Best questions for conference participants survey about schedule and timing

Here are some of the best questions for a conference participants survey about schedule and timing, plus actionable tips for crafting them thoughtfully. If you want to build a tailored survey in seconds, you can generate your own with Specific—it’s fast and precise.

The best open-ended questions for conference participants about schedule and timing

Open-ended questions let people tell us how they really feel. They shine when we care about nuance or want to hear stories that standardized answers can’t cover. The tradeoff? They may yield higher nonresponse rates, as people sometimes skip questions that take more effort to answer—one study saw open-ended nonresponse rates climb as high as 50% on specific items, though the average is usually about 18% [1]. That said, these questions are invaluable for surfacing what we don’t know to ask.

1. What part of the conference schedule did you find most convenient or inconvenient? Please explain.

2. Were there any sessions you wished were scheduled at a different time? If so, which ones and why?

3. How did the timing of breaks and meals impact your conference experience?

4. If you could change one thing about the conference timetable, what would it be?

5. Describe how the conference schedule supported or interfered with your networking opportunities.

6. Was there a particular session that you missed due to a timing conflict? Please share details.

7. How did the start and end times each day work for you?

8. What recommendations do you have for improving session durations or transitions?

9. Was there enough flexibility in the schedule for informal discussions or rest?

10. Can you share a specific moment where the timing of something helped or frustrated you?

Open-ended questions dig deeper, uncovering perspectives that quantitative data can miss. It’s why a blend of open and closed formats is often our go-to approach for conference feedback.

Best single-select multiple-choice questions for conference participants about schedule and timing

Single-select multiple-choice questions are perfect when you want to quantify opinions or make faster decisions. Sometimes, respondents appreciate being able to pick an option instead of coming up with their own words—this lowers fatigue and helps keep completion rates high. These questions are especially useful for identifying broad patterns and simplifying analysis, which aligns with evidence that closed-ended questions are easier and quicker to process at scale [2]. The key is to include exhaustive yet mutually exclusive answer choices—otherwise, analysis can get muddy fast.

Question: How satisfied were you with the overall scheduling of the conference?

• Very satisfied

• Somewhat satisfied

• Neutral

• Somewhat dissatisfied

• Very dissatisfied

Question: Did you find the length of individual sessions to be:

• Too short

• About right

• Too long

• Other

Question: How would you rate the timing of networking breaks?

• Excellent

• Good

• Fair

• Poor

When to follow up with "why?" We recommend following up after a respondent chooses a negative or ambiguous option (like "somewhat dissatisfied" or "other"). This gently prompts for more detail (“Can you tell us more about what didn’t work for you?”), which turns simple selections into actionable insight. Letting the AI agent ask "why" boosts the richness of your data, capturing the nuance behind every choice.

When and why to add the "Other" choice? “Other” is powerful when you risk missing outlier needs or unexpected views. Always follow it up with a free-text prompt to uncover insights that didn’t fit the pre-set options—sometimes the most valuable suggestions come from this open door.

Should you use an NPS question for conference schedule and timing?

NPS (Net Promoter Score) isn’t just for products—it’s a sharp tool for conferences, too. By asking, “On a scale from 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend this event (and its schedule) to a friend or colleague?” you get an immediate read on how well you’ve nailed the experience from a time-management perspective. The true value comes from pairing the core NPS question with context-specific follow-ups for promoters, passives, and detractors. It’s a proven way to surface the underlying logic for high and low scores—plus, it’s easy to set up with an NPS survey template for conference participants.

The power of follow-up questions

Automated follow-up questions make conversational surveys a game-changer. They don’t just improve clarity—they turn static forms into dynamic interviews. We built Specific’s follow-up engine to use AI that adapts in real time to each respondent’s answer and context, probing like an expert. Curious about the mechanics? Check out our deep dive on AI follow-up questions.

Why do these matter? Here’s what happens without follow-up:

• Conference participant: "I didn’t like the morning session."

• AI follow-up: "Could you share more about what didn’t work for you during the morning session?"

Without that nudge, the original answer lacks actionable direction. The next layer draws out whether it was the time slot, length, or a content clash that led to dissatisfaction.

How many followups to ask? For most conference surveys, 2-3 rounds are enough to get to the “why” and “how” behind a sentiment, with an option to skip if the participant clarifies early. Specific has customizable follow-up settings to manage this intuitively.

This makes it a conversational survey—participants engage in a natural back-and-forth, not a one-way form. It feels more like a real conversation, which boosts completion and depth.

AI survey response analysis—Even with heaps of unstructured text, AI makes sense of it all instantly. Want to see how simple it is? Our guide on analyzing conference survey responses with AI shows you how even complex data becomes easy to digest and act on.

Automated follow-ups are a fairly new survey capability. Go ahead and generate a survey—the chat-style feedback flow speaks for itself.

Prompts for ChatGPT to generate strong conference schedule and timing questions

If you want to use ChatGPT or another AI to help brainstorm, try starting with:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for conference participants survey about schedule and timing.

AI always works better with more context. Tell it if your event is virtual, in-person, multi-day, and state the audience’s role and your objectives. Example:

I’m organizing a three-day hybrid tech conference. The goal is to understand attendees' preferences around session start times, break structure, and time-zone accommodations. Suggest 10 open-ended and 5 multiple-choice questions for a post-event feedback survey.

Once you have the raw questions, organize them efficiently:

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

Next, double down by category. For instance, if “networking opportunities” is big for you:

Generate 10 questions focused on the category ‘networking time’ for conference participants feedback.

Iterate and refine—the more details you give, the better the AI output.

What is a conversational survey?

Conversational surveys flip the script on traditional survey forms. Instead of one-way answer boxes, participants experience a dynamic chat, with AI probing for clarity and details much like a skilled interviewer would. This method keeps people engaged and ensures that we get richer, clearer, and more contextually relevant feedback. The end result? Less confusion, more action-ready data.

Why use AI for conference participants surveys? Combining automation and real human tone, AI-driven survey generators let you launch, refine, and analyze complex surveys at lightning speed, freeing up your team for higher-value work while delivering superior data quality. Whether you want to explore open-ended feedback or track consistent quantitative KPIs, AI—especially conversational AI—makes the process agile and effective.

If you want a hands-on look, browse our AI survey builder and check our guide on how to create a conference survey about schedule and timing. With Specific, you don’t just get a “better form”—you get a best-in-class conversational survey experience that works equally well for creators and respondents.

See this schedule and timing survey example now

Try a conference schedule and timing survey powered by AI and see how quickly you can capture meaningful, actionable feedback—complete with smart follow-ups and instant analysis.