Here are some of the best questions for an event attendee survey about overall event satisfaction, and our tips on how to create them. With Specific, you can generate a tailored survey in seconds using the latest AI technology.
Best open-ended questions for event attendee surveys about overall event satisfaction
Open-ended questions let attendees share their thoughts in their own words, unlocking nuanced feedback you might otherwise miss. These are perfect when you want detail, colorful stories, and honest opinions that are difficult to capture with simple checkboxes. Be mindful though—open-ended questions do tend to yield higher nonresponse rates (about 18% on average, and up to 50% for certain questions) compared to multiple-choice[1], so keep them intentional and clear. That said, the qualitative comments are incredibly valuable: over 76% of respondents in satisfaction studies provide extra comments, and leadership teams find these notes "very useful" or "useful" 80.7% of the time[3].
What was the highlight of your experience at the event?
Were there any aspects of the event that you found disappointing? Please tell us more.
How did the event meet or fall short of your expectations?
How would you describe the event atmosphere to a friend who didn’t attend?
What would make future events even more valuable or enjoyable for you?
Did you learn something new or valuable? If yes, what was it?
Were there any logistical issues you encountered (e.g., registration, venue, timing)?
Was there a moment or speaker that particularly resonated with you? Please share details.
Can you share any suggestions for improving the event experience in the future?
Is there anything you wish we’d done differently during this event?
Best single-select multiple-choice questions for event attendee surveys
Single-select multiple-choice questions are ideal if you want quick, quantifiable data or want to break the ice with your respondents. They can help you benchmark satisfaction and quickly spot trends. For attendees, choosing from a set of concise choices is often less daunting than writing a lengthy answer—so you can build momentum in your survey, and follow up with more detailed open-ended or "why?" questions to dig deeper into responses.
Question: How satisfied were you with the overall event experience?
Very satisfied
Satisfied
Neutral
Dissatisfied
Very dissatisfied
Question: How likely are you to recommend this event to a colleague or friend?
Extremely likely
Somewhat likely
Not likely
Other
Question: Which event aspect did you find most valuable?
Networking opportunities
Speakers/presentations
Venue and logistics
Exhibitor area
Other
When to follow up with "why?" If a respondent selects a neutral or negative option ("Neutral" or "Dissatisfied"), follow up with a "why?" question. This not only clarifies their perspective but often reveals actionable feedback: for example, “What made your experience neutral?” or “Can you share what would have improved your experience?”
When and why to add the "Other" choice? Always consider including "Other"—it empowers attendees to share a viewpoint you might not have considered. Following up with an open-ended question here often uncovers unique insights that don't fit neatly into predefined options.
Using NPS as a key question: does it make sense?
Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a fast, industry-standard way to measure overall sentiment. By asking, “How likely are you to recommend this event to a friend or colleague, on a scale of 0-10?” you get a clear, actionable metric to track over time, regardless of event type. NPS also naturally segments your audience: promoters, passives, and detractors, letting you tailor follow-up questions or thank-you notes. You can instantly create an NPS survey with Specific for event attendees.
The power of follow-up questions
Asking the right follow-ups can double or triple the value of every response. Conversational surveys powered by Specific’s AI can automatically dig deeper with relevant, contextual probes, without requiring extra time or manual effort. See more about automated follow-up questions and how they change the survey game.
Event Attendee: "The sessions were okay."
AI follow-up: "What could have improved the sessions for you?"
Event Attendee: "I had trouble with registration."
AI follow-up: "Can you describe the issue you faced during registration?"
How many followups to ask? Generally, 2-3 targeted follow-ups get you all the context needed, especially if you enable the choice to skip ahead once the info is sufficient. Specific lets you fine-tune this setting for your needs.
This makes it a conversational survey: a real conversation, not just a questionnaire—making feedback richer, more authentic, and more enjoyable to participate in.
AI survey analysis is easy: With so much free-text and follow-up data, analysis would be a challenge—except Specific’s AI survey response analysis makes summarizing themes and spotting trends a breeze.
Automated followups are a new standard. Try generating your survey and see how smoothly it works in practice.
Prompt ideas: how to get great questions from ChatGPT (or any GPT)
If you want to generate your list of survey questions with AI, prompting is half the magic. Here’s an efficient way to do it:
Basic prompt to start:
Suggest 10 open-ended questions for Event Attendee survey about Overall Event Satisfaction.
But, the more context you give, the smarter the AI gets. For example:
We’re surveying attendees of our annual tech conference. We want to know what worked, what didn’t, and what would make them come back next year. Suggest 10 open-ended questions to get the deepest insights about their overall satisfaction and experience.
Once you have your batch of draft questions, try a follow-up prompt:
Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.
Then, take your chosen categories (e.g., “Logistics,” “Content,” “Atmosphere”) and drill down even further:
Generate 10 questions for categories Logistics and Content that would help us improve our next event.
What is a conversational survey?
Conversational surveys feel like having a natural, flowing chat instead of filling out a form. The questions adapt to previous answers and probe deeper as needed—more like a human conversation than a static quiz. This approach consistently draws richer, more actionable feedback—not to mention it’s friendlier and easier on mobile.
Manual Surveys | AI-Generated Surveys |
|---|---|
Copy-paste templates or draft from scratch | Describe your needs—AI drafts instantly |
Rigid, no followups unless scripted | Automatic, context-aware follow-up questions |
Hard to analyze long answers | Built-in AI insights and summaries |
Time-consuming to personalize | Always tailored in tone and content |
Why use AI for event attendee surveys? With an AI survey generator, you build and launch custom surveys in seconds—no need to brainstorm every question or worry about missing insights. For any AI survey example or need, such as evaluating overall event satisfaction, Specific gives you the combination of conversational flow, real-time probing, and effortless response analysis you need to get real, actionable feedback.
Specific is committed to providing the best-in-class experience for conversational surveys—making it a joy for both survey creators and event attendees to give and receive feedback. You can see how easy it is to create your AI-powered event attendee survey with just a prompt or two.
See this overall event satisfaction survey example now
Create your event attendee survey quickly and uncover deeper, more honest feedback with conversational AI surveys. Get actionable insights—your next event will thank you.