Metrics - Event Attendance

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Metrics and Reporting

Principles

1. The event must be eligible to report under the Reporting Standards
2. Attendance to the event must be controlled                
3. You must report event attendance
4. You may additionally report optional metrics
5. Evidence to support the claim must be retained and made available for a minimum period

Requirements

1. The event must be eligible to report under the Reporting Standards

   1. An event may be:

      1. In-person – an event taking place in a physical location

      2. Online - an event delivered online. Examples include webinars, awards, exhibitions and seminars.

      3. Hybrid – An event comprising both In-person and online components under the same/similar brand. They need not run concurrently.

2. Attendance to the event must be controlled

   1. Entry to the event is controlled in a manner that records attendance and enables it to be verified in accordance with these Reporting Standards.

3. You must report event attendance

   1. You must be able to demonstrate the individuals included in the event attendance claim have attended the event. For the avoidance of doubt, attendance may include any individual attending the event, including visitors, exhibitors, press etc.

   2. Attendance can be claimed once for each individual attending the event (except within the optional Repeat Visits figure if claimed). Sufficient details of attendees must be captured to enable duplicates to be removed from the claim.

      1. For paid entrance where contact details are not captured, for example cash entry at the event, each distinct payment/ticket purchased and used by an individual to gain entry will be treated as attendance once. For example a single season ticket purchased and used for entry on multiple days must be counted once. However a book of say 5 tickets purchased, that are individually redeemed on entry may each be counted as attendance once each day they’re used.

   3. For in-person events:

      1. You must retain an attendance list containing a record of all individuals that attended the event, that includes, as a minimum, their name and either:

         • Their full postal address including postcode (for all records); or

         • Their email address (for all records)

           Note:

           • Paid entrance may be excluded from the list in certain circumstances – see bullet (ii) below.

           • You must exclude from your claim any attendee where the details captured are insufficient to enable them to be contacted for audit purposes.

           • You must remove duplicates of the same attendee from the list.

           • If required to analyse any optional data being reported, the list must be appropriately coded to support these claims.

      2. For paid entrance, where contact details are not captured, you must be able to demonstrate the individual attending has gained entrance through payment of an admission charge. The payment need not be made by the attendee themselves.

   4. For online events:

      1. You must be able to demonstrate the numbers attending the event, whether live or via a time-shifted recording. No minimum time of attendance applies.

         • We expect this to be via a system/software solution that hosts the event and records interactions with the attendees.

         • Our audit approach is to understand how the system/software solution measures and records attendees’ activity and review its configuration/implementation in order to establish that it will provide the relevant information for your claim in accordance with these standards.

         • You will need to provide us with appropriate information to confirm metric counts and configuration settings. This may include access to your system/software solution’s dashboard (on a review/read only basis) and if necessary for more complex claims, the underlying system data (e.g. logged records) or additional records such as user registration/payment records. You must also grant us free access to the event if requested.

         • Time-shifted attendance via a recording of the event may only be claimed:

           • Where this occurs within 3 months of the date of the live event/recording.

           • Where the recording remains substantially the same as the live event/original recording. i.e. minor edits may be made to improve the user’s experience but the vast majority of the original content is retained.

   5. For hybrid events:

      1. If you’re combining the in-person and online events to report an attendance figure across both, then you will need to have a mechanism to adequately identify and remove duplicates from the combined total.

4. You may additionally report optional metrics

   If you wish to report optional analyses or breakouts, other information or any of the defined metrics below, please discuss this with us, so we can review the additional evidence and audit work involved. Examples other than the defined metrics include attendance analysis by paid and free entry or demographics, exhibitor information such as number of exhibitors or stand space occupied, event frequency, market sector.

   1. Defined metrics

      1. Registrants - The number of individuals that registered to attend the event.

      2. Visitor attendance - Individuals who are attending not for the purposes of manning a stand (includes members of the press).

      3. Exhibitor attendance - Individuals who are attending for the purposes of manning a stand.

      4. Repeat Visits of Visitor Attendees - Repeat Visits are defined as subsequent visits by a Unique Visitor on different days, i.e. any more than one repeat visit on the same day does not count as further Repeat Visits. Exhibitors cannot be included in the repeat visit figure. Note: The attendance list will need to identify the Repeat Visits claimed.

   2. For Online events only:

      1. Attendees (live), Attendees (recorded) – A breakout of attendance into the number of individuals that attended the live event and the number who viewed the recorded event at a later time. As individuals can only be counted once, you must apply a consistent policy for the treatment of individuals that attend both the live event and a subsequent recording, either reporting them against the live or recorded breakout figure (but not both).

      2. Duration (Average viewing time) - The average time spent by each individual attending the event (both live and recorded if applicable).

5. Evidence to support the claim must be retained and made available for a minimum period

   1. For all events, you must be able to provide any records relevant to the claim as noted above and including those necessary to support any optional metrics or analyses reported.

   2. Records supporting the claim must be retained, and made available to us on request (in accordance with the ABC Byelaws), until we have completed the audit of the certificate for the subsequent event, unless we agree otherwise. There is an exception for registration documents, tickets and vouchers collected in paper form if used, which may be disposed of once we have confirmed the audit is complete.

Reporting

You will report event attendance as follows, which will be reported on the ABC certificate:

1. The event name, date(s) and venue. For a single event, the Reporting Period will be the date(s) of the event.

2. As a minimum the event attendance.

   1. For hybrid events, you must also show the attendance for the in-person and online components. [Note: Whilst the combined in-person and online event attendance must be de-duplicated, the separate in-person and online components can each include those individuals that have attended both.

3. You may optionally report other defined metrics, analyses or breakouts.

4. You may optionally report a description of the event for example products/services exhibited and/or target audience. Note: This statement is to be factual and not contain market comparisons or claims not supported by the data published on the certificate. We do not audit the accuracy of these statements. However we will review them to ensure that they are reasonable and meet the above requirements.

5. You may include two or more separate events on a single certificate (these can be from different brands):

   1. They will be listed individually, with a figure for each.

   2. They must each fall within the same Reporting Period, being a whole calendar month or any combination of consecutive calendar months (up to a maximum of 12).

6. If the event attendance is affected by circumstances outside the organiser’s control, then we may agree a statement can be added to the certificate detailing the circumstances that have affected the attendance figures. The circumstances and information surrounding the statement are subject to audit.

7. All products will appear in the relevant data tables and reports. However, where you’re reporting products to these Reporting Standards on an ABC Brand Report or Group Report, you may ask us to not publish the individual certificate(s).