Congratulations on orchestrating an incredible event.
Now you need to write a matching event report. Writing an after-event report might seem like a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be.
Diving into the art of creating an event report to showcase your triumphs and provide invaluable insights can be an enjoyable process.
At Eventbrite, we don’t just help you plan your event through our events platform, used by millions, we also have tools and resources to help you write a smashing event report to showcase your results.
In this guide, we’ll break down the elements a great report includes, as well as how to put the details into a dynamic must-read report, plus pro tips, templates, and examples from industry experts.
So, let’s take the work out of creating that event report.
The importance of event reporting
Event reporting is not just some paperwork obligation. It can elevate your event planning game to new heights.
Why?
Because it captures your event’s journey and allows you to relive the magic, identifies areas for growth, and strengthens relationships with stakeholders and sponsors.
Plus, a stellar event report becomes a powerful weapon in attracting future support and investment for upcoming events — definitely a win-win.
“It’s important to create an event report because decision-makers want to know what the return on investment (ROI) of the event is. Events can take a lot of resources — time, money, and effort. Decision-makers need to know whether the event was successful, and if and how it should be done differently next time.”
Joe Kevens, Founder of B2B SaaS Reviews and Director of Demand Generation at PartnerStack.
Goals and objectives of an event report
Before we dive into the nitty-gritty of crafting your report, let’s talk about its purpose.
Your event report is like a compass, guiding you and your colleagues towards future success. Its primary goals are:
- To evaluate your event’s effectiveness
- To provide insights for future planning
- To communicate the event’s impact to key players
By setting clear objectives for your report, such as analyzing outcomes, identifying strengths and weaknesses, and measuring attendee engagement, you’ll unleash the full potential of your report.
Elements of an event report: Unleash your creativity!
Now comes the exciting part – building your event report masterpiece. Think of it as a canvas where you paint a vivid picture of your event’s triumphs, highlights, and any challenges. Here are the essential elements you should include:
Executive summary
Think of the executive summary as your event report’s teaser. It offers a quick overview of your event, capturing attention with key achievements, challenges, and recommendations.
“The most important part of any report is definitely the executive summary. It’s where you will be able to convince people who are not part of your team that your event was worth their time and resources, so it needs to be compelling!”
Will Yang, Head of Growth & Customer Success at Instrumentl
Event overview and background
Set the stage by providing important context, like the event’s purpose, target audience, and any relevant backstory. You can paint a captivating backdrop that showcases how your event aligned with your organization’s goals.
Event objectives and purpose
Remember those goals you set as you were planning your event?
Here’s where you showcase how you conquered them.
Describe the specific outcomes your event aimed to achieve, whether it was increasing brand awareness, generating leads, or creating networking opportunities.
Back up those accomplishments with illustrative graphics and charts to make the data easy to comprehend and replicate at future events.
Pro tip: Use Eventbrite’s data analytics to back up your conclusions with hard numbers.
Event highlights and key moments
This is the part where you bring your event’s magic to life.
Share the most unforgettable moments, experiences, and activities that made your event shine. Use compelling anecdotes, testimonials, recap blog articles, photos/videos, and attendee feedback to make the readers feel like they were right there with you.
Attendee profile and demographics
Who were the lucky folks who experienced your event?
If you’ve used Eventbrite to sell tickets to your event, you can dive into a ton of juicy details about your attendees, from demographic information to their professional backgrounds.
In Eventbrite, this information is easily accessed with the following steps:
1. Go to Manage my events
2. Go to your Reporting workspace
3. Choose “Attendee Summary”
4. Select your events and add filters such as promotion code, ticket type, or sales channel
5. Add additional information you want
6. Export your data into Excel or CSV format
This data will give you insight into your target audience and help shape future events and marketing to cater to their needs.
Engagement and interaction metrics
Numbers speak volumes. Measure attendee engagement using metrics like attendance rates, session participation, and social media interactions. If you created a hashtag for your event, you can more easily track engagement through your web analytics.
Pro Tip: You can use Eventbrite’s third-party analytics integration feature to connect your Eventbrite account with your preferred analytics tool.
These numbers will unveil the effectiveness of your event and how engaged your audience was.
Another way to measure engagement is through participant surveys — before, during, or after the event.
Want to know more about using data to market your events? Try our event marketing platform today.
Financial summary and budget analysis
Time to crunch those numbers, though now your data should reflect your event’s financials. Provide a comprehensive overview of your figures, showcasing the budget, revenue generated, and expenses incurred.
Analyze the return on investment (ROI) and highlight any cost-saving tactics or revenue-generating strategies you employed.
Pro Tip: Use Eventbrite’s ROI calculator to discover how much more revenue you can generate.
Marketing and promotion strategy
Ah, the secret sauce behind your event’s success.
In this section, you should evaluate the marketing and promotion efforts you employed to make your event the talk of the town. Assess the effectiveness of each strategy, share successful tactics, and suggest areas for improvement.
Since social media is the heartbeat of most events, you want to pay extra attention to your results here. Explore your event’s social media presence, highlighting hashtags, reach, engagement, and even sentiment analysis.
Put emphasis on your successful campaigns and highlight how using marketing tools and technology has influenced your results.
Post-event analysis: The path to growth
Now that you’ve relived the glory of your event, it’s time to reflect on the bigger picture. The post-event analysis is where you bring together your successes, challenges, and lessons learned. Here’s what you should cover:
Key successes and achievements
Take a victory lap and highlight your event’s accomplishments.
Share how they aligned with your initial objectives, showcasing positive feedback, testimonials, attendee satisfaction rates, and any remarkable achievements that made your event stand out.
Challenges and areas for improvement
No event is without its hurdles, right? Discuss the challenges you encountered and how you overcame them like a true entrepreneur.
Be transparent and humble, but don’t put yourself down. Once you’ve identified the challenges, offer recommendations for improvement in future events.
Lessons learned and best practices
Your experience is priceless.
Share the valuable insights you gained from planning and executing your event. From innovative ideas to tried-and-true best practices, impart your wisdom and help.
“The biggest challenge in writing event reports is not getting caught in the weeds. As an event producer, you’re so close to the event that you can get lost in the details. others in their event endeavors.”
Joe Kevens, Founder of B2B SaaS Reviews and Director of Demand Generation at PartnerStack.
Impact on future events
How will your event’s outcomes and insights shape future events?
Discuss what you’ve learned that will influence future event planning strategies, offering insights on growth opportunities, expansion possibilities, and improvements for upcoming events.
Appendices: Supporting the journey
Now that we’ve covered the main sections, it’s time to add sprinkles to the cake. In your appendices, include supporting materials and documentation that enrich your event report, such as:
- List of sponsors and partners — Give credit where credit’s due by showcasing the amazing sponsors and partners who supported your event. Include their logos, contact information, and any relevant details about their involvement.
- Event agenda and program — Share your event’s detailed agenda and program, providing the schedule, session descriptions, and speaker information.
- Media coverage and press release links — Shout it from the rooftops! Compile links to media coverage, press releases, and articles related to your event. Show the world the buzz you created and the impact your event had beyond its physical boundaries.
- Post-event survey results — Let’s hear it from the attendees themselves. Include the results of post-event surveys and feedback.
- Event photos and videos — You may have more photos and videos than what you shared in the highlights. Here’s the place for that extra visual excitement.
- Interviews — You may want to add an interview or two to your report. This could be an attendee interview, a speaker, a performer, or anybody representative of your event.
Examples and templates
Now that you’ve gathered all the puzzle pieces, it’s time to consider the format of your event report.
Remember, your report shouldn’t just be a dry, boring document — it’s a chance to showcase your creativity and captivate your audience.
Tailor the format and presentation style to suit your readers, making it engaging and visually appealing.
Here are a couple of great report examples from Red Bull and ISM Cologne 2023. While not traditional or formal event reports, they may inspire you to think outside the box.
Want to make report writing easy? Download our Event Report Template.
Unleash your new event reporting skills
Armed with this guide, you’re now ready to conquer the world of event reporting. So, channel your passion, creativity, and expertise into crafting a report that will leave your readers awestruck.
Remember, your event report isn’t just a formality — it’s an opportunity to relive the magic, inspire others, and set the stage for even more remarkable events in the future.
Once you’ve identified your event’s strengths and weaknesses, you can start to tailor your next event’s page and marketing strategy using Eventbrite’s complete platform to incorporate your newfound knowledge and elevate your next event.
