So you’ve had an event, now what?

So you’ve had an event, now what? How will you follow up in order to capitalize on enthusiasm and intrigue after your wine tasting, skin bar, fashion show, happy hour, ladies night out, couples, singles or other mixer: What will happen after the event?

In post-event euphoria and exhaustion, it can be easy for activities like clean up, debriefing staff and following up with contacts to slip through the cracks; the latter two of which are crucial if your goal was to build for the future. Approach it this way: Until post-event activities are completed, the event is not over.

Plan for time and personnel needed for “take down” of event activity areas, clean up, return of the facility to regular operational setup, return of any rented or catering equipment, and for the return of unsold retail products, tools and equipment to your business. If your event is held in-store, incorporate a plan to return your facility to a business-ready state both in planning and in assignment of responsibilities (unless you are looking forward to doing it all yourself!)

Set up a meeting time with staff (and any event partners) 2-3 days following an event in order to debrief and to be sure that follow up activities are on track. Talk about what went right and what went wrong, but if any one aspect of the event went particularly poorly, don’t allow anyone to become the brunt of criticism. No event will ever go perfectly and people do make mistakes; regardless of any mistakes made, you want to be sure that your staff know their input and assistance was appreciated. Make it your goal as a team to honestly address problems with the goal of learning from them for future events—without throwing anyone under the bus. After all, no one is going to want to help with the next event if they felt terrible after the last one. If something did go seriously wrong, or someone on your team behaved in a way that was truly out of line, address it privately rather than humiliating them publicly.

As soon as possible (or as soon as promised) after an event, add contacts collected to your database (and share them with marketing event partners, if appropriate). Send out a “Thank You” e-mail or direct mail communication to all attendees. Send a confirmation to anyone who booked an appointment at the event, who purchased a pre-paid series or package, or who ordered products from you for future delivery.

Schedule a series of 2-3 follow up offers and communications to be sent during the 6 weeks following the event. First, because your best chance to cash in on the impression made by your staff and your business will be when the experience is fresh and foremost in the minds of attendees, and second, to establish long-term awareness of your business in their minds by creating additional interactions. If your event included an opportunity to purchase a pre-sold series or package, extend the offer or another version of that offer to attendees for a limited time, and do the same for any product or service offerings made at the event.

Gain feedback from attendees for future events and gauge potential interest in your services and products through surveys taken either at the event itself or in one of your follow up communications (or both). Ask for contact information so that you can match up attendee’ areas of interest to future promotional offers or provide other requested follow up.

A sample post-event survey might include some of the following questions:
Demographics and identifiers:

• attendee name
• e-mail address
• gender
• birthday date/month (this will give you an opportunity to send them a ‘happy birthday’ direct mail or email offer on or near their birthday)
• age range (such as, 10-18, 19-24, 25-34, 35-44, etc., this can help as you analyze trends in different age groups and as you try to target specific offers to clients)
• zip code (to see if your attendees are clustered in certain neighborhoods; this can help to design targeted marketing to those neighborhoods in the future, launching a door hanger campaign, etc.)

Event information

• which products (or services) most excited or intrigued you? why?
• how did you hear about the event?
• did you come by yourself or with a friend, if with a friend, who?
• what was your favorite part of the event?
• how would you rate the facility? (you can ask about specific areas as well, such as cleanliness, décor and furnishings, rest rooms, food, music, seating, lighting, check in, check out, etc.)