Event Feedback Survey
So you have just wrapped up another event. You’re probably sleep deprived, food deprived and haven’t seen your friends in weeks if not months. After a few days to recover, you start to think about your attendees. Were they happy? what about your sponsors/exhibitors? did they get value out of the event and will they return next year?
Event Generals is a huge fan of customer feedback surveys. They enable you to scope your entire audience and the way they feel about every aspect of your event including their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the events organisation, accessibility to information, customer service, value for money, networking opportunities and media exposure.
There are some clever ways to craft your survey and we recommend asking a mixture of closed and open-ended questions. As well as targeting your questions towards the audience you are seeking feedback from. For example, don’t ask an attendee to answer a question if they saw value in their sponsorship of the event…Sounds straight forward but believe us… we have seen it before!
Another simple tip is to limit your survey to a maximum of 7-10 questions. Aim for the responder to take no more than 5 minutes to complete the survey. Three open-ended questions MAX!
Finally, get to the point early. In other words, ask the questions you want the best answers to first. For example, The net promoter score (NPS) question. It is FACT that 70% of responders will only properly answer the first 4 questions of a survey and then rush the rest.
“7-10 Questions MAX! no more than 3 open-ended question.”
So what questions should you be asking your event attendees. Like we said above, craft your questions to your audience. The simplest way of doing this is to categorise your audience into 3 categories:
Attendees
Sponsors
Other Stakeholders (i.e. volunteers, investors etc)
Attendees
1. How do you rate the event overall?
The best way to gauge this is to give your responders a chance to rate your event out of 10, from poor to excellent.
2. How likely are you to recommend this event to a friend?
The Net Promoter Score. It is essential to ask this question to get a gauge of your attendees who will become promoters or passive attendees.
3. Why did you decide to attend the event?
It’s important to understand the motives behind why people attended your event. Was it to have a day out with friends, learn something, a networking opportunity and so on. This will help you promote the event to the right people in the future.
4. Which elements of the event did you like the most?
Another essential question to ask. Understanding what was received well and what wasn’t is crucial to future planning and continual improvement. Are these elements worth repeating next time, or replacing with new ideas?
5. How did you hear about this event?
A multiple-choice question with all the possibilities you can think of. i.e. friend referral, social media, billboard etc. Another question that will assist you with marketing decisions in the future.
6. Was there anything you didn’t like about the event?
Asking for constructive criticism can be tough to hear after your huge efforts. Many attendees don’t understand the pressures of time and budget to pull off an event, so don’t lose motivation. Take the feedback and turn it into a positive for the future.
7. We welcome open-ended feedback, please share anything else about your experience.
Survey responders want to be heard. We have seen on numerous occasions where the survey has asked all the questions they want to be answered by the responders with no open-ended opportunity for the responder to provide off-the-cuff feedback about your event. Make sure to leave this as the last question.
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Sponsors
1. Please rate your thoughts on the whole event.
Like the attendee survey, start your sponsors survey with a rating scale out of 10 to gauge the overall satisfaction of your event.
2. Did the event meet your expectations and sponsorship objectives?
The first open-ended question OR a simple Yes / No answer. If you want your sponsors to explain why or why not, then make it open-ended.
3. Why did you decide to sponsor this event?
The best way to gauge this question is to provide a multiple-choice grid where responders can rate up to 10 options out of 5. i.e. Brand awareness out of 5, or to generate sales leads out of 5 etc.
4. Do you expect to generate any leads as a result of your sponsorship over the next 12 months?
This should be a simple Yes / No answer. We would add in a “Not Sure” option as well.
5. How do you rate the overall return on investment?
This is a great way for you to gauge the value of a sponsors investment. By combining this question with the data you record from question 3, you will be able to make assumptions whether or not you met your sponsors intentions. This is also a great question for the sponsor to consider the value they got out of the event and look at the cost vs reward.
6. How likely are you to sponsor the event next year?
Similar to the “bring a friend” question from the attendee survey. A great way to gauge your interest for the next event and to help with planning and budgeting.
7. is there anything else you wish to tell ys about?
Again, similar to the attendee survey. Leave an open-ended question with your sponsors to provide you with open and honest feedback that could be both positive and negative.
Other stakeholders
Stakeholders can be few or many when it comes to events. Event Generals recommends surveying audiences of 20+ people. Smaller groups of stakeholders can be easily communicated with directly for feedback. Some other stakeholders that may be worth surveying include staff & volunteers, suppliers and special guests (i.e. athletes, keynote speakers, band members etc).
1. Do you think the event met its goals?
A simple Yes / No answer.
2. What did you most enjoy about the event?
An open-ended question similar to the attendee survey. It’s important to understand the comparisons between an attendee and a stakeholder.
3. In your opinion, how organised was the event?
A multiple-choice question often from 1 to 5. “Extremely organised” to “Not so organised”.
4. Do you recommend any ideas and opportunities for the future success of the event?
Stakeholders, especially investors love this question. They may be a new investor experiencing the event for the first time and have some take-aways they wish to share and see implemented for next time. Your staff will also love this question, they are boots on the ground and see everything unfold before, during and after the event. Give them this platform to respond and you will learn some things for next time.
5. Was the event too short, too long or just right?
Let your responders select from a multiple choice list.
6. Are you interested in being a stakeholder in the future?
Obviously, change the word ‘stakeholder’ to the audience you are surveying…i.e. Are you interested in being a member of staff next time? A simple Yes / No / Maybe question.
7. Is there anything else you wish to give us feedback on?
Leave the ball in their court to finish.
Event Generals have done hundreds of surveys in the past and we use them to create memorable, inspiring and unique events. If you have an idea for an event or need help with an event, please get in touch.