This lecture outlines the complex nature of event management and provides some guidelines for conducting an event evaluation.

1. Event Evaluation
Determining Event Success

2. St. Lucia Jazz
• Was this event a success or
failure?
• Who in the country would
be more likely to say it was
a success?
• Who would be most
unhappy with this event?
Festival of Highs and Lows

3. Learning Objectives
At the end of this session you should be able to:
• Articulate the nature and importance of evaluation to
the events management function
• Describe what event evaluation should focus on
• Explain the purpose of event evaluation, including the
needs and expectations of stakeholders
• Describe the cyclical, holistic nature of event
evaluation using the three critical Ss of events
• Assess the different forms of evaluation models and
methods
• Formulate and prepare an event evaluation report

4. Event Evaluation

5. •
•
•

6. What view of event evaluation should
be taken for this event?

7. REASONS FOR ALL EVENT EVALUATION
Allows for more informed decisions towards greater
efficiency and more positive results to be made
To measure success or failure
INTERNALLY-DRIVEN REASONS EXTERNALLY-DRIVEN REASONS
To determine whether goals and To determine level of awareness
objectives have been met of sponsors’ products/services
To engender accountability To satisfy accountability
requirements
To identify and address problems
and challenges To determine level of media
interest and coverage
To determine whether event
management functions have To determine event’s level of
achieved expected outcomes impact on tourist arrivals
To understand who attends the To determine event’s level of
event to determine who else can impact on business and other
be targeted related industries
To determine worth of the event To determine whether event
to its workers and volunteers satisfies the expectations of
community stakeholders
To determine whether and how
the event can remain viable and To determine worth of the event
become sustainable to its patrons

9. Event Evaluation Data
Descriptive
Numerical
Numerical
and
Descriptive

10. Evaluation Considerations
• Does the event organization/event host have, or have access to
the requisite resources to conduct an event evaluation exercise?
• Have event evaluations been conducted on the event in the
past? And if so, how often and what kind of evaluation?
• What use was made of the evaluation report?
• What is the nature of the environment in which the event
operates?
• Can it facilitate the execution of an event evaluation?
• Does the event have access to a wide range of information it
can use to conduct the evaluation exercise?

11. • Quantitative – primarily concerned with
counting complex data sets such as attendance
levels, information sources and event activities.
• Challenges and limitations of using quantitative
approaches exclusively:
 Low response rates to surveys
 Inconsistencies arising out of varied interpretations
of terminology used in surveys leading to over-
calculation and possible misrepresentation of data

12. • This video highlights some of the negative
aspects of the Edinburgh International Festival.
• What types of approaches might be used to
evaluate these?
Worries over complacency about festival

13. •
•
• Challenges and limitations of using qualitative approaches
exclusively:
 Cannot reach the numbers of quantitative approaches

14. •
•
•

15. •





16. •




17. •
•
•
•

18. Event Types &
Evaluation Tools
Image Maker • Content Analysis
Tourism Product • Visitor Exit Survey
Economic Development • Economic Impact Assessment
Catalyst
Transformer of Socio- • Social Impact Scale Analysis
cultural Landscape
Sustainable Development • Environmental Impact Analysis
Model

19. Consider Live Earth
Live Earth Concerts Backfire
• What type of event was it?
• Which of the evaluation tools would provide the measures provided in the news
report?
• Was the event a failure?

20. • Missed opportunities to correct detected
problems
• Minimal focus on evaluation at the
planning phases, which is vital to
understanding many decisions taken at
the implementation stage
• Key elements of the evaluations may not
be deployed effectively, if at all

21. Conducting Event
Evaluation (1)
• Determine the purpose of the event evaluation
exercise, including whether the evaluation is
Step 1 necessary.
• Identify what should be the focus of evaluation.
Step 2
• Select the most suitable approach for conducting
Step 3 the evaluation exercise.
• Select model(s) for evaluation as a framework for
data collection based on suitability, practicality and
Step 4 relevance.

22. • Complete steps 1 – 4 for the Ecounters13
event being held here at Porvoo Campus
• Display the steps in the form of a poster

23. Conducting Event
Evaluation (2)
• Develop appropriate instruments and data
collection strategies based on the methods
Step 5 selected.
• Collect and analyse data and findings.
Step 6
Step 7 • Prepare and disseminate event evaluation report.
• Formulate and implement decisions for
improvement based on findings of event evaluation
Step 8 report.

24. •
•
•
•

25. References
• Tull, J. (2012) Event evaluation. In N.
Ferdinand and P. Kitchin (Eds.) Events
Management: An International Approach pp.
173-195. London: Sage Publications
1/4/12