Post-event surveys: 10 tips for getting valuable information

Closed! Only closed fields can be translated into half closed, numbers, hard data. Put some open fields because it is important that people can express, contribute ideas, comments. But in the end the data “hard” wins, which must be the basis of your survey.

Anonymous. If you ask people to put their name, they think “what will happen if I put critical remarks?” And you end up with no reliable answers. Make anonymous surveys, and people will be more honest.

When? There is no perfect solution. If you do it on-site after giving caviar to your guests, you´ll get marks of 10… If you wait, you lose people as they get back to their daily routine. The French events agency association ANAE suggested to have the surveys a week after the event to get more honest responses.

Beware of the environment. The social climate is bad? Beware: People can get aggressive in the survey as revenge. Communicate so as to isolate the survey. It is difficult but essential.

Force people to take sides. Avoid placing an odd number of responses: an even number forces people to value things in a positive or negative, but not neutral way.

Short! If you long questionnaires, people will answer without thinking (or not answer). It is very likely that you have five questions providing essential information. Make a filter and you will remove a few useless questions.

No to the gastronomic survey… You don’t plan an event in order to feed people: your objective is to communicate, motivate, create relationships. Focus the survey on these aspects rather than on guests satisfaction.

… and yes to questions about the future. What is important in an event is what people will do next: they receive you for business, to put into practice the knowledge, etc. Measure this, with questions about what people think / would take over after the event. “Are you interested in a product demo?” Is an example of a more useful question than “did you like the coffee break?”…

Viva the Web! Take our survey by an online system provides more professional image, and facilitates the processing of data. If you use online registration software such as softcongres, generally they allow surveys directly from there, using the entry list.

Explains why they are useful… and use them. People value their time. If you ask them to answer questions, make it useful. Why do you need information? What will you do with it? Is there a part of the answers that you can send them later? If you explain, they feel more involved, more and better answer. Everyone wins!

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