Best questions for conference participants survey about keynote impact

Here are some of the best questions for a conference participants survey about keynote impact, along with tips for crafting them. You can quickly build your own with Specific’s conversational survey platform—just generate a survey in seconds using AI.

Best open-ended questions for a conference participants survey about keynote impact

Open-ended questions give us rich, qualitative feedback—going beyond checkboxes and number ratings to reveal how keynote speakers actually resonated with participants. They’re most powerful when you want real stories, specific examples, or unfiltered opinions. However, respondents sometimes skip these: nonresponse rates can be as high as 18% compared to 1–2% for closed-ended questions, according to Pew Research Center. [1]

Still, when you’re seeking honest, detailed, actionable feedback, these are the 10 open-ended questions I trust:

1. What was the most memorable insight or takeaway from the keynote?

2. How did the keynote speaker influence your thoughts or future actions?

3. Was there a particular story or example from the keynote that stood out to you? Please share it.

4. What questions did the keynote leave you with?

5. How did the keynote differ from others you’ve experienced?

6. If you could ask the keynote speaker one thing, what would it be?

7. Describe any changes in your perspective after attending the keynote.

8. What did you wish the keynote addressed, but didn’t?

9. How did the keynote impact your experience of the conference as a whole?

10. Is there anything else you’d like to share about the keynote’s impact on you?

Open-ended questions like these give space for unfiltered, genuine answers, which often surface unique feedback that highly structured surveys simply miss. I always recommend following up with more specific probes when answers are vague (and Specific does this automatically—see more on AI follow-up questions).

Best single-select multiple-choice questions for a conference participants survey about keynote impact

Single-select multiple-choice questions let us quantify sentiment, compare opinions, or segment the audience by predefined groups—crucial for tracking changes or comparing results across events. Respondents sometimes prefer quick selections, especially when short on time or unsure how to articulate their initial thoughts. These can spark more in-depth conversation once you follow up with a “why.”

Question: How impactful did you find the keynote session?

• Extremely impactful

• Moderately impactful

• Slightly impactful

• Not impactful

Question: Which aspect of the keynote contributed most to its impact?

• The content or message

• The speaker’s delivery style

• The Q&A or interactive elements

• The speaker’s credibility or expertise

• Other

Question: Did the keynote inspire you to take action or change a viewpoint?

• Yes

• No

• I’m not sure

When to follow up with "why?" If someone selects an answer without much explanation, follow up with a simple “Why did you feel that way?” or “Can you share more about your choice?” After all, 43% of respondents in a rating-heavy survey also added an open-ended comment—proving that follow-ups spark valuable elaboration. [3]

When and why to add the "Other" choice? Always add “Other” if your audience may offer unanticipated responses, and be sure to prompt them for details. These follow-up questions often lead to game-changing feedback you wouldn’t have captured otherwise.

Should you use an NPS question in a conference participants survey about keynote impact?

NPS (Net Promoter Score) is a simple yet powerful metric, especially useful when you want a quick temperature check on overall sentiment: “On a scale from 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend this keynote to a colleague?” The results identify promoters, passives, and detractors, making it easy to benchmark across conferences or track progress.

If you’d like to easily add an NPS question, generate an NPS survey tailored for conference participants and keynote impact.

NPS is best used when you want a simple, comparable score, plus open-ended context—“What’s the main reason for your score?” It helps you act fast on negative feedback or double down on what’s working well.

The power of follow-up questions

Follow-up questions are the secret weapon in any attendee feedback survey. They turn generic responses into rich narratives and actionable insights. With Specific’s AI-powered surveys (see how AI survey builder works), follow-ups are generated in real time based on what someone just said, much like a skilled interviewer would do—but at scale.

• Conference participant: “The keynote was good.”

• AI follow-up: “Could you share which part of the keynote stood out the most to you, and why?”

This approach clarifies meaning instantly, filling in the blanks and surfacing the “why” behind ratings or brief comments. If you skip follow-ups, too many answers wind up unclear, which leads to guessing during analysis.

How many follow-ups to ask? Usually, 2–3 follow-ups are plenty. Specific lets you set a maximum depth—ideal for avoiding survey fatigue, while ensuring you collect enough context. Respondents can always skip to the next main question once you have what you need.

This makes it a conversational survey: The entire experience feels like a natural back-and-forth, rather than filling out a static form—the classic “AI conversational survey” pattern. That’s why response rates can exceed 35–40% compared to generic surveys. [4]

AI survey response analysis, summary, insights: Don’t let lots of unstructured feedback scare you off. AI can analyze it instantly. Read more about how AI survey response analysis works and how it helps uncover the main themes in all your attendee comments, making even messy qualitative data a goldmine.

Automated AI follow-up questions are a new concept—give it a try and see how your feedback quality transforms.

How to prompt ChatGPT (or other GPTs) for great keynote impact survey questions

Let AI do some heavy lifting by drafting smart question lists for you. First, try a basic prompt like:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for Conference Participants survey about keynote impact.

But here’s a pro tip: AI works a lot better if you provide more detail about your participants, conference goals, or particular keynote. For example:

I’m designing a post-event survey for a tech conference with 500 industry professionals. Suggest 10 open-ended questions that will help us learn how the keynote changed participants’ thinking or actions in their work.

Want more structure? After drafting your questions, try:

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

Review the categories, pick which ones matter to you, then write:

Generate 10 questions for the categories “speaker influence,” “practical takeaways,” and “unanswered questions.”

This stepwise prompting divides your feedback and helps you drill into what matters most for your event strategy.

What is a conversational survey—and why choose AI survey generation?

Traditional survey creation means setting question types, logic, and branching by hand—a slow process that’s hard to scale or personalize. AI survey generators like Specific make it feel as easy as chatting with an expert. In seconds, you can describe your goals in natural language and see an instantly built, well-structured, context-aware survey ready to launch. Editing is just as easy—just describe what you want to change and AI handles it for you. (See how our AI survey editor works).

Why use AI for conference participant surveys? With an AI survey example, you start capturing richer feedback, increase respondent engagement, and get analysis that’s just as smart as your survey. Specific’s conversational approach makes both survey creation and response collection fluid, quick, and truly insightful.

If you want to learn about easy, step-by-step survey creation for conference participants, check out our guide on creating keynote impact surveys.

See this keynote impact survey example now

See how Specific’s AI surveys help you engage conference participants, capture their real perspectives on keynote impact, and get high-quality data—faster and more deeply—than you ever could with static forms.