Best questions for fireside chat attendee survey about agenda preferences

Here are some of the best questions for a Fireside Chat Attendee survey about agenda preferences, plus tips to get better responses. If you want to build a survey like this, you can generate it in seconds with Specific—just create your survey here.

The best open-ended questions for agenda preferences

Open-ended questions help us see the “why” behind attendee choices, bringing out details we’d never get from just checkboxes. They’re perfect for discovering what really matters—and when you want depth, clarity, and those unexpected insights. Research shows that people often want to share detail: in one study, 76% of respondents chose to add comments when given the chance. But keep in mind, open-ended questions can have higher nonresponse rates, so use them thoughtfully and keep them focused when you want rich answers. [1][2]

1. What specific topics would you be most interested in hearing covered in the fireside chat?

2. Which previous event or session did you find most engaging, and what made it stand out?

3. Is there a recent industry development or trend you’d like addressed during the fireside chat?

4. What questions would you want the guest speaker(s) to answer in-depth?

5. Are there any challenges you’re currently facing that you hope the fireside chat could help resolve?

6. What format or style of discussion do you usually find most engaging (e.g., Q&A, stories, debates)?

7. How do you hope to benefit from attending this fireside chat?

8. Is there a topic you feel is usually overlooked at these events?

9. What would make the session feel more interactive or valuable for you?

10. If you could change one thing about previous fireside chats’ agendas, what would it be?

The best single-select multiple-choice questions for agenda preferences

When you want to quantify trends or jumpstart a conversation, single-select multiple-choice questions are your friend. They’re fast to answer and great for making contrasts—sometimes people are more likely to respond if the choices are limited and simple, especially at the start of a survey. Use these when you care about quick stats or want to guide a conversation toward hot-button topics.

Question: Which topic category would you most like to see prioritized at the fireside chat?

• Industry Trends

• Personal Career Stories

• Technical Deep-Dives

• Audience Q&A

Question: What’s your preferred session format?

• Panel Discussion

• Interactive Q&A

• Speaker Presentation

• Other

Question: What is the biggest factor influencing your agenda choice?

• Speaker Expertise

• Relevance to My Role

• Networking Potential

• Current Industry Trends

When to follow up with "why?" Following up a multiple-choice with “why?” is essential when you want to dig into motivations or get context behind a selection. For instance, if someone chooses “Panel Discussion” as their preferred format, our AI can ask, “Why do you find panel discussions most engaging?”—sometimes the story behind the choice is where the insight lies.

When and why to add the "Other" choice? If you’re not confident you’ve captured all possible answers, or you want to uncover outliers or new trends, always offer “Other.” The follow-up question (“What did you have in mind?”) can reveal options you’d missed, leading to discoveries you wouldn’t see with just predefined choices.

NPS questions: should you use them for agenda preferences?

NPS (Net Promoter Score) asks how likely someone is to recommend the session or agenda to others. While it’s more common for products, it gives a quick read on attendee enthusiasm. For fireside chat events, asking “On a scale from 0–10, how likely are you to recommend this chat’s agenda?” can help you benchmark interest and guide continuous improvement. To set this up in one click, check out our NPS survey builder for fireside chat agendas.

The power of follow-up questions

Automated follow-up questions are where Specific really shines. If you’re curious about how this works, explore our article on automatic AI follow-up questions. The right follow-up can turn a flat answer into an actionable insight, sharpening the nuance and context that generic forms just can’t offer.

Specific’s AI probes intelligently, asking smart “why” or “tell me more” questions based on the respondent’s last comment. This leads to richer, more useful feedback—without you needing to individually email for clarification. It keeps everything feeling natural, just like a conversation.

• Attendee: “I’d rather have more Q&A at these events.”

• AI follow-up: “What makes Q&A sessions more valuable to you than other formats?”

If we didn’t ask a follow-up, we’d know someone likes Q&A—but not why, or what exactly they want changed. That detail is critical.

How many followups to ask? Generally 2–3 targeted followups are enough to collect all the context you need without overwhelming the respondent. On Specific, you can set a maximum or let the AI skip ahead as soon as the information is clear.

This makes it a conversational survey: The survey becomes a two-way chat, not just a list of questions. Respondents stay engaged and feel heard—which boosts completion rates and data quality.

AI survey response analysis, open-text, qualitative data: The responses can be full of unstructured insights, but with AI-powered tools like Specific, analyzing this qualitative feedback is fast and actionable. You can learn more in our piece on how to analyze survey responses using AI.

These follow-up questions are a new way of gathering in-depth answers—try generating a survey to experience the difference.

Composing better questions with ChatGPT prompts

If you’d rather work up your question list with AI, prompts are your secret weapon. Here are some of our favorites for creating and refining questions:

To quickly kick off:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for Fireside Chat Attendee survey about Agenda Preferences.

But AI always does better with context. For a richer set of questions, try expanding your prompt:

I’m organizing a fireside chat for mid-career tech professionals interested in innovation and personal growth. Help me create 10 open-ended agenda preference survey questions that go deep, uncover pain points, and draw out what people usually don’t say in group settings.

Now, let’s say you want to sort your question ideas and focus on top priorities:

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

Then, you can instruct the AI to dive deeper into the most promising areas:

Generate 10 questions for categories 'Session Format' and 'Audience Challenges'.

What is a conversational survey?

A conversational survey is a next-generation way of gathering feedback. Unlike traditional lists of questions, a conversational survey feels like a smart, real conversation with an expert. Attendees answer, and the AI asks smart, personalized follow-ups based on their replies. This approach makes answering feel natural—almost enjoyable—and keeps people more engaged from start to finish.

The difference between manually creating a survey and using an AI survey generator like Specific is huge. The table below is a quick comparison:

Why use AI for fireside chat attendee surveys? With AI survey tools, you instantly get better quality feedback, smarter follow-ups, rapid analysis, and a more enjoyable experience for everyone involved. If you want to see the magic, just try an AI survey example built for agenda preferences: you’ll notice the difference right away. Specific is built to offer best-in-class conversational UX so you—and your attendees—get to insights faster, and with less effort.

See this agenda preferences survey example now

Ready to discover what fireside chat attendees really want? Create your own AI-powered conversational survey and unlock actionable preferences and insights—start now and see the difference for yourself.