You’ve spent months planning for an event that lasts anywhere from a few hours to a few days. After all the time you spent preparing, the event has already come and gone!
Once the aftermath is cleaned up, you’re not done yet. Before you put your feet up and relax, you still need to take care of some critical tasks to ensure your event was an overall success.
For your reference, here’s a post-event checklist for you to complete after any type of event:
- Send thank-you notes! Don’t wait too long to write a handwritten card. For larger events like weddings, one to two months after the event is an ideal time to send. Anything longer than three months is too late. In the case of smaller parties, don’t wait any later than two to three days!Do your best to keep your notes prompt and personal by acknowledging specific details. Tell your guest how you will use the gift, this shows you appreciate the thought that went into it. For professional events, emails are acceptable but cards leave a greater impact.
- Share media to continue engagement and exposure. Many people will focus on social media efforts before and during the event, but once it’s over, the conversation abruptly dies. If you plan to have more events, encourage attendees to provide feedback through social media so you can understand your event’s accomplishments and make improvements for the future planning.For any type of event, post and share your photos on social media for your guests to tag. If you had a corporate or business event, write a blog to summarize what the event was about and include the highlights to encourage potential attendees to go to the next one.
- Review your vendors and sponsors. In addition to personal thank-you notes, leave your vendors a thoughtful review and rating on their Yelp or Google+ pages. Your experiences will not only help other planners find reliable vendors for their events, but your vendors can share your feedback on their blogs and social media platforms to build their reputations. If you plan on using your vendors for future events, this demonstrates your loyalty to them!
- For event websites, update your content. If you hosted a one-time event, don’t forget to remove the website if you’re paying to host it. For weddings, leave the registry up for a few months in case your guests still want to give you something, but take it down sooner if that seems unlikely.If you’re planning the same event in the future, update the information on your website to start marketing it now! You should make website changes as soon as possible after the event is over.
Use these tips to execute your post-event tasks as thoughtfully and timely as you can. Your guests will not only appreciate it, but your event will leave a positive, lasting impression on all those involved!