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TABLE 1: THE SIX LEVELS OF EVALUATION IN AN ROI PROCESS LEVEL 0
LEVEL 1 LEVEL 2
Statistics, Scope and Volume – collect data on meeting statistics for instance: web site traffic; budget; attendance; press coverage.
Reaction, Satisfaction and Planned Action - collect reactions to the event and asks what the attendee intends to do after the meeting.
Learning – measurement of the degree to which knowledge acquisition has occurred during the meeting. Types of learning include:
Information Learning: about customers, suppliers, assets ; Skills Learning: new capabilities and skills; Attitudes Learning: changing perceptions about brand and products/services; Relationships Learning: building new relationships and strengthening old.
LEVEL 3
LEVEL 4 LEVEL 5
Application – measurement of the degree to which knowledge acquired at the meeting is used by attendee.
Business Impact – evaluation of improvements in organisational performance.
ROI – ROI calculation of the net meeting benefits to total meeting costs giving a benefit/cost ratio.
(Source: Adapted from Myhill and Phillips (2006:693-694))
The model shows a high degree of awareness of the necessity to measure the knowledge and learning accruing from business event attendance. It would seem appropriate to argue that the Phillips ROI model would be usefully applied at business events by individual organisations to rate the business event in terms of learning for the learning leg of the balanced score-card.
Research question The organisation has been shown in the literature reviewed to be a complex system but with
employee knowledge is the one element that can change the value creation potential of all inputs and all systems that guide transformations from inputs to required outputs. Research directly related to managing knowledge value arising from the business events sector is limited so the purpose of this research is to add to this body of knowledge by reviewing the current application of methodologies that can create the ‘how’ that ensures employee attendance reaps value pertinent to improving future organisational performance. MPI teach event organisers to apply Phillips ROI evaluation methodology. It is reasonable to assume that event attendees and their organisations are aware that event organisers design business events to deliver specific knowledge improvements for them and organisations pick attendance at an event in line with their organisational goals. It is reasonable to extrapolate that attendees are aware that the value they derive from a business event – as with any expenditure made by the organisation – is reaped as a resource that ensures the future organisational viability. Measurement of the value created is suggested by the literature reviewed to be managed with a tool such as the Phillips ROI but only if the need to measure value created is firstly recognised and secondly a tool to do the measurement is integrated to established strategic goals – the latter being a tool such as the balanced score-card.
Business events become tools in the organisation’s strategy to create unique, competitive advantages. The research question to be answered in this exploratory research and which defines the scope of the research strategy is, “How do business event attendees perceive business events as influencing the organisation’s opportunity for value creation?”
Research objectives To answer this question two specific objectives to define the scope of the research have been
stated. The primary objective of the research is to establish what the business event attendees’ perspective of the reason for their attendance is in relation to their knowledge/learning gains being integral to delivering an overall, organisational strategy. This objective seeks to establish to what practical extent the concept of a balanced scorecard type model is understood by event attendees to be able to direct how their new knowledge will flow back into other areas that need this input to
EXPLORING THE METHODOLOGY FOR EVALUATING INTANGIBLE VALUE CREATED AT BUSINESS EVENTS 952