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Best questions for fireside chat attendee survey about topics of interest

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Adam Sabla

·

Aug 21, 2025

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Here are some of the best questions for a Fireside Chat Attendee survey about topics of interest, plus tips on how to create them. If you want to build a conversational survey fast, Specific lets you generate an attendee survey on topics of interest in seconds.

Best open-ended questions for fireside chat attendee surveys about topics of interest

Open-ended questions let attendees share detailed opinions in their own words—a great choice when you want richer insight, not just numbers. We’ve seen that open-ended formats often encourage respondents to go deeper: in one study, 76% of participants added one or more comments when given the chance, showing just how much people love to give rich feedback when prompted thoughtfully. [1]

  • They’re great for uncovering surprising insights—and understanding context behind choices.

  • Use when you want to hear “why” and “how”, not just “what”.

  • They work best when you invite honesty, curiosity, and specifics.

  1. What topics would you be most excited to explore in future fireside chats?

  2. Which fireside chat conversation has inspired you the most, and why?

  3. Describe a challenge you’re facing that you hope upcoming chats might address.

  4. What was your biggest takeaway from our most recent fireside chat?

  5. How did the topics discussed align with your current interests or professional goals?

  6. What topic do you wish had been covered more deeply or from a new angle?

  7. Can you share a personal experience related to any of the topics we discussed?

  8. What voices or perspectives do you want featured in future conversations?

  9. What format, question, or activity would help you engage even more in future chats?

  10. If you could suggest one totally new theme for a fireside chat, what would it be and why?

Keep in mind: open-ended questions can sometimes result in nonresponses. Research shows their nonresponse rates average around 18%, as some attendees may skip questions if they feel stuck or rushed.[2] Still, the qualitative insights they yield are often unmatched—and can transform your understanding of what really matters to your audience.[3]

Best single-select multiple-choice questions for fireside chat attendee surveys about topics of interest

Single-select multiple-choice questions help you quickly quantify interest or sentiment. They’re perfect when you need clean data, want to compare results, or use branching for follow-ups. Sometimes, giving clear choices helps “break the ice” for respondents who might not be sure what to say just yet. Multiple-choice can also fuel richer discussions when you follow up with open-ended “why” questions, building a natural conversation.

Question: Which type of topic do you prefer for fireside chats?

  • Industry trends

  • Personal development

  • Practical tips

  • Big picture strategy

  • Other

Question: How relevant was today’s fireside chat topic to your current interests?

  • Extremely relevant

  • Somewhat relevant

  • Neutral

  • Not very relevant

  • Not at all relevant

Question: Which of these potential topics would you find most valuable for an upcoming chat?

  • Emerging technologies

  • Leadership stories

  • Collaboration techniques

  • Work-life balance

  • Other

When to follow up with "why?" Follow up with “why” whenever a respondent’s choice can uncover new insights. For example, if someone selects ‘Not very relevant’ on a topic, a smart follow-up like “What would have made this topic more meaningful to you?” keeps the conversation going—and reveals actionable feedback.

When and why to add the "Other" choice? Including “Other” lets respondents share options you may not have listed—crucial for discovering new topics or unexpected viewpoints. Follow-up questions here often surface the most innovative suggestions, so don’t skip them!

NPS question: should you use it for fireside chat attendee surveys about topics of interest?

NPS (Net Promoter Score) asks attendees, “How likely are you to recommend our fireside chats to a friend or colleague?” on a 0–10 scale. It’s widely used to measure overall satisfaction and loyalty, and can benchmark your engagement efforts over time.

  • It provides a simple, comparable metric for event series health.

  • The open-text NPS follow-up—“Why did you choose that score?”—often uncovers detailed insights into what’s working and what needs improvement.

If you’re running regular or recurring chats, we highly recommend adding an NPS question for fireside chat attendees about topics of interest. The combination of score plus qualitative feedback is especially predictive of future engagement—mixed-mode surveys help predict future behavior 27% better than ratings alone. [4]

The power of follow-up questions

Follow-up questions turn an ordinary survey into a real conversation. They clarify responses, gently dig into details, and help you surface context you’d otherwise miss. Automated follow-up questions, like those in Specific’s AI-powered interviews, ask smart, contextual “why’s” and clarifiers in real time, just as a great moderator would. This is a game-changer for gathering meaningful responses—while saving you time emailing back and forth for clarification.

  • Fireside chat attendee: “I want more on leadership.”

  • AI follow-up: “What specific leadership challenges are you facing or interested in learning more about?”

Without follow-ups, you risk vague replies—or miss the root of an attendee’s “why.”

How many followups to ask? Usually, 2–3 follow-up questions are enough to get meaningful, focused answers. When the needed information is collected, the AI should skip to the next question. Specific lets you easily customize follow-up depth and skip logic in your conversational survey settings.

This makes it a conversational survey: the AI adapts naturally to each response, so participants feel heard and engaged—not interrogated—just like in a real chat.

AI survey response analysis: Even though you’ll collect lots of free-text answers, analyzing responses is simple. Use AI-powered survey analysis to group, summarize, and surface key insights from your firehose of feedback—no manual coding needed.

Automated follow-ups are still a new concept for most teams—try generating your own conversational survey and you’ll see how much richer your data can be.

How to prompt ChatGPT for fireside chat attendee survey questions about topics of interest

Prompting GPT-based AIs can be surprisingly effective for brainstorming and refining survey questions. Here are a few ways to get started:

Begin with a focused, open prompt:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for Fireside Chat Attendee survey about Topics of Interest.

AI always works better with context. Add information about your audience, your goals, and the themes you care about—like this:

Our audience is a mix of professionals curious about leadership, teamwork, and current industry challenges. We want questions that encourage stories, honest opinions, and reveal new discussion themes for future fireside chats.

Next, ask the AI to organize so you can spot recurring themes:

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

As you look over the categories, pick those you want to go deeper on, and prompt again:

Generate 10 questions for categories Leadership stories and Industry trends.

What is a conversational survey?

A conversational survey uses AI to turn what’s traditionally a form into a natural-feeling back-and-forth. Instead of dumping all questions up front, it listens, adapts, and asks relevant follow-ups—just like a skilled interviewer. This approach boosts engagement and collects richer insights without exhausting the respondent.

Let’s quickly compare manual and AI-generated surveys:

Manual survey creation

AI survey generation

Each question written, edited, and sequenced by hand

Prompt, describe your needs, and get a survey built instantly

Follow-ups or branching logic scripted manually

AI dynamically asks follow-ups based on responses and context

Repeating analysis manually for each batch of responses

AI summarizes, groups, and lets you chat with your data

Static user experience

Feels like a real interactive conversation

Why use AI for fireside chat attendee surveys? Because conversational AI survey tools like Specific deliver a seamless, engaging experience—both for you as the creator and for your attendees as respondents. You save time creating and analyzing, your participants feel genuinely listened to, and your insights become both richer and more actionable. Explore how to create an AI-powered conversational survey—it’s a real shift in survey design philosophy.

Specific offers the best experience for conversational surveys, blending expert-level question design, automated follow-ups, and conversational feedback analysis into one smart workflow. The result: a survey process that feels modern, effortless, and highly effective—without the headaches of traditional tools.

See this topics of interest survey example now

Experience a seamless, AI-powered approach to gathering deeper insights from your fireside chat attendees—using conversational surveys that adapt, clarify, and engage. Create your own survey and get actionable, high-quality feedback faster than ever.

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Sources

  1. PubMed. Patients’ comments to questionnaires in hospitals: quantifying qualitative feedback.

  2. Pew Research Center. Why do some open-ended survey questions result in higher item nonresponse rates than others?

  3. SoPact University. Open-ended vs closed-ended survey questions.

  4. Thematic. Why use open-ended questions in surveys?

Adam Sabla - Image Avatar

Adam Sabla

Adam Sabla is an entrepreneur with experience building startups that serve over 1M customers, including Disney, Netflix, and BBC, with a strong passion for automation.

Adam Sabla

Adam Sabla is an entrepreneur with experience building startups that serve over 1M customers, including Disney, Netflix, and BBC, with a strong passion for automation.

Adam Sabla

Adam Sabla is an entrepreneur with experience building startups that serve over 1M customers, including Disney, Netflix, and BBC, with a strong passion for automation.