How to Create the Best Event Report

How do you write an event review? Simply follow these easy instructions to create the best event report. Also, discover practical tips that will make your evaluation more persuasive, a list of tools you need to flesh it all out, and advice on how to prove ROI to clients and bosses. Then, learn to tailor your event report to exhibitions and show value to key event partners. 

How do I create an event report? 

Create an event report with any digital word processor and basic event information such as time, date, and location. Add in sections for each major event area, such as marketing, vendors, and attendee demographics. Include all relevant metrics plus a personal evaluation of how the event was, what attendees think about it and if the original goals are complete. 

Use an event report template to organize thoughts and to help make sure no detail is lost. Then, illustrate findings with valuable additions such as quotes from vendors, attendee poll results, and sales data charts. 

How to create the best event report in a few simple steps

Follow these easy instructions to generate a complete event report that provides greater insight into the success of your trade show, conference, or activation. 

Jumpstart your evaluation with this event review template. Include each of the items below to get a big picture view of the event results. 

1. Write an executive summary. 

Recap the event overview, highlight accomplishments, and conclude with a set of takeaways. Make sure the summary is less than one page and easy for readers to skim. Use bullet points, short sentences, and subheaders to get your point across.  

2. Include facts such as main objectives, timeline, budget, venue details, event dates/times, and names of event organizers, vendors, and key staff. 

Add in event type-specific details. For example, an event report for an exhibition should provide an overview of trade show booth design strategies, activities, swag, and contests or giveaways. 

3. Summarize attendee feedback that is most relevant to your main objectives to create the best event report.  

Pull in tweets, Facebook posts, and LinkedIn reviews from attendees. Also, send out attendee satisfaction surveys via email. 

4. Describe the success of your event agenda, structure, and speakers. 

Name the most well-attended lectures and presentations plus who hosted them. Explain how the event agenda is structured and what the strategy was behind it in a sentence or two. 

5. Articulate the pros and cons of your event venue through the lens of your event goals. 

For example, you can summarize the ways in which your trade show booth placement was helpful or hurtful based on foot traffic numbers and competition from neighboring displays. 

6. Share important marketing analytics and relevant KPIs. 

Use figures and event KPIs such as the total number of social media posts that use the event hashtag, email list and subscriber count increases, and unique website visitors over the course of the event. 

7. Review sponsor revenue and survey results to create the best event report. 

Prove return on investment with previously agreed-upon metrics. Include details such as sponsor link clicks on the event website, sponsor coupon code usage, and social media mentions. 

8. Compare vendor experiences. 

Survey vendors via email to rate their satisfaction and conclude whether or not their event goals were successful. Limit survey questions to five or less multiple-choice number ratings and leave a space for short comments. 

9. Evaluate event staff performance and satisfaction. 

Consider the answer to questions such as: were there too many or too few event staff present? Did the event staff meet expectations? Did they feel supported by event organizers throughout the event? 

10. Conclude with recommendations for future events.

Provide official takeaways and advice for readers who may want to duplicate this event in the future or improve their overall strategy. Bullet point your main findings and double-check that each idea is supported by data in the previous segments. Keep all recommendations actionable and specific to the audience the report is meant for.  

Next, use these persuasive elements to make your event report findings even more impactful: 

Add infographics and charts that support your evaluation to create the best event report. 

Use free tools such as Canva and SmartDraw to create visual representations of data points readers care about most. 

Choose event report formatting based on the intended audience. 

Order your sections according to your readers’ top goals. For example, if the event report mainly for a sponsor interested in boosting social media engagement, skip the evaluation from other sponsors and lead with marketing analytics to prove ROI. 

Embed relevant photos, videos, and audio clips to support the text. 

Again, tailor the report to your intended audience and the event type. If you hosted a booth at a trade show, include photos of your booth set-up and any relevant video or audio clips you shared with attendees who stopped by.  

Discover 5 tools you need to create the best event report

Discover must-have event report tools that fill in data gaps, provide vital KPI information, and boost your overall presentation. 

1. Use flexible registration software to track sales and social media engagement. 

Leading event registration software solutions automatically capture and translate data into printable reports. And you can do searches across Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter to see all the chatter about your event. Add these to the back of your event report to further prove your event ROI. 

2. Compare registration numbers versus actual event check-ins with Social Tables to create the best event report. 

Get Cvent’s handy event check-in app to track attendance. Also, add in any event diagrams you made with Social Tables to illustrate your strategic layouts and evaluate their effectiveness. 

3. Utilize survey templates and tools to capture quotable feedback from attendees, volunteers, sponsors, and speakers.

Cvent online survey software offers customizable surveys. Take advantage of their many post-event templates and user-friendly features such as simple email list uploads or analytics tracking. 

4. Proof-read your event report for errors and tone with Grammarly.

Use Grammarly’s tone detector to strike a balance between professional and friendly within your event report.  

5. Take advantage of a Net Promoter Score calculator. 

Breakdown attendee survey data with an NPS calculator that illustrates trends, uncovers key fan demographics, and helps you contextualize why attendees thought your event was great. 

How to show real ROI in your event report

Empower key event stakeholders with concrete statistics that prove their investments were worthwhile.  

1. Compare pre- and post-event social media engagement rates. 

Look at follows, profile visits, and post interactions. Track hashtags, event contest entries, and location or venue tags over the course of your event. Create a word cloud to determine what phrases attendees associate with your event online. 

2. Use attendee polling to rate their satisfaction and create the best event report. 

Create polls for the overall event or ask about specific event elements such as keynotes speakers or agenda tracks. Also, get feedback on your event report recommendations by instantly polling attendees to see if they agree with the suggestions. 

3. Breakdown movement tracking to find event hot spots and rate booth or attraction popularity. 

Use sensing technology or reports from your venue to gain insight into foot traffic at the event. For tradeshow and convention booths, pay special attention to the number of people who passed your booth versus the number who stopped to participate. Also, keep an eye out for the average amount of time each visitor spent at your display, how many of those leads converted, and the total overall impressions at the event. 

4. Analyze event app behavior to show what’s most important to attendees. 

See which parts of your event app had the most visitors, lowest bounce rates, and the highest average time on page to gain valuable insight. For example, if your event app offers networking, evaluate how many messages are sent across the platform or how many profile clicks lead to further engagement. 

5. Add up sales leads obtained through in-person and online event activities. 

Gather numbers from your email list and website registration data to see how many attendees or visitors converted to leads. Work together with your sales department to figure out how you’ll track additional post-event leads. Include this data in report addendums or follow-ups with key event partners to further promote the long term benefits of the event itself. 

6. Calculate event profitability using a tried and true formula. 

Subtract the total cost of the event from the total sales revenue earned during and immediately after. Divide that number by the total cost of the event then multiply it by 100 to see what percentage of your original investment was earned back. A full 100% indicates that you have doubled the original event investment while 50% means you at least broke even.  

How do you write a report after an exhibition?

To write a report after an exhibition, all you need to do is add additional data points that are specific to trade show booths. Include the following in your exhibition event report to provide a convincing argument for why you should (or shouldn’t) attend again next year: 

• Multiply leads obtained by close rate percentage and average sale value to get your total trade show revenue. Work together with your sales department to get more accurate numbers. 
• Include both the return on investment and the return objectives to create the best event report after an exhibition. Impress your stakeholders with revenue and the potential for future revenue plus important nonmonetary event benefits (such as increased brand recognition and new impressions). 
• Add information about booths located in front and on either side of yours. 

Note how much perceived or real foot traffic they had, what designs and decor they used, what size their booth was, what audiences you share, and what activities or swag they offered. Compare and contrast your trade show booths to get even more ideas for the next iteration. 

Impress clients and bosses with the best event report ever  

You now know the simple step by step process of writing an event report. You also know what tools you need, how to prove event ROI and the best ways to tailor your report to exhibitions.

Next up: create even better event reports with some tips on harnessing big data. Then, include some of these post-event evaluation questions to get the best possible feedback.