A great event will help you form a personal connection with your audience and will help you stand out from the competition, but a poorly run event can make your membership business seem unapproachable, or worse, completely amateur.
But how do you know if your event was successful or not? Well, you need to get some honest feedback!
Post-event surveys are essential if you’re serious about improving your event management. Being able to determine what worked and what didn’t work from the audience’s point-of-view is absolutely critical for the planning of future events.
But where do you start with post-event survey questions? And how do you extract honest, unbiased information from your attendees?
Read on to find out how post-event surveys can make or break your future events.
What is a Post-Event Survey?
A post-event survey is a questionnaire that event professionals use to get feedback from attendees. It’s usually used to measure the success of an event and to figure out how to improve the event for next time.
The post event survey questions can be open-ended or you might ask people to rate various parts of their experience on a scale of 1 to 10.
What Questions Should I Ask in a Post-Event Survey?
We recommend that you split your post event survey questions into four distinct categories:
- Catering & Venue
- Entertainment & Value
- Logistics & Planning
- Overall Satisfaction & Suggestions for Future Events
Splitting your survey questions into categories helps ensure that equal amounts of attention are paid to the different sections of the event management.
Here are some examples of feedback questions for events:
Catering & Venue
- Was the venue the right size?
- Was the venue well laid out?
- Did you find the venue uncomfortable for any reason?
- How would you rate the venue experience on a scale of 1 to 10? (1 being terrible and 10 being perfect)
- Did you have easy access to the catering?
- Did you enjoy the food/drink catering offered?
- Did you find the catering service people to be courteous and diligent?
- How would you rate the catering experience on a scale of 1 to 10? (1 being terrible and 10 being perfect)
Entertainment & Value
- Did you find yourself bored at this event?
- How beneficial was the information presented at this event?
- What were your key takeaways from the event?
- Will this event help further your career/your team’s goals/your company’s ROI? If so, how?
- How would you rate the knowledge of the speakers?
- What was the highlight of this conference? (What did you like about it the most?)
- What was your least favorite part of this event?
- How would you rate the value of this event on a scale of 1 to 10? (1 being terrible and 10 being perfect)
Logistics & Planning
- Was the venue easy to find?
- Did you have any issues finding parking?
- Was the agenda punctual and efficient?
- How would you rate the event communications leading up to the event?
- Were you able to hear the speakers loud and clear?
- Did you find yourself lost or confused at any point during the event?
- How would you rate the organization of the event on a scale of 1 to 10? (1 being terrible and 10 being perfect)
Overall Satisfaction & Suggestions for Future Events
- Would you recommend this conference to a friend or co-worker?
- Are you going to be attending this event next time?
- Are there any suggestions you have for next year’s event?
- Do you have any topic or speaker suggestions for future events?
- How was your networking experience at this event?
- How can we improve this conference?
- How would you rate your overall event experience on a scale of 1 to 10? (1 being terrible and 10 being perfect)
What is an Event Evaluation Survey? How Does it Differ From a Post-Event Survey?
An event evaluation survey is similar to a post-event survey, but with a few key differences! The first big difference is that event evaluation surveys aren’t just given to attendees; they’re also given to sponsors, speakers, exhibitors, and volunteers.
The second big difference is that event survey questions often take place during the event itself. This allows for instant feedback and quick adjustments. Maybe catering offerings are getting low? Or maybe the temperature needs to be adjusted? Whatever the concern, event evaluations are an open-ended resource for determining how your event is going in real time.
The third big difference is that event evaluation surveys will feature a lot more open-ended questions. You won’t necessarily be asking yes/no questions, it will often be more focused on long form responses detailing potential issues.
The event survey questions can be asked on paper at the event, or can be sent out digitally through an email provider or through a survey on your own website. A more convenient option might be to display a QR code on screen that links to the survey to give your attendees instant access through their mobile.
What is Post-Event Evaluation?
After you’ve thrown an event, everything that you do afterward to gauge the success of the event is part of the post-event evaluation. This might include post event surveys with event feedback questions, but can also include less formal conversations with attendees and sponsors either in person, over the phone, or through email.
One of the best ways to get a comprehensive post-event evaluation is to sit down and have a formalized debriefing session with your volunteers, sponsors, and team members. Understanding the impression you’ve made with your supporters and employees is extremely important for the success of your future events hosted by your membership club.
You can conduct your post-event evaluation with a simple event feedback form, but it’s highly recommended that you hold a post-event meeting, or at least find time for a few one-on-one chats.
Why You NEED to Conduct a Post-Event Meeting
A post-event meeting can be a good time to ask people open-ended questions, talk about the responses from event surveys, and figure out how the feedback can be implemented to make future events even better.
Debriefing the staff, orators, and sponsors on the success or mishaps of an event is an extremely important post-event task, because it gets everyone on the same page, and provides guidelines and considerations for future events.
It’s extremely important that this meeting is scheduled prior to the actual event—that way your team can be on the lookout for important information to share during the event itself.
What You Should Cover in a Post-Event Meeting
A good post-event meeting will start by running through the numbers to see if the event was successful in garnering the funds and attendance that you expected. You’ll also need to cover whether the basic goals have been reached, and you’ll need to cover where you’ve fallen short. This is also a great time to analyze your results from your post-event surveys.
From all of this, you should be able to put together an action plan for next year!
If you still need some inspiration, here are a few open-ended questions you can ask people in your post-event meeting:
- Did we achieve our goals?
- What aspects of the event did we succeed on?
- What aspects of the event can we improve on?
- How can we better achieve our goals for the next event?
- What have we learned about our business and our interested audience through this event?
Conclusion
Post-event evaluation is every bit as important as pre-event planning. An effective post-event survey will help you analyze where the event succeeded and where you need to improve. At the end of the day, hosting events is hard work! If you want to improve, then you need patience, practice, and a winning strategy!
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