With this guide, we show you how and when you can obtain the necessary data to personalise your events and thus gain personal contact with your guests. This includes collecting your event data before, during and after your events.

What is event personalisation?

Events are considered one of the most effective marketing channels. With the increasing trend of investing in events, the need to create a seamless, personalised event experience is becoming more and more important. Personalisation measures can accelerate important event goals such as increasing sales or maintaining customer relationships.

"Event personalisation includes all the strategies and tactics that allow you to tailor your events, reach, content and actions to the needs of your target audience.”

That’s how you collect data for the personalisation of your events

Data information allows you to take a more targeted approach to your events. By gathering relevant data based on your target individuals or organizations, your team is in a better position to literally tailor experiences, create engaging content and memorable moments. This ranges from communication to marketing measures.

Data can be collected at any stage of an event. Starting with the registration, during the event itself and up to follow-up measures:

Data before the event

A good place to start collecting data before the event is with an online event management software. Some of the most valuable data and information you can gather from previous events are:

• Interests of the customers
• Past event topics
• Ticket sales
• Registrations
• And much more

Data is only powerful if you and your team or company can access, manage and edit it (optimally via online software - access to all information anywhere and anytime). It is important that you can act proactively and know who came to the events, who was satisfied and who was not, and can learn from this. So that you and your events can always improve in the future and it also makes future communication and planning easier.

Guest management tool
Use guest information from past events, manage them and keep complete control over your guest list. Import contacts by importing them from a simple Excel file or via your CRM tool or event management software. Access historical information about your customers and contacts from past events. Check which events they have already attended, divide them into appropriate categories (e.g. VIP, employees) and address them with individualised communication. In this way, you can set up personalised registration masks in the software, whereby different participant information can be queried for each category. In the agenda you can also create program items that are displayed in a personalised way per participant group.

Companion management
Accompanying guests are also not excluded from individualisation. Whether you want to know their name, the company they work for, special nutritional needs, workshop choices or nothing at all, the possibilities with the software are endless. Allow your customers to choose their 'Plus One' themselves and thus ensure a high presence at your event and a lasting positive effect.

Data during the event

Even during the event, a glance into the event management software can provide some information that is otherwise not easily accessible. The data includes the following guest activities:

• Check In's
• No Show's
• Photos of participants
• Engagement and interaction of the participants
• Who has attended which workshop or speech

Real-time event dashboard
Monitor event performance digitally and in real-time in the software - throughout the entire event cycle. Track activity throughout the entire event cycle, from opening invitation emails, to registration, to check-in.

Data after the event

As soon as your event is over, quantitative & qualitative feedback through surveys and individual follow-up measures should take place. You can ask the participants or customers detailed questions and receive very personal answers.

Event feedback
Listen to your guests and learn more about your participants through surveys and feedback. Prepare the feedback form before the event so that you can activate it immediately after the event or schedule it in the software. During the event, you can already get the opinion of your guests via a live survey. The valuable opinions of the participants on lectures, speakers and much more will help you to record what you have learned, to continuously improve your events and to support you in your future planning.

Another important component of post-event data is the determination of the return on investment (ROI) of the event. Reporting, which gives you insight into the revenue generated by the event, is crucial in this respect. All-in-one online event management softwares can give you a holistic view of registrations, ticket sales and attendee engagement.

Event analytics
You can view the statistics around your event live during the event. Thanks to the knowledge gained from evenito's event statistics and the evaluation of the customer and participant feedback, you can make well-founded decisions for planning your next event. These insights also provide you with important data for future communication and marketing. Export detailed reports and easily analyse the results of cross-event surveys.

Event personalisation: key takeaways

Data is the starting point for any successful personalisation. This requires clear set up processes and appropriate tools to support them. Only then can the relevant data be used successfully and an innovative event experience be created.

You should keep the following points in mind:

• Collecting relevant data before, during and after the event is the key to successful event personalisation.
• Provide unique and individual experiences, rather than a broad, unified experience, to engage and win your target audience or customers.
• Invest in tools to personalise the event experience