After the event it is essential that you evaluate what worked and what didn’t to collate feedback for future practice. A review meeting should be planned soon after the event so that it’s still fresh in your mind. De-brief the show team and gain feedback – remember the team may experience a ‘low’ immediately after the event as a contrast to the frantic activity leading up to it.
Invite marketing and sales teams as well as staff involved onsite so that a plan for following up leads.
Things to consider:
Did we work towards and achieve our real exhibition objectives? – if not why not? What went wrong? What went right? How could improvements be made in the future? • What data did you collect and how will you use it in the future? • What were the immediate results? What follow up is required to convert enquiries into sales? • When can you review results? Set date for next meeting to fully assess return on investment. • Did the pre-exhibition activity work? Were your expectations for the event realistic? • Were visitor numbers and quality of visitors as expected? Did the people you invited turn up? If not why not? • Did you stick to budget? If you overspent which areas cost more than expected and why? How could savings be made next time? • What would you do differently next time? Think about size and position of stand, pre-exhibition activity, onsite arrangements, data collection etc. What were other exhibitors doing? What did you competitors do? • Are there further opportunities? Consider post-event press releases or acquiring the visitor database from the organisers in case some of the visitors missed your stand – or even the non-attendee (people who registered by didn’t make it to the exhibition) database.
Think about rebooking for the next event– if you’re happy with the results then rebook to ensure a good position, if not then talk to the organisers to establish what went wrong.