Whether you’re a counselor planning your college night for juniors, a student running an event for your club, or a parent organizing a PTA fundraiser, a lot of the wisdom you’ll gain won’t be apparent until after the event when you know what went well and what didn’t. That’s why it’s good to create a quick event autopsy afterwards.
When your event is finished, create a document and answer these questions:
1. Do you think your group should do this event again? Why or why not?
2. What parts of the event went best or were particularly well received?
3. Knowing what you know now, what would you do differently before, during or after your event that might have made it smoother or more successful?
4. What websites, people or other resources were most helpful to you?
5. What advice would you give to someone else who wants to run a similar event?
Save the document and forget about it until the planning starts next year. Or hand it off to someone else who will be taking over for you. You’ll never have a clearer and more defined perspective about your event than you will immediately after it’s over.
Katie in our Northwest office does this after every speaking engagement she does. She keeps a spreadsheet with the event’s attendance, notes about the topic, and how many potential Collegewise families expressed interest in working with her. When she has to make a decision next year about whether or not to repeat the event or the topic, she doesn’t have to rely on her memory.
It takes some discipline to add one more item to the to-do list after an event, but doing this will increase the chances of repeating and even improving your success. And you’ll save yourself (or your successor) a lot of time in the future.
Bonus tip: Save your autopsy in a folder with all your other resources for the event. Keep it all in one place so you or someone else has easy access later.