However, your job is not done yet. You still need to evaluate the execution of the event and close the project properly.
Running a post-event survey is one of the most important and most effective ways to evaluate your event: by capturing the feedback as soon as possible after the event, event planners can collect more objective and accurate data of how the event went from external perspectives.
Thinking of running a post-event survey but don’t know where to start? Below we’ll share our template for post-event surveys you can use right away. However, let us first discuss the basic principles of post-event surveys and the different types of questions you should ask.
What Is a Post-Event Survey
A post-event survey is, simply put, a survey you run after the event.
Post-event surveys help you collect deep insight directly from your event attendees in their own words, ideally as soon as the event is finished. You can also run post-event surveys to other parties like sponsors or even talents, but in this guide, we will focus on post-event surveys for attendees.
Post-event surveys will provide the following benefits:
- Improve future events: you can use valuable insights and feedback (even negative ones) you get from attendees to improve your future events
- Build trust and credibility: when you ask your attendees for their opinion, you are conveying the feeling that you care about what they think. They’ll perceive that you are a trustworthy event organizer and the hope is that they’ll believe you can host other high-quality events in the future
- Estimate growth: by analyzing your post-event survey results, you can measure Net Promoter Score and estimate how much your future events will grow
- More objective evaluation: by getting real feedback and insights directly from your event attendees, you can understand better why your event was or wasn’t a success.
Different Types of Post-Event Survey Questions
Before we share the post-event survey template, let us first discuss the different types of questions we’ll use in the template:
- Binary: a simple yes or no question. For example: “will you visit [event name] next year? (choose between yes or no).
- Open-ended: also known as qualitative questions. The survey participants provide their own sentences as their answers. Obviously, this type of question is harder to analyze due to its qualitative nature but can provide valuable insights. For example “describe your expectation of this event”
- Likert scale: in this type, attendees can rate something on a quantitative numerical scale, typically between 1 and 5. For example: “with 1 being very dissatisfied, rate how satisfied you are with the event” (choose between 1 and 5).
- Multiple choice: pretty self-explanatory, you provide different choices the participant can choose from. For example, “which exhibitors do you like best?” (choose between A, B, or C).
As you can see, different types of questions have different uses, and the key of a successful post-event survey is how you combine these different questions.
The Template:
[Event Name] Post-Event Feedback Survey
Please provide your full name
Please enter your email address
What is your organization? (Optional)
What is your job title? (Optional)
How did you find out about [EVENT NAME]
- Advertisement
- Peer recommendation
- Invitation
- Social media
- Attendance at our previous events
- Other (please specify)
What were your expectations before attending our event?
What is the most prominent issue (if any) did you have enrolling for [EVENT NAME]?
What is the most prominent issue (if any) did you have accessing [EVENT NAME] on D-day?
On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being very dissatisfied), please rate your agreement with the following statements.
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| I am happy that I attended this event |
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| I would attend this event or a similar event next year |
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| I would recommend this event to my friends, family members, or colleagues |
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| The overall experience after attending the event is satisfactory |
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What was your favorite speaker/performer/workshop? (edit according to your event’s talents)
- _________
- _________
- _________
- _________
- Other (please specify)
Which elements of the event did you like the most?
- _________
- _________
- _________
- _________
- Other (please specify)
What (if any) did you dislike about this event?
- _________
- _________
- _________
- _________
- Other (please specify)
Why did you choose to attend our event and what are you hoping to take away from the experience?
(For annual/periodic events) How many times have you attended [EVENT NAME]?
- Once
- Twice
- Three times
- More than three times
Did you receive all of the information that you needed from the [EVENT NAME] coordinators prior to the event?
- Yes
- No
On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being very dissatisfied), how satisfied were you with the networking opportunities provided?
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On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being very dissatisfied), please rate your satisfaction with the following aspects of [EVENT NAME]
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| Entertainment |
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| Food |
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| Schedule |
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| Speakers/talents |
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| Registration |
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| Venue |
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Did you have any issues registering for this event?
- No
- Yes (describe)
On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being very inappropriate), how did you feel about the duration of the sessions?
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On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being too short), was the total duration of the event too long or too short for you?
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On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being very good), how was support before and after the event?
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Do you have any other suggestions or feedback?
Wrapping Up
A post-event survey is a great way to get valuable insights into how your attendees, vendors, sponsors, and talents perceive your event.
Obviously receiving negative feedback can be difficult to bear, as it is human nature not to admit mistakes. However, learning from both negative and positive feedback is essential if you really want to improve your future events and become a better event planner.
With a professional event management software, you can easily set up both pre and post-event surveys and distribute the surveys to your attendees on a single platform.