Here are some of the best questions for a conference participants survey about overall satisfaction, along with tips on how to create them. If you’d like to build your own survey fast, Specific can help you generate a custom conversational survey in seconds.
Best open-ended questions for conference participants survey about overall satisfaction
Open-ended questions invite participants to share feedback in their own words, unlocking deeper insights and stories you’d never get from checkboxes. We use these when we want authentic, candid feedback on the entire conference experience. They’re unmatched for surfacing fresh ideas, surfacing pain points, and picking up details numbers alone can’t explain. In fact, open-ended questions are shown to lead to more detailed and insightful responses compared to closed-ended questions, though they're sometimes skipped if respondents are pressed for time [2].
If you could describe your overall experience at this conference in one sentence, what would it be?
What aspect of the conference exceeded your expectations?
Which part of the event did you find least valuable or enjoyable? Why?
Can you share a moment during the conference that really stood out to you?
How did the conference content meet (or not meet) your professional goals?
If you could change one thing about the conference, what would it be?
What were the biggest challenges or frustrations you encountered during the event?
Which speaker, session, or activity contributed most to your satisfaction? Please explain.
How did this conference compare to similar events you've attended in the past?
Is there any feedback you’d like to share with the organizers for future events?
Open-ended questions like these open the door to honest, nuanced feedback – but it’s smart to balance them with questions that are quicker to answer for higher response rates [2][5].
Best single-select multiple-choice questions for conference participants survey about overall satisfaction
Single-select multiple-choice questions are my go-to when I want to quantify opinions, spot patterns, or kick off a deeper conversation. They help drive up response rates and bring clarity—especially when respondents might otherwise skip open-ended questions because they take too long [3]. For conference participants, these are easy to answer on the go, keeping survey fatigue at bay [4].
Question: How would you rate your overall satisfaction with this conference?
Very satisfied
Satisfied
Neutral
Dissatisfied
Very dissatisfied
Question: Which aspect of the event most influenced your overall satisfaction?
Content and sessions
Networking opportunities
Event logistics (venue, meals, etc.)
Other
Question: How likely are you to attend another event organized by us?
Very likely
Somewhat likely
Neutral
Unlikely
Very unlikely
When to follow up with "why?" Always add a simple "why?" as a follow-up when you want to dig into reasons behind their choice. For example, if someone is dissatisfied, a quick "Can you share why you felt this way about the conference?" often uncovers actionable issues organizers can fix. This bridges the gap between raw data and meaningful stories.
When and why to add the "Other" choice? If you suspect your predefined options may not capture everyone’s experience or priorities, always add "Other." This can lead to surprising feedback you hadn’t considered. Follow-up with, "Can you tell us more about your choice?" and you’ll likely discover pain points or strengths that wouldn’t have come up otherwise [5].
Net promoter score for conference participants about overall satisfaction
Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a staple for measuring conference participants’ loyalty and overall satisfaction. It's just one question: "How likely are you to recommend this conference to a friend or colleague?" Participants answer on a scale from 0 (not at all likely) to 10 (extremely likely). NPS paints a clear picture of your event’s success and helps benchmark against future conferences. It’s especially effective for spotting promoters (your brand evangelists), passives, and detractors who might need extra attention. To see how NPS fits into a full satisfaction survey, you can generate an NPS survey for conference participants with Specific in seconds.
The power of follow-up questions
Quality insights don’t end with the first answer—follow-up questions are where the gold is. If you haven’t seen how automated follow-ups work, they let us keep probing for meaningful context without overwhelming respondents with a mile-long survey upfront. Using AI-driven follow-ups, Specific asks targeted, smart questions in real time, just like a skilled interviewer. This saves a huge amount of time compared to chasing responses over email, and makes sure the entire experience feels like a real conversation.
Conference participant: “The sessions were okay, but I wish there was more time to network.”
AI follow-up: “Can you share what would have helped you make better connections, or which sessions you felt could’ve been shorter to allow more time for networking?”
How many follow-ups to ask? For most conference surveys, two to three follow-up questions are plenty. That usually collects enough context, while keeping things efficient—and with Specific, you can set the maximum or let your AI agent skip once it's satisfied with the answer.
This makes it a conversational survey: Because we’re adaptively exploring each reply, the survey unfolds like a natural chat.
Easy AI analysis: Even with tons of rich, unstructured feedback, you can analyze all responses with AI instantly. No need to manually code answers or spend hours hunting for recurring themes. AI makes digesting narrative feedback simple and fast.
AI-powered follow-up questions are a completely new concept in the survey world. I always encourage people to try building a survey with them—the difference in depth and quality of feedback is clear right away.
How to prompt ChatGPT (or other GPTs) to generate great conference satisfaction questions
Crafting solid prompts is crucial for unlocking the best survey questions with AI. Here’s a go-to sequence I recommend:
Start with a basic prompt like:
Suggest 10 open-ended questions for conference participants survey about overall satisfaction.
The more context AI gets, the better the questions: add who you are, the type of conference, your goals, etc. You’ll get more relevant suggestions. Here’s a prompt that establishes that context:
We’re organizing a large professional conference focused on innovation in tech. Our attendees include industry leaders, startups, and students. Suggest 10 open-ended questions to capture overall satisfaction and uncover ways to improve.
To organize your AI-generated questions, ask:
Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.
Once you see the categories, pick ones you want to dive deeper on, and ask:
Generate 10 questions for categories Networking and Logistics.
This iterative approach reveals the most valuable questions for your goals—fast.
What is a conversational survey?
Let’s break down what sets a conversational survey apart from traditional forms. Conversational surveys feel like a natural back-and-forth, using AI to probe responses with smart follow-ups and real understanding. Traditional survey tools are rigid and require tons of manual work—often resulting in generic, surface-level data. By contrast, an AI survey builder asks questions just like a human interviewer would, adapting and digging deeper as needed. That means richer feedback, less fatigue, and higher completion rates.
Manual Survey | AI-Generated Conversational Survey |
|---|---|
Static, one-size-fits-all questions | Dynamic, context-aware follow-up questions |
Limited respondent engagement | Feels like a chat, highly engaging |
Manual response analysis | Instant AI response summaries and analysis |
Time-consuming setup | Survey ready in seconds with AI |
Why use AI for conference participants surveys? Because creating an engaging AI survey example is easy—AI survey makers surface new question ideas, ask smart follow-ups, and handle analysis in ways no manual process can. And, with Specific, the survey experience is seamless for both organizers and attendees. Feedback collection becomes a breeze, not a hassle. If you want a step-by-step walkthrough, check out our guide to creating a conference satisfaction survey.
See this overall satisfaction survey example now
Create a conversational survey that actually surfaces actionable feedback—engage your participants, get deeper insights, and save hours with smart AI follow-ups and instant analysis. Craft better conference experiences starting today.