How do you measure your event’s success?
The answer commonly lies in event feedback. Event feedback gives you not one but two benefits as an event organizer: an indication as to how well your recent event fared among its attendees and valuable information for the future to help make your events even better.
It may seem simple, and it can be but what distinguishes good feedback from bad or no feedback at all is really the types of questions you choose to include in your post-event survey. The questions you put in your survey can directly influence the number of responses you get. When the right survey questions are asked, it can increase your chances of having a higher than the average post-event survey response rate of 33%. Here you will find a breakdown of top questions you should include in your survey next time you are hosting an event.
Quick Reads
General Questions
- What rating would you give the event on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being the worst, 10 being the highest)?
- Is there a main takeaway you got from the event?
- Have you ever attended one of our events?
- If so, which event(s)?
- What did you like most about the event?
- What did you like least about the event?
- Would you say that the time duration of the event was suitable?
- If not, what did not make it suitable?
- Based on your experience at this event, how likely are you to recommend our future events to someone you know?
- On a scale of 1 to 10, do you feel the event gave value for money?
General questions are always a good idea when conducting a post-event survey. They help you gain an overall understanding of how the event went and give you key points to help you measure its success.
Event Presentations
- Out of the presentation(s) you attended today, which topic was the most interesting to you?
- What about this topic made it particularly interesting?
- Would you want to hear more about any of these topics in future events?
- If yes, which topics?
- Would you say that the presenter(s)/speakers were knowledgeable?
- Did the event help you with new information and/or learnings?
- If yes, please elaborate
Information fuels events. Whether it be for a conference, webinar, or any other event, asking about your attendees' experience with the topics presented and with the presenters/speakers could really make a difference. It not only lets you know which topics are currently in high demand but also gives you an idea as to the types of presenters/speakers that should be a part of your event next year.
Venue and Food
- How satisfied were you with the venue? Was there enough space, could you hear the presenters, etc.?
- In your opinion, how accessible was the venue (including parking)?
- If the venue was not accessible to you, please describe how this could be made better.
- What features do you think are most important when choosing a venue for future events? (Please list 3).
- How would you rate the quality of the food?
- Do you have any suggestions for food that could be provided next time?
A major aspect of any event is your choice of venue and food. Venues set the tone for the entire event. A space that is too small or not accessible to your attendees will mean less willingness from them to attend future events so it is important to choose your venue wisely. Food also plays an important in your event. Food helps keep your attendees happy and engaged so providing attendees with a selection of food could be very beneficial to the overall success of your event.
Audience Suggestions
Of course any event feedback survey could not be complete without asking about how an event can be improved for the future. These questions, in particular, are essential since they help highlight the main areas for growth.
While this is a comprehensive list of questions that can be applied to almost any post-event survey, it is important to keep in mind that time is valuable. In order to maximize the response rate and get meaningful feedback from your event, it is important to keep your survey brief and customized to your particular interests for collecting information.
Therefore, next time you find yourself thinking about how many questions to include in your survey make sure you first consider how applicable those questions are to your specific event and to your future event decision-making. If it will not tell you anything valuable for future events, it would be best not to include it.
Helpful Tips
Now that you have a set of questions to choose from, it is time to address how and when these questions should be used. The following is a list of recommendations to help boost your responses and keep your attendees coming back.
- Be mindful of your attendees' time and keep your survey short. Make sure to limit the use of any unnecessary jargon in order to facilitate the survey-taking process and send out your survey within 24 hours of your event. Past 24 hours could mean a lower response rate and less accurate information.
- A thank you can go a long way. After an event, it is crucial that you thank your attendees for coming. This helps you continue to foster connection building and keeps your event at the top of your attendees' minds.
- Incentives are a great way to boost your survey response rate. By offering to give out a gift card or special discounts at your next event, attendees will feel more motivated to take and complete your post-event survey.
- Sometimes all it takes is a reminder. Reminder emails are a great way to keep your event fresh in the minds of your attendees. They also help encourage attendees to complete the survey, but be careful not to send too many reminder emails, one or two should be sufficient.
- Given that attendees have already gone to one of your events, it is never too early to begin promoting your next event. The ending thank you page of your survey is a great place to feature your upcoming events in order to keep your attendees in the know and grow the number in attendance for the next event.
Now take it from here
These tips are only a few of many that can help your event feedback survey be a giant success. Keeping in mind that questions should be personalized in order to get the most out of your event feedback, you can use these questions as a prime starting point. These tips will also guide you to make the best decisions for your overall rolling out and survey making strategies in order to increase your survey response rate.
Using these tips and recommended list of questions together, you will be able to not only get feedback but get the right kind of feedback which will help your future events be even better. You are now well equipped to tackle your next post-event survey with confidence.
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