Surveys are an essential part of gathering feedback and insights after an event. Survey information can be used to improve future events and ensure that the needs and expectations of attendees are being met. Surveys are typically very affordable (if not entirely free) yet provide event organizers with invaluable data to more effectively market and plan additional events.
Before sending your post-event survey, it’s important to understand what makes a survey effective:
- Participation: one common way to incentive survey participation is by raffling off a gift card to survey participants.
- Clear and concise questions: survey questions should be easy to understand and focused on specific aspects of the event or experience. Avoid asking vague questions, as the answers will be too variable to draw valuable conclusions from
- Appropriate length: surveys shouldn’t be too long, as this can lead to respondent fatigue and lower response rates. Keep your survey a reasonable length by asking only questions that will be useful for you later on.
- Relevant and valuable information: consider what you hope to learn from the survey before finalizing your list of questions. The data collected through the survey should be relevant and useful to your goals.
- Easy to use: the survey should be easy to complete, with a user-friendly interface and clear instructions.
- Follow-through: the most important part of a post-event survey is sifting through responses and using the data to inform future event-planning decisions. Consider graphing survey response data by question so that you can visualize where your event succeeded and where it failed.
A post-event survey will allow you to gauge your attendees' reactions to the event. This process helps you to identify areas of the event that could be improved upon, allowing you to make adjustments and improvements for future events.
Here are some possible survey questions to ask your attendees:
- Overall, how would you rate the quality of the event?
- Was the event well-organized and well-run?
- Were the speakers engaging and informative?
- Were the breakout sessions or workshops helpful and relevant to your needs?
- Was the virtual event platform satisfactory?
- How likely are you to attend a similar event in the future?
- What suggestions do you have for improving future events?
- Was there anything specific that you particularly enjoyed about this event?
- Were you happy with the freebies given out at the event?
- Is there anything you would have liked to see included in the event that was not offered?
It’s also a good idea to include open-ended questions that allow attendees to provide more detailed feedback and suggestions. These types of questions can help you gather valuable insights and ideas for improving future events.
If any event attendees had major concerns or issues with your event, it might be worth reaching out to them directly for more information and to smooth things over. This could allow you to avoid highly visible bad reviews of your event.
Overall, surveys are an effective tool for gathering valuable feedback and insights from event attendees and can help you create more successful and enjoyable events in the future.