A section-by-section template for the post-event report to leadership: which data goes where, and what to leave out.
The event is over, the photos are taken, the team is happy. Then the email from leadership arrives: "Could you share an evaluation?"
At this point most HR teams prepare a 20-slide photo album. Leadership watches it, says thank you, and cuts the line in the next budget cycle — because there is nothing in the deck to decide on.
Below is a report template designed to produce a decision. Five sections, 4–6 slides in total.
Section 1: The one-page summary (1 slide)
For executives who will not read the whole report, this is the critical slide and it belongs first — not at the end.
What it must contain, in five lines:
- What was run: Format, date, location, duration — one sentence
- How many people: Invited / attended / attendance rate
- What the goal was: The one-sentence goal you wrote before the event
- Was it met: The metric measuring that goal and its result
- Recommendation: One sentence of advice for the next period
Read on its own, this slide should be enough to make a decision. The remaining sections are the evidence.
Section 2: Attendance data (1 slide)
Do not settle for the overall attendance rate; show the breakdown.
| Breakdown | Why |
|---|---|
| By department | Makes any systematically absent unit visible |
| By location | Shows whether non-head-office teams were left out |
| By tenure | New joiners' attendance is critical for a bonding goal |
| Registration vs attendance | The gap determines capacity planning next time |
Do not hide a weak breakdown. Telling leadership "marketing attendance came in at 40%, the reason is X, our recommendation is Y" is a far stronger position than showing a 78% average — because it shows you identified the problem and proposed a fix.
Section 3: Survey results (1 slide)
The results of the three-question post-event survey. Not three charts — three numbers is enough:
- Average intent to return (0–10)
- Cross-department contact distribution (how many talked to 3+ new people)
- Response rate — without it the other two cannot be interpreted
Quote three to five open comments: two positive, two critical, one containing a suggestion. Choosing only positive comments undermines the report's credibility, and an experienced executive spots it immediately.
Section 4: Budget actuals (1 slide)
This is the most frequently skipped section and the most important one to leadership.
| Line | Planned | Actual | Variance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Organisation / programme | — | — | — |
| Venue / facility | — | — | — |
| Transport | — | — | — |
| Catering | — | — | — |
| Other (prizes, print, photography) | — | — | — |
| Cost per head | — | — | — |
Actual cost per head is the single number leadership will decide next year on. Calculate it on the number who actually attended, not the number planned — if attendance was low, cost per head rises, and showing that yourself is better than being asked about it later.
Section 5: Lessons and the recommendation (1–2 slides)
Under three headings, as bullets:
- Three things that worked — to repeat
- Two things that did not — to change, with the reason
- Recommendation — a concrete format, date range and estimated budget for next period
The recommendation must not be vague. "A similar event could be considered" produces no decision. "An 8-week indoor five-a-side league in March, at an estimated cost per head of X" does.
What to leave out
- Twenty photographs. Put 2–3 in the report and share the rest as a separate album.
- Praise for the supplier. How the organisation ran is your job; leadership cares about the output.
- Indefensible claims. Unmeasured sentences like "motivation increased" or "productivity rose" undermine the credibility of the whole report.
- A minute-by-minute account of the programme. That is an operational document, not a leadership report.
What the report is really for
A post-event report is not written to defend the event that happened, but to secure the budget for the next one. Every section should therefore connect to the decision about next period.
And most importantly: use the same template every cycle. An HR team that presents the same structure three years running does not have to defend a budget in year four — because the trend is already in front of leadership.
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