Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Post Event Analysis (PEA)


It is every Planner’s joy to walk away from an event knowing that their clients are happy and that their Company provided the excellent service(s) that they were contracted to deliver. However, things sometimes don't always go as planned.
Here at HM we always review what went well and what didn’t go so well after every event. We call this the 'PEA'.  We believe that every event - successful or otherwise can be improved upon and there are always lessons to be learned.
Here are some of our PEA questions.
For a successful event:

1) Was the event a success?
The definition of ‘success’ is relative so we go through our checklist of what boxes a successful event should tick.

2) If the event was a success, what areas can still be improved on?
Every area of the event is analysed, those responsible for each area(s) are questioned and answers/ comments/recommendations are communicated and documented.

3) Was the successful event profitable? Were there hidden cost(s) not anticipated or accounted for? Did we compromise profit to secure the job?
A business needs to make profit to survive

4) What are the lessons learnt?
These need to be documented in the client’s file.

5) Are the clients truly happy?
Happy clients bring repeat businesses

6) Are their guests happy and amazed?
Every guest is a potential client or will recommend a good vendor to friends and family. Word of mouth is the best form of advertisement in the events industry.

7) Are other vendors happy?

For a not so successful event:


1) Why is the client not happy or satisfied?
2) Why is the event not successful?  What factors contributed to this?
3) Were the reasons/factors within our control?
4) Were there communication gaps?
5) Were both parties transparent in their dealings with each other?
6) Could we have handled matters differently?
7) What steps do we take in future to avoid a reoccurrence?


Thank goodness we have a high percentage of happy clients because it takes a few weeks for a good Planner to recover from the shock of a bad event!  An unsuccessful event is not just emotionally draining but very costly to a business - your reputation is simply on the line!