51 Event Survey Questions To Ask for The Best Insights

What do your attendees think about your event? How about sponsors? Are they likely to support your event next year? What was the experience like for in-person versus virtual attendees at your hybrid event?

The best event teams are laser-focused on asking a mix of event survey questions to gather essential qualitative and quantitative data through feedback from key stakeholders. By doing so, you can improve key engagement metrics and other event outcomes, like:

• Attendee registration and check-in rates
• Session attendance and participation
• Interaction rates
• Networking engagement
• Engagement with sponsors and exhibitors
• Social media mentions and hashtags
• Mobile event app engagement
• Feedback scores and surveys

If you’re looking to optimize your event strategy and deliver even more engaging event experiences, you’re in the right place. In this post, we’ve compiled 51 must-ask event survey questions that you can paste directly into your post-event surveys to gain crucial insights into the attendee, sponsor, and employee experience. 

By the end of the piece, you’ll learn the questions you can ask using audience engagement software that will help you gather honest opinions from attendees, sponsors, exhibitors, and speakers — and how you can use that data to measure success, identify areas of improvement, and ultimately enhance your overall event strategy.

But first, here’s a brief overview of how we’ve categorized our event survey questions:

• General event survey questions
• Detailed attendee experience survey questions
• Survey questions for event volunteers
• Survey questions for sponsors and partners 
• Survey questions for speakers and VIPs
• Survey questions for employees
• Survey questions for virtual events
• Survey questions for hybrid event attendees, sponsors, and exhibitors

Before we jump into the questions, we’ll explain a bit of the basics: what event surveys are, their key objectives, and the different types of event survey questions you can ask.

Also, we’ve included a post-event report template you can use to easily incorporate the feedback you gather alongside your other findings, observations, and recommendations. 

Ready? Let’s go!

What Is an Event Survey?

Event surveys are questionnaires designed to collect feedback from your attendees and can include a combination of multiple-choice and open-ended questions. You can send surveys to participants before, during, or after the event, and they are often shared digitally. Any person who interacted with your event should receive a survey because sponsors, attendees, and your event staff will all have unique perspectives on different aspects of your event.

Successful event strategies depend on stakeholder satisfaction and event surveys are one of the best ways to measure this. Whether your goal is to build a case for pitching event sponsors, to create a great virtual event experience, or to improve attendee experience on the fly, event surveys lift the curtain and give organizers insight into how attendees feel.

Key Objectives of an Event Survey

An event survey’s main objective is to gather valuable feedback for your post-event analysis, helping you refine future events and achieve your KPIs. It’s an essential step in understanding what resonated with your audience and what needs to be improved. 

By leveraging event management software, surveys streamline post-event reporting and provide actionable insights for future planning. Specifically, post-event surveys help you:

• Assess event impact and satisfaction. Understanding the overall attendee experience helps determine whether you achieved your event goals and left a positive impression. Feedback on satisfaction highlights what attendees found the most valuable and identifies areas for improvement.

• Evaluate content relevance and quality. Surveying attendees about session topics and speaker performance reveals how well the content aligned with interests and needs. This ensures future events offer more engaging and valuable programming. 

• Identify improvement opportunities. Feedback uncovers pain points — like registration issues or problems with a virtual event platform — that can be addressed to improve the attendee journey. These insights are essential for optimizing future events.
• Measure ROI for sponsors and exhibitors. Post-event surveys can gauge sponsor and exhibitor satisfaction by assessing visibility, engagement, and leads generated. This data helps justify ROI and strengthens partnerships for future events.
• Gauge networking and relationship-building success. Asking about networking opportunities and connections made gives you insights into how well your event facilitated meaningful interactions — a top priority for attendees. If the feedback indicates attendees thought networking opportunities were inadequate, you’ll know what to focus on moving forward.

• Optimize audience segmentation. Survey results reveal attendee demographics, preferences, and behaviors, enabling you to fine-tune your targeting and marketing efforts. Better segmentation ensures your event effectively reaches the right audience.
• Inform event format decisions. Feedback on virtual, in-person, and hybrid formats helps you determine which event type resonates most with your audience. This ensures that your events are designed to maximize participation and attendee satisfaction. 

After collecting survey data, you need to analyze it to identify trends and organize key metrics. We’re sharing this free post-event report template to give you more time to spend on analysis instead of figuring out how to present the data to your team. Use it to make post-event analysis more efficient and impactful. 

Types of Event Survey Questions

There are several different ways that you can pose questions to stakeholders. Here are some of the more common types of questions you’ll want to ask your audience:

• NPS Questions: A multiple-choice question that asks participants to rate an item on a numeric scale. The resulting values determine the net promoter score (NPS).
• Yes-no Questions: A binary question that’s often followed by an open-ended question based on conditional logic.
• Open-ended Questions: While harder to analyze en-masse, open-ended questions can provide valuable qualitative feedback.

Below, we’ll indicate whether each question functions best as an NPS, yes-no, or open-ended qualitative question. These question type suggestions are just that — suggestions. It’s up to you to determine the best use for your event survey.

Rating scale questions

Rating scale questions are a popular survey tool that allows participants to rate their experience or satisfaction on a numerical scale—like 1 to 5 or 1 to 10. These questions provide quantifiable data that’s easy to analyze and compare. For example, you might ask attendees to rate their satisfaction with event content, with 1 being “Very Dissatisfied” and 5 being “Very Satisfied.” 

There are several ways to approach rating scale questions, including:

• Likert scales. Typically ranging from 1 to 5 or 1 to 7, they assess agreement or satisfaction, such as “How much did you like the keynote?”.
• Numeric scales. Using a 1 to 10 scale offers more granularity, allowing participants to express their experience with greater precision.
• Descriptive anchors. Adding labels like “Excellent” or “Poor” at scale endpoints clarifies the meaning of each number. 

Rating scale questions are also key for calculating Net Promoter Score, measuring attendee loyalty by asking, “How likely are you to recommend this event?” 

Now that you have a better understanding of the basics of event surveys, read on to see 51 great event survey questions and how they can help you better evaluate your event.

General Event Survey Questions

1. What is your level of satisfaction with this event?

Question Type: NPS

Survey questions like this one are pretty straightforward. It’s a good starting point for the questions that follow and allows you to get the big picture idea of how the event went in general and if it met expectations. A best practice in event surveys is to start off more general and get more granular towards the end.

2. Which elements of the event did you like the most?

Question Type: Open-ended

Questions like this help you get an idea of what is worth repeating for future iterations of the event. Keep track of each point and tally the times it was mentioned. Rank them from most votes to least and prioritize the winners next year.

3. What, if anything, did you dislike about this event?

Question Type: Open-ended

Although you may be hesitant to ask this question, knowing your shortcomings allows you to learn from them. Don’t write a survey that forces respondents to leave a glowing review. Instead, show them how much you value their opinion and display those changes at your next event.

4. Are you likely to participate in one of our events in the future?

Question Type: NPS

This one is very important because it reveals how enthusiastic the survey participant is about your event. Compare these numbers to the actual number of attendees returning next year. While plans do change, you should ideally see most of them return. If not, consider what adjustments need to be made.

5. How likely are you to tell a friend about this event?

Question Type: NPS

Using an NPS to inquire about referrals is another great way to measure event success. While some people may have enjoyed the event, the true test of their experience is to see whether or not they’d subject a friend to it. Follow up on positive responses to this question with referral links and special offers.

6. Is there anything else you would like us to know?

Question Type: Open-ended

Open-ended questions allow participants to give you feedback on anything your event survey may not have covered. You won’t be able to cover every aspect of the event in the survey. This question serves as a catchall for any additional feedback.

Detailed Attendee Experience Survey Questions 

7. Why did you choose to attend our event, and what are you hoping to take away from the experience?

Question Type: Open-ended

Use this question before the event to make schedule adjustments or other tweaks that magnify the most coveted aspects of the experience. Give the people what they want and show them that your focus is truly on their experience

8. What did you most enjoy about today?

Question Type: Open-ended

This is a great question for multi-day events. Remember to address any concerns or negative feedback personally and do your best to apply the feedback for the following days. Multi-day events present a unique opportunity to improve your event before it’s even over.

9. Please indicate your satisfaction with the following aspects of the event:

• Venue/ Event Platform
• Speakers
• Quality of Sessions
• Amount of Sessions Offered
• Date(s) of Event

Question Type: NPS

All of these big-picture event characteristics shape the experience for attendees. You may find some surprising insights for the next time you plan an event. And because all of these factors are within your control, the changes will be easy to make and measure in the future.

Note: In the era of hybrid events, the hybrid event platform you use to power your experience is the venue. As a result, you should evaluate attendees’ experience in navigating it, similar to how you would ask an attendee to rate a traditional venue.

10. How satisfied were you with the networking opportunities provided?

Question Type: NPS

Networking is a key element of events, but with the rise of virtual and hybrid events, networking has become more complicated. In fact, according to Bizzabo data, 46% of event organizers believe it is more difficult to provide networking opportunities when hosting a hybrid event. Ask this event survey question to make sure you have found the right solution for your attendees. Be sure to have a text box along with the NPS rating so participants can elaborate on their experiences.

11. Did you have any issues registering for or attending this event?

Question Type: Yes-no

This event survey question can illuminate areas where your event platform or registration software may not be a user-friendly experience and cause frustration with attendees. If you realize there is a pattern in the responses, talk to your event platform provider or user-experience team to improve on the experience. The last thing you want is for attendees to have trouble even accessing the event because it sets the tone for the rest of the event.

12. How satisfied were you with the speakers and sessions at our event?

Question Type: NPS

Attendee satisfaction is a key indicator that people will return to your events. Making sure your speakers and sessions are interesting and valuable is a top priority to ensure attendees are satisfied with the experience. Questions like this one help you get an idea of what is worth repeating for future events.

13. What topics would you like to see more of at our next event?

Question Type: Open-ended

Your post-event survey can be a launching point for ideas for your next event. Attendees may have suggestions and interesting perspectives you otherwise wouldn’t have known. Ask attendees what they want to see and design your next event with their feedback in mind.

14. Were you happy with the time for discussion during sessions?

Question Type: NPS

We’ve all been to an event where the session ran out of time, leaving nothing for discussion, and quite frankly, it’s a letdown. If attendees felt like there was not enough time, consider carving out more time for attendees to participate in the discussion.

15. How did you feel about the duration of the content?

Question Type: NPS

Content length is especially important for virtual events. Attention spans are getting shorter, and tuning in from home provides a plethora of distractions. In our Virtual Benchmarks Report, we found that the average virtual attendee only watches 68% of a virtual session that is 20 minutes or longer. That comes out to just over 13 minutes. By asking this event survey question, you can gauge if your sessions were the appropriate length for your audience or use the insights to take action to improve durations for the next event.

16. How did you hear about this event?

Question Type: Open-ended

The main objective of this question is to find out where attendees first heard about your event. Use the information you gather from this event survey question to see what marketing channels work best for your event and where you need to improve.

Survey Questions for Event Volunteers

17. Would you recommend this event as a positive volunteer opportunity to your network?

Question Type: Yes-no

Similar to attendees, your volunteers often represent the backbone of your event. Knowing they enjoyed the experience enough to recommend future volunteers should be gratifying. Plus, there usually aren’t enough volunteers to go around, so having some people to follow up with could help build out your team.

18. Are you interested in volunteering with us in the future?

Question Type: Yes-no

If volunteers are willing to come back again then you know you’ve thrown a great event. Keep a list of these names and calculate how many volunteers you’ll need for next year.

19. Please share your thoughts on the event as a whole.

Question Type: Open-ended

This open-ended question shows sponsors and partners that you value their opinions as collaborators. You’ll also want to start with a broad question like this one because it will help them think critically about the details in the following points.

20. Did this year’s event meet your expectations? Why or why not?

Question Type: Yes-no, Open-ended

While you may already know their goals, you might not know what they were expecting from this event. Generally speaking, it’s often hard for anyone to gauge their assumptions about an experience until it is over, which is why including this question along with a prompt to further explain their answer is often more insightful than simply checking yes or no.

21. How relevant was the audience for your business/industry?

Question: NPS

To create a great sponsor partnership, you need to ensure the event audience is relevant to sponsors. Often, brands sign up to sponsor events to achieve sales and marketing goals or brand visibility. If the audience is irrelevant, sponsors will have less success engaging with attendees and fall flat on their goals.

Question Type: Open-ended

This question will give you a good idea of if your sponsorship packages were valuable or not. Keeping the question open-ended will help educate you on exactly what the sponsors found valuable. If the responses are good and the event ROI was high, you could also use these answers as proof demonstrating to future sponsors your sponsorship opportunities are a great investment.

Bonus Tip: According to our Event Marketing Report, 54% of event marketers have trouble showing event ROI to key decision-makers. Make sure to give your sponsors plenty of data to help them track ROI and make sure their event sponsorship made an impact. The easiest way to do that is by using sponsorship management software and an event analytics platform that captures all the data sponsors could be interested in.

23. Will we see you again next year?

Question Type: Yes-no

Ideally, all of your sponsors and partners would love to do the event every year. Be sure to do a pulse check and determine if their experience of the event was all they’d hoped it would be. Follow up with no responses for more information on why they won’t be returning.

Survey Questions for Speakers and VIPs

24. Did you receive all the information you needed to successfully present before the event?

Question Type: Yes-no

Preparation is a key element to any presentation’s success. By asking your speakers if they felt they had the information needed to successfully present you can identify strengths and weaknesses in your speaker preparation. If a speaker answers no, be sure to personally follow up with them to get more information, not only will they feel heard but you will gain invaluable insight into how to create a better experience next time.

25. How would you rate our event venue and equipment in regards to how it served your keynote?

Question Type: NPS

For in-person events, speakers are the most concerned with the elements of the venue that either enhance or detract from their presentation. No one else can give you a better idea of venue effectiveness than a speaker can. You can modify this question for virtual and hybrid events as well. For example, “How would you rate working with our production team and virtual platform?”

26. Is there anything we could have done to make your event experience easier or more convenient?

Question Type: Open-ended

This is especially important for the VIPs you hope to impress. Cater to their needs and ensure their continued involvement for years to come.

27. Do you have a friend or colleague who would enjoy speaking at our future events?

Question Type: Yes-no

Speakers are often very involved in their communities and networks and surround themselves with pros in their field. You can easily source new and fresh presenters for next year from this group. And with the recommendation of someone who has already done it, the decision will be a no-brainer for them.

Survey Questions for Employees

28. How would you rate the organization of this event?

Question Type: NPS

Your team will be intimately familiar with the cogs of your event. If they were confused or unclear about what was happening during the event, your entire system might need a total revamp. If they felt comfortable and empowered for the duration of the event, then you have a strong model to replicate in the future.

29. Do you feel roles were clearly communicated?

Question Type: Open-ended

To have a successful event team experience, you must have clear roles and responsibilities. If roles aren’t clear, it can lead to problems and miscommunications that impact the execution of your event. Asking your team for feedback will let you know if there are areas to improve in team communication at the next event.

30. Do you think the event met its goals?

Question Type: Yes-no

This question is a warm-up for the following. Reflecting as a team on event goals will give you a greater sense of whether you accomplished your event goals or not.

31. What impact do you see this event having on your immediate business goals?

Question Type: Yes-no

Make sure to tie your event back into your main mission statement by asking employees to directly reflect on the impact it has had on what they’re trying to accomplish at this moment in time. If you don’t connect the event evaluation to the greater objective or plan, the event itself can feel isolated and unnecessary. Asking fellow employees to put the benefits into their own words reinforces their positive experience at the event and secures its slot in the marketing budget for next year.

32. Are you satisfied with the results of this event in regard to the impact it has made on your department?

Question Type: Yes-no

Zooming back out again, employees should consider how the actions of the marketing department directly affect their greater purpose in the company. Asking this question will even help you learn and make connections between how your event can (and should) support the company as a whole.

Survey Questions for Virtual Events

33. How satisfied were you with the platform experience?

Question Type: NPS

Your virtual platform can make or break your event. Asking this question allows you to find out how attendees felt about the overall virtual experience. Make sure to include a prompt with room to add more in case participants wish to elaborate.

34. What features did you like best about the event experience?

Question Type: Open-ended

Questions like this allow you to narrow in on those experiences while planning your next event. Knowing what worked and what is worth repeating saves you time when producing your next event. Keep a list of each point and find themes and popular responses to prioritize popular experiences next year.

35. Did you find the event easy to navigate?

Question Type: Yes-no

Success at a virtual event goes hand-in-hand with how easily attendees can navigate the experience. If attendees can’t find parts of the event due to a poor navigation design, they won’t be able to experience the event in full. This question will gauge if any improvements need to be made in the next iterations.

36. If you used tech support, how would you rate your experience?

Question Type: NPS

When an attendee runs into an issue attending your virtual event, they contact your support team. Can’t log in? Contact event support. No audio? Contact event support. How the issue is resolved will leave a lasting impression. No matter if you have live chat, email, or a knowledge base this question will help give you insight into if your current tech support system is working or not.

37. How would you rate the quality of audio and video at the event?

Question Type: NPS

There are many variables when it comes to audio and video at virtual events. Many speakers are presenting from their homes, leaving room for poor internet connections, bad audio quality, or less-than-optimal backgrounds. Ask attendees to rate the quality of audio and video. If attendees aren’t satisfied, do an AV audit and identify areas of improvement, then relay that information to speakers and presenters at the following event. Improvements might include minimum internet speeds, types of approved microphones, or sending presenter kits directly to speaker’s homes to ensure quality audio and visuals.

Although many of the questions above can be altered for a hybrid audience, we wanted to break out some questions specifically for hybrid events. Below, you’ll find questions followed by the type of question.

Hybrid Event Survey Questions for Both Audiences

1. Did you participate in the event virtually or in-person? (Multiple-choice: Virtual, In-person)
2. Were the before, during, and post-event communications clear? (Yes-no)
3. Were you able to effectively network in a hybrid environment? (Yes-no)
4. How would you prefer to attend your next hybrid event? (Multiple choice: Virtual, In-person, No preference)

Hybrid Event Survey Questions for Virtual Attendees

1. Pre-event question: As a virtual attendee, do you want the opportunity to engage with in-person attendees? (Yes-no)
2. Why did you choose to participate virtually rather than attend in-person? (Open-ended)
3. As a virtual attendee, do you feel like you were part of the live experience? (Yes-no)
4. Do you feel not attending the event onsite hindered your overall experience? (Yes-no)

Note: This pre-event question allows you to provide different options in the future or to change plans before the event kicks off.

Hybrid Event Survey Questions for In-Person Attendees

1. How many virtual attendees did you engage with? (Multiple-choice)
2. How would you rate your experience talking to virtual attendees? (NPS)
3. Why did you choose to attend in-person? (Open-ended)
4. What types of on-site activities would you enjoy in the future? (Open-ended)

Hybrid Event Survey Questions for Sponsors and Exhibitors

1. As a sponsor, which format did you prefer to engage with attendees? (Multiple choice: Virtual, In-person, Both)
2. As an exhibitor, did you have the resources to effectively manage both an in-person and virtual booth at the same time? (Yes-no)

Key Takeaways: Do More With Event Survey Question Data

Event engagement is so much more than selling tickets. With the help of event survey tools, you can get to the core of the question, “How do I know if my event was successful?” and see if your event was a success. When crafting your surveys, keep these general ideas in mind:

• Feedback is good. Every participant in your event, whether they are involved behind the scenes or on the front end, has something valuable to teach you.
• People love to share their opinions. An event survey gives them a platform to do so and feel valued.
• Find your people. By knowing who you’ve won over this year, you’ll already have a jump start on making next year even more successful.
• Keep it short. While it would be great to ask all the questions mentioned above, be respectful of participants’ time and keep your survey short.
• If you don’t know, just ask. People love helping others (and talking about themselves), so chances are they’ll be more than willing to share their experience with you.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in November 2018 and has been updated for relevance.