How did your last event go? If you didn’t send out a post-event survey to attendees, you might not have the most objective assumptions. Conducting a post-event survey is a great way to find out whether you achieved your objectives, and how events can be improved in the future. Even if the feedback is less than stellar, you’ll find out exactly what your attendees expected, where you succeeded, and where you fell short. The key is to ask the right post-event survey questions.
All feedback is good feedback, but some questions are more essential than others. Here’s a guide to the top post-event survey questions to include.
Post-event surveys and question types
A post-event survey is typically distributed either at the end of your event, or immediately afterward. You want to time it so that the event is still fresh in the attendees’ minds. Most surveys are conducted digitally now, whether you send email, website, or mobile survey links. While you can use paper surveys, that often requires data input before you can analyze the feedback.
There are three main types of post-event survey questions:
- Yes/no questions: Yes/no and either/or questions are binary, such as “Have you attended one of our events before?” These may be followed by open-ended questions.
- Numeric scale questions: This question type asks participants to rate an experience or sentiment on a multiple-choice numeric scale, such as 1 to 10 or 1 through 5. This provides quantitative data to analyze.
- Open-ended questions: Both short- and long-form questions provide the opportunity for qualitative feedback. This can power a sentiment analysis, among other types of analyses.
Depending on the event type and the feedback you’re seeking, you might use one or more of these question types.
Essential post-event survey questions
Here’s what to ask your attendees, based on question categories:
General event questions
These questions can be asked of all participants, whether attendees, presenters, sponsors, or otherwise:
- How would you rate your satisfaction with this event?
- What did you enjoy most about this event?
- What, if anything, did you dislike about the event?
- Would you be interested in attending our events in the future?
- How likely are you to tell friends or colleagues about this event?
- Do you have any other feedback for us?
Questions for attendees
The following questions help you get a sense of what inspired attendees to register for the event, and how their expectations matched their actual experience:
- Why did you choose this event?
- What were your main goals in attending this event?
- What was your favorite presentation?
- Were there any subjects you wished were a bigger focus?
- Which events or subjects did you find unhelpful?
- Rate your satisfaction with the following:
a. Date
b. Time of day
c. Speakers
d. Presentation subjects
e. Length of panels and discussions
f. Venue/virtual event platform
g. Networking opportunities
h. Scheduling
i. Overall quality - Did you encounter any problems with:
a. Registering for the event
b. Finding a venue
c. Getting to different panels or presentations on time
d. Accessibility
- What would you like to see at future events?
- How did you hear about this event?
- Is there anything else we should know about your event experience?
Questions for sponsors, partners, and vendors
Sponsors, partners and vendors hope to get a return on their investment when they participate in your event. These questions will gauge their success:
- Did the event meet your expectations as a sponsor/partner?
- How could we better serve your goals?
- Was the event relevant to your industry or company?
- Which events and presentations were the most useful?
- Was your ROI sufficient?
- Would you consider participating in future events?
- Rate your satisfaction with:
- Event preparation
- Event organization
- Loading/unloading processes (where applicable)
- Booth size
- Attendee interest
Questions for presenters
It’s important to find out whether your speakers and presenters had a positive experience. They’re typically the main draw for any type of event. Be sure to ask:
- How did the event venue affect your experience?
- How would you rate the technological setup?
- Did you feel like the organizers adequately prepared you beforehand?
- Were you able to attend other presentations?
- What could we do to make your experience better?
- Would you be interested in appearing at future events?
- Do you have recommendations for future speakers?
- How would you rate the event organization?
- Do you feel this event met your professional goals?
- How would you rate the networking opportunities?
General tips
After you outline your general questions for each survey, follow these tips:
- Ask follow-up questions: If you’re asking a yes/no or rating scale question, don’t forget to ask follow-up questions. For example, if you find out that someone was very dissatisfied with the event, you’ll want to know why. Include open-ended follow-up questions where appropriate.
- Follow up with participants: Once you receive your feedback, don’t forget to follow up with participants. People who had particularly positive or negative experiences may be receptive to offering further feedback, or feel especially strongly about whether or not they’ll attend in the future.
- Keep surveys short: Although most people enjoy offering their opinion, keep your surveys short. Asking 10 to 15 targeted questions is more likely to provide valuable feedback than 40 to 50 broad questions.
Collect post-event survey data with Voiceform
Choosing the right platform for your post-event survey questions is the key to encouraging participation and analyzing your results. Voiceform offers a robust survey platform, including multimedia question types, secure data collection, multi-channel distribution, an intuitive user interface, and more. Plus, the built-in analytic tools will help you review the data and find overall trends from participants. When you’re ready to ask these essential post-event survey questions, find out more about how Voiceform can help by booking a demo today.
