Here are some of the best questions for an AMA attendee survey about expectations, plus tips on how to craft them. With Specific, you can quickly build an AMA attendee expectations survey in seconds using AI.
Best open-ended questions for AMA attendee survey about expectations
Open-ended questions are essential when we want to understand the full story behind each attendee’s goals and needs. These questions let people express ideas in their own words, helping us gather richer, more specific insights—sometimes revealing motivations or issues we never considered. In fact, while open-ended questions often come with higher nonresponse rates (up to 18% compared to under 2% for closed-ended ones [1]), research shows that 76% of survey takers choose to add comments when prompted, and almost 81% of new issues surfaced only in these open responses [2][3]. To get deep, actionable feedback, try these:
What are you hoping to learn or achieve from this AMA session?
Is there a specific question or topic you'd like the speaker to address?
How did you hear about this AMA, and what drew you to attend?
What would make this AMA a valuable use of your time?
Are there common challenges in your role or industry you'd like to see explored?
Have you attended similar events before—what did you like or dislike about them?
What do you expect in terms of interaction (Q&A opportunities, networking)?
If you could take away one key insight or actionable tip, what would it be?
Is there anything that would prevent you from participating actively?
How can we make your experience at this AMA stand out?
Using open-ended questions thoughtfully can enhance the quality of your attendee insights—a key reason Specific’s conversational surveys excel at this.
Best single-select multiple-choice questions for AMA attendee survey about expectations
Single-select multiple-choice questions are our go-to when we want to quickly quantify expectations or kick off the conversation with easy choices. They work best when respondents might feel unsure how to phrase their expectation or want to answer quickly on mobile or in a work setting. Once we see the larger patterns (for example, most want networking or actionable advice), we can follow up for deeper context, making it easy to start broad and then drill down. Here are three that work especially well for AMA events:
Question: What is your main expectation for this AMA session?
Get answers to specific questions
Gain industry insights
Networking opportunities
Other
Question: Which format do you prefer for this AMA?
Open Q&A
Panel discussion
Short presentations with audience questions
Other
Question: How familiar are you with the speaker or topic?
Very familiar
Somewhat familiar
Not familiar at all
When to follow up with "why?" Follow up with “why?”—or a prompt for more detail—when a response is broad (e.g., “Networking opportunities”) or surprising. This helps us understand their motivation, surfacing actionable insights. For example, if many select “Gain industry insights” as their main expectation, a quick “Could you share which topics or trends are most relevant to you right now?” delivers a deeper level of specificity.
When and why to add the "Other" choice? Always include an “Other” option for less predictable answers, because it invites feedback you might not anticipate. This lets follow-up questions uncover unexpected insights or emerging themes you would have otherwise missed.
NPS for expectations: does it make sense here?
The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a classic measure for loyalty and satisfaction, but it also works for gauging expectations ahead of an AMA. By asking, “How likely are you to recommend this AMA session to a colleague/friend, based on what you know so far?” on a scale of 0-10, we can benchmark attendee sentiment and spot warning signs early—ideal for event organizers aiming to build long-term engagement. You can generate a ready-to-use NPS survey for AMA attendee expectations with Specific’s AI survey maker in minutes.
The power of follow-up questions
Effective surveys rarely end with the first answer. We know that a simple response can be vague or lacking context—especially for open-ended or “Other” options. That’s why conversational surveys powered by AI, like those on Specific, use automated follow-up questions to clarify and get the full story, fast. This real-time adaptation is what makes conversational surveys truly insightful, and it saves the back-and-forth typically required by email or manual review.
AMA attendee: “I want more networking opportunities.”
AI follow-up: “Could you describe your ideal networking experience at an AMA event?”
AMA attendee: “Not sure if the topic fits my current job.”
AI follow-up: “What are some topics that would make it more relevant for your job now?”
How many followups to ask? In our experience, 2-3 targeted follow-up questions are usually enough to reach clarity without causing fatigue (research backs this—surveys overloaded with open-enders see higher dropout rates [4]). With Specific, you can customize this behavior and let the AI move on when you’ve gathered enough context, keeping the conversation efficient.
This makes it a conversational survey—the flow feels natural and two-way, not like a static form. Respondents feel heard, which improves engagement and quality.
Easier to analyze, thanks to AI. Even if you end up with lots of nuanced, unstructured feedback, modern AI survey analysis makes it simple to summarize and distill themes from open-ended responses. You don’t need to dread digging through long comments.
These automated follow-ups are a newer survey concept. I always encourage people to try generating an AMA expectations survey with follow-ups and see how much richer the responses become.
Composing prompts for AI: how to get better questions for your AMA attendee survey
With generative AI, getting high-quality survey questions starts with a clear prompt. If you’re using ChatGPT or another tool, first try something like:
Suggest 10 open-ended questions for AMA attendee survey about expectations.
But, you’ll get even better results if you give AI more context—describe your attendees, the AMA topic, your goals. Here’s an example prompt with context:
We are hosting an AMA for software engineers with a guest expert in DevOps. Audience includes both juniors and senior professionals. Suggest 10 open-ended questions to capture their expectations and learning goals for this session.
After getting your questions, you might want to group them by theme. Ask:
Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.
Next, pick a specific category (e.g., Skill Development) and drill deeper:
Generate 10 questions for the category "Skill Development" for an AMA attendee survey about expectations.
What is a conversational survey, and why use AI?
Conversational surveys differ from traditional forms—they adapt in real time, ask relevant follow-up questions, and make the survey experience feel like a thoughtful chat, not a cold interrogation. With Specific’s AI survey generator or editor, you just describe the type of discussion you want, and the AI instantly prepares not only core questions, but also interactive follow-ups to dig deeper.
Manual Surveys | AI-Generated Conversational Surveys |
|---|---|
Static list of questions, little adaptation | Dynamic, adapts to respondent answers |
Requires manual review or follow-up via email | Automated, context-specific follow-up questions |
Long analysis process | Instant AI summaries and insights |
Limited engagement—feels like a task | Feels like a chat, boosts response rates |
Why use AI for AMA attendee surveys? Because expectations often shift during or after an event, and AI-driven, conversational surveys are proven to extract actionable, candid feedback right at the source. Whether you need a quick AI survey example or a custom conversational survey, tools like Specific let you get started instantly and adapt as needed.
The Specific platform offers best-in-class user experience for building conversational surveys, keeping things smooth for both you and your AMA attendees. For step-by-step help, see this guide to creating an AMA attendee expectations survey in minutes.
See this Expectations survey example now
Curious how a conversational AMA expectations survey works in practice? See the power of AI survey generation and follow-up questions—try it and create your own survey to unlock richer, more actionable insights from every attendee.