8 Ways To Make Most Of Event Data Management

The phenomenon of event data has intensified due to the growing utilization of digital technology.

The implementation of virtual formats was initially inspired by the lockdown regulations, yet is now perceived to be a sustained method to stay in touch with supporters throughout the year.

Statistics from MarketsandMarkets demonstrate that the international digital event platform market is expected to become worth around £13.6 billion ($18.9 billion) in 2026, increasing from its value of £74.7 billion ($10.4 billion) in 2021.

The increased availability of data has been beneficial to organizers as it allows them to glean important information to increase efficiency; however, it has also caused worries about how to effectively handle the data and comply with security regulations.

Importance of Event Data Management

Event data management assists coordinators in figuring out which facets of their event are most appealing to attendees, enabling them to build more personalized and pertinent experiences.

This also gives usable data about how purchasers act, which permits promoters to make knowledgeable moves regarding campaigns and items in progress.

Key benefits include:

•       Understand where your target market spends time online
•       Identify areas of interest within your content
•       Gain a deeper understanding of user behaviors across multiple channels
•       Create customized marketing strategies based on individual interests

Brian Field, the COO of Emerald, stated to ExpoPlatform that the capacity to apply this data is now a prerequisite.

He declared that the coronavirus has made it evident that having access to or owning technology is a must in this day and age.

Organizers need to implement new strategies and avoid reverting to practices from before the Covid-19 pandemic since these strategies, along with scant performance data, have made it hard for chief marketing officers to compute their Return on Investment accurately.

Having the skills to be able to evaluate the return on investment through data and relevant tools is essential. We have to do it.

The novel Coronavirus pandemic has made it necessary to more quickly embrace technology, something that the industry would have had to do anyway at some point in time.

Collecting Event Data

Event website

Event sites are the standard for gathering information about people coming to the event. They provide a convenient way of collecting all the essential information in a single area, yet also give you the ability to inquire inquiries that will assist in comprehending what your audience desires from your occasion.

It is a good idea to take note of the amount of people going to your event website and determine which pages and sections are more popular. Giving thought to altering certain aspects if individual areas are not obtaining the required focus. You could, for example, incorporate various forms of media or alter the design.

Mobile event app

Organizers should think about implementing a mobile app to get data from participants before, throughout, and after the gathering. This gives you the chance to obtain commentary on the material presented, presenters, instructional sessions, and other event elements.

This indicates the amount of people who are obtaining your application daily or weekly. Include the use of emails containing links to download the technology in your marketing plan.

Lead capture solutions

These are programs that help organisers to process attendee data and compile their contact databases. The conversations can be given extra explanation and each potential customer can be given a ranking to decide if they should be called again or discussed further.

Polls and Surveys

Gathering the opinions of people by means of polling and feedback surveys is an excellent way to gain useful insight from your followers.

You or your brand can utilize an event to gather people’s thoughts and feelings about their experiences, which can also be useful for gauging interest in future content you create.

Creating surveys through sites like Facebook and Twitter, alongside email marketing applications like MailChimp, is a simple process. These services are often included with virtual event aids.

The data acquired from these sources consists of characteristics like age, sex, locality, job, earnings, matrimonial condition, education levels, enjoyments, and many more.

This data records patterns of behavior like website visits, interactions on social networks, search engine requests, usage of apps, buying tendencies, whether emails were opened, attendance of virtual stalls and involvement in a session.

Inquirying your audience with further queries will result in more feedback, providing more knowledge about what they require and like.

Using Event Data to Create Better Experiences

Gathering details from events can give you priceless bits of knowledge to help enhance user engagement at live, hybrid, and virtual meetings and conferences.

This permits you to gain a more thorough grasp of how participants are engaging with the substance at the event, which lectures and presenters they find most noteworthy – in addition to the amount of involvement in polls, surveys and giveaways.

This information will help you make better decisions about future improvements that could include:

• Personalizing the attendee journey at all touchpoints
• Developing effective training programs by identifying areas of improvement
• Improving customer service by learning the most effective ways of reaching out to attendees and providing quick solutions
• Increasing revenue opportunities by targeting new audiences based on previous attendance patterns

Timothy Skennion, the head of Derabo Advisory Group, is of the opinion that one of the greatest chances for show coordinators arising from the digital switch of shows is the access to user information.

He acknowledged the worries surrounding the handling of attendee data, but stressed to event coordinators on ways that it could be used to create an improved experience for guests and sponsors.

Event Data Features Online Event Platforms Should Offer

Organizers who are looking to put together a protected virtual occasion are advised to select a supplier that has been sufficiently looked into by outsiders and fulfills business sector norms. Here are some things to look out for:

1. Data Protection Compliance

Organizations must adhere to exacting standards with respect to the gathering, retention, dealing with, and transportation of personal information under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Ensure the vendors shortlisted adhere to this legislation.

2. Third-Party Audits

Platforms perform frequent examinations of their structures and procedures to check that the company abides by its commitments under GDPR.

They regularly administer assessments on them to ensure that they fulfill the compulsory demands. Request audit documents or get in touch with past purchasers to acquire comprehensive knowledge.

3. Security Features

Cloud-based platforms that host events often have extra measures of encryption and security in place to keep sensitive information safe while it is being sent. Organizers should confirm that the steps they are taking are sufficient to guarantee the security of their information.

4. Privacy Policy

Platforms which use tech must offer specific information regarding the type of data they collect, the objective behind collecting it, where it is stored, and for how long it is stored. It is a wise idea to make these policies available on the internet so that anyone wishing to see them can access them.

5. Customer Support

It is imperative that coordinators obtain responses to typical inquiries rapidly and conveniently. Platform providers should provide round-the-clock customer service, accessible through telephone, email and instant chat.

They should also employ personnel to respond to questions through social media platforms.

6. Data Export Capabilities

Output from different events which have been exported from different platforms may not always agree with each other. Organizers must verify that the information gathered during the sign-up process corresponds to what was entered into the system.

They should ensure that the layout of the information stays the same once it has been put online.

Managing Event Data

The facts produced by your charity fundraising occasions is known as event data. This encompasses expansive information such as the total amount of individuals, the total amount of money earned, or the quantity of event items sold.

You’ll get far more specific info with a reliable fundraising event tool, including contact info for new members and sponsors, performance metrics for each person raising money, and data on what auction items were most sought-after.

Stronger online fundraising software focuses on making the data gathered from your fundraising event simpler to access, easy to comprehend, and transferable.

1. Start With Analyzing Broad Data

To achieve the most effective outcomes when dealing with your event data, begin by looking at the general information. Figure out the grand total gained, the complete number of people who gave, the number of individual donations, etc.

You can then employ this information to evaluate the success of your event. You can compare it to the expected amount of money your charity was set to bring in.

You can assess your broad information against the money raised at last year’s events or other events to find out which events are best for your organization.

2. Don’t Forget About Your Narrow Data

Once you have carefully studied the big data and come to conclusions, you can concentrate on the specific data.

This data is more detailed. This data can be used to keep track of or establish new donor info, measure how individual fundraisers did, discover which resources were employed for fundraising activities, and more – though it won’t provide insight into the success of the whole event.

An exhaustive look at the data can provide insight into individual benefactors and fundraising staff, which could assist in creating a much more effective approach to fundraising in the long run.

You will be able to better your results if you are capable of rapidly understanding your information and making use of it with the assistance of event data management.

3. Collect Event Data

In order to make the most out of managing event data, the initial procedure is to build a framework which enables you to record data. Having fundraising software can prevent a lot of stress.

Events that only accept cash do not have an efficient system for recording who is attending and participating. Having guests sign up digitally can keep an accurate count of the attendees and also allows you to maintain their contact information for related events.

It is not enough to just offer the ability for guests to register on the Internet. The fundraising event program needs to gather the information and make it available to you.

It is important to do the necessary research when selecting a partner for your digital fundraising activities so you can retain access to the data obtained from your donors prior to, during, and after the event.

4. Make Your Event Data Portable

You will also have to ponder how to employ the data that was obtained.

A lot of nonprofits take pride in constructing a solid list of contributors. If you are unable to import the information associated with your event attendees into your customer relationship management system, you are missing out on valuable data.

Furthermore, if you are unable to enter your attendees’ email addresses quickly into your email provider, it is likely that the effectiveness of your event communication will suffer.

Once you have gathered all the details regarding your event, it is significant to be able to transfer that data to other programs so you can guarantee that you have the most recent facts available.

Effectively utilizing your data is key for successful event data management.

It is possible that this might include sending details from fundraising events to Excel to talk through the outcomes with the personnel, transferring donor contact details to your electronic mail provider, or taking advantage of a service connection to transfer event data to your Customer Relationship Management and Accounting software.

5. Learn What the Data Says

Gather your data together and figure out what it is communicating. The following stage is the most difficult to manage when it comes to event data. Why? Interpreting your event data requires using a certain amount of analytical thinking.

Begin with a basic approach and save the more in-depth examination until you have enough time for a thorough review.

6. Comparing Your Event Against Others

The first type of analysis is the simplest. Compare the data from your current event to that of past occasions. You can compare this year’s event to last year’s to determine whether it did better or not as much.

It is possible to analyze your activities relative to one another in the same twelve-month period. You would undertaking this to ascertain what events succeed for your charity organization compared to those that are not as successful.

Question: If the virtual event that your organization held last year yielded better results than the in-person event the year before, what components can you maintain from the virtual event to boost involvement?

Examine the distinctions between each event. What distinct elements contributed to the triumph of one event compared to the other? Are there certain events that perform better than others? Is there a particular season when people are most eager to do fundraising?

7. Analyzing Your Fundraising Event Data

This type of examination is more comprehensive and examines your fundraising information in greater detail. At times, the information can be boiled down to a single figure.

For example, it should be simple to figure out how much you made from your event through your fundraising thermostat or event control panel. You should also be able to easily calculate the number of participants in your event based on the list of registrants.

It may take some time to assess and understand other information. If you had something like an event store or a silent auction at your event, you could be interested in what products made people eager to bid or buy.

This requires comparing your event items against one another. What was the quantity of each store item purchased during the event?

What auction items had the most bids? Which had the least? This evaluation may require a bit of patience, but it ought to give you a clearer understanding of what drives your supporters the most.

You can also examine information from those who were involved in your fundraising efforts to establish who did well and who encountered difficulty in raising funds. You can contact those who had difficulty and gain information concerning why they had a hard time.

Then, produce resources to aid fundraisers next year. These actions allow event data management to produce useful results that can be utilized in order to have more successful fundraising events.

8. Getting to Know Your Participants

You can utilize your event data to become familiar with your attendees. Examine who signed up to take part in your fundraising campaigns. It is probable that a great number of individuals taking part are already entered in the contributor records.

There are likely to be fresh additions that can be included. Make sure you transfer your participant information into your Customer Relationship Management software. By doing that, you can identify who is new and extend your gratitude to them for taking part.

It’s an amazing chance to show them your purpose. This is ideal for developing connections with individuals who discover your organization through your functions.

For those who already have contact, modify their contributor data if they have shared any new telephone numbers, email addresses, or delivery/payment details.

Conclusion

Organizing a fundraising event is essential in order to achieve a successful outcome. You need to be aware of the information that the data provides in order to make effective use of it. You need to be able to make your data easily accessible and movable in order to benefit from it.