Technavio has projected the valuation of the global event management industry to be well over $1.07 trillion. And almost all forecasts are in agreement that the event management space is only set to skyrocket all the more, in terms of fiscal valuation, manpower and employment. What this means for the individual event planner or company is that this field is a high-stakes affair.
A core aspect of these stakes is its consumers, much like any other multi-trillion- dollar global industry. Herein, good attendee experience or lack thereof, is what either makes or breaks your event.
Event management companies invest carefully and yet generously when it comes to organizing their event. However, when the return on investment or ROI does not nearly match your expectations, money and morale both suffer. You question yourself, exhaustively trying to understand where we may have gone wrong. Much of this lack often ties back to one singular thing: the attendee experience.
Part of providing the best attendee experience for your visitors is also enjoying the process yourself. Yes, I said what I said.Â
What if event management did not have to be such an incredibly stressful occupation?
Wouldn’t it be nice if you did not have to micromanage multiple teams at once?
What if you did not have to cover for your employee’s mistakes on event day?
Wouldn’t it be proportionally better if you had one singular point of contact to interact with regarding all functions on event day? Well, overlooking several different teams is no joy, particularly when you are just starting out as a firm. We know for a fact that even the most experienced of professionals are simply unable to put everything in a single row on event day. But technology now exists to do precisely this.
With little to no human intervention, modern event management softwares are now capable of doing what was unthinkable a decade ago. Event professionals can now multiply their event ROI in meaningful ways, all thanks to the functions of modern, automated software. The pros are endless, but in this blog, let’s take a look at 5 of the most rewarding ways event management software improves your return on investment.
1. Event Management Software Helps Cut Administrative Overhead
Manual event planning is labour-intensive. Staff spend hours on event registration, data entry, email confirmations, schedule updates, badge printing and vendor coordination. These are tasks that can be automated end-to-end with the right kind of platform. According to reports, 89% of businesses using event technology report saving around 200 hours annually, with 20% saving upwards of 360 hours per year.
Meanwhile, another event industry report observes that event management software increases savings in effort, cost and time by approximately 40% through digitization and automation alone.
2. Event Management Software Reduces Staffing Costs
Beyond general time savings, automation has a direct impact on headcount requirements. Multiple analyses of event software economics repeatedly see that automating essential tasks such as registration, data entry and reporting can substantially reduce staffing costs. While this is also heavily dependent on the size and scale of the event, most event planners are in agreement with the pros of software tech.
It is also important to understand that many event organizations underestimate how much of their money is going into staffing. The proposition is fairly simple and linear. Not using an event management software means you will have to hire more individuals to handle tasks. More staff means more budget allocation toward salaries and associated employability costs.
So, in effect, this is not a minor efficiency gain that event management software is offering to organizations. It is big and measurable, the breadth of which the organization will realize soon after implementation. You see that your budget is no longer always on the brink. You are able to more freely allocate and accommodate your resources.
3. Minimizing Costs on Redundant Tools and Manual Processes
A persistent challenge in event planning is tool fragmentation. For every given task, the organization bears the brunt of having to subscribe to a software solution. Looking at the larger picture, this means anywhere between 5 and 15 different software tools, all individual entities, sometimes incapable of integration. Each of these tools also comes with its own baggage, varied subscription fees, a learning curve that can take anywhere from a week to a month and data silos.
All-in-one event management platforms are the stars here. They are able to consolidate registration, ticketing, marketing, analytics, mobile apps and post-event reporting into a single interface. This consolidation eliminates redundant SaaS subscription costs and reduces the administrative burden of managing multiple vendor relationships. Having email marketing built into the same platform as registration means campaigns can be triggered automatically based on attendee behaviour and without any manual data exports or third-party integrations.
4. Streamlining Marketing Automation and Lead Generation
Event management software with integrated marketing tools allows organizers to run targeted email campaigns, manage social media promotion, track registration conversions, and sync attendee data directly into CRM systems. All of this is made feasible without the need to manually transfer any information at all between platforms. The results of this kind of event automation are measurable when it comes to the ROI.
Event planners find it a lot easier to focus on the goals that they set for themselves at the beginning of planning. Should the planner attempt to do everything manually, chances are, they may have already forgotten the core purpose of the event. They can barely recall their business objectives because all they can think of are the hundred unfinished tasks on the calendar.
We have also come to see that event organizers today are also specifically seeking automation integrations when it comes to hosting virtual or hybrid events. When marketing and event operations run on the same platform, lead attribution becomes clean, follow-up sequences are automated, and we see that the full revenue value of event-generated leads is fulfilled.
5. Accessing Post-Event Data Through Surveys and Delivering Faster ROI
Post-event surveys are one of the most underutilised tools in the event organizer’s arsenal. When sent automatically through the event platform within hours of the event ending, post-event surveys pick up attendee satisfaction data. This is the time when audience impressions are still fresh from the event and are therefore building actionable intelligence. You can then use this to plan and position your next big event.
The data from post-event surveys feeds directly into the ability to measure event ROI:
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- Organizers can correlate satisfaction scores with ticket sales performance
- Session ratings are assessed based on repeat attendance
- Sponsor feedback can be used to check renewal rates or their likelihood of collaborating again.
The financial case for post-event data is something to look up to for organizers who are reaching for greater endeavors. Companies running more than ten events per year or events with hundreds of attendees appear to be clearest beneficiaries of these analytics.
The Bottom Line on Event Management Software and ROI
Event management software today is an investment with a quantifiable return. And that speaks to the very idea of measuring an event’s ROI. When you have what is the single most productive tool to improve event ROI, still holding on to ineffective manual practices does greater harm than good.
This year, cut down on unnecessary staffing costs and part ways with those tools that have long become redundant. When the savings you make from reduced personnel costs and eliminated peripheral software subscriptions exceed the annual licensing fee, the financial case writes itself.
Try Dryfta’s purpose-built and 360° event management software today. We have catered to a number of large scale events in the past and across niches. We have also worked extensively in the hybrid format and have developed tools exclusively for these events. To learn more, sign up for a free demo today and watch us in action.