SHARE-ME GUIDE

Metrics and Summary Tables for Reviewing Exhibition Results

Share-Me | Published November 1, 2026

When reporting on exhibition results, are you only comparing the number of business cards collected with the previous event? Since you may receive multiple cards from the same person or have no record of the conversation, it can be difficult to determine what to improve next based on the number alone.

Here, we propose metrics that distinguish between contacts, qualified contacts, next-step agreements, and meetings held, along with a recording sheet that fixes the scope of the data. The definitions and calculation examples are original to this article. All figures are fictional and do not represent the results of an actual exhibition or the implementation of Share-Me.

First, fix "who to include" and "until when"

Determine the group to be included in the summary based on the event name, event dates, and contact criteria. For example, "people who spoke with someone at your booth during Exhibition X and for whom you have a record that identifies them." Manage the number of people passing by in the aisles and anonymous brochure pickups as separate figures, and do not include them in this count.

• Unit:In this example, the unit is the individual. Even if you meet the same person again, they count as one. The number of companies and conversations are tracked separately.
• Target period:From the start to the end of the exhibition. Do not include contacts from separate events before or after.
• Target group:Distinguish between new contacts and existing customers. If both are included, show the breakdown.
• Exclusions:Event staff, test registrations, duplicate entries for the same person, etc. Record the reason and the number of cases.
• Deadline:Distinguish between the number of contacts made by the end of the event and next-step agreements and meetings held by the specified date after the event.

Decide on the deadline in advance and write it at the beginning of the report. "7 days after the event" and "30 days later" are examples of observation window designs and are not standards suitable for all industries. If your business takes time to reach the meeting stage, set the deadline accordingly.

For the overall management of collecting, storing, and following up on business cards, see the Exhibition Business Card Management Guide. This article focuses on how to count the figures.

Definitions of contacts, qualified contacts, next-step agreements, and meetings held

The following is one example. Before adopting it internally, verify that the definitions can be determined from actual conversation records. "Qualified" does not evaluate the value of the person, but rather means that they meet the conditions set for this summary.

1. Contact: There was a conversation that identified the other person

Count people for whom you can match the date and time of the conversation and the staff member who assisted them with the other person's name, company, etc. Even if you receive two business cards or two staff members speak with the same person, they count as one. Track contacts where you cannot collect personal information separately, and do not estimate and add the number of people.

2. Qualified contact: Predefined conditions were confirmed

For example, define this as "people who fall within your company's service area and for whom you recorded the issues or uses they want to confirm." Do not judge based only on impressions such as having a well-known company name, a high position, or handing over a business card. If you have not heard about their issues, mark it as "unknown" and distinguish it from not meeting the conditions.

3. Next-step agreement: Both parties confirmed specific next actions

In this example, count qualified contacts for whom you confirmed the next item and method of contact, such as sending materials, answering specifications, or discussing meeting candidates. Do not count emails sent unilaterally by the staff member or situations where the other person merely viewed the materials as an agreement. Also, distinguish "discussing meeting candidates" from "the meeting date was confirmed" in the records.

4. Meeting held: Actually held the consultation defined

Among those who made a next-step agreement, count those who actually held a consultation addressing the target issues, requirements, implementation conditions, etc. In this design, scheduled meetings, cancellations, and brief product introductions at the exhibition are not included as meetings held. If three people attend one meeting, do not confuse the 3 people in the individual count with the 1 meeting.

In a table that connects these four stages in order, the later stages are subsets of the preceding stages. If a meeting was arranged through a different channel, record the fact and place it in a separate category. Do not retroactively add unconfirmed issues or agreements to align the order of the figures.

A recording sheet with one row per person and a summary criteria card

Use an ID that allows you to refer to the original conversation records or business card without spreading unnecessary personal information in the report. Below is a design proposal with tab-separated headers that can be copied into a spreadsheet.

Event ID	Person ID	New/Existing	Contact Date	Target Determination	Exclusion Reason	Issue Confirmed	Qualified Determination	Next-Step Agreement Determination	Agreement Date	Meeting Held Determination	Date Held	Source Reference	Reviewer	Final Review Date

For target determination, use "Target / Excluded / Under Review" as the basis, and for each stage, use "Applicable / Not Applicable / Unknown." If the date of applicability is after the summary deadline, do not include it in this summary. You can find how to write the records in the Exhibition Inquiry Questions and Recording Fields.

Event Name / Event Dates:
Summary Unit: Person / Company / Number (Do not mix)
Conditions for Target and Exclusion:
Criteria for New / Existing:
Definition of Qualified Contact:
Definition of Next-Step Agreement:
Definition of Meeting Held:
Observation Deadline / Summary Date:
Location of Original Record / Person in Charge:
Definition Version / Change History:
Unconfirmed Items and Re-reviewer:

If there are multiple contacts for a single opportunity, treat the person ID and opportunity ID separately. If you assign the amount for the same opportunity to each person and add them up, you will double-count the revenue. This table is for checking the stage of the person, not for automatically calculating revenue attribution or ROI.

Calculation example with the denominator written: Do not just list percentages

All of the following are fictional calculation examples.Suppose there are 120 recording rows, and after excluding 15 duplicate entries for the same person and 5 ineligible entries, there were 100 target contacts. There were 60 qualified contacts, 25 not applicable, and 15 unknown. Of the 60 qualified contacts, 24 made a next-step agreement, and of those 24, 8 held a meeting.

• Target contacts:120−15−5＝100 people.
• Qualified contact rate:60÷100×100＝60%. The denominator is the total number of target contacts.
• Unknown rate for qualified determination:15÷100×100＝15%. Do not silently exclude unknown entries.
• Next-step agreement rate from qualified contacts:24÷60×100＝40%.
• Meeting held rate from next-step agreements:8÷24×100≒33.3%.
• Meeting held rate from target contacts:8÷100×100＝8%.

Even though 33.3% and 8% use the same 8 meetings held, the denominators are different. Do not simply write "Meeting Rate"; make the name specific, such as "Rate with next-step agreement holders as the denominator." If the denominator is 0, do not write 0%; write "No calculation target." Also, standardize the number of decimal places.

If you exclude the 15 unknown entries and calculate 60÷85≒70.6%, it is the "Rate limited to the 85 determined entries." Since this is a different metric from 60% of the total target, do not report only the favorable one. Also, you cannot judge the superiority of products or standard exhibition values from these figures.

Handling Unknown, Duplicates, and Post-Deadline Developments

• No record:Do not conclude it was not performed; mark it as unknown. Check with the staff member and the original record, and if it cannot be resolved by the deadline, report the number of unknown entries.
• Multiple people from the same company:They are different people in the individual count. Organize them as the same company in the company count, but do not mechanically consolidate them by company name alone.
• Meetings after the deadline:Add them to the original data and reflect them in the next observation window. If updating a past report, leave the revision date and reason.
• Contacts through other initiatives:Distinguish the fact that there was an exhibition contact from the causal relationship that only that initiative produced results.

If you add contacts from another event to the 100 target contacts later, it will no longer be a comparison tracking the same group. If you add or remove targets after the event ends, also leave the reason, such as duplicate removal or incorrect registration, and report the change in the denominator.

Report figures with "What to verify next"

If there are many unknown qualified determinations, check for missing questions and records before concluding it is a problem with the customer base. If qualified contacts do not proceed to a next-step agreement, review whether the proposed next item was appropriate. If there are few meetings held, distinguish whether the scheduled date was after the deadline, if it was canceled, or if there was insufficient recording.

Sansan's Exhibition Marketing Guide covers multiple metrics according to the purpose. From there, this article focuses on summaries where the unit of counting and the evidence can be traced. If you also want to evaluate the workload, use the Business Card Management Man-Hour Recording Sheet as a separate document, and report the person's stage and working hours separately.

At the end of the report, write "What we learned this time," "What we still do not know," and "Conditions to change next time" one by one. If you also cover revenue and return on investment, you will need to separately agree on the scope of costs, correspondence with opportunities, definitions of revenue and profit, and the attribution period.

With Share-Me, you can share and review team business card information

The official guide for Share-Me's corporate service states that you can share and manage business cards scanned by AI with your team. This provides an option for your team to handle business card information to check who made contacts at the exhibition.

This is not an indication that Share-Me can automatically determine qualified contacts, next-step agreements, and meetings held, or automatically measure revenue. Define and record the stages and evidence internally. Check Share-Me's corporate plans.

Official information confirmed on November 1, 2026. Definitions and recording sheets are original proposals, and figures are fictional calculation examples.