Evaluating an Event

This is the most important aspect of the programming process.  The information obtained will help you in planning future activities and will aid people in the future who are considering similar events.  Evaluation should be done regardless of how formal or informal your program is.  Evaluation can come in the form of verbal feedback or written feedback. Both are effective as long as you apply it to your future activities.  There are two ways in which you should evaluate your program:

1. Formal Evaluation – Fill out a Program Evaluation Form that you have prepared.  You could also use your sign in sheet to send an evaluation out via email.

2. Informal Evaluation - Ask program attendees what they thought.  Evaluate and critique the results with the planning team. Some particular things to keep in mind when evaluating:

• What was the level of involvement between the audiences and the presenter?
• Was the effort put into planning worth the results achieved?
• Did the patrons feel it was worth their time? Money?

A good sign is when the presenter, speaker and/or participants say to you, "Let’s do that again sometime soon."

Since the program was started to satisfy some need that the students had or a goal your organization had in mind, ask yourself and them if that need was satisfied and/or goal was met.