Here are some of the best questions for a conference participants survey about matchmaking effectiveness, plus tips on crafting them. With Specific, you can build your survey in seconds—then instantly launch it as a conversational experience that uncovers deeper feedback.
Best open-ended questions for conference participants: Matchmaking effectiveness
Open-ended questions are gold for conference feedback—they let people share their stories, highlight frustrations, and suggest improvements in their own words. They’re invaluable when you want richer, more authentic insight rather than just numbers.
And most people are happy to elaborate. In fact, a large-scale study found that 76% of respondents provided at least one detailed comment when asked open-ended questions in a survey, showing a real willingness to share their experiences when prompted the right way. [1]
Here are our picks for the 10 best open-ended questions to use in a conference participants survey focused on matchmaking effectiveness:
What was your overall experience with the matchmaking sessions or activities at this conference?
Can you describe a specific connection you made through the matchmaking process that stood out to you?
How did the matchmaking process meet—or fall short of—your networking goals?
Were there any challenges or frustrations you faced when being matched with other participants?
Which features of the matchmaking platform or activities did you find most helpful, and why?
What would you change about the matchmaking process to make it more effective for future events?
Did you discover any unexpected opportunities during the matchmaking sessions? Please share your story.
How could we make it easier for you to connect with the right people at future conferences?
What did you appreciate most about the people you were matched with?
Is there anything else you want to tell us about your experiences with conference matchmaking?
Balancing a mix of these questions helps you uncover both what’s working and where participants see room for improvement. But remember—open-ended questions can lead to higher non-response rates than simple multiple choice. To mitigate this, consider combining them with quantifiable closed-ended questions for a complete picture. [2]
Best single-select multiple choice questions to quantify matchmaking effectiveness
Single-select multiple choice questions are ideal when you want to quantify experiences or break the ice for deeper feedback. They’re especially helpful for busy conference participants because it’s quick to choose from concise options, and this often encourages participation. Starting with an easy choice can get the conversation flowing, so you can later follow up for more context.
Here are three of our favorite multiple choice questions for this use case:
Question: How satisfied were you with the quality of your matchmaking sessions?
Very satisfied
Satisfied
Neutral
Dissatisfied
Very dissatisfied
Question: Did you feel the matchmaking process helped you achieve your networking objectives?
Yes, fully
Yes, somewhat
No
Not sure
Question: Which aspect of the matchmaking experience could be improved the most?
Number of matches
Relevance of matches
Scheduling and logistics
Platform usability
Other
When to follow up with "why?" Use a follow-up "why?" whenever you see an answer that lacks detail or context. For example, if someone selects "Dissatisfied" with matchmaking quality, immediately asking "Can you share what made your sessions unsatisfying?" prompts them to expand, giving you actionable insight instead of just a data point.
When and why to add the "Other" choice? Always include "Other" when you suspect your main options might miss edge cases. When the respondent picks "Other," following up with a prompt for explanation often uncovers unmet needs or perspectives you didn’t anticipate—hugely valuable for conferences seeking an edge in networking innovation.
NPS-type question: Would you recommend our matchmaking?
Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a proven way to benchmark participant loyalty—just ask: "How likely are you to recommend our matchmaking sessions to a colleague or friend?" NPS works because it’s familiar, quantifiable, and can be easily tracked over time to measure conference improvements. In this context, it helps you gauge the reputation of your matchmaking efforts at a glance. You can generate an NPS survey tailored for conference matchmaking via Specific.
The power of follow-up questions
Follow-up questions transform your survey from a cold data collector into a dynamic, conversational experience. We wrote about automatic AI follow-up questions in depth—and here’s why they’re so powerful for conferences: they clarify ambiguous responses, dive deeper on pain points, and surface insights that would be missed by static forms.
Specific uses AI to automatically ask intelligent follow-ups in real time, adapting each question based on earlier responses—like an interviewing pro. This saves organizers massive time (no back-and-forth emails!), ensures richer data, and lets participants feel heard and understood, all in a natural chat flow.
Conference participant: "Some matches just weren’t relevant."
AI follow-up: "Can you describe what made those matches less relevant to your interests or goals?"
How many followups to ask? In most surveys, 2-3 targeted followups are plenty. You want enough depth to clarify or expand responses, but you can configure a skip-to-next setting when you’ve gathered what you need. Specific lets you define this, keeping the experience smooth and focused.
This makes it a conversational survey. AI-powered followups mean your participants aren’t just filling out a static form—they’re having a real conversation that adapts to them, which increases completion and engagement.
Qualitative analysis is easy using AI. Thanks to tools like Specific’s AI survey response analysis, you can instantly review summaries, key themes, and even chat with AI about your results—no matter how long or complex the open-text answers are.
Automated followup is still an emerging approach. Give it a try—generate your own survey and see how the feedback changes when every participant feels like you’re actually listening.
How to prompt ChatGPT to generate your best conference matchmaking survey questions
Want to tap AI’s creativity and research skills to brainstorm survey questions? It all starts with the right prompt. Here’s a basic example:
Suggest 10 open-ended questions for conference participants survey about matchmaking effectiveness.
But you get better results when you provide more detail on your conference, audience, and goals. For example:
We’re organizing a B2B tech conference targeting startups and investors. Our matchmaking aims to connect companies to capital. Suggest 10 open-ended and 5 multiple choice questions to deeply understand the effectiveness of our matchmaking from participants’ point of view.
Once you have a list, get organized by running:
Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.
Then pick your most relevant categories and dig deeper. For example:
Generate 10 follow-up questions focused specifically on “partnership opportunities” and “match relevance.”
What makes a survey “conversational” (and why use an AI survey maker)?
Conversational surveys are a leap ahead from old-school forms. Instead of reading static lists, participants chat with an adaptive AI—just like messaging a colleague. The difference isn’t subtle; it’s the core of Specific’s mission: you get more engagement, higher quality answers, and richer insights because it feels personal, not extractive.
Manual survey | AI-generated conversational survey |
|---|---|
Static questions; no back-and-forth | Dynamic: AI follows up to dig deeper or clarify |
High drop-off rates on open-ended questions | Smoother chat-like flow increases response rates |
Manual analysis: time-intensive, inconsistent | Automated AI summaries and response analysis |
One-size-fits-all (limited personalization) | Customizes each conversation based on responses |
Why use AI for conference participants surveys? Because AI survey generators (like Specific) are faster to create, launch, and analyze. You don’t need to be a research expert—the AI helps with question writing, order, and follow-up logic. This means anyone can generate a professional survey that adapts in real-time to the participant, maximizing insight while minimizing effort.
If you’d like a step-by-step guide, check out our article on how to create a survey for conference participants.
Specific is an authority in conversational surveys, offering best-in-class user experience—so both your team and your participants have a frictionless, engaging feedback process from start to finish.
See this Matchmaking Effectiveness survey example now
Ready to get clear, actionable feedback from your conference audience? See how a conversational survey makes it effortless to collect stories, surface actionable themes, and spark real improvement—while keeping your participants truly engaged.