The modern-day event uses data at every stage of the process. From planning right through to logistics and delivery, data helps to inform, shape and report on success, failure and progress. In this feature, agency correspondent Heather Nicholls speaks to Jade Ball, head of events at BI Worldwide about how data is increasingly being used in events and whether it is here to stay or just a passing trend.
The process of using data in events:
Jade Ball, head of events from BI Worldwide guides us through the process of using data within events.
- Data starts with the information that is provided by the client, such as employee surveys. This helps to get the organiser into the mindset of the people who will be attending and drive the agenda and content with the aim of providing meaningful content.
- Data is also crucial in the logistics and delegate management phase. Seamless logistics underpins the success of every event so data is crucial to ensure that it runs smoothly. It allows event organisers to determine the specifics required for the event – everything from travel and access to food preferences and intolerances.
- It also allows the event to be successful and gives full visibility on attritions and cancellations.
- In terms of event delivery data can provide real-time insights and can help organisers to ‘read the room’ and give feedback to speakers and stakeholders.
- Post event, data is crucial in providing depth of insight into the success of the event, the changes that are required to future events and whether the key objectives were achieved.
Does data impact creativity?
Whilst some may worry that such a deep focus on data could stifle spontaneity, creative or originality Ball says that the opposite is true.
For example, feedback and data from previous events can be used to change the shape of future events. Ball says: “Most recently this has included trends such as making events more sustainable, changing the food and beverage offers (including having alcohol free days) and personalising the travel with individual ticketing rather than block booking to allow delegates to stay on after the event had finished to have a personal holiday.”
She also explains that rather than stifling creativity, data helps to direct the creativity, adding: “There is no point in being creative in a way that will not resonate with attendees but with the data insights desired by the organisation and also surprise and delight the attendees.”
Data can also facilitate spontaneity by making the proceedings truly responsive to the audience and it can provide the insights that are needed to ensure that everyone walks away from the event with the same knowledge – testing understanding and engagement in real time rather than just waiting for the post event analysis to demonstrate inconsistencies.
However, the ROI can still be difficult to measure, as many clients are more interested in return on engagement and whether the event meets its objective.
Ball said: “Without data it is very difficult to demonstrate either of these. Data driven feedback has made it much easier to receive feedback from delegates. Online or in-app systems allow us to incentivise and anonymise responses to increase the engagement. This is always supplemented by personalised verbatim feedback to ensure that all feedback is taken into consideration in the post-event analysis.
The challenges of data
It is vital that agencies are transparent with their clients around the collection and use of data but the area that can be challenging is around delegates understanding of the use of data. Delegates don’t always have the same view of data security and responsibility as the organisation. This means that sometimes education is required around why details such as passport information should not be shared directly on email with the event organisers.
Also, sometimes when working on events in countries that do not have the same standards around data then the onus is on the organiser to enforce the expected standards that are expected. Ball said: “We get all of this agreed ahead of the event itself so that we ensure that only necessary data is collected and that it is always stored securely with stringent security checks in place to protect it.”
So, is data here to stay?
As data becomes more incorporated into the world of events, Ball has found that clients are starting to ask for more granular performance metrics from events. For example, satisfaction scores – which were previously used as a measure of event success, are being phased out in favour of questions that are linked back to the objectives with a focus on future improvements. Ball said: “There is often more interest in the qualitative feedback than in the quantitative feedback so its vital that both are collected.”
Looking ahead, Ball warns that the industry will need to be incredibly transparent around the measures they have in place to ensure that the data they are using is accurate and not influenced by AI. It is likely that delegates will become more aware of the risks of their data being used elsewhere, so stringent security measures will need to be put in place to ensure that data isn’t subjected to
Ball says: “Data is here to stay. The insights it provides can affect meaningful changes to events and provide a depth of understanding that was previously impossible to achieve. With the increasing popularity of AI, the importance of data in events in every stage from planning through to analysis will only continue to grow.”
