Measuring the impact and quality of events is a murky field. Think tank events often have multiple objectives, take many guises (from the ambitious conference to the closed door round table) and are targeted at very different audiences. Sometimes the value is instant and obvious, for example strong media coverage, but at other times it\u2019s not so clear.<\/p>\n
A\u00a0recent On Think Tanks piece spelt out\u00a0<\/a>the need for events to be strategic and the importance of careful planning; above all, when an event hasn\u2019t been well prepared or follows a stale format, it really shows. I couldn\u2019t agree more. Over the years, I\u2019ve seen poor turnouts and a few disasters, but the real danger often lies when events just tick along with little obvious purpose to the detriment of time and resources. Sure, events are sometimes a gamble or opportunistic, but nonetheless, with a clear strategy they can have real engagement value.<\/p>\n But how can you know if an event has impact and that it was worth all that effort?<\/p>\n This was just the question we came up against when planning how to measure the impact of a series of events for the\u00a0DFID-ESRC Growth Research Programme<\/a>\u00a0(DEGRP). Our events have multiple purposes, vary in size, and take place in countries like the UK, Ghana, USA or Bangladesh. We wanted to know how we could measure the quality of our events in a way that recognised their individual objectives, but ensured that they aligned with our overall programme strategy. In the past, we have often turned to the audience feedback form, but as we found, in some contexts it\u2019s just not appropriate. \u00a0You simply can\u2019t ask ministers or senior government officials to fill in a feedback form. Faced with this dilemma,\u00a0Louise Shaxson<\/a>\u00a0and I decided to develop our own event assessment tool to build learning into our event planning. It\u2019s still a trial, but here\u2019s what we\u2019ve come up with:<\/p>\n It\u2019s the simple things in communications that hold the key to better strategy and events are no different \u2013 if you look to your objective(s) in planning and in M&E you can\u2019t go too wrong.<\/p>\n In my fundraising days, event objectives were fairly straightforward and easy to track \u2013 to raise money or gain new supporters \u2013 so M&E was all about marking this and reaching your target. But for think tanks, there are a variety of different issues that contribute to the success of an event. Such as:<\/p>\nDid someone say objectives?<\/h2>\n
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