Best questions for fireside chat attendee survey about expectations

Here are some of the best questions for a fireside chat attendee survey about expectations, plus tips for crafting questions that truly get to the heart of what matters. With Specific, you can build your perfect survey in seconds, powered by AI that’s always tuned to your needs.

Best open-ended questions for fireside chat attendee survey about expectations

Open-ended questions are perfect for uncovering rich, nuanced insights that multiple-choice simply can’t deliver. They encourage attendees to express their thoughts and help you understand the “why” behind expectations. While these questions are powerful, it’s important to use them thoughtfully—they can be more demanding for respondents, with response rates for open-ended items as high as 18% nonresponse compared to only 1–2% for closed-ended questions. Still, when used strategically, the depth of feedback makes the effort worthwhile. [1]

1. What are you most hoping to learn or gain from this fireside chat?

2. What motivated you to attend this session?

3. Are there specific topics or questions you’d like the speakers to address?

4. Can you describe any key challenges you’re currently facing related to the session’s theme?

5. How do you plan to apply what you learn in this fireside chat to your work or life?

6. What format or style of discussion do you find most effective in these events?

7. Have you attended similar events before? If so, what made those experiences memorable (or not)?

8. What would make this fireside chat a “success” for you?

9. Is there anything you hope to avoid in this session?

10. Any additional ideas or feedback to help us make this event valuable for you?

Research shows 76% of respondents add open-text comments when invited, and over 80% of event organizers rate such comments as ‘very useful’ or ‘useful’ for event improvement. [2] This is why, even though analyzing open-ended responses can take effort, the insights are rarely matched by closed choices.

Best single-select multiple-choice questions for fireside chat attendee survey about expectations

Single-select multiple-choice questions work best when you want quick, quantifiable input or an easy entry point for attendees who may not have time to compose lengthy responses. They can make surveys less intimidating and set the stage for deeper follow-ups. For a fireside chat, these questions can reveal key trends and priorities while keeping things easy for attendees.

Question: What is your main goal for attending this fireside chat?

• Learning industry insights

• Networking with peers

• Hearing from specific speakers

• Personal development

• Other

Question: How familiar are you with the topic of this session?

• Very familiar

• Somewhat familiar

• Not very familiar

• Not familiar at all

Question: Which format do you prefer for fireside chats?

• Q&A with the speaker

• Panel discussion

• Interactive breakout groups

• Other

When to follow up with "why?" Whenever someone selects an option—especially on opinion-based or preference questions—ask “Why did you choose this?” For example, if an attendee selects “Networking with peers,” add a follow-up like “Can you share what kind of connections you’re hoping to make?” This often unlocks context you never would have guessed.

When and why to add the "Other" choice? Not every respondent fits neatly into preset categories. Offering an “Other” option gives people a path to share unique perspectives. Always follow up “Other” with an open-ended prompt—these responses often surface surprising insights or highlight blind spots you would have missed entirely.

NPS question for fireside chat attendee expectations

Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a proven way to measure overall satisfaction and the likelihood attendees would recommend your event to others. For fireside chat attendee expectations, an NPS-style question sets a simple, standard benchmark—and lets you track improvement over time. Plus, Specific’s tailored NPS surveys let you automatically follow up with promoters, passives, and detractors for rich, actionable feedback. Curious how this works? You can start with a ready-made NPS survey here.

The power of follow-up questions

If you want your survey to feel truly conversational—and to go beyond surface-level answers—follow-up questions are essential. With automated AI follow-up questions from Specific, the survey effortlessly probes deeper, just like a great interviewer. This not only saves you time (no need for back-and-forth emails) but creates a natural, friendly conversational flow. Here’s what happens when you don’t use follow-ups vs. when you do:

• Attendee: “I want to network.”

• AI follow-up: “What kinds of people are you hoping to connect with during this event?”

Instead of being left to guess intent, you get real substance. This is also a huge win for analyzing qualitative responses later, since vague replies transform into detailed stories for your dataset.

How many followups to ask? In most cases, two or three tailored follow-up questions are enough—especially if you set a rule to pause once you’ve gathered the depth you need. Specific’s AI lets you customize this for any survey, keeping the experience smooth and respectful of respondent time.

This makes it a conversational survey: Instead of a cold list of questions, each response creates a natural, AI-driven chat. Respondents feel heard and engaged, while you get clearer, more actionable insights.

AI-powered analysis of open-text responses: With so many open-text replies, don’t worry about getting swamped. Modern AI analysis—like Specific’s survey analysis tools—lets you quickly identify patterns, themes, and even sentiment, so you can act fast on what matters. This is especially helpful given that open-ended responses are notoriously time-consuming to analyze manually. [3]

Automated, smart follow-up questions are a totally new survey concept for many organizations—try generating your own survey and experience the difference.

How to prompt ChatGPT to generate great questions

If you want to get creative with your own AI (like ChatGPT) and come up with more questions or question structures, here’s a simple and effective way to prompt it:

Start broad with this prompt:

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

If you give the AI more background, you get even sharper outputs. Add details about your audience, purpose, or what you’ll do with the data:

I’m organizing a fireside chat for early-career professionals in health tech. My goal is to understand their expectations before the event so we can tailor content and improve engagement. Suggest 10 open-ended questions for the survey, focusing on learning goals, networking needs, and format preferences.

Once you have a draft list, use a follow-up prompt to organize and refine:

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

Then, you can pick the categories most relevant to your goals. For example, if “Learning goals” stands out, try:

Generate 10 questions for learning goals at a fireside chat event.

This layered approach makes your question set more intentional and relevant.

What is a conversational survey?

Conversational surveys are different—they feel more like messaging with a colleague and less like filling out a bureaucratic form. Instead of endless one-way questions, the survey adapts and responds in real time, probing for detail or shifting focus just like a smart interviewer would. It’s more accessible, friendlier, and leads to higher quality data. Using an AI survey builder or generator enables anyone (no matter their research background) to create these dynamic, context-aware surveys in minutes—not hours. The real magic? You no longer need to spend days scripting logic or hand-analyzing replies: the AI not only generates the questions but streamlines your analysis too.

Why use AI for fireside chat attendee surveys? Simply put: You get more honest, richer feedback and can act on it much faster. An AI survey example unlocks the next level of attendee engagement. The conversational survey builder from Specific offers unmatched user experience—both in survey creation and for attendees—making feedback natural and actionable. If you want a walkthrough, check our guide on how to create a survey for fireside chat expectations.

See this expectations survey example now

Explore how easy it is to generate powerful, conversational surveys with Specific—and see how smart questions and real-time follow-ups transform your fireside chat feedback into actionable insights. Create your own in minutes!