My current career path allows me to work with several client events (both corporate and association) and my assignments vary. Sometimes I’m involved with the advance planning, other times I’m hired to only to work on-site, and sometimes I’m just brought in to handle “one time” projects such as writing an exhibitor prospectus, or researching the feasibility of starting a new event. In virtually every one of these business ventures, I’ve been extremely lucky and grateful to work with a lot of very talented and nice people.
Having said that, I have to admit that something has been bothering me. I am continually surprised that several of my clients (past
and present) don’t keep up-to-date with obtaining customer feedback from their face-to-face marketing events. Whether an annual meeting, trade show or corporate event, I have seen situations where extremely valuable customer information (which could have/should have been used by the event producer to help make strategic business decisions moving forward) was not gathered.
We all know that businesses in other industries (outside of the face-to-face event production arena) utilize market research, consultants, and obtain customer feedback via surveys, focus groups, telemarketing, etc. So why do some event producers fail to communicate with their customers and gather business critical information? Why don’t we ask our customers (because that’s what they are) what they need and want?
Is it because the event producers are too busy? Is it that they get too tied up in managing event logistics, that they can’t see the forest through the trees? Are they afraid talking to customers will add more work to their already full plates? Some of these reasons may play a part, but I think the real culprit is “fear of change.”
Let’s face it; most people don’t like change. We get into our day-to-day (or should I say, event-to-event) routines and it’s easy to say, “This is how we’ve always done it”, or “the board, committee or executive director would never approve that.” However, in today’s high-speed, super technological environment, being open and able to change quickly based on customer wants and needs is a prerequisite for any successful business. So, event producers beware: Albert Einstein defines insanity as, “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
We should be asking our customers (attendees and exhibitors) what they want and need…on an ongoing basis. What I mean by “ongoing” is before, during and after each event. For example, I remember reading about an event producer who, prior to their event, created an interactive environment between registered attendees and speakers. Registered attendees were able to supply questions to the speaker in advance of the event so the speaker could address the questions during the session. And this interaction was “live” right up until the session. What a great way to keep the session cutting edge and to provide the speaker with information so he or she could deliver the most pertinent up-to-date information in a session.
In terms of obtaining on-site feedback, many of you have probably read about the use of Twitter during educational sessions to provide live feedback between the audience, the speaker, the event producer…and even other interested people not attending the conference. It’s here, it’s being done now and it’s a successful way to obtain feedback.
Another commonly used method for obtaining customer feedback on-site is to have small “by invitation” feedback lunches with attendees and/or exhibitors to talk about their impressions. Most people are very receptive to these as long as they’re not too long and a skilled staff member or facilitator keeps things moving. Also, it’s a nice way to say thank you to participants.
There’s always the most traditional method for obtaining customer feedback: the survey. Surveys can (and should) be done before, during and after every event. I have found the best way to obtain a large response rate is to offer some type of personal incentive for completing a survey (a chance to win an iPad, a trip to some nice location, etc.). The free conference registration typically offered just doesn’t seem to cut it anymore.
What’s also great now is the variety of inexpensive survey tools on the internet, for example, Survey Monkey. In addition to being cost-effective, these services have nice templates that can be emailed, and can handle some basic tabulation for you. One important thing to keep in mind when developing survey questionnaires is to hire someone with market research experience. Most event producers do not have the market research experience and knowledge to write non-leading, objective, unbiased survey questions. So, budget some dollars and hire a market research professional to help. It will be well worth your money if your questionnaire is more precise and to the point, and you will achieve definitive results. Exhibit Surveys is a well-known market research company with a great reputation for solid work. And there are other smaller firms, like Premier Research Solutions, founded and run by my long-time friend, Linda Wing with whom I worked at SmithBucklin.
The bottom line is this. We all need to stay in better touch with our customers so that we don’t lose sight of why they are participating in our events. The customer you never hear from after an event…and who never comes back…is the worst possible scenario. But that doesn’t need to happen. Reach out, stay in touch and ask the customers (attendees and exhibitors) what they want and need from your event in order for them be successful in their businesses. And then…be sure to deliver it…and you and your event will be successful as well.
