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Your event's over. So what have you actually got in front of you?
There are four things worth having in hand before you call the event finished, and whether they're there decides how much of your next event you build from scratch. Together, they're your post-event report. It doesn't need to be a formal document with a cover page. It needs to exist somewhere you and your team can find it.
They sit in no particular order, so build them in whatever order suits you. Three of the four are mostly assembly, too. You've already got most of the pieces. They're just sitting in different places.
Prefer to watch? The full breakdown is in the video below. Otherwise, let’s dive in.
A record of what actually happened
The first one is a record of what actually happened, as opposed to what you remember happening.
That means the notes you took while the event was going on, the notes your team took, any feedback from the venue and your vendors (or anything you noted about them), and what your guests said. All of it goes into one spot while it's still true. If you wrote things down each night before bed at your event, or had the three conversations after it, this is where those notes land.
I bring this one up first because it's the only one of the four with an expiry date. Your numbers will still be there to deal with in a month. Your list of vendors you'd use again will still be there too. Your memory of how everything actually went is the part that fades.
What it looks like is plain: a document that tracks what went well, what didn't, what surprised you, and what changed, written so somebody else could read it and get a real sense of what happened and what you'd change next time.
That last part is the test. If it only makes sense to you, it's a reminder. If somebody else can read it and understand what went on, it's a record, and a record is what lets you plan your next event eight months from now.
The people and places you worked with
The second one is the people and the places.
Every event you run, you meet new people and new vendors. Some of them you'll love and want to work with again. Others you won't. Six months from now, all of it will be a blur.
So write it down now. Who was good? Who would you work with again? Who wouldn't you, and why? That last question matters most, because a year from now you'll remember the feeling and not what actually went wrong.
Two of mine
We once had a catering event at the office I worked at, and the first time around everything went perfectly. So we hired the same catering team again. The second time, for whatever reason, it was a disaster. There wasn't enough food, and there was no way of salvaging it. We never used that team again.
Then there was the hotel in Mexico, a gorgeous property right across from the Mexico City office, where the staff were all lovely. The service ran much slower than our group needed it to, though, and it caused a lot of frustration, for us and for our guests. I'd go there for a personal visit. I wouldn't choose it for an event again.
I can tell you both of those stories because a lot of it was written down and we took notes. What I can't give you are the finer details of exactly who we worked with. I do know the name of that catering company, since we'd used them multiple times, and when their name comes up with other groups, it's one I've flagged. The rest of the detail is gone.
What to capture for each one
For every vendor, capture who they were, what they did, how they helped or didn't, how it went, and whether you'd work with them again. One line each is enough. Then do the same for the venue: what came up, what could have been better, and what worked really well.
This is also the list that saves you the most time later. When you're sourcing your next event, especially in the same location, you already know which groups you'd book again and which ones you'd avoid like the plague.
If you're already thinking about your next event, the free Event Pulse Check walks through the whole picture, from the decisions at the very beginning all the way through event day. It's quick, and the results come back straight away.
Your real numbers
Next is the part that gets called event analysis, and it's a lot simpler than it sounds.
You put what actually happened next to what you estimated: headcounts, food and beverage, transportation, and whatever else moved within those categories. The point is that your next event gets planned on what actually happened rather than on guesses. You guessed a lot of numbers this year. Now you can see which ones you got wrong and which ones you pretty much nailed, and you only get that information by going back and writing it down. If the gap between quoted and final came from costs that never made it into your first budget, the event costs standard templates leave out is a good place to look.
One warning on this one. Final bills can take longer than you expect. They come in whenever the venue or vendor finalizes their account, and the number may not match the quote, depending on what you added during the event. So update these numbers once things have actually settled rather than right after the event. Wait for the invoices, pay them if you have no questions, and then fill them into your final budget so you can see the difference.
Everything you built, cleaned up
The fourth one is the easiest, and it's also the easiest to skip.
You've already made everything you need: the spreadsheet, the run of show, the timeline, the packing list, the vendor contact sheet, the know-before-you-go email, whatever version of each you ended up with by the last week. So go through them now and make notes on what actually happened, what worked, and what didn't.
Then save all of it somewhere you can get back to, and somewhere your team can reach as well. That means not on your desktop and not in your email. Next time, you open those files instead of a blank document. If this is a recurring event, you already have the layout and the details, and it's a matter of small tweaks. I watched one team keep a single event planning template going for four events this way, and if you want to check what belongs in yours, start with what belongs in your event planning spreadsheet.
Where to start this week
I know what all four of those sound like from where you're sitting. You just finished your event, you're tired, and your business has been piling up while you were focused on it. Now here are four more things.
So let me be straight about the size of it. This is a fraction of what your event took, and three of the four are reassembly, pulling together things you already have into one place. It's also the only part of the event that pays forward. Most of what you did this year was for this year. This part makes the next event easier.
You don't have to do all four this week. Start with the record, since it's the one with a time limit. The other three will still be there, and the days right after your guests leave have enough going on already.
If you'd like help doing this properly, and not only the after but the whole planning process, that's what The Backstage Pass to Better Events was built for. It's a membership built around a five-phase path through the planning side of an event, and the last phase is this one: the follow-up, and a playbook so your next event starts where this one ended.
If your next event is already on the calendar, take five minutes with the free Event Pulse Check. If your last one just wrapped, open a document this week and start the record while you can still see the event.
