Best questions for conference participants survey about agenda clarity

Here are some of the best questions for a conference participants survey about agenda clarity—and our tips to make them actionable. If you want to build your own high-quality survey in seconds, Specific can help you generate exactly what you need.

Best open-ended questions for conference participants survey about agenda clarity

Open-ended questions let us tap into genuine participant perspectives, surfacing unexpected insights and giving people the space to express thoughts in their own words. They’re perfect when you want detailed feedback, stories, or reasons behind satisfaction or confusion. These questions do demand more effort from respondents, so use them thoughtfully—but they truly elevate quality of insights. In fact, a PubMed-published study found that 76% of participants added open-text comments, and 80.7% of management teams considered these comments ‘Very useful’ or ‘Useful’ for improvement. [2]

1. In your own words, how clear was the agenda shared before and during the conference?

2. Were there any parts of the agenda you found confusing or unclear? Please describe.

3. Can you suggest improvements for how the agenda information was delivered?

4. Which sessions were hardest to find on the agenda, and why?

5. How well did the agenda prepare you to plan your day?

6. What information would you add to the agenda to make it more useful?

7. Describe any problems you encountered navigating the agenda during the event.

8. What did you like most about the way the agenda was presented?

9. If you missed or skipped a session, did agenda clarity play a role? Please share more.

10. How did agenda clarity impact your overall conference experience?

Best single-select multiple-choice questions for conference participants survey about agenda clarity

Single-select multiple-choice questions are your go-to when you want structured, easily quantifiable data—especially early in a survey or when respondents might hesitate to write out their thoughts. These make it simple to spot clear trends and can spark deeper feedback with targeted follow-ups. According to Pew Research Center, closed-ended questions have drastically lower nonresponse rates (1-2%) compared to open-ended formats, which can average around 18%.[1]

Question: How clear was the agenda for you before the conference?

• Very clear

• Somewhat clear

• Neutral

• Somewhat unclear

• Very unclear

Question: Which aspect of the agenda did you find most confusing?

• Session times

• Session locations

• Speaker details

• Overall event structure

• Other

Question: Did you consult the agenda during the event?

• Frequently

• Occasionally

• Rarely

• Not at all

When to followup with "why?" When respondents pick an answer, asking "Why?" or "Can you explain a bit more?" is powerful for context. For instance, if someone selects "Session locations" as confusing, a follow-up like "What made the session locations hard to understand?" digs deeper—this is where actionable insights appear.

When and why to add the "Other" choice? Always offer "Other" when the predefined options may miss key points. It gives participants the space to share unique issues and the follow-up reveals things you hadn’t considered. Those unexpected insights often lead to the best improvements.

Using NPS for conference participants: agenda clarity edition

NPS (Net Promoter Score) is a simple, standardized way of measuring how likely people are to recommend your event—or, in this case, how satisfied they are with a specific aspect like agenda clarity. It's a strong indicator of overall satisfaction and conference success, with actionable follow-up for both promoters and detractors. Mixing an NPS-type question about the agenda can forecast future behavior with 27% more accuracy than ratings alone, when combined with open-ended feedback. [3] To set up an NPS survey for your event, try the ready-to-use builder.

The power of follow-up questions

Static surveys with just a few questions often miss the real story—and the best insights. Automated follow-up questions change the game: when respondents give incomplete or broad answers, the AI asks smart, relevant questions in real time to clarify and deepen the conversation. Studies show that follow-up question designs draw out longer, richer replies and more themes than static designs, without overburdening participants. [4]

• Conference Participant: "Some session info was unclear."

• AI follow-up: "Can you share which sessions, or what specific info you found unclear?"

How many followups to ask? The sweet spot is typically 2–3 follow-up questions, and it’s key to offer a skip-to-next option once essential details are gathered. In Specific, you can tune this so conversation stays productive, not overwhelming.

This makes it a conversational survey: Follow-ups transform the survey into a back-and-forth, not just a form—resulting in a conversation that feels guided and organic, not robotic.

AI summary, analysis, and search of open-ended answers: Even with loads of unstructured text, AI survey response analysis tools make it easy to highlight main themes, summarize findings, and answer your own followup questions.

These AI-driven followup questions are a step change—generate your own survey with Specific to see how natural, human-like these interactions feel.

How to write a ChatGPT prompt for conference participants: agenda clarity surveys

For those who want to experiment, prompting GPT models to generate survey questions is easier than ever. Try this as a starting prompt:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for conference participants survey about agenda clarity.

To get sharper, more relevant results, always add context—describe your audience, the format, and your goal:

I’m organizing a large conference and want to identify where agenda information confused or frustrated participants. My goal is to improve agenda communications and make sessions easier to find. Suggest 10 open-ended questions tailored for this.

Then, use this prompt to help categorize the questions you receive:

Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.

Next, review the categories provided, select those most important to your goals, and ask:

Generate 10 questions for categories “Agenda Navigation” and “Information Gaps”.

What is a conversational survey?

Conversational surveys blend the structure of a traditional questionnaire with the natural, chat-like feel that keeps participants engaged. Unlike email forms or static web surveys, conversational surveys powered by AI dynamically ask probing follow-ups, clarify responses, and encourage deeper sharing in real time.

Let’s quickly compare approaches:

Why use AI for conference participants surveys? AI survey examples unlock better insights by asking smart follow-ups, capturing full context, and reducing your analysis workload thanks to instant summaries and search. You can get started with a preset survey generator, or go custom with the survey builder.

For a step-by-step guide, see our article on how to create a conference participants survey about agenda clarity. If you want to go deep on analysis, check out how to analyze survey responses with AI.

Specific delivers a best-in-class conversational survey experience, giving you richer data effortlessly while your participants enjoy an engaging chat-like survey, not an intimidating form.

See this agenda clarity survey example now

Unlock actionable feedback from every conference participant—discover the difference a conversational AI survey can make for your agenda clarity in minutes. See more insights, better engagement, and start improving your events right away with Specific.