Post-Event Debrief
You’ve just completed an event. Congratulations are in order! BUT remember, just because the party stops for the consumer, there’s still a lot to do as an event organiser.
The term “debrief” usually indicates a staff meeting held to discuss an event after the doors have closed.
The debrief is an extremely important planning tool for the next event, feedback from sponsors and/or exhibitors as well as food and beverage vendors. Without feedback, continual improvement strategies cannot be implemented next time.
A debrief can allow people to discuss several issues and determine what worked and what didn’t and how to improve for next time, save money, save time and increase consumer satisfaction.
Event Generals regularly hold event debriefs approximately 1-2 weeks after the fact while the event is still fresh in the mind and after the pack down has been completed.
We recommend a debrief consist of a multitude of questions provided to your stakeholders in a survey manner covering the following areas of operation:
Attendees/Participants - Target vs Actual
Food & Beverage
Venue
Access including traffic, transport, accommodation and parking
Security
Staffing & Volunteers
Waste Management/Sustainability goals
Ticketing
Sub contractors including market stall vendors, trades etc
Marketing
Risk Management
Budget (including sponsorship, ticketing revenue, other sales revenue i.e. bar)
Logistics (bump in/out)
We recommend only including the major event staff and management to participate in the event debrief. Too many heads from different departments can cause confusion. One person from each area should be nominated to voice the opinions and ideas from their department.
Fort each topic listed above, debrief attendees should ask if objectives were met, could tasks be performed better and how, what went right, what went wrong and what recommendations can be made to make things better in the future?
Lastly, it is important the debrief is documented in minutes. Have a dedicated minutes taker who can organise the information neatly so it can be used down the track for measuring success of future events/festivals.