The OpenWater Blog

Learning Series: Using Data to Make Decisions

Metrics from your awards program is the most critical and useful data you can collect. Not only does it give you a simple way to compare your program year over year, but it does so while guiding key decisions you’ll be forced to make during your program and as you plan next year’s program.

However, you can’t collect what seems to be every important piece of data. Instead, you must choose and decide what is most important to your program and the future of your organization.

Total Entries

Total entries is a metric something every program can benefit from measuring. It will reveal whether your program has stagnated, is growing, or is shrinking.

It also allows you to evaluate whether you’re consistently attracting higher quality entries or are struggling with a shrinking pool of candidates. And, by identifying these problems, you can focus on recruiting more, higher quality entrants or address other problems accordingly.

Most Popular and Least Popular Categories

Understanding which categories attract the most and least entrants is important for a number of reasons:

• You may want to segment popular categories into more than one category so it doesn’t get too saturated.
• You may want to consolidate similar categories that aren’t as popular.
• You may want to create new categories where it’s appropriate when innovative opportunities present themselves.

Total Revenue Collected

By analyzing the total revenue you collect during your program, you can identify additional opportunities to generate money or where you might be leaving money on the table.

You should break up revenue into late fees, member discounts, and other distinct categories. Doing so will help you better understand where you could be generating additional revenue, if at all possible.

Judge Reliability

Judges can make or break your program in a number of ways. One of the important factors to consider when evaluating judges was how reliable each was in meeting deadlines and otherwise participating in your program.

By evaluating the top 5 most reliable and least reliable judges, you can ensure you don’t continue to work with a judge who is more of a hassle than he or she might be worth.

Sponsors

When evaluating sponsors, you may want to analyze how many sponsors you attract from year to year. You may also want to measure repeat sponsors to see which find you program beneficial to attend every year.

If you find that sponsors tend to not support your program for more than a year, it’s best to evaluate why and what you could do differently to get them back, if possible.

What Data Matters Most to Your Organization?

Most organizations will collect data pertaining to entrants, judges, sponsors, gala participants, and more. But, what is most important for your organization?

By figuring this out, you can ensure you’re using data to your best advantage and creating a better program every year because of it.

Ashley Surinak

Ashley Surinak is the resident OpenWater expert on all things content. From the blog to guides and beyond, you'll find her at every turn in your OpenWater journey.

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