Post Event Round Up

Congrats! You made it through your big fundraising event. Take a deep breath and celebrate. 

But before you put the event behind you and focus on the next thing, be sure to take the time to fully debrief the event. Debriefing is a critical piece of your overall strategy that allows you to identify and celebrate what went well but also what can be improved for the future - allowing you to maximize your goals and results for your next fundraising event. Your debrief notes will also serve as a blueprint for your planning process for next year’s event

Who needs to be included in your debrief process? And what type of questions should you be asking them?

Generally speaking it's helpful to start with some big questions of everyone you debrief with:

1. What went well this year?
2. What were the stand out moments?
3. What didn’t go well and could be improved for next time?
4. What should we keep doing? 
5. What should we stop doing?

And then depending on who you are debriefing with you can ask more specific questions as they relate to that group. 

Volunteers
Your volunteers are one of the most important groups of people to debrief with. They have a great perspective on your event and will have some of the richest feedback for you. Be sure to call and thank them and when you do - ask them for their feedback. If you don’t reach them by phone - send them an email to follow up.

Specifically ask them the following questions in addition to the main questions listed earlier:

1. Did they feel like the training they received was adequate and if not how can it be improved?
2. Did they notice any missing roles or gaps that could have been helpful for the event to run more smoothly?
3. Did they receive any feedback from guests that would be helpful for us to know?

Event committee members
For many organizations their event committee plays an important role in organizing the event. They are often the ones putting in hours and hours of work before the event to ensure it goes off smoothly. They will have an abundance of rich feedback to provide your organization - so be sure to prioritize this group to debrief with. Be sure to include the first set of questions in addition to the following.

1. Did the venue meet our needs?
2. Did the caterers deliver on their commitments and stick to our timeline?
   1. Was the food quality up to our expectations?
   2. Was the service up to our expectations?
3. Did registration go smoothly? Any lessons learned on our end?
4. Was the sound clear and evenly distributed throughout the venue?
5. Did we meet our fundraising goals - if not why do you think that is?
   1. You can break this down further by revenue streams (raffles, auction, paddleraise, etc).
6. Any feedback on the auctioneer or emcee?
7. Feedback on program content?
8. Was there any feedback from guests that is important to share?

Staff members
For staff that were not a part of the planning of the event it can be helpful to hear their answers to the above questions but also to ask them if their roles felt clear. Often non leadership staff support the event in ways such as registration support, volunteer management, greeting, or roles such as sales people for raffles, etc. Depending on the role you can ask similar questions as you do the volunteers.

Board members
Board members play an important role at your event (or they should - see my post on ways your board can be more involved in your fundraising events). 

Board members will often have feedback from the guests they brought to the event as well as general observations about the event. The board should also be able to see the final event results and help assess the overall strengths and weaknesses of the event from a governance perspective. 

Always check in with the board to make sure they understand what is expected of them and if those expectations were clear to them. The board should be your biggest champions and supporters in ensuring your event is a big success. 

Sponsors
If sponsors attended the event they will give you great feedback on their guest experience. You can also use this as an opportunity to see if they felt the sponsor benefits met their needs and the ways in which they might like to be involved in the event in the future.

Vendors
You work with many vendors on your event, which ones are the most important to debrief with? I recommend debriefing with the following vendors at the very least. Bring your feedback to these meetings and also be ready to take notes and listen to the gems they have to offer you too.

1. Auctioneer
2. Event planner
3. Catering
4. Emcee
5. AV/tech

Venue staff
You can bring your feedback to these meetings with vendors and begin troubleshooting any problem areas for next time. Vendors such as your auctioneer will have valuable feedback from their own experience of what went well and ways you can improve your overall event for next time. 

Donors
All donors who came to the event should be thanked. And it’s a great idea to also include a survey to ask how they enjoyed the event. However, your major donors should be called and thanked by your board or committee members. When they call they can keep it simple and just ask how they enjoyed the event and if they have any questions or feedback for you. This is not the time for another financial ask - just thank them and ask for any feedback about the event.

How to use feedback
When you debrief with so many people and interests you will receive feedback that is all over the map. Some people will say the sound was terrible and too loud while others will say it was fantastic. Everyone will have an opinion about the food and entertainment. Keep in mind that you will hear a lot of both positive and negative feedback about all elements of the event. Look for patterns and themes as well as outliers. Don’t act on everything but do pay attention to the big picture themes - that’s where the gold is!

This is just a rough guide to get you going. If you want more support with your event debrief reach out - I am always happy to help you plan a great debrief process to help you capture the most useful information for your event.

​