluation form to assess the event. Make sure it’s quantitative and qualitative, as well as candid and confidential. If possible, check back with participants within 2-3 months to see how the event’s purpose and messages have influenced performance.
Debrief internally within three weeks. Gather key people to a thorough review of all aspects of the event, with a specific goal of learning how to improve future events.
Ensure the follow-up aspects – including post-event activities – are applicable to the participants. How do you make the messages stick afterward? How can you prove something happened? There's a wide variety of ways to keep the dialogue going. In particular, social media or intranets can help sustain interest by allowing people to post ideas, suggestions and successes after the meeting.
Links to previous posts:
