Here are some of the best questions for an online event attendee survey about topics of interest, along with tips on designing each type for high-quality feedback. You can easily build an AI-powered survey for these needs—just generate one with Specific and start learning from your audience right away.
Best open-ended questions for event attendee interests
Open-ended questions invite attendees to share their thoughts in their own words, helping you discover nuanced opinions and emerging issues. They're especially useful when you want unexpected insights or understand the “why” behind your audience’s interests. Remember, while these questions provide depth, they can sometimes see a higher nonresponse rate—about 18%, compared to 1%-2% for closed questions [2]. So, be thoughtful with their placement and number.
What motivated you to participate in this event?
Which session or topic did you find most valuable, and why?
Were there any topics you expected to see covered that were missing?
How do the topics discussed relate to your professional or personal goals?
What was your biggest takeaway from the event?
Can you share a challenge you faced that was addressed during the event?
What topics would you like to see explored in future events?
How did the event content compare with other similar events you’ve attended?
Was there a topic or session you felt needed more depth or clarity?
If you could change one thing about the event topics, what would it be?
Best single-select multiple-choice questions for event attendee surveys
Single-select multiple-choice questions are perfect when you want clear, quantifiable feedback or when respondents may need a nudge to start thinking about complex topics. They lower the mental barrier—sometimes it’s just easier to pick an option than type out a long answer. For online events, combining these with open-ended followups can spark richer feedback and guide your analysis. Considering that 81.8% of virtual event organizers use event polling to drive engagement [4], well-crafted multiple-choice questions are critical for both participation and data quality.
Question: Which event topic interested you most?
Industry trends
Technical workshops
Networking opportunities
Panel discussions
Other
Question: How relevant did you find the presented topics to your needs?
Highly relevant
Somewhat relevant
Not very relevant
Not relevant at all
Question: How likely are you to attend future events on similar topics?
Very likely
Somewhat likely
Not sure
Unlikely
When to follow up with “why?” Use a follow-up “why” when you want to uncover the reasons behind a choice: for example, if someone selects “Not very relevant” to a topics question, a prompt like “What topics would you find more useful?” uncovers actionable context. Smart, targeted followups boost the impact of your multiple-choice questions, which otherwise risk oversimplification.
When and why to add the “Other” choice? Always include “Other” when your topic list might not be exhaustive. This lets attendees point out blind spots, and a followup can reveal surprise topics or interests that didn’t make your initial list—fueling continuous improvement.
Should you include NPS for attendee topics?
Net Promoter Score (NPS) questions ask, “How likely are you to recommend this event to a friend or colleague?”—delivering a single number that’s easy to track over time. For online events about topics of interest, NPS makes sense because it gauges not just satisfaction, but advocacy, and provides a useful benchmark for repeated events. Event organizers can spot shifts in attendee enthusiasm and prioritize improvements based on this simple, powerful metric. If you want to set up an NPS survey for online event attendees about their topics of interest, try this ready-made template.
The power of follow-up questions
Follow-up questions are where the magic happens. Instead of leaving feedback surface-deep, conversational surveys—like those you can generate with Specific—let the AI dig deeper, clarify ambiguity, and extract actionable context in the moment. We’ve written more about how automated follow-up questions create a more conversational, effective survey experience.
Online event attendee: “I liked the technical workshop.”
AI follow-up: “What did you find most helpful about the technical workshop? Was there a particular topic or demo that stood out?”
How many followups to ask? Generally, 2-3 targeted followups are optimal. Specific lets you configure the flow—set a cap or let it skip ahead when the conversation is going well and you have what you need.
This makes it a conversational survey—respondents feel like they’re chatting with a thoughtful host, not filling a cold form.
AI survey response analysis—yes, even a mountain of open-ended input can be easily analyzed! You don’t have to read every word; AI can summarize, cluster, and surface themes from the data. Here’s how to analyze survey responses from event attendees if you want more depth.
Conversational, real-time followups are a new paradigm—try generating your own survey to see how much richer the insights can be.
How to write prompts for ChatGPT to generate event attendee survey questions
If you want to brainstorm with ChatGPT (or another LLM), start simple. Here’s one to get you going:
Suggest 10 open-ended questions for online event attendee survey about topics of interest.
But here’s how to level up: always add details about who you are, what your audience is like, and what your event is about for better output.
I’m organizing an online tech summit for software developers. The event focuses on new JavaScript frameworks, web performance, and emerging tools. Suggest 10 open-ended questions to understand attendees’ interests, knowledge gaps, and content preferences.
After getting your list, prompt ChatGPT to create structure:
Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.
Next, focus on what’s most vital for your event:
Generate 10 questions for categories “Emerging Tools” and “Attendee Content Preferences.”
What is a conversational survey, and how is it different?
A conversational survey feels like a live chat—not a static form. Instead of blasting respondents with a list of questions, it adapts to their answers, asks clarifying follow-ups, and keeps the conversation flowing. This method boosts both engagement and response rates, especially in virtual events where 49% of marketers say engagement is their biggest challenge [3].
Manual Surveys | AI-Generated Surveys |
|---|---|
Static, same for everyone | Dynamic, adapts in real time |
Often impersonal, low engagement | Feels like a friendly chat |
Slow to create, easy to miss gaps | AI builds in minutes, surfaces blind spots |
Difficult to analyze qualitative data | AI distills key themes instantly |
Why use AI for online event attendee surveys? Personalization, engagement, and actionable data. AI-powered survey builders—like Specific—let you create tailored, conversational experiences that boost completion (and useful feedback). You get the benefit of fast, smart setup, and rich insights at the other end.
If you want step-by-step guidance, check out our article on how to create an event attendee survey about topics of interest. You can start from scratch or use proven prompt templates and edit further with our AI survey editor.
With Specific, you’re building surveys that aren’t just easy to fill—they’re enjoyable, natural, and drive deeper insights for both creators and respondents, setting a new bar for feedback collection.
See this topics of interest survey example now
Start uncovering your audience’s true interests with an engaging, conversational survey and experience the difference of AI-powered feedback today. Create more insightful event surveys in seconds and drive better engagement.