Best questions for conference participants survey about q and a experience

Here are some of the best questions for a conference participants survey about their Q&A experience, along with tips to help you create them. You can use Specific to instantly build a highly effective survey tailored to your event’s needs.

Best open-ended questions for a Q&A experience survey

Open-ended questions are incredibly useful when you want detailed, authentic feedback from your participants—especially around nuanced experiences like live Q&As. These questions allow respondents to express thoughts in their own words, surface unexpected issues, and share meaningful suggestions. However, be mindful: research shows open-ended questions can lead to higher nonresponse rates (average nonresponse is 18%), but they're also the questions that yield the richest insights when answered.[1] That’s why we believe in using them thoughtfully and in moderation.

1. What was the most valuable takeaway from the Q&A session?

2. How did the Q&A session impact your overall perception of the conference?

3. Can you describe a moment during the Q&A that stood out to you, and why?

4. What questions did you feel were left unanswered?

5. How would you improve the format or structure of the Q&A sessions?

6. Did you encounter any barriers to participating in the Q&A? If so, please explain.

7. How effectively do you think the moderator facilitated audience questions?

8. What topics or types of questions did you wish were discussed more during the Q&A?

9. How comfortable did you feel asking questions during the session? Please elaborate.

10. Is there anything else about the Q&A experience you’d like to share?

According to a Danish study, not only did 76% of surveyed patients add comments when prompted with open-ended questions, but over 80% of management teams found this feedback useful for improvements.[2] This shows that, despite their response burden, open-ended feedback remains essential for quality enhancement.

Top single-select multiple-choice questions to include

Single-select multiple-choice questions offer structure and make it simple to quantify results at a glance. They’re great for warming up respondents, prompting those who may feel “put on the spot” by open-ended requests, and for facilitating easy follow-up (“why”) queries. This type of question is especially helpful when you want to spot trends or benchmark engagement—perfect for conference Q&A experiences where you may present your findings to stakeholders.

Question: How satisfied were you with the Q&A session?

• Very satisfied

• Satisfied

• Neutral

• Dissatisfied

• Very dissatisfied

Question: Did you ask a question during the Q&A?

• Yes

• No

Question: What prevented you from participating in the Q&A?

• I didn’t have questions

• I was nervous to ask

• Time ran out

• Other

When to followup with "why?" Whenever a respondent selects a negative or ambiguous answer (“Dissatisfied” or “I was nervous to ask”), it’s wise to immediately follow up: “Can you tell me more about that?” Asking “why” helps move beyond simple statistics and uncovers actionable details—for instance, understanding why people felt uncomfortable participating, so you can address it next year.

When and why to add the "Other" choice? Sometimes, you can't predict all possible responses. By including "Other," you prompt people to share unique experiences you hadn't considered, and the follow-up question here can uncover surprising insights and new themes you might have missed.

Should you use an NPS question for Q&A sessions?

NPS (Net Promoter Score) is a fantastic metric when you want to quantify advocacy and overall satisfaction. For conferences, asking, “How likely are you to recommend this conference’s Q&A experience to a colleague or friend?” gives you a simple, actionable score. Since NPS is used globally as a benchmark for experience quality, it’s powerful when you’re tracking event improvements over time. You can instantly generate a survey with an NPS question specific to your Q&A session with Specific—no setup headaches.

The power of follow-up questions

The secret to truly insightful survey data isn’t just the questions—it’s probing beneath the surface. Specific’s AI-powered follow-up questions transform your survey into a live conversation. As participants answer, our AI asks smart, context-aware follow-ups in real time—just like an expert interviewer would. This means you gather extra context, clarification, and detail, all with zero manual followup work.

• Conference participant: “I felt rushed during the Q&A.”

• AI follow-up: “Could you share what specifically made it feel rushed for you?”

• Conference participant: “The questions weren’t relevant.”

• AI follow-up: “Which topics or questions would you have found more useful?”

How many followups to ask? Usually, 2-3 targeted followup questions strike the right balance: enough to explore, but not overwhelm. With Specific, you can set the ideal depth—and respondents can always skip further followups if you’ve already captured what you need.

This makes it a conversational survey—and that’s why respondents are more likely to open up, rather than feeling interrogated.

AI analysis, text summaries, and themes: Even when answers span pages of text, Specific makes response analysis a breeze with AI-powered response analysis. No more sifting through endless spreadsheets: you get themes, summaries, and an “ask anything” chat interface to explore results.

Almost nobody has time to dig through dozens of follow-up email threads—Specific allows you to collect and analyze these deeper responses in one simple flow. Curious what this looks like in practice? Try generating a survey now and see the conversation for yourself.

How to prompt ChatGPT to generate great Q&A feedback questions

AI tools like ChatGPT or Specific’s AI survey generator can help you brainstorm outstanding survey questions fast. To get the best results from AI, give your prompt context and intent.

To start, try a foundational prompt:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for Conference Participants survey about Q And A Experience.

The more context you provide about your event, audience, and goals, the better the results:

Our conference prioritizes inclusive audience engagement and actionable learning via Q&A sessions. Could you suggest 10 open-ended questions to uncover both strengths and areas to improve the Q&A experience for participants with varied backgrounds?

Once you have a good list, ask ChatGPT to help you organize:

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

After reviewing the topics, select those you want to explore deeper, and write:

Generate 10 questions for categories on Q&A comfort, moderator effectiveness, and unanswered questions.

This way, you’re guiding AI brainstorming and leveraging it as a true supporting researcher.

What is a conversational survey, and why go AI-first?

Conversational surveys mimic real conversations. Instead of blasting respondents with static forms, the survey adapts in real time—asking smarter followups, clarifying ambiguous answers, and naturally flowing as the conversation would if you were interviewing each participant in person. This results in much higher data quality and engagement. For comparison:

Why use AI for conference participants surveys? AI survey generators like Specific take the mental load off your team: you can generate, iterate, and launch sophisticated, conversational surveys in seconds, and then rely on AI to organize, summarize, and even hold a live “conversation” with your results. They also dramatically improve engagement—interactive surveys (with chat and dynamic elements) achieve up to 40% response rates, compared to 10-20% for basic post-event forms.[3]

If you want to dive deeper, check our step-by-step guide to creating a Q&A survey for conference participants. Specific sets the bar for conversational surveys that feel intuitive and frictionless—whether you’re building or answering them.

Every survey you create is not only conversation-driven but also fully customizable in the AI survey editor, down to followup logic, tone, and more.

See this Q&A experience survey example now

Want feedback that delivers powerful insights, fast? See a true AI survey example in action and create your own—the experience is smooth, adaptable, and lets you capture honest feedback you’ll actually use.