Writing a post-event report is important because it gives you valuable insights into how well things went, and how things can be improved for the next time around. Your success begins with the notes you take, as the quality of these has a huge impact on the success of your report. Take photos, if permitted, get online writing help, and gather and analyze the data you collect. Focus on these five important elements to write a good event report.
Take Thorough Notes
“Writing a good report begins well before the event ends. You should take lots of notes over the course of the event. Rather than relying on your memory later, write down some things you found especially impressive,”recommends Charles Thomas, writer at PaperFellows. Keep in mind that you won’t use everything, but the more you note, the easier it will be write the report later. It’s better to have more than you need than to be struggling to remember because you didn’t write down enough points. Jot down an overview of the how the event unfolded, including details about the location, the amount of attendees (how did those numbers compare to last year? How many were first time visitors?) and details about sponsors. Don’t forget to thank your sponsors in the report! But it’s a good idea to be upfront with the fact that they were your sponsors, so you don’t appear to be shilling for them. Pay attention and take notes on what attendees seem to be enjoying most and least.
Take Plenty of Photos
Taking photos can help aid your memory later, when you’re writing your report. It’s also a good way to interact with attendees. It’s important to make sure that event policy allows you to take photos, and you should definitely ask permission of anyone you would like to photograph. Not everyone wants to have their photo taken. Some events will hand out pins or other markers to these people, so watch out for those. Build some extra rapport by showing the subjects of your photos your shot to see if they are happy with it. It may be required that any photos you take be published under a creative commons license.
Getting Down to Writing
It’s usually best to begin with an outline, particularly if you are having a hard time getting started. Get all your points out on the page if that helps, then you can begin to expand on them and refine. Ask for help from a friend or colleague if you need it. Write out all your main points before you worry about grammar, structure, correct spelling, or editing. You can take care of that later. Get some input from friends about how they thought things went at the event.
Use Online Tools to Write the Perfect Event Report
Writing doesn’t come easily to everyone, so do not hesitate to get some help from the experts. Here are some good resources to get you started:
- Via Writing and MyWritingWay – Check out these grammar guides for help making sure your event report is grammatically correct.
- Boomessays and UKWritings – These are online proofreading tools, suggested by Revieweal, you can use to make sure your report is polished and error free.
- State of Writing and Let’s Go and Learn – These are helpful writing resources you can access for ideas and suggestions on how to improve your event report. Even good writers can benefit from some extra help now and then.
- Essayroo and Academized – These are editing tools, recommended in Academized review, you can use to check over your report for mistakes and typos. Don’t take any chances with your report, get some help from the professionals.
- Writing Populist and Studydemic – Check out these writing blogs for ideas and advice on how to improve your event report. You’ll find posts here by people who have successfully written event reports.
Gathering and Analyzing Data
The data you collect should help you determine how effective your event was, and improve on things for next time. How you present your data in your report is key. You can’t just dump your results onto the page, it needs to be represented in forms like pie charts, bar graphs, and line graphs. You’ll want to collect and analyze data about factors such as the number of attendees, the gender ratio, attendee satisfaction, and types of attendees.
Conclusion
The more thought and time you put into your event report, the more useful it will be for your future event planning efforts. Write lots of notes as the event is unfolding, they will become the building blocks of your report. If permitted, take photos as well. Take advantage of online writing tools, start off your report with an outline, and fill it out with details. Pay attention to these five key elements to write a good event report.
Photo Credit: Christopher Thomas
