While it might seem daunting at first, anyone can write a great post-event article. Doing an event recap is a great way to capitalise on months of planning and preparation. While you might be a little tuckered out from the event itself, it’s well worth throwing together a well-written event report (after you’ve had a little hard-earned break, of course). After all, event marketing doesn’t stop when your event ends.

A well-crafted post-event blog article can:

  • Drive traffic to your website.
  • Provide ready-made content for your next email newsletter.
  • Serve as great marketing material for future events.
  • Inspire people who didn’t attend to come to the next one.

So how do you write a great post-event write-up without a ton of effort? Don’t worry — it’s not hard if you follow some simple rules. Learn how to create an event blog with these tips.

Table of contents

Begin your event recap by noting the top event takeaways

Share the events’ slides

Create a photo gallery that captures the excitement of the night

Highlight what’s different

List the speakers, sponsors, and attendees

Examples of Great Event Recaps

1. Begin your event recap by noting the top event takeaways

An event recap doesn’t have to be a play-by-play account of the day’s events. This can be repetitive for attendees and not very exciting for non-attendees.

Instead, focus your post on one big insight, a provocative idea, or a quote from the event that you can’t get out of your head. If the event left your mind full of ideas, try a “5 Great Ideas From…” write-up format for your event. Don’t just repeat what happened — add to the discussion.

Think of the writing process for your post-event article, less as noting down a standard beat-by-beat events summary, and more as authoring a story about the event. What was the ultimate goal of the event? Who were the main characters at play? In what ways did the event succeed, and how did it surprise the hosts and guests? What does that mean for future events that you might want to hold, and what can new attendees look forward to down the line?

Insightful example takeaways for your event recap

If you’re still feeling a little lost for ideas on how to construct an event recap template that won’t put your readers to sleep, don’t fret. Instead, check out these examples of ways to build an efficient yet absorbing events summary — and helpful mindset shifts that might get you into a more inspired mood for turning your event report into a compelling narrative:

  • If your event is a concert or live performance, think about it from the perspective of an entertainment journalist: take note of the main act, but don’t neglect to cover openers that generated a particularly strong reception from the audience.
  • If your event is educational, think of yourself as a student studying for an exam: identify the main thematic takeaway of the lesson, and make sure it informs the rest of the event report.
  • If your event is a party or soiree, imagine covering it for a lifestyle magazine: be creative about describing the food, the guests in attendance, and any noteworthy entertainment.

2. Share the event slides

Embed Slideshare presentations, recordings, or even PDF slide decks on your site so people don’t have to be told about the presentation — they can see it themselves. The best part? These presentations will show up when people search online for years to come, driving traffic to and giving awareness of your brand.

Don’t forget to post your slide deck where it can be easily found — consider hosting it on a shared drive, and posting an easily accessible hyperlink on social media channels in order to generate more interest. Visually focused social media platforms such as Instagram can be an especially good spot to promote something like a slide deck. Use bold fonts and eye-catching to capture the interest of people scrolling through their feeds.

One of the most effective ways to convey the energy and excitement of your event is with rich imagery. Where words won’t suffice, pictures often do a remarkable job of capturing the most memorable aspects of a particular moment in time. Make sure you leverage the power of good photography for your event — your future self will thank your past self when those photos end up doing a lot of heavy lifting for your event recap.

The best post-event articles balance words and effective imagery. Start by embedding a display of photos from the event on your blog — but make sure that you’re smart with your captions. Rather than writing exactly what’s in the photos, use a quote from one of the people in the image, reference a presentation they gave, or point to a guest post they wrote for your site. Use captions to add interest to your photos instead of just describing what the viewer is looking at. Wondering which photos to include? Check out these tips for event photography and your event blog.

4. Highlight what’s different

A lot of events can start to feel the same. A well-known speaker spits out her favorite one-liners along with the latest buzzword, and the next day, everyone is posting, tweeting, and reporting back to their bosses with the same line. Instead of blending in with the crowd, see what you can do to stand out.

Set your event apart from all the rest by challenging the ideas that everyone is buzzing about. It doesn’t have to come from you — maybe there’s an attendee you can quote who came at the problem from a different viewpoint. Nothing drives traffic like a discussion of differing viewpoints. If you’re offering an inspired — or even contrarian — view, get it trending with a hashtag.

Event Highlight Examples

Here are some examples of highlights that you may wish to take note of in your post-event article:

  • Particularly memorable quotes by keynote speakers
  • Useful points of discussion generated by any breakout Q&A sessions that took place
  • Performances or speeches that resulted in a standing ovation, or otherwise elicited a strong reaction from the audience

5. List the speakers, sponsors, and attendees

Don’t forget to give speakers and sponsors a shoutout — your attendees will love having an easy list to reference when following up with leads or other contacts. Your sponsors will appreciate the love and credit. Plus, your blog post will serve as a great resource for the next time you host the event since you can add a “see who you missed last time” link in your promotion.

Better yet, some of your lesser-known presenters may be headliners down the road, so they might be better promoters for your event than you think!

Try incorporating just a couple of these tips into your next post-event blog and see what it does for your website traffic. It’s worth looking for examples to sample write-up strategies for different events. See what works and what doesn’t — does the write-up make you wish you’d been there?

If you want more tips on writing great content that helps you sell out your events, check out The Ultimate Guide to Copywriting for Events to help you sell more tickets.

Examples of Great Event Recaps

Still looking for inspiration? Check out some of these examples of great event recaps here at Eventbrite.

Jersey Live Recap

The recap of Jersey Live provides an excellent event summary template that works for multiple event types. It’s short, sweet, and captures the event’s major highlights, including the names of high-profile entertainment booked for the event, as well as major success stories regarding the logistics of the event itself. Highlighted wins include the whopping 10,000 tickets sold to the event, not to mention the lack of frustrating wait time for attendees — quite a feat, given the size and scope of the event itself. Embedded multimedia in the form of a video from the event provides a more immersive experience for the reader, and gets us interested in what else this creator might be able to do.

How Drunk Black History’s Brandon Collins Took a Local Event Global

This recap of Drunk Black History’s event takes things a step further by showcasing how a specific event was not only a success itself — but also generated interest for related events from bigger demographics, and from further-flung corners of the globe. This is essentially an event brief template that takes on the form of a success story case study, making an argument for how one well-run event can create a watershed moment that results in explosive popularity for multiple future events.

Hangin’ Out at Pollstar Live! 2020: The Photo Recap

Maybe your recapping style is more visually immersive. If that’s the case, this recap of Pollstar Live! provides a great example of how you can use photos and visual storytelling to convey the excitement and success of your event when writing up the post-event article. The author walks the readers through the event experience to illustrate the positive vibes and best moments during the event itself.

Now that you know how to write a great post-event write-up without a ton of effort, you’ll be able to drive traffic to your website, have ready-made content for your next email newsletter, and inspire people to want to come to your next event. So, what are you waiting for? Get started on your post and shine bright with your event recap.