As a festival and event producer, I know the post-event daze well. You know the feeling — the days and weeks after an event when you are relieved it’s over and proud of the event you produced but you are already planning and potentially stressing about the next one.
Before you move on to the next event, here’s five reasons why you should complete a post-event report.
1.It brings closure and finality to the event
A post-event report wraps up the event and all the hard work the team has done. It is a great way to showcase the success and lessons of an event as well as images, data, analytics and attendee feedback.
Timing wise, I recommend giving yourself two weeks to a month to complete the report, depending on how large of an event/festival it was and how much data you have to sift through. Length wise, post-event reports should be anywhere from 5-15 pages, again depending on the size of the event and how much data and analytics you are reporting on. I used to create 30 plus pages for my post-festival reports which just ended up taking too much time and was way too much to digest for those that had to read it.
What should go in a post-event report?
- Festival highlights, photos, description of programming and sponsor information.
- Onsite attendee data from paper surveys, QR codes to ipads, whatever works best for you, just make sure you are collecting some sort of data from attendees onsite. More on this later.
- Public relations highlights from PR efforts, earned coverage, event listings and news releases.
- Marketing highlights including screenshots and overall impressions from paid ads and in-kind support.
- Google Analytics highlights including users, page views and demographics.
- Social media highlights from paid and organic reach as well as top comments and performing posts.
2.A time capsule of your event
If you’ve been producing the same event for years, it’s hard to remember exact details from each year and compare data if you don’t have any documents or reports to consult.
Post reports are great for comparing data, attendance, demographics, economic impact information and marketing impressions. My reports help provide insight to our team members when brainstorming new program ideas or looking back on what worked and what didn’t.
3.Sell your event to future sponsors and partners
One of the most important reasons that we produce post-event reports is to document our event’s success to existing sponsors and also help sell the event to future sponsors, partners and vendors. The post-report is a way to showcase all the successes in one place and it helps to give a full overview of the event for anyone who didn’t attend in person.
I often send my short sponsorship decks first and then say I would be happy to send over our full post-event report from last year which provides more data and details. Most prospective sponsors usually respond and ask to see the report. This is a great way to get responses from cold emails and companies you’ve never worked with before, but it also helps create talking points and additional resources to discuss on your initial call.
4.Understanding attendee satisfaction and feedback
Survey data collected from attendees provides valuable insights into their overall experience, preferences, and satisfaction. A post-event report highlights this feedback, helping you understand what aspects of the festival or event resonated with the audience and where improvements are needed.
As previously stated, it is very important to conduct onsite surveys from your attendees, even if it’s just a few questions, to really get a sense of what programs they like, where they travelled from and their demographics. This data allows your event to continue to grow and adapt accordingly and is also crucial for filling out future government and/or corporate grants.
5.You can assess individual elements of your event
Post-event reports are a great way to evaluate all aspects of your event in one document. They help evaluate PR by summarizing media coverage and mentions as well as measure exposure. For marketing, they reveal which campaigns drove ticket sales or engagement, highlighting what channels worked best. Social media analysis shows engagement metrics, ad reach and top posts, helping refine future content strategies. Google Analytics offer insights into website traffic, user behaviour, and conversions, guiding digital marketing improvements. Finally, I use these reports to asses and compare experiential marketing activations and sample numbers year over year.
In summary, creating a post-event report is not just a formality — it’s an essential tool that provides valuable insights, supports future planning, and helps ensure the ongoing success and growth of your event or festival.
Victoria Mahoney is director of partnerships and marketing, Harmony Marketing and co-producer of the Toronto Waterfront Festival and Sugar Shack TO.
