We have discussed earlier that the impact an event has on its target audience is equivalent to the measure of reach and interaction that occur during the event. Whereas reach is tangible, interaction to a certain extent is intangible as well as not always quantifiable.
Immediate and long-term benefits that accrue from an event are important when evaluating an event from the clients’ point of view.
A cost-benefit analysis concerning the effectiveness of reach and interaction is a must as a pre-event activity. Post-event stock taking activity should be done to confirm whether the event has occurred as per plans.
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This analysis should consider the actual cost of the event that includes the non-budgeted expenditure as well as the actual benefits that accrued to the client from the event. The accrual of benefits can be judged by measuring the tangible parts of the objectives that have been achieved.
Measuring reach:
As discussed in the first, reach is of two types – external and actual event reach. Since events require massive external publicity-press, radio, television and other media are needed to ensure that the event is noticed and the benefit of reach is provided to the client.
Measurement of external reach is possible by using the circulation figures of newspapers and promotions on television and the radio.
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The DART and TRP ratings that rate the popularity of programmers on air and around which the promotion is slotted, is a very tangible though approximate method for measuring the external reach of a promotion campaign on television
Measurement of external reach should be tempered with the timing of the promotions as effectiveness of recall and action initiated amongst the target audience is highly dependent on this important variable.
For example, releasing ads and promos one month in advance should be considered more as an awareness exercise for propagating the event concept, time, date and venue of the show to the audience.
The entry criteria – free, invited or ticketed show- should be clearly mentioned here. The measurement of the actual reach of an event is relatively simple.
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The capacity of the venue is a figure that provides the upper limit for the actual reach. Ticket sales or numbers of invitees are also direct measurement tools. Registration of participants and requests for filling in questionnaires are also common methods of measuring the actual reach of an event.
The ideal situation in real life is very rare since the external reach gets drastically reduced in terms of reaching out to the target audience and is therefore impractical in most cases.
This is because the target audience is derived from the target population, which is invariably very large. It is impractical to assume that all the constituents of the target population can make it to the event. The above ratio is usually found to be greater than one in practice,
Measuring interaction:
In most event categories, compared to reach, it is much more difficult to assess the interaction (the harmony or incongruity) between the audience and the event and the benefit that accrues to the client. A certain amount of quantifiable data can be of help in measuring interaction for an event from the clients’ point of view. These are:
Number of interaction points:
The numbers of direct and indirect interaction points that have been planned and arranged for an event provide the first important measurement tool. The greater the number of interaction points the better for the client.
Number of interactions:
The opportunities for interaction between the client and the audience before, during and after the event are also a very tangible measurement criterion. The greater the opportunity for increasing the number of interaction, the better for the client.
Quality of interaction:
One-way or two-way communication during interaction has a profound impact on the quality of interaction that takes place. The quality of interaction is perceived as good when there is an avenue for two-way interaction.
Time duration of interaction:
Every event has a limited time period within which both benefits and other issues such as controversies are effective. The amount of time that is available for interaction is very important in that the greater the duration of the interaction, more are the chances that there are some meaningful and decisive interactions between the clients and the audience.
Actual variations in commercial numbers for the client:
A direct measurement of the success of an event in terms of the success or failure of the interaction component of impact is the increase or decrease in profit or consumption of the clients’ products in the time frame around the event.
For example, in Europe, all automobile and auto ancillary industries take pride in being associated with the cutting edge technology associated with motor sports and try to derive mileage from victories of their sponsored candidates.
The direct measure of success of their association with the event is the sales of the sponsors’ products in Europe going up after victories.
Concept of event quality and measuring quality of event:
Exactly on the lines of the evaluation of effectiveness of an event comes the concept of event quality. In essence, quality of an event exists in the clients’ perspective and thus varies from client to client.
By aiming for quality by maintaining standards, preventing mistakes, never cutting corners and using only top quality infrastructure is looking at quality from a skewed angle.
Unless the target audience and the clients perceive the quality of the job in the same way as the event organizers, the big picture of quality is not complete.
Therefore, it is critical to match the clients’ expectations and experiences by including even the minutest details to arrive at the perceived quality of event. In matters of dispute, it is value to the client that finally matters. For the client, quality of an event is a bundle of attributes. A few of these critical attributes are quality and reliability of equipment used, aesthetic appeal, appropriate cost and timely completion of the project.
Each client will care more about some attribute than others. Thus, it is important to find out how clients would define quality event service. Competence in project management from conceptualization to carryout, reliability and integrity as in the past performances of events that have been executed by the event organizer is a very important quality criterion.
Responsiveness to the clients’ requirements i.e., empathy, mutual confidence and trust are also criteria used by clients to size up the quality of event organizers.
In addition, an easy-to- work-with manner, personal involvement and caring that the event organizer exudes also helps. Delivery of promises and deals should be ensured.
Every client expects the event to provide the ideal audience to associate with, impress and entice. Thus, the quality of an event can also be defined in terms of the audience quality. Clients should focus on three major statistics that define audience quality:
Net buying influences which can be defined as the ratio of the number of audience that can recommend, specify or approve purchase to the total population at the event.
Total buying plans imply the percentage of the audience planning to buy a product/service from the sponsors’ stables within the next 12 months after the show.
Average audience interest is the percentage of audience that shows an interest in the sponsors’ products or services during the event itself and immediately after. This may be measured by keeping track of the number of visitors to the sponsors’ stall or exhibit area during the event.