A key to success, in any field, is learning from our experiences—good or bad. Highlighting success is just as important as highlighting areas for improvement. This logic holds true for debriefing as a team after an event. In this week’s article, I dive into hosting an effective event debrief meeting.
Before you have your team debrief, collect as much data as you can, including original meeting notes around the purpose and objectives of the event, KPI targets and event survey data. Put this information in a clean and legible presentation that can be distributed after the debrief and placed in your event folder. Make sure to add this year’s projected and actual event data.
Acknowledge your team’s efforts
When you begin your debrief meeting, you want to always start with acknowledging the amount of effort your team put into the event. Diving straight into critique is demoralizing, especially since people poured creativity, collaboration, time and energy into the event. Next, allow space for your team’s feedback on the event and the event planning process. This should always come before adding your thoughts as the event lead. There’s always insights to gather from hearing other team members’ perspectives. There may be a common thread, which should be a major focus for your next event. On the other hand, someone might notice a thread that the others weren’t clued into. Personally, I view these gems as touch points that others might have noticed, but were afraid to bring up. I make sure to place it on the list to address for the next event. During this open feedback portion of the debrief, remind yourself not to feel defensive or retort quickly about the challenges that caused the issue someone might be raising. This is counterproductive to the current conversation and the data the debrief provides to help improve the results of your next event
Revisit the original event outline
Once you’ve listened to your team’s insights, delve into your original purpose and expectations for the event. This is usually outlined during your first team event planning meeting. Circling back to the initial discussion will refresh everyone’s memory, which is helpful after countless months of being heads-down in the weeds of planning, in addition to their routine work obligations. On the sentimental side, this flashback can provide a full circle moment of pride for your team.
Review the KPI and event data
Personally, I like to dive into the event’s KPI targets and the event data next. This is unbiased data, which can depict how well you all met your initial goals. I’ll write a separate post on popular event KPI targets and my favorite methods for calculating your event return on investment (ROI). In this post, we’ll assume that your team identified your event measurements for success in either the first or second team meeting. Take time to explain your methodology and the key data, and how it compares to past event campaigns. Delve into any setbacks that should be taken into account or reasons why you exceeded expectations in specific areas. Team members appreciate this transparency and clarity. It also provides clear direction on how you judge a successful event and evaluate their work.
Examine the qualitative data
After you’ve covered the quantitative data, it’s time to examine the qualitative data using your event surveys from guests, vendors and team members. This data and feedback will directly impact how you execute your next event. For instance, I’ve attended countless events that focused on the big-name talent that was hired or a specific person in the organization. When the attendees (and I) left, we had the impression that the purpose of the event was to highlight the A-list celebrity or a leader in the organization, rather than the actual event goal to raise awareness or funds for a specific initiative. Consequently, the hosting organization wasted a significant amount of their annual marketing budget or company budget on an event that didn’t fulfill the objectives for hosting the event. Whether or not the event purpose and goal was effectively communicated through the event will be discussed in the event survey and feedback. Things to look for include specific references to programs or initiatives, language used throughout the night or memos on donations that align with the event’s mission. If the surveys don’t reflect the message and purpose of the night, the hosting organization’s future event content should be altered and clearly explain the purpose of the gathering, as well as their mission and services. Guest and vendor feedback, stories and suggestions from the event should be captured in your debrief so that it’s taken into consideration in later programs. In addition, this type of feedback should be incorporated into your audience profile to help you in future strategic planning, from sales to events.
Invite last thoughts from your team
To end the debrief, always close out with last thoughts from your team. With a thorough debriefing of the data and guest feedback, people are bound to have one last thought before you close the books on the event. Providing the space for last thoughts also nurtures the collaborative aspect of the event planning process. When leads forget to ask for last remarks or deem it unnecessary, it sends the message that your team’s perspective and expertise isn’t valued. This creates a top-down dynamic, which can impact the creative and collaborative process later on. You began the debrief by acknowledging their efforts, and it’s critical to show you value their perspective once they’ve digested the data related to their combined efforts.
If you need help, hire a professional
When in doubt, hire a professional. Your company/nonprofit can hire an event consultant to attend your event and provide feedback on their experience as your function. Personally, this is one of my favorite services to provide. It’s like having a secret shopper. I attend an event as a VIP guest to gain the full experience an event attendee would have. I mingle with fellow guests to learn about the overall audience profile and understand the hosting organization and the event purpose. Guests tend to be more honest with fellow attendees than with the leaders of the organization. Remember that guests want to be invited again and to maintain a positive professional relationship, so they might withhold criticism to avoid offense when speaking directly to the host. As an event consultant, I’m able to receive a more honest read on the event guest experience and motivations. Post event, I lead the event debrief on behalf of or alongside the event lead. In addition to the elements outlined above, I provide tangible solutions that can combat the challenges. As a result, my clients can create tailored events that truly resonate with their audience, thus leading to improved event outcomes and ROI for upcoming events.
I hope this blog post helps you as you close out another amazing corporate event with your team. If you need an event consultant or event manager for your event, I’m here to help with Rielle Events.
Rielle Events Podcast 