Post event survey questions: What to ask and why

Using post event surveys you can find out exactly what attendees thought of your event, which parts they enjoyed the most or got the most out of, or which parts they thought could be improved at future events.

Creating post event surveys involves using several types of questions.

Whether you’re gathering qualitative data through open ended questions, or are measuring attendee satisfaction using quantitative surveys, you can generate a lot of useful information if you ask the right questions.

In this guide we take a closer look at post event survey questions, from what they are, to which questions you should ask and what the benefits are.

What are post event survey questions and why should I care?

Post event surveys are a great way to gather valuable feedback from actual event attendees that can be used to judge the success of your event, and help you improve future events.

Whether the feedback you gain from your survey questions is positive or negative, the business impact of post event surveys cannot be underestimated.

The business impact of post event surveys can be seen in how they inform how future events are run using real feedback from event attendees to make improvements.

When it comes to planning future events, your post event survey can inform everything from the timing of your event, to the perceived quality of the speakers, the usefulness of the content, and how likely people would be to attend future events.

Post event survey questions should be used at the end of every event you host, whether it’s a virtual event or webinar, networking opportunities, corporate events and conferences.

Improve your post event surveys with Qualtrics

Why use post-event surveys?

Build trust with your target audience

People like to think that their opinions matter, especially when they’re asked for feedback about an experience. By asking questions post event you are letting your event attendees know that you value their opinion and want their advice to improve your next event.

Make more informed decisions

The worst thing you can do when planning your next event is make assumptions over what has worked before. Where you may have deemed your event success, your actual attendees may have disliked an element you thought worked well.

If you repeat the same thing, you’ll reduce the chances of previous attendees coming back.

Measure event potential

A post event survey is excellent for providing constructive feedback on the types of events your running or the type of content you use in your conferences and events.

By using a post event survey you can judge the potential for future events, or at least rule out whether a particular event type is worth repeating.

This can save you a lot of time and effort and help you focus on your next event.

Improve future events

While post event survey questions should help to highlight the things you’ve done well, you should also ask for feedback to help you improve future conferences or events.

You should get feedback on everything about your event. From the friendliness of staff, to the registration process, communication during the event, the speakers, the agenda, even the refreshments.

Get as much post event feedback as you can to help with planning your next upcoming event.

What are good post event survey questions?

Event survey questions should be made up of several different types of questions that will provide a mix of qualitative and quantitative responses.

Here’s just a few of the questions you could use when creating surveys for your event:

Rating scale questions

Rating scale questions are effective when you want attendees to provide general feelings about your events. These are closed questions that simply ask respondents to choose a number on a rating scale, for example:

How would you rate the experience you had at the event?

1 – Excellent

2 – Good

3 – Neutral

4 – Poor

5 – Terrible

Multiple choice questions

A multiple choice question can be useful because the respondent just needs to choose from an option you’ve provided (although it can deny attendees the chance to provide additional information. For example:

Which session did you find most valuable?

Session A

Session B

Session C

Open ended questions

Open ended questions work well when you want to explore an attendees thoughts or opinions in their own words, and gather more individual responses. They want provide any statistically relevant information, but the nature of the answers can still provide valuable feedback. For example:

Which part of the conference did you find most enjoyable?

Which part of the conference did you find least enjoyable?

What changes would you recommend we make for next year’s event?

Likert scale questions

Likert scale questions are closed questions that ask respondents to rank their overall satisfaction from one extreme of scale to another. They can be very effective at providing statistically useful data. For example:

I’m satisfied with the level of information presented by the keynote speaker

1 – Strongly Agree

2 – Agree

3 – Neither agree nor disagree

4 – Disagree

5 – Strongly disagree

How many questions should a post event survey have?

While there’s no set rule over how many questions the ideal post event survey should have, according to SurveyMonkey, respondents are most likely to finish shorter surveys.

It’s important not to overload attendees with too many questions as it could leave a bad last impression on your event.

Having said that you should use as many questions as you need to get the feedback that’s relevant to your event.

You should use a mix of question types to ensure you get a balance of quantitative and qualitative responses.

What questions should I ask in a post webinar survey?

With more events going online and the increasing popularity of virtual events, this has lead to more challenges when it comes to event surveys.

Some key questions you should ask in your post virtual events surveys include:

• Did you find the webinar engaging / interactive enough?
• How would you rate the quality of the slides & content
• Did the event meet your expectations
• How likely would you be to attend future events?
• Would you be interested in future events about this topic?
• Would you rate the speaker’s presentation skills
• Did you have any problems accessing the event?
• How would you rate the technology used in the event?

Examples of survey questions generalized and specific for all event

How satisfied were you with the overall event experience?

It’s always useful to know what attendees thought about your event in general. You can then use follow up questions to get feedback on specific aspects of the event.

What was your favorite part of the event?

This can be useful for measuring success and you might be surprised that what you thought would be the highlight was outdone by another aspect of your event.

How could we improve future events?

Remember, negative feedback is just as important as positive feedback (if not more important). Especially if it can help you improve future events.

How likely would you be to attend one of our events in the future?

This can be useful as a measure of success for your event, but can also be used to inform your marketing and understand whether you met expectations.

How satisfied were you with the information you received during the event?

Once people are at your event you want to ensure they know where to go and what they need to do. This will help you understand how attendees judged your event organization.

How friendly did you find the event staff?

Understanding how staff performed at your event can help you make improvements in future and ensure your event or conference isn’t let down by poor customer service.

Did you have enough opportunity to network?

If you’re running a B2B event in particular, you should remember that attendees may be looking for a chance to add to their network and talk with like minded people in their industry. If attendees feel they’ve been shuffled from one thing to another with no chance to network, you need to know.

Please add additional comments

You should always have this type of open ended event survey question because attendees might have specific feedback you haven’t given them an opportunity to give in other questions. This type of event survey question can provide valuable, personal feedback from attendees.

Did the event technology improve the experience?

If you’re holding a virtual event, or even a hybrid event, it would be useful to know if the technology you’ve used was helpful, or if attendees found it a hindrance or difficult to use.

Improve your post event surveys with Qualtrics

Event survey questions are an important part of evaluating your event and gaining information for planning your next event.

With Qualtrics you can easily ask event survey questions to understand what made your event compelling, and what left attendees wanting more, and what you could improve.

Using Qualtrics event feedback you can understand everything from event logistics and attendee satisfaction, to understanding the effectiveness of your content and speakers as well the biggest opportunities to improve in the future.

Get everything you need to gather data to help measure success of your event in one place where you can access and visualize all your information to make info