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hello and welcome to episode 13 of not
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the same as last year we've worked out
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by now haven't we that attendee
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satisfaction directly impacts your
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events return on investment if they're
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satisfied and happy and they had a great
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time they will go off and probably do
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whatever it is that you wanted them to
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do which is why you ran the event you
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will have met your objectives but that
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doesn't always happened does it and
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finding out how and why your event
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didn't hit the mark for a specific
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attendee is challenging so yes today we
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are tackling the thorny issue of
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feedback now I'm going to start by
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asking you a question when you planned
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your event who was the real star of the
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show at this event was it your famous
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keynote speaker was it the illustrious
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expert that you had running a workshop
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was it your m see no it is the audience
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right they should have been your star
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turn but did you ask the star of the
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show what they wanted before they got
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there did you get their Rider you know
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famous people have a rider when they go
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to vent did you find out what it is
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that's going to make them happy at at
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your event chances are you probably
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didn't so now hopefully you're going to
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find out where you went wrong by asking
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for the feedback but the thing is asking
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for the feedback in the right way and
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then when you get it really applying it
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so that next year you actually exceed
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the expectations based on the feedback
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so it all comes down doesn't it really
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to asking the right questions now
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technology is amazing it enables lots of
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things right now and and one of the
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things it enables is the immediate
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feedback form that you can send or the
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survey I mean it's so ubiquitous now I
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literally get a feedback survey for
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pretty much everything I do and indeed I
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could spend an awful lot of my day
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filling them in you know from everything
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from the things that I've bought online
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to the events I've gone to every time
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I've had to call customer services about
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an issue with a product or a service so
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on and so on so to many people a
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feedback form is now just becoming a
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little bit of a pain another thing that
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keeps you busy in Modern Life and for
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the average B2B event attendee who's
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just been to an event it can actually
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become very intrusive and annoying to
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get another feedback form I mean you've
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been at this busy event for the last
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week out of the office possibly you've
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just got back in you've got loads to
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catch up on meetings you've missed
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emails that have mounted up then filling
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in a feedat form is going to slip right
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down the list and regardless of how much
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useful information you could impart
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about what was good about the
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event putting that to as side for one
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moment let's assume that your attendee
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does attempt to answer the form how easy
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have you allowed it to be for them to
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really share what they think have you
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just given them a random Mark out of 10
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you know how happy you know there's
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little pictures of the smiley faces
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you're supposed to guess which one you
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were from your experience and take that
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or do you really give them a real chance
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to share their feelings so you know what
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I think the first problem that we have
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to overcome is potentially with the
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actual word itself
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feedback I think it has a lot of
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negative connotations I mean for me
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personally I've never liked the word
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because when I started out in radio it
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was the one thing you never wanted you
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know you know you you didn't want that
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sort of terrible Amplified sound that
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you would get if any loudspeaker
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re-enters the sound system so you know
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if you had an open microphone that you
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could sort of hear it amplifying again
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and again and again at best a a ringing
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tone and at worst like a a piercing
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Screech so feedback to me was always a
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no no but other than that I think it's
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also has negative kind of feelings for
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for for a lot of things you know if you
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say something and your partner or your
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colleague or somebody says can I give
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you a little bit of feedack back you
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think oh God you know your heart sinks
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it's it's not going to be complimentary
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this is it so I think what we need to do
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is follow the suggestion of the event
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psychologist Victoria matey she is on
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this podcast actually in a few weeks
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time and what she says to do is to ask
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your attendees for advice now think
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about it if someone asks for advice from
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me I think wow they they they're really
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interested in what I have to say I think
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I feel like they're going to listen and
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they care and value the things I have to
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say and that is amazing because feeling
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like we matter is so important to us as
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human beings it literally makes a huge
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significant difference to our
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self-esteem our self-worth and actually
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not feeling significant has been linked
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to the cause of some mental illnesses
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and there are some really fascinating
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studies that show people who feel more
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significant actually live longer so use
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this vital human need to get the right
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information back from your attendees
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like calling it advice as I said above
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if your attendee feels that their advice
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is going to make a difference they will
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feel special that they matter and
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actually they'll be far more likely to
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fill in that darn form that you really
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need so we want to think as well a
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feedback as Gathering insights from our
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attendees not like oh I've got to get
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some good marks got to get my scores and
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that's what this feedbacks all around
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it's almost like you want to get
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valuable wisdom from that person who
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just came to your event so that you can
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get it better or if you got it right
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even more right next time you know
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really even better so if you explain to
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your attendees that if you share your
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advice you're actually going to be
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shaping the future of the event and
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ensuring that it really meets your needs
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and when you do send the form please do
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it properly don't just send the multiple
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choice questions I mean you can send
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them but make sure you give much more
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opportunity than that really consider
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the question so you're really asking the
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right ones you're not just bombarding
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them with loads of pointless ones whe
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they've got to fill in name the second
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name this just gets boring just quickly
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you should have that information you
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should know who they are um and you can
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just quickly send them out the feedback
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and it comes back with exactly their
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their results and you can connect it to
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each other and there is the tech to do
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that I know there is so then it's also
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about using a mixture of types of
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questions so you know multiple choice
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rating scales open-ended questions make
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sure your form is really intuitive and
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easy to use and looks appealing you know
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it actually needs a lot of time and
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effort spent on it this isn't something
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you just Chuck out at the end this is
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something that you know you need to
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consider you really want to get this
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information if you really want to get it
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then work hard at getting it and I think
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you know think about it feedback can
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sort of feel like um you know say that
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random stew that somebody makes out of
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the leftovers in the fridge some amazing
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delicious bits and then some bits you're
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like I don't know what that is but I
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don't like swallowing that so you need
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to be ready and you need to be willing
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to get the negative feedback as well and
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also share back to the people who've
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given the negative about how you're
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going to resolve
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it and now you've got that feedback or
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the input or the preferences or the
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advice from your attendees whatever you
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choose to call it how do you use this
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incredible information this data because
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we know everybody collects a lot of data
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now but how effective is it it's only
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effective if you use it to gain some
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actional insights and then go and act on
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those insights and how do you show the
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people who bothered to fill out that
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form that you actually heard what they
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had to say and you're going to make the
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changes they ask for or add the things
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they want first off I personally an
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automated thank you that's just come
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generally and I've spent a lot of time
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filling in a form feels a bit annoying I
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think if some individuals have really
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bothered to give you the good stuff then
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respond and let them know you appreciate
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it you could even go one step further
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and think gosh they've got a lot to say
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this is really interesting they're
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really engaged in this event so maybe
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invite them back get them to be on a
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panel next time if they said the panels
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weren't very good or get them to help
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design the agenda or get involved in
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some co-creation or just content
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planning for the event because you know
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that word co-creation it is a kind of
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feedback because it means your attendees
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are with you giving you kind of current
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feedback all the way through making sure
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that the event that they want to go to
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is actually going to happen now I talked
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about this I think in in episode six
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when I talk to you about some ways to
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let the attendees Take the Wheel so if
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you like what I'm having to say here go
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back and listen to episode 6 now we're
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also told of course that the timing of
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your feedback form or your advice
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Gathering is really vital and we should
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push to get it out within 48 Hours of
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the event because then people get so
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busy um and then they don't fill it in
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so I think as as well as saying we
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really need your advice and we're asking
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you now while it's fresh in your head
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you know maybe offer an incentive a gift
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if you get this feedback form in then we
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will offer you this gift or that gift or
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whatever it is that you think is going
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to work for your specific event and of
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course you can get information and
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feedback and advice throughout the event
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with the technology that's available now
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you can get people to be responding to
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questions in the app if they're coming
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up quickly and your app is easy to use
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it's almost like a slido or a um similar
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Mentor meter idea that they can just
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quickly respond there and then so you
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get a pretty good idea before they've
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even left what they're thinking you know
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we're in the middle of a a lot of
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politics this year it's kind of like um
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early exit polls you're getting
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responses from people before they go
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home and fill in the form um and and
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that gives you really good information
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very very quickly ask things like what
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are you enjoying here at the event what
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is not working for you today what do you
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wish we' provided today what have you
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not managed to achieve so I I did this
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at a talk recently I was actually giving
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um a session a workshop session um on
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the subject of a 10d experience funnily
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enough and so I asked everybody there
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what they were loving and hating about
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the
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event now one man told us that he loved
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the budy system that was in place that
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had been set up because it meant that
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when he arrived he immediately had
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someone to talk to because he didn't
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know anybody at the event and it was a
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great idea that's what he loved but then
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others said well I didn't know about it
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because the app wasn't working and I'd
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love to have known about that so of
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course that event gets a great point for
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providing an amazing resource and at
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least half a point off for not being
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able to promote it properly or get their
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app to work now it was interesting as
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well that one person came up to me
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afterwards and he said I I didn't say my
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thing in the group because I didn't want
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to you know turn the session into a
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ranting about what was wrong at the day
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that we were at the event which was
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really really good and he then shared
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some information with me which I could
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pass on to the organizers and it made
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him feel good that he'd been able to to
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get it off his chest and that's quite
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interesting isn't it I think when we
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talked to Kelly who's also event
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psychologist um and I cannot remember
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what session that was um I think it was
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quite recent wasn't it episode 10 she
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was saying to me there's um a lot of
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importance about the psychology of
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feedback is that people need to get
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their feelings physically out of the
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body like that man said he wanted to get
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it off his chest they want to get the
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irritations and the annoyances out and
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sometimes just getting out verbally is
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what helps you doesn't have to do it in
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the formal way so you know we talk about
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polling a lot in events right now you
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know to gather attendees questions for
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speakers as a way of encouraging
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engagement so you've got attendees now
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that are getting polling they understand
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it they understand the mentimeter they
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understand the slido and all those
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things so you know keep asking questions
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about the event in the poll sections too
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people are are used to that now and it's
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super quick and also you know we were
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saying there that guy wanted an
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opportunity to come up and talk to me
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and get it off his
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chest make sure you're not ignoring
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certain channels for getting this
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feedback and just doing the email form
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because it's easiest you are then just
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doing that limiting other opportunities
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for your attendees to express their
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opinions because there are lots of ways
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to gather it now you can use social
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media platforms event apps online forums
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and indeed if you listen to the radio
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Podcast you'll have noticed that lots of
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shows ask listeners to send in their
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questions or their views or opinions
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they can do it by text they can do it by
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email or they can do it by voice note
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now I don't know if it's an age thing I
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much prefer to use voice personally in
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loads of things that I do I use it
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whenever I'm trying to formulate a
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thought or um write a piece of content
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or something as well I would much rather
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talk into my browser than type something
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in and and it's actually potentially a
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less censored version of what I have to
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say because it's just the verbal time
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that comes out but but it's more
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probably more honest uh feedback so I
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would advise adding voice note as
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another way your attendees can share
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their thoughts easily and quickly
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without having to download a form and
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tick through loads of different
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sections my top tip though and I kind of
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mentioned it before but I want to go
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into detail is to share back what you've
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leared to your attendees be brave and
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say look this is what you told us
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because obviously it's going to be
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different from different people and
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different people have experiences but
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it's it's kind of open and transparent
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we heard that some of you hated this we
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heard that some of you liked it but we
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realized that the vast majority didn't
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and this is what we're going to do next
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time so you're telling them what you
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plan to do as a result and then when
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you've implemented that share that too
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hey you guys didn't want this last year
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the new we're going to be launching the
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new one soon and just to let you know
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this is where we are with it and this is
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how it's going to change I'm not talking
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about bombarding people with loads of
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information about your event but it can
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be little ways that you can check back
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in with them so if they know that that
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thing they did didn't like was there and
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it's put them off and you sending it a
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message saying it's not going to happen
15:03
this time this is going to happen it
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will start to get them thinking more
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positively about your event for when you
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do start ticketing for it they will be
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encouraged to try again because they can
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see you have actively taken steps to
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change it so there was a lot there I
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hope some of it was actionable I think
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I'm not a feedback expert I don't tend
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to get the forms myself but I hear I
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hear feedback from attendees all the
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time I don't know why is the MC maybe
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they think oh we can tell her it'll get
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back to to the organizers and generally
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it does and it's a very verbal kind of
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feedback from me to them on what you
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told me and obviously I also offer my
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own advice anyway hopefully some of
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these tips worked share if they did um
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and of course feel free to share
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feedback ideas you have advice tips that
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you have and I will be back next week
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talking about the three seas of events
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content collaboration and contribution
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look forward to seeing you then that'll
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be episode
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[Music]
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