You want to ensure that your event is effective and successful, right? One proven way to measure this is by using post-event surveys. Post-event surveys allow you to evaluate the return on the experience (ROE) so that you can continue to improve your participants’ experiences at future events.
The team at Miller Tanner has compiled some best practices for boosting your survey response rate in addition to optimizing with key questions that will best measure your meeting’s effectiveness. That way you can stay ahead of the curve in providing an event that meets both your goals and your attendees’ expectations.
3 Tactics to Boost Survey Response Rate
Association Now recommends using these tactics as a guide to help boost your survey response rate:
- First, explain the importance of survey feedback so that the participants know that their input is valued and crucial to future event planning.
- Be concise and simple. Limit to a small number, yet essential, questions and use a yes/no or multiple-choice format.
- Have one open-ended question which allows participants to give more personalized feedback.
3 Powerful Open-ended Post-Event Survey Questions
Start Us Magazine lists post-event survey questions that can determine your meeting’s effectiveness. These three questions can drive a lot of insightful feedback from your participants.
#1 What is your level of satisfaction for this event?
Start with a big picture question to get a sense of whether your participants were satisfied with the event experience overall. Use open-ended questions or create a scale (example: 1-10).
#2 What elements did you like the most/dislike the most?
This is a powerful open-ended question that can give you a lot of insight into what resonated best with your participants. The answers might surprise you so make sure to create a list of the feedback to be applied when planning your next meeting. This allows you to also address any negative feedback that you might receive for improvement on future events.
#3 What was the highlight?
This question is not only helpful for post-event surveys but also for multi-day events. If you are conducting daily surveys, using ARS or other engagement tools, during your meeting, this question allows you to effectively gauge what participants enjoyed the most – possibly allowing you to add the activity to the next day’s agenda. For example, if the highlight for a majority of your attendees was a 30-minute break for networking, consider adjusting the agenda to accommodate your participants’ interests.
Get Specific
If you want to be more targeted with your survey questions, Get Feedback offers these following post-event survey questions as a way to dial into the details. You can add a few of the following specific questions to your survey to generate more detailed feedback:
- Which event or speaker were you most pleased with?
- Did you have ample time to network?
- What can we do to make next year’s conference even better?
- What kind of speakers would you like to see next year?
- Do you feel as though the conference had a cohesive message?
- Did you learn actionable information that will help you in your work life?
- What features should we add to the event?
Be Concise
And if you’d like to keep your questions more scale-based, Meetingsnet offers these six post-event questions that will reveal the effectiveness of your meetings using a question set called the Event Performance Indices or EPI. Based on Meetingsnet’s analysis, using the combined set of the following six post-event questions will best reflect the effectiveness of your meeting:
- How satisfied are you with the meeting’s overall value in helping you improve your on-the-job effectiveness?
- How satisfied are you that the meeting was well worth the investment?
- How satisfied are you with the overall meeting experience?
- How satisfied are you that the meeting was motivating to you personally?
- How satisfied are you with the quality of the education sessions at the meeting?
- How satisfied are you with the quality of the networking opportunities at the meeting?
Summary
We’ve highlighted a few different ways to approach your post-event survey.
The bottom line: Every event needs a post-event survey in order to improve upon its success. Post-event surveys help you better understand the needs and wants of your audience, while also identifying how and where to focus your time and attention for future events. Your participants will value being heard, and likewise, you’ll gain insights for creating an experience that will leave them eager to attend your next event.
Our team can help design post-event surveys that measure your event’s effectiveness. Reach out to our associates to learn more.
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Frequently Asked Questions
In effort to help readers to summarize the information found within this post, we’ve recapitulated the article in question and answer form.
How Can I Get More Meeting Attendees to Respond to Survey Requests?
To begin, convey the significance of survey responses so that participants understand how important their contribution is to future event preparation. Second, keep it short and sweet. Use a yes/no or multiple-choice style answers and keep the number of questions to a minimum. Finally, have at least one open-ended question so that participants may provide more customized input.
What are Some Examples of Post-Event Survey Questions to Ask?
Begin by asking a broad question, such as “What is your level of satisfaction with this event?” to get a feel of whether your attendees were pleased with the entire event experience. “What aspects did you like/dislike the most?” is a strong open-ended question that may reveal a lot about what your participants appreciated (or didn’t appreciate) the most. “What was the highlight?” is an excellent open-ended question that works well for both post-event surveys and multi-day events.
What are Some Example Questions to Ask Post-Event to Get Specific Feedback?
Which event or speaker did you like the most? Did you have plenty of time to network with other attendees? What can we do to improve the conference next year? What kind of speakers or topics discussed would you want to see at the conference next year? Do you think the conference’s message was consistent?
What are Some Post-Event Questions to Ask to Discover the Effectiveness of a Conference?
What level of satisfaction do you have with the meeting’s overall value in terms of assisting you in improving your on-the-job effectiveness? How certain are you that the meeting was well worth your time and money? What level of satisfaction do you have with the entire meeting experience? How pleased are you that the meeting was personally motivating? How pleased are you with the quality of the meeting’s educational sessions?
Should I Conduct a Post-Event Survey After Every Major Convention?
In order to enhance the success of any event, it is necessary to conduct a post-event survey. Post-event surveys may help you better understand your audience’s requirements and desires, as well as where to concentrate your time and attention for future events. Your attendees will appreciate being heard, and you will get insights on how to create an experience that will entice them to attend your future event.
