What are the best ways to evaluate the ROI of business trips and events?

What your priority is for traveling? Some events are a "must be there" even if you don't derive any trackable business - it's a see and be seen scene. Others have to achieve metrics to consider going back. Like evaluating a trade show for the first time to determine if your company will exhibit next year. ROI often means something other than monetary gain or returns. How many key decision makers did you meet? Were you able to go to lunch, dinner, or a fun event that might leave a longer lasting impression? Did you advance your understanding of their operation in a way that will help create better bonds and fine tune future interactions? A recent post of mine espoused the benefits of meeting in person vs. remote. Check it out!

One thing important here is the value we want to create through this business trip which is directly relatable to the envisaged benefits of this trip. Having a well defined / documented plan in the form of checklist can help us in getting the value out of this trip. This checklist can include the schedule for key meetings, persons important for our outcome and the message (e.g. presentation, formal or informal discussions etc.) we have to communicate keeping in view our objectives. Further, ROI at this stage will be the target ROI.

Effectively evaluating the ROI of business trips and events requires a strategic and multifaceted approach. By incorporating quantitative and qualitative metrics across various aspects of the event lifecycle, organizations can derive a comprehensive understanding of their impact. This holistic approach ensures that both tangible and intangible benefits are considered, providing a nuanced view of the overall ROI from these critical business activities.

We need to model out (risk modelling) unexpected incidences and events in our estimated costs also to respond to different scenarios we might face. This model can be built around the key assumptions of the trip we are making. However, this is not mandatory in all trips; it depends upon the strategic importance of the trip and desired outcome.

The advantages stemming from your business trip or event manifest in elevated sales, leads, referrals, partnerships, knowledge, skills, and reputation. Evaluating these benefits entails assigning monetary values to outcomes. Utilize data sources such as sales records, customer feedback, web analytics, and surveys to gauge the worth of acquired customers, contacts, or opportunities. Additionally, leverage industry benchmarks, market research, and competitor analysis to estimate the value of heightened brand awareness, thought leadership, and competitive advantage. This method ensures a comprehensive assessment of the tangible and intangible gains resulting from your participation.

- ROI should be calculated at the time of trip planning (i.e. target ROI) and post trip completion (i.e. actual ROI) - Comparison and analysis of target and actual ROI shall help us in finding out what went wrong or extra ordinarily well which was not model out at planning stage and key learnings / lessons learnt to improve this activity in future.