AAR (After-Action Review) for Beginners: Decide Improvements Right After an Event with 4 Questions

Team & People

AAR (After-Action Review) for Beginners: Decide Improvements Right After an Event with 4 Questions

This After-Action Review (AAR) template for beginners helps event teams review the plan, what happened, why it differed, and next steps in four questions right after a festival or exhibition. The whiteboard has four pages: page 1 sets the no-blame rule and recalls the event plan, page 2 compares planned vs. actual by scene and by number, page 3 sorts scenes by gap size to dig into the reasons, and page 4 sets the improvement steps and hands off to the next person. The task board has three columns - preparing, check next time, and done - with four parent tasks matching the four pages and three subtasks each, all starting in preparing with due dates and owners left blank. Just rewrite the e.g. notes with your own event's details to work through it step by step, co-edit with your team on a limited-visibility share, and hand off the board and improvement steps to the next person via a limited-visibility URL.

0 Likes 0 Copies Author: WeProcess
AAR after-action review retrospective event management improvement
Other language versions
Sign up free and use this template

Once you have a free account, you can copy this template from the marketplace

Whiteboard preview

Preview mode AAR (After-Action Review) for Beginners: Decide Improvements Right After an Event with 4 Questions
Sign up free and use this template

Whiteboard preview

① The Event, Rule, and Writing Order ... ② Event Flow Table (scene x plan, own... ④ Scene 1 Front Desk (from table ②) ⑤ Scene 2 Stage Program ⑥ Scene 3 Rest Area ⑦ Scene 4 Cleanup ⑧ Number Comparison Table (plan, actu... ⑨ Sort Scenes from ④-⑦ and Numbers fr... Likely to recur x small gap Likely to recur x big gap Unlikely x small gap Unlikely x big gap ⑩ Gap Reasons Table (must include eve... ⑪ Improvement Table (3 starred scenes... ⑫ 4 Stages to Check the Fix Next Time... ⑬ What to Hand Off to the Next Person ⑭ Steps to Keep in the Task Template ⑮ How to Share the Board via a Limite... AAR (After-Action... How to use (4 pag... Plan / what was d... Steps / agreements Gap / what went w... Notice / improvement 1/4 Recall what was p... Ctrl+F / ⌘F : 2/4... → 2/4 2/4 Compare gaps by s... ↙ 3/4 The event you're reviewing (write here)E.g. Summer town festival, August 3, 8 crew members No-blame ruleWrite what happened, not whose fault it was. Give reasons in terms of steps or tools. Writing orderWrite ②-③ → ④-⑧ → ⑨-⑩ → ⑪-⑮ in order. Rewrite the e.g. notes with your own event's details. Plan Owner Planned time Scene 1 Front desk E.g. Open the desk 30 min early, keep the wait under 5 min E.g. 2 front-desk staff E.g. 9:30-10:30 Scene 2 Stage pro... E.g. Finish all 6 acts by 12:30 E.g. 1 host, 1 sound tech E.g. 10:30-12:30 Scene 3 Rest area E.g. Set up 2 tents and 40 chairs E.g. 2 rest-area staff E.g. 10:00-15:00 Scene 4 Cleanup E.g. Everyone cleans up in 1 hour E.g. all crew members E.g. 15:00-16:00 ③ The 4 AAR Quest... Planned E.g. Open the desk 30 min early, keep the wait under 5 min Actual E.g. 40 people lined up at opening, longest wait was 15 min Reason for the gap E.g. Searching the roster alphabetically took too long Next time E.g. Sort the roster by check-in number and open 2 desks Plan: E.g. Open 30 min early, keep wait under 5 min Actual: E.g. 40 people lined up at opening, longest wait 15 min Gap: E.g. Wait was 10 min longer than planned (5 min) Notice: E.g. Line stretched outside and blocked the walkway Plan: E.g. Finish 6 acts by 12:30 Actual: E.g. Finished at 12:50 Gap: E.g. 20 min delay Notice: E.g. Later acts started later and later Plan: E.g. 40 chairs are enough Actual: E.g. Chairs ran short at midday, people stood waiting Gap: E.g. About 20 chairs short Notice: E.g. Strong sun drew people under the tent Plan: E.g. Finish in 1 hour, 15:00-16:00 Actual: E.g. Finished at 17:00 Gap: E.g. 1 hour longer than planned Notice: E.g. Only 3 people were left working in the last 30 min Plan Actual Gap Attendance E.g. 300 E.g. 420 E.g. +120 Wait time E.g. 5 min max E.g. 15 min max E.g. +10 min Prep time E.g. 3 hrs the day before E.g. 5 hrs the day before E.g. +2 hrs Cost ($) E.g. $330 E.g. $390 E.g. +$60 3/4 Dig into the reasons → 4/4 4/4 Put the fix into ... 縦軸: Likely to rec... E.g. The $60 cost gap (⑧). Just add $70 in buffer to the next estimate. E.g. Front-desk wait (+10 min), cleanup (+1 hr), stage delay (20 min). List these as improvement candidates in ⑩. E.g. A minor sound glitch. Just keep a record. E.g. Rest-area chair shortage (only in unusually busy years). Prepare for it when turnout looks high. Scene and gap Reason for gap What can change n... Candidate 1 E.g. ★ Front desk: wait up to 15 min (plan was 5 min) E.g. Searched the roster alphabetically E.g. Sort by check-in number, use 2 desks Candidate 2 E.g. ★ Cleanup: 1 hour longer than planned E.g. No list or spot for what to return E.g. Make a return list, split by area Candidate 3 E.g. ★ Stage program: finished 20 min late E.g. No plan for the gaps between acts E.g. Put the changeover order on one sheet Candidate 4 E.g. Rest area: not enough chairs E.g. Estimated turnout from last year's number E.g. Arrange to borrow 20 spare chairs Steps When to check nex... Who it hands off to Notes Improvement 1 Fro... E.g. Sort the roster by check-in number, use 2 desks E.g. Wait time at next opening (target under 5 min) E.g. Next front-desk lead E.g. Keep how to make the roster in ⑭ Improvement 2 Cle... E.g. Make a return list, split staff by area E.g. When cleanup finishes next time (target 16:00) E.g. Next event lead E.g. Return list is handed off in ⑬ Improvement 3 Sta... E.g. Put the changeover order on one sheet E.g. When the next stage program finishes (target 12:30) E.g. Next host E.g. Try it once in rehearsal Decide the fixE.g. Within 3 days of the event, the team decides on the 3 items from ⑪ and adds owner and due date to the task board Write the stepsE.g. Within 2 weeks, write the ⑪ steps into the task template and into ⑭ too Check next timeE.g. On the day of the next event, look at ⑪'s "when to check next time" Write the resultsE.g. Within 1 week after the next event, write it in the same form as ⑧ (plan, actual, gap), then use it in the next AAR's ② E.g. The improvement table from ⑪ and the numbers from ⑧ E.g. The return list and where things go Also write who you're handing off to and when E.g. How to sort the front-desk roster by number E.g. Cleanup role split and the return list Keep steps for each parent task E.g. Send the limited-visibility URL only to the next person E.g. Remove personal names before sending; use role names instead Confirm the next person was able to open it → 2/4 Compare gaps by s... ↙ 3/4 Dig into the reasons → 4/4 Put the fix into ...
100%

Drag to move, scroll to zoom

Task board contents

Preparing 16 items

Recall event plan
Compare scene gaps
Dig into gap reasons
Put fix in motion
Read rule and order
Write scene and plan
Check 4 questions
Make scene frames
Write plan vs actual
Fill number table
Place scenes on grid
Write reasons table
Pick what to improve
Write fix and steps
Hand off to next
Check next time

Check next time 0 items

Done 0 items

Related templates

← Back to templates