Best questions for conference participants survey about workshop quality

Here are some of the best questions for a conference participants survey about workshop quality, plus key tips on how to create them. You can build a tailored conversational survey in seconds—try Specific’s AI survey generator to get started.

Best open-ended questions for conference participants about workshop quality

Open-ended questions are great for uncovering in-depth feedback because they let people share their honest thoughts and unique perspectives. They’re especially useful when you want richer context, uncover new ideas, or spot improvement areas you hadn’t even considered. However, be mindful that open-ended questions can result in higher nonresponse rates—up to 18% on average, depending on the audience and question complexity. Still, when people do answer, responses tend to be much more specific, informative, and relevant, especially in a conversational format that boosts engagement and quality of answers. [1][3]

1. What aspect of the workshop did you find most valuable or impactful?

2. Were there any parts of the workshop that you felt could be improved? Please explain.

3. How well did the workshop content match your expectations?

4. Can you describe any specific takeaways or skills you gained from this workshop?

5. How would you describe the presenter’s effectiveness in delivering the material?

6. Were there any topics you wish had been covered in more depth? Please elaborate.

7. How comfortable did you feel participating or asking questions during the workshop?

8. If you could change one thing about this workshop, what would it be?

9. Did you encounter any challenges or barriers during the workshop? Tell us more.

10. How do you plan to apply what you learned in your work or daily life?

Balancing open-ended and closed-ended questions is generally the way to go: it helps manage respondent fatigue, minimizes nonresponse, and makes results easier to analyze. Read more about designing effective conference surveys in practice.

Best single-select multiple-choice questions for conference participants about workshop quality

Single-select multiple-choice questions shine when you want quantitative feedback, clear benchmarks, or to get respondents started with an easy “entry” before following up for more detail. Sometimes it’s just easier for participants to choose an option than to put their thoughts into words; you then use follow-up questions to dig deeper.

Question: How would you rate the overall quality of the workshop?

• Excellent

• Good

• Fair

• Poor

Question: Which element of the workshop contributed most to your learning?

• Workshop content

• Presenter’s delivery

• Group activities/discussions

• Workshop materials/resources

• Other

Question: Would you recommend this workshop to other conference participants?

• Yes

• No

• Not sure

When to followup with "why?" Ask “why?” when you want to move beyond simple ratings and understand motivations. For example, if a participant selects “Fair” for overall quality, following up with “Why did you choose ‘Fair’?” will get you actionable details like “The material was too basic, and the Q&A felt rushed.”

When and why to add the "Other" choice? “Other” is crucial when you can’t anticipate every possible answer. It lets respondents highlight needs and insights you hadn’t thought of—use a follow-up field or open-ended prompt to capture this valuable feedback.

NPS question: Should you use it for workshop quality feedback?

Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a simple, research-backed way to measure participant loyalty and word-of-mouth potential: “How likely are you to recommend this workshop to a friend or colleague?” It makes sense to use NPS here if you want a clear, quantitative pulse on the workshop’s impact and a single metric you can track over time. Even better: with AI-powered survey platforms like Specific, you can automatically segment promoters, passives, and detractors and trigger follow-up questions unique to each group. Generate an NPS survey for conference workshops in seconds.

The power of follow-up questions

Want to capture complete, meaningful feedback? Follow-up questions are your secret weapon. Instead of leaving responses incomplete or ambiguous, you get full context in the moment. That’s why we built automatic AI-powered followup questions into Specific: the AI listens to each answer, then asks smart, targeted follow-ups based on what was just shared—almost like having a live research interviewer for every respondent.

• Conference participant: “It was pretty good.”

• AI follow-up: “Can you share what stood out most or made the workshop feel ‘pretty good’ for you?”

How many followups to ask? Two to three followups per open-ended question usually give you enough depth without making the survey feel endless. And if you already have the information you want, you can set the AI to stop and move on—Specific gives you precise controls here.

This makes it a conversational survey: Every followup adds to a natural conversation, making the respondent experience smoother and more engaging, just like chatting with a helpful colleague.

AI analysis, unstructured text, and ease: Even though this process generates a lot of unstructured feedback, Specific’s AI makes it easy to analyze all responses—see this in action in our guide on analyzing workshop survey responses with AI.

Automated AI followups are a new concept for most people—try generating a survey and see how much more actionable your feedback becomes.

How to compose a prompt for GPT to generate workshop survey questions

If you want to draft your own questions with ChatGPT or a similar AI, start by issuing a direct prompt like:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for conference participants survey about workshop quality.

But you’ll get far better results if you give the AI some extra context about your situation, goals, and audience. For example:

We’re seeking honest feedback from conference participants to improve the quality of our future workshops. They range from small group sessions to larger keynotes. The goal is to identify both strengths and areas for improvement in content, presenter skills, and logistics. Please suggest 10 open-ended questions that would encourage detailed responses.

Once you collect or brainstorm a question list, ask the AI to help you organize them so you can focus on what matters:

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

Review the categories, and then dive deeper with:

Generate 10 questions focused on the “Presenter’s delivery and effectiveness” and “Content relevance” categories.

Iterating like this produces targeted questions that get you the high-value feedback you’re after—whether you’re building a classic form or a conversational AI survey.

What is a conversational survey—and why use AI?

A conversational survey mimics a natural chat instead of a cold form. Respondents type (or tap) back and forth with the AI, which adapts and follows up like a smart moderator. This feels familiar—people are used to texting or using chat apps—so it lifts engagement and reduces survey abandonment.

Why use AI for conference participant surveys? AI survey generators like Specific make it fast to create and launch a survey—even a long one—without the mental workload of drafting every question yourself. The AI can handle intelligent followups and analyze text responses instantly, enabling richer insights with less manual effort. Explore more about creating surveys for conference feedback in our how-to guide.

You get best-in-class conversational survey experience with Specific—it’s smooth for respondents, effortless to launch, and easy to explore or analyze responses after. See what a modern feedback process feels like.

See this workshop quality survey example now

Ready for deeper insights from your next conference? Create your own interactive, conversational workshop quality survey with Specific—unlock actionable takeaways and make every session better.