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Event Surveys: Survey Questions, Examples & Best Practices

Event Survey Questions

Businesses big and small are leveraging the power of holding live events to maximize brand value, drive revenue, and improve customer experience. Here’s what the numbers say:

  • 80% of the businesses believe that live events are necessary to get a competitive edge, according to the latest report by Endless events
  • According to the 2019 trends report by event tech company Bizzabo, events, at times, even score over content marketing, digital advertising and email marketing.

But how do you map the success or failure of an event?

How can you ensure the success of similar events in the future?

The answer to these questions is – Asking Event Survey Questions!

You can use the power of event surveys to know about attendees’ interests and expectations before the event and measure its success to know how much you were able to understand their expectations. To help you do the same, we have compiled a comprehensive list of :

  • Pre-Event Survey Questions
  • Mid Event Questions
  • Post Event Survey Questions

We have also listed important tips to keep in mind while asking these questions, but first of all, let’s find out what exactly are event survey questions.

What Are Event Survey Questions?

Be it a small gathering, conference, sports event, fundraisers, trade shows, capturing the valuable feedback has become essential for businesses, associations, or even non-profit organizations.

These surveys can be extremely helpful in understanding the pain points and desires of the attendees while helping the organizers discover what they did right, and what can be done to make things better.

Depending on the event and the scope of feedback, the questions could be asked in different ways, like:

The questions can be asked from the event attendees, volunteers, and sponsors in three different time frames:

  • Pre-event
  • Mid-event
  • Post-event

Let’s look at the different types of event survey questions one by one.

Pre-Event Survey Questions

Before the event, organizers are still in the planning phase. Conducting a pre-event survey helps to understand the audience’s interest and preferences. Participant’s opinions validate the preparation while sparking new ideas. Knowing the attendees before the event also helps to improve your event marketing strategies and reach out to a broader audience.

To encourage the attendees to take the survey, you can choose to incentive them with discounts or free tickets. With the useful insights received, you’ll find the incentive worth offering.

Here are 10 examples of survey questions that you can ask the attendees:

Why did you decide to sign up for this event?

  1. From where did you hear about the event?
  2. How early are you planning to arrive at the event?
  3. How smooth was the registration process?
  4. How excited are you about the event location?
  5. How are you traveling to the event?
  6. What are your expectations from the event?
  7. Have you been to a similar kind of event before?
  8. Who or what are you looking forward to the most in the event?
  9. What are your thoughts about the registration fees of the event?
  10.  Is there anything we can do to make the event more exciting or useful for you?

Mid-Event Questions

Your event is going on. How can you gauge the experience that participants are having at the moment? Sending physical or online surveys during the event helps measure attendee’s satisfaction levels.

“How did you like the food?”

“Is there anything we can do to make the meal more delectable for you?”

Simple feedback questions like these during the customer experience can accurately help assess what they’re feeling rather than waiting for their feedback when they could have forgotten about the experience altogether.

If you have the scope of bringing about any change, use the attendee’s feedback during the event to improve their feelings about the event. Such efforts can significantly increase your chances of making the event a big success.

Here are the examples of the most common survey questions to be asked during the event:

  1. Did you like the ambiance of the event?
  2. Are you able to relate to the speaker’s opinion?
  3. Who is your favorite speaker/presenter so far?
  4. Did you agree with the speaker’s views on this topic?
  5. Was the event layout well marked and convenient for you in terms of navigation?
  6. Are the on-site staff/organizers helpful to you? 
  7. Are you satisfied with the food and drinks served?

Here is a pro-tips to ask questions from your attendees in between the event.

Ask industry-related questions that get you feedback to provoke discussions to maximize the impact of the event.

For e.g., If you are hosting a seminar on a SaaS-based software, ask questions like:

“How does the future of the SaaS industry look to you?

Or ask an NPS question like,

“How likely are you to rate the success of our SaaS-based software?”

Post Event Survey Questions

This one requires no guesswork. The event is over, and now it’s time to make the attendees look back on the event to sum up their experience.

Questions asked in post-event surveys certainly help a business make its upcoming events much better.

Here’s a list of post-event survey sample questions that can be asked from the participants after the event:

  1. What was the best part of today’s event for you?
  2. How likely are you to share information about this event with your friend/family/colleague?
  3. How did you find the duration of the event? (short/alright/too lengthy)
  4. Is this the first time you’ve attended any of our events?
  5. Would you be interested in attending our future events?
  6. How would you rate the event on a scale of 0-10?
  7. How much would you rate the keynote speaker of the event?
  8. Please share your valuable feedback on the event.
  9. Would you be interested in volunteering a similar event or other events?
  10. What was the thing that you like the most about this event?
  11. Were you adequately informed about the event by our staff?
  12.  Did you find the information provided by the presenters useful?
  13.  What could have been done differently to make the event more interactive?
  14.  Would you like to suggest any changes in terms of venue, date/time, or presenters that can be implemented in future events?
  15.  Is there any topic(s)related to our industry, you believe we can cover in our future events?
  16.  Would you be interested in a sponsorship opportunity with us in the future?
  17.  Can we expect to meet you again in the upcoming year?
  18.  Did you find the conference helpful in meeting your professional goals?
  19.  Do you think that the organizers did complete justice to the event?
  20.  Overall, what is your satisfaction level with the event?
  21.  Have you attended an event before with the same speaker(s)?
  22.  How satisfied are you with the catering of the event?
  23.  For you, what was the most crucial aspect of the event?
  24.  Did you get enough time for discussion/questionnaires after the event?
  25.  Did you feel that the event/ conference met its concrete objectives?
  26.  Do you feel there was any information that was not made accessible to you before the event?
  27. What was your least favorite thing about the event?
  28.  Based on your experience, was the cost changed from you justified?
  29.  Did you find the event well-structured or not?
  30.  Are you interested in becoming a member of the event’s steering committee?

Important Things to Remember

  • To get the most useful response, time the surveys right. It shouldn’t be sent too early or too late.
  • The survey should be relevant to the specific event. 
  • Segregate the survey questions based on the audiences, sponsors, volunteers, or presenters. 
  • If the recipient doesn’t respond, do not hesitate to send them the survey link again.

Make Every Feedback Count…Easily!

Event survey questions help you gather important information to gauge the event’s success. If you can make it more specific by asking the right mix of general questions, followed by NPS questions and open-ended questions at different stages of an event, nothing can stop you from getting accurate responses that are worth their while.

Want to Save Time While Creating Surveys?

Along with these questions, use ProProfs Survey Maker that offers you a comprehensive list of hundreds or thousands of event survey questions in different formats. Select event-specific templates and add your branding. Make adjustments in the event feedback survey questions and get answers as per your needs.

Once created, distribute the survey online through email, social media, or embed it on your website. Take advantage of the advanced reporting and intelligent analytics to analyze the feedback for the most powerful insights into your customer’s minds and you’re all set!

Do you want a free Survey Software?

We have the #1 Online Survey Maker Software to get actionable user insights.

About the author

Jared is a customer support expert. He has been published in CrazyEgg, Foundr, and CXL. As a customer support executive at ProProfs, he has been instrumental in developing a complete customer support system that more than doubled customer satisfaction. You can connect and engage with Jared on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.