It’s your association’s end-of-the-year awards ceremony, and everything is perfect. Your top performers are recognized, your guest speaker gives a fascinating keynote address, and as your attendees leave, you hear chatter about how much they enjoyed the experience. However, when you go to plan the next year’s event, you come up short on quantifiable data to support your past success.
It’s easy to get caught up in event management and forget to track success metrics. However, event analytics are the key to seeing the full picture of your event’s impact on your attendees. In this guide, we’ll explore four signs your awards management system is lacking critical data collection points, along with easy fixes to make sure your event reporting is as successful as your planning.
Award ceremonies function as a lens into your community’s overall health, indicating member success, engagement in specialized programs, and commitment to your cause. When your application portal, attendance tracking, and event follow-up live in different data systems, it becomes difficult to track how participants engage with your organization throughout the awards process.
To integrate your award management software with your existing data systems, find a solution that syncs with your event management tools, member engagement platform, and association management system (AMS). A centralized data collection system makes it easy for your team to understand the full picture of your event engagement, from award applications and registration to post-event survey responses. This birds-eye view can help your team create future activities targeted toward your audience’s interests, such as hosting a guest lecture on a topic many award nominees mentioned in their application materials.
A navigable dataset is crucial to track, interpret, and act on metrics associated with your award program engagement. After your event, use your attendance and survey data to send targeted engagement opportunities to attendees. This personalized touch continues to recognize your members’ contributions to your organization and to their field while building engagement within your association.
Oftentimes, award ceremonies are a blur. While guests may rave about an event, it’s difficult to turn verbal feedback into a measurement of your success. If your events team depends solely on informal comments to shape their future awards nights, your organization may accidentally cater to the loudest voices rather than a majority consensus. Instead of relying solely on recollected feedback, your team should have a plan to gather responses from your entire audience after the event, not just from vocal participants.
Here are some must-haves in any post-event survey:
You may be wondering how your team can maximize responses from event participants. First, make sure to mention the survey during the event itself. If guests know to expect a follow-up, it’s less likely to be overlooked in their inbox. Additionally, add an incentive for completing the survey. A slight tuition reduction on a certificate program or early-bird access to next year’s conference can help increase your response rate.
Award ceremonies are feel-good moments that bring your community together. However, if your organization experiences a sharp drop-off in engagement after your event or a lack of returning attendees, you might need to step up your stewardship efforts.
An award from a professional association is a powerful motivator. If applicants and regular ceremony attendees aren’t engaging with your programming, audit your systems to see if something is discouraging their involvement. Walk through your registration, award nomination, and submission portals to identify redundant systems, and check past engagement data to see if there’s a particular spot where members disengage with the process. A drop in award applications may be explained by something as simple as a portal that doesn’t save application data.
While checking your data systems is one step toward increasing engagement with your award ceremony, effective follow-up is equally important. Your award ceremony attendees and recipients shouldn’t only feel connected to your association at one time of the year. When crafting your event strategy, plan an outreach cadence that acknowledges your attendees’ contributions to your association and provides regular updates on programs, initiatives, and community successes to keep your organization fresh in their minds and encourage engagement with your professional community.
High participation is only one indicator of an impactful awards program. The true value of your association’s awards program lies in its support of your members’ professional development, ability to foster networking connections, and affirmation of your association’s professional credibility.
Use these metrics in your award program advertising to boost your reputation and motivate your members to participate:
An awards program that clearly drives career advancement is a strong argument for stakeholder and member support. Active promotion broadens your applicant pool beyond your most committed members to include those looking to strengthen their credentials through your community offerings.
Transparent reports on what was successful and what could be changed about your award system help your team continually improve your programming over time. When gathering and assessing your award program data, identify areas where automated systems could support your conference and awards management. Small, incremental technology upgrades can help build a sturdy foundation for your recognition that honors your community members year after year.
.png)
.png)
Stay informed of market impacting events through the lens of Bear and learn about our latest offerings.
