You just wrapped a major virtual event. You’re exhausted, you’re happy — and you’re curious. What did your attendees think about your event? How about your sponsors? Are they likely to support your event next year?
Find out whether your event was successful by creating a virtual event feedback survey, with carefully formulated questions for audience feedback. Post-event surveys can tell you exactly what attendees, sponsors, and investors loved about your event and what you can do to improve next time.
New to hosting online events? Check out our collection of resources, learn about virtual event safety, and discover how to host a virtual event.
Read on for 21 feedback questions for webinars and other virtual events, which will help you collect important event data.
Why should you focus on surveys when running virtual events?
A post-event survey is an integral piece of data when measuring your event’s success. Virtual events benefit from such surveys as they lack in-person interaction. During an on-site event, you can observe what’s working, what isn’t, and attendees’ responses to the event. In a virtual setting, it’s harder to notice this. Should something in your virtual event go wrong, you’ll want to know. So, formulating some virtual event survey questions fills this gap, helping you fully analyze your event.
How do you survey virtual event attendees?
Use Eventbrite to distribute post-virtual event survey questions to attendees. Try designing various Eventbrite survey questions: single-choice, multiple-choice, and short-answer questions. Write audience feedback questions that will give you insightful and relevant feedback, which you can consider when planning your next event. Once your event feedback form is complete, send it to attendees directly from the Eventbrite platform.
How do you evaluate virtual events?
Surveys help effectively evaluate virtual events, since you can’t ask questions and gauge reactions in person. Send your surveys via email, allowing attendees to complete the form at their convenience. Don’t forget to include a range of questions to encourage feedback that can help guide your next event!
What questions should I ask in a post-virtual event survey?
Your post-virtual event survey questions should encourage thoughtful, detailed answers to guide your future event planning. Here are some possible topics to address in your survey:
- Satisfaction: Ask attendees to discuss their satisfaction with the virtual event.
- Areas for improvement: Seek out suggestions for what to improve.
- Connectivity: Find out if attendees faced any technical challenges or connectivity issues with the platform.
- Engagement: Ask attendees to rate their ability to engage with other attendees and interact in a virtual space.
- Top moments: Ask attendees about their favourite moments from your virtual event.
- Feedback on presenters: If you had multiple presenters, ask attendees to rate them to determine who resonated most with the audience.
- Future interest: Ask attendees if they’d attend a future event, and request any suggestions for topics they’d like to see covered.
Types of event survey questions
Using Eventbrite, you can select different types of survey questions to elicit different kinds of feedback. Some questions may require a simple yes or no answer, while open questions call for detailed responses. Consider using these types of survey questions after your virtual event:
- NPS questions: Net Promoter Score (NPS) questions are simple: How likely are you to recommend our event to a friend? Attendees will answer by selecting a number on a scale of 0 to 10 — with 0 being “not at all likely” and 10 being “extremely likely.” This question gauges attendees’ loyalty and satisfaction, helping determine the success of your event.
- Rating scales: Rating scales are similar to NPS questions; attendees rate different elements of your event on a scale of 0 to 10.
- Yes/no questions: Simple yes/no questions provide valuable data about attendees’ likes and dislikes.
- Multiple choice: Allow attendees to select answers from a list.
- Open-ended questions: Give attendees the freedom to provide detailed feedback. Questions should be thought-provoking, calling for detailed answers to help you evaluate your event’s success.
Now you understand the importance of formulating virtual event survey questions, discover other impactful questions that can give you that all-important data.
Tips to keep in mind when crafting an event survey
Surveys help solicit authentic, usable feedback while your event is still fresh in your attendees’ minds. Before we dive into the actual questions, use these tips to incentivize and smooth the path for potential survey takers, so you get the responses you need to make better decisions.
Tip #1: Keep your post-event survey short
Your survey should be five to 10 questions. Craft questions based on the size of your event, the audience, the technology platform you used, and what areas you’re most eager for feedback on.
Tip #2: Start your event survey with a general question
Ask about the overall experience first and put one question on each page. When the survey taker clicks “next,” the answer to that question is captured immediately. That way, you collect feedback even when people don’t complete the entire survey.
Tip #3: Ask your NPS questions early
NPS should be first on your survey. According to SurveyMonkey experts, the lower in your survey you ask this question, the worse your NPS score could be — simply due to its placement.
Tip #4: Limit your open-ended questions
Questions requiring survey-takers to write something are more taxing than multiple-choice questions — and more challenging to analyze. Open-ended questions work best for collecting more detail, bringing up topics you hadn’t thought of, or understanding your respondents’ thoughts on an issue.
Let’s explore the types of questions to ask attendees, sponsors, and stakeholders in your next event survey.
7 questions to ask your event attendees
Tap into your attendees’ opinions to collect important information to help you plan your next event. Here are seven questions to ask event attendees.
Question type: NPS
1. Overall, how would you rate the event?
Kick off your survey with an easy NPS question that gauges attendees’ overall experience. Let them rate your event on a scale of 1-10, from poor to excellent.
2. How likely are you to recommend this event to a friend?
This NPS question goes beyond asking attendees whether they enjoyed themselves; the goal is to find out if they’d bring a plus one next time.
Question type: Open-ended
3. Why did you decide to attend the event?
It’s important to learn about attendees’ experiences and discover what encouraged them to buy tickets. Was it to learn a new skill, meet like-minded people, or try something new?
4. Which elements of the event did you like the most?
This open-ended question helps you understand what aspects of your event contributed to attendees’ satisfaction — and are worth repeating. If you’re new to going virtual, ask attendees if they enjoyed the new format.
5. What, if anything, did you dislike about this event?
Asking for and accepting constructive feedback is tough. But you can’t grow your event and build upon your success without discovering the not-so-great moments in attendees’ experience.
6. Is there anything else you’d like to share about your experience?
Nothing is more aggravating than taking the time to fill out a survey but not having an opportunity to speak your mind. Leave one open-ended question towards the end of your survey for attendees to be heard.
Question type: Multiple choice
7. How did you first learn about the event?
This question will give you a better sense of how effective your marketing efforts were and tell you where to target event promotions in future.
7 questions to ask your sponsors
You want to ensure sponsors were happy, so a post-event sponsor survey is essential. Use these questions as inspiration.
Question type: NPS
1. Please rate your thoughts on the event as a whole.
Similar to your opening question on an attendee survey, this shows sponsors that you value their opinion as collaborators. Have them rate your event on a scale of 1-10, from poor to excellent.
2. How likely are you to tell others about a sponsorship opportunity with us?
Reframe the “would you bring a friend?” question from the attendee survey for sponsors — did they enjoy the experience enough to recommend it to other business associates?
Question type: Yes/no
3. Did this year’s event meet your expectations?
Even if you know your sponsors’ goals, it’s not always easy to know what they expected from your event. This question can be a simple yes or no. If you want them to explain their response, include an optional open-ended response box after the question.
4. Will we see you again next year?
This simple yes/no question at the end of your survey will serve as a temperature check; is a sponsor likely to invest in future events? If you’re hosting frequent online events, ask your sponsor how long they’d like to be engaged — or, more specifically, how many events they’re prepared to sponsor.
Question type: Open-ended
5. Do you see this event having a positive impact on your business goals?
Ask sponsors to put the benefits of partnering with you and your event into their own words. As well as learning where you can lean in or build on next time, their answers will reinforce their overall experience.
6. Is there anything we could have done to make your event experience easier or more convenient?
If you want a sponsor to come back next time, finding ways to improve their experience is key. With this question, you’ll discover exactly what their continued involvement requires.
7. What, if anything, did you dislike about this event?
This question shows sponsors you value their opinion and are open to changes for upcoming events.
7 questions to ask your board members, investors, and other stakeholders
Survey board members, investors, and other stakeholders to gauge their perspectives on your virtual event. Consider including these questions in your event feedback form.
Question type: Open-ended
1. What did you most enjoy about today or this session?
Similar to the open-ended question from the attendee survey, this question will help pinpoint what worked well for your stakeholders.
2. What would you suggest as future growth opportunities for this event?
Stakeholders, like attendees, represent the backbone of your event. Knowing how they would improve the experience or invest in the future shows you value their partnership.
3. What should this event stop doing?
This can be an uncomfortable ask, but stakeholders’ thoughts are important.
Question type: Multiple choice
4. How organized was the event?
Grade this multiple-choice question on a scale of “extremely organized” to “not so organized.” Responses can reveal weaknesses you might not have noticed during the event.
5. Was the event too long, too short, or just right?
Stakeholders can judge the event flow. Use this opportunity to gauge whether or not they stayed engaged throughout your online event. If more of your respondents say the event was too long, that’s a sign to reevaluate your programming.
Question type: Yes/no
6. Are you interested in being a stakeholder in the future?
If it’s a resounding “yes,” pat yourself on the back. It’s also important to know whose support you can count on for future events.
7. Do you think the event met its goals?
Reflecting on the event as a team will help you improve future events and help your brand grow. This can be as simple as a yes/no question.
Put your survey questions into action
Now you know what to ask in your event survey, don’t let this invaluable insight go to waste. Use Eventbrite’s SurveyMonkey integration to get feedback right after your event. For more event planning inspiration, check out our online events resource centre and read how to plan big virtual events.
