Your Event Isn't Over Yet...

Post-event duties are often forgotten or leave a lot to be desired. Proper evaluation is nevertheless crucial to organise a subsequent event successfully.

The following is a brief checklist to round off your event smoothly.

Dismantling: Allocate enough manpower to dismantle and pack up; provide transport for the equipment and notify external suppliers. Packing up usually needs to take place on the same day. If you don't do this, you will have to rent the location for an extra day. Account for this in advance and book the hall for an extra half day, if necessary.

Don't forget to thank staff, visitors and speakers: Send thank you notes to all the people who contributed to your event as soon as possible: colleagues, external partners, speakers, etc. Small tokens of appreciation are always appreciated. This may also help you secure their services again at some point in the future. You might like to arrange a reception or a dinner for the organising team. Persuade management to thank the team as well. They will greatly appreciate this.

Check and pay the last invoices: Do all the amounts tally? Are there any charges for damages? Any unforeseen charges? Is the consumption of drinks correct? If you are not satisfied with any products or services delivered by a supplier, write a letter of complaint and have the invoice adjusted accordingly. After that, you can close the budget and you may want to (re)calculate the cost per participant. Settle any remaining potential insurance matters and compensation for loss or damage.

File everything: Properly classify and file all documents, schedules, contracts and invoices. This will enable you to refer to it to see how you approached the planning of the event. The file might come in handy for a subsequent event as well.

Communicate the results of the event through the press: If your event was "newsworthy", then issue a press release afterwards. Be sure to provide the name of a contact so journalists can call for additional information. Draw up a list of all articles that appeared in the press. The number of articles and their tone will provide initial input to the evaluation.

Communication for non-attendees: You can send a folder with literature to participants who did not attend. Make it available on your website as well, so it is easily accessible to everyone. Pay careful attention to copyright; you need written permission from the author to publish text on your website.

Publish the photos on your website: Do you have any pictures of your event available? If you have recorded the event or parts of it, you will be able to develop a nice montage. You can provide access to the photos or film clips on the website as well. Let the participants know where to view the photos.

Don't forget the staff magazine: Publish an article about the event in your staff magazine, on the intranet, your website, etc. It is nice for those who attended but also for those who were not able to make it. Moreover, you can give additional thanks to your staff using the internal channels of communication.

Evaluate the event both in-house and with the participants: Write all the positive and negative evaluation information in a report. A good evaluation report is a source of information for you, for organising colleagues, and for the business. It will help you do even better with the next event. Circulate this evaluation report to the members of the organising team and to management.