Here are some of the best questions for a conference participants survey about social events, along with tips for crafting them. If you want, you can easily generate a tailored social event survey for your conference in seconds using Specific.
Best open-ended questions for conference participants: social events
Open-ended questions are invaluable when you want rich feedback. They give conference participants the chance to express their thoughts about social events in their own words, capturing nuance you’d miss otherwise. Despite nonresponse rates for open questions reaching up to 18% or more in some surveys, these questions still bring important context and deeper understanding. In fact, studies show 76% of respondents will offer extra comments if prompted, revealing how much people want to share when given the chance. [1][2]
Here are 10 effective open-ended questions for a conference participants survey focused on social events:
What was the most memorable social event or networking activity you attended at this conference?
In your opinion, how could the social events have been improved?
Were there any social activities or formats you wished had been included but weren’t?
Can you share a story or highlight from a social event at the conference?
How well did the social events help you connect with other participants?
What surprised you (in a good or bad way) about the social events at this conference?
If you could change one thing about the social event experience, what would it be?
Did the conference’s social events support your goals (e.g., building relationships, learning new things, relaxing)? How?
How inclusive did you feel the social activities were for all participants?
What advice would you offer organizers on planning future conference social events?
Best single-select multiple-choice questions for conference participants on social events
Single-select multiple-choice questions are perfect when you need to quantify opinions or get a quick pulse from participants. Sometimes, having concise options makes it easier for respondents to answer and for you to spot trends—plus, they’re an easy way to spark deeper conversations with follow-ups.
Question: Which type of social event did you find most valuable at the conference?
Networking dinner
Informal coffee breaks
Workshop-based socials
Outdoor activities
Other
Question: How satisfied were you with the opportunities to meet new people at conference social events?
Very satisfied
Somewhat satisfied
Neutral
Somewhat dissatisfied
Very dissatisfied
Question: Did you attend any official evening networking events?
Yes, all of them
Yes, some of them
No, none
When to follow up with "why?" Use a follow-up “why” when you want to go beyond surface-level answers and understand true motivations or pain points. For example, if someone marks “somewhat dissatisfied,” ask, “Why did you feel this way?”—this unlocks more actionable feedback for organizers.
When and why to add the "Other" choice? Always include “Other” when your list of options might not cover every unique perspective. Letting participants select “Other” and explain can lead to insights about unmet needs or creative ideas no one anticipated, especially when you add a text field for clarifications and follow up for details.
NPS question for conference participants about social events
NPS (Net Promoter Score) is a simple way to measure overall satisfaction and loyalty by asking: “How likely are you to recommend our conference social events to others?” with a 0-10 rating. For conferences, it helps track the effectiveness of your social programming over time and benchmark improvements. You can instantly create an NPS survey for your conference participants with just a few clicks, and get open-text follow-up questions for promoters and detractors automatically.
The power of follow-up questions
Real insight comes from context—and that’s where smart follow-up questions are game-changing. Specific’s automatic follow-up question feature, driven by AI, ensures you never lose context in your feedback. It works by asking tailored probes in real time, just as a veteran researcher would. The benefit? You capture the “why” behind every answer, turning vague responses into rich stories. See more on automatic AI follow-up questions and why they matter so much.
Conference participant: “I didn’t really enjoy the networking dinner.”
AI follow-up: “Can you share what made the dinner less enjoyable for you?”
How many follow-ups to ask? Generally, two to three well-crafted follow-ups are enough. Specific lets you control this—after you get the key details, you can skip to the next question for a smooth flow. No one likes survey fatigue, but missing detail is worse.
This makes it a conversational survey: By turning your survey into a back-and-forth conversation, follow-ups make feedback easier and way more natural for participants.
AI-powered survey analysis: Even with lots of open responses, using an AI survey response analysis tool makes sense of the data fast—see how easy it is to analyze feedback using AI in this practical guide.
These automated AI follow-up questions are new for many organizers—try generating a survey and see how it changes the quality of your feedback.
Composing better prompts for AI to generate conference social event survey questions
If you’d rather brainstorm your survey questions using ChatGPT or similar AI, start simple. For example:
Suggest 10 open-ended questions for conference participants survey about social events.
The more context you give AI, the better your survey becomes. Here’s how to prompt for richer results:
Suggest 10 open-ended questions for a survey targeting first-time conference participants, focusing on their experience with networking opportunities and non-traditional social events. My goal is to discover what made events memorable, if they felt welcomed, and how we can improve inclusivity.
Next, ask:
Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.
When you see categories you want to explore further, drill down:
Generate 10 questions for categories such as “networking effectiveness,” “event accessibility,” and “memorable moments.”
What is a conversational survey?
A conversational survey is more than just a form—it acts like a real conversation. Instead of making participants fill endless boxes, the AI asks each question in a natural, chat-like way. It automatically follows up, clarifies, and adapts, making the respondent feel understood and valued. This approach directly leads to higher quality feedback and engagement.
Let’s quickly compare:
Manual Surveys | AI-Generated Conversational Surveys |
|---|---|
Need manual setup, hard to iterate | Rapid survey generation using plain language prompts |
Fixed questions, no real follow-up | Smart, dynamic follow-ups based on real-time answers |
Hard to analyze unstructured data | Response analysis powered by AI, summaries and insights instantly |
Impersonal experience | Feels like a helpful conversation, increasing engagement |
Why use AI for conference participant surveys? AI survey generators don’t just save time—they make the whole process smarter. Feedback isn’t lost in translation, and open-ended insights become usable thanks to GPT-based analysis. As studies show, conversational surveys conducted by AI chatbots significantly boost both engagement and response quality. [3]
Specific is at the forefront of this movement, offering one of the best user experiences in conversational surveys. See a step-by-step guide on how to create a conference participant survey about social events that delivers smarter results and a smoother respondent flow.
See this social events survey example now
Get instant, actionable feedback from conference participants using cutting-edge conversational surveys. Experience the difference of AI-powered follow-ups and seamless analysis—see insights you’d otherwise miss and craft better events with Specific.