Here are some of the best questions for an online workshop attendee survey about agenda preferences, plus tips for designing effective ones. You can use Specific to quickly generate a tailored survey in seconds.
Best open-ended questions for online workshop attendee agenda preference surveys
Open-ended questions help us dive deep into attendee perspectives. They’re great when we want context, stories, or to uncover motivations we hadn’t considered. While these questions gather rich insights, keep in mind they often yield higher item nonresponse rates—Pew Research Center found open-ended questions can average an 18% nonresponse rate, compared to 1–2% for closed-ended questions.[1] That said, the richness of the answers usually outweighs the drop in response count, especially with conversational surveys.
What topics would you most like to see covered in future workshops?
Can you describe a session from a past event that you found especially valuable?
What’s one thing you wish had been included on our agenda?
How do you prefer the workshop sessions to be structured (presentations, panels, Q&A, interactive activities)?
What would your ideal workshop schedule look like?
Which speakers or experts would you like to hear from?
Are there any key challenges you face that the agenda should address?
What’s your preferred length for a session and for the overall workshop?
Is there a particular format or activity you’d like us to try next time?
Any other suggestions or feedback to improve our event agenda?
Best single-select multiple-choice questions for agenda preference surveys
If we want to quantify preferences—for example, which topics or formats are most popular—or simply make it easy for attendees to respond without overthinking, single-select multiple-choice questions shine. They're also a natural start to the conversation; once an attendee chooses, we can dig deeper with follow-ups. This dual approach helps balance cognitive effort with actionable insights.
Question: Which session format do you prefer most?
Interactive workshops
Expert panels
Individual presentations
Networking sessions
Question: How long should each session ideally last?
15–30 minutes
30–45 minutes
45–60 minutes
Over 60 minutes
Question: What time of day do you prefer for workshops?
Morning (8am–12pm)
Afternoon (12pm–4pm)
Evening (4pm–8pm)
Other
When to follow up with "why?" Often, the “why” behind a choice is more important than the choice itself. If someone selects “Expert panels” as their preferred format, a follow-up like “Why do you prefer expert panels?” can reveal whether it’s due to perceived value, networking, or relevance. This also helps in refining future workshops and personalizing the agenda.
When and why to add the "Other" choice? Sometimes, even the best-prepared option lists miss something important to attendees. Adding “Other” gives everyone a chance to express unique preferences—and a follow-up (“Please specify”) can uncover innovative ideas you might have missed otherwise.
Should you use an NPS question for agenda feedback?
Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a classic for measuring loyalty—“How likely are you to recommend this workshop to a friend or colleague?” It gives us a quick read on attendee satisfaction. For agenda preferences, it’s especially useful as a pulse check after an event, or to gauge sentiment before setting the agenda for future sessions. If you want to try an NPS question tailored to your workshop, here’s an AI-generated NPS survey template.
The power of follow-up questions
Automated follow-up questions turn static surveys into dynamic conversations. Specific's AI follow-up questions feature does exactly this: it listens, probes, and draws out context just like a human would.
Online workshop attendee: "I prefer afternoon slots."
AI follow-up: "Can you share why afternoons work better for you? Do you find it easier to focus then, or does it fit better with your schedule?"
This approach is key—without follow-ups, we risk getting bland or ambiguous responses. With them, we get real insight and specificity. In fact, one study found that integrating AI-powered chatbots into conversational surveys yielded responses that were more informative, relevant, specific, and clear than traditional surveys.[2]
How many follow-ups to ask? Usually, 2–3 follow-up questions per topic cover all the context we need. It's always smart to allow a setting to skip ahead once you’ve got your answer—Specific surveys can stop follow-ups once the key insight is captured.
This makes it a conversational survey—not just a form. When each answer gets heard and explored, people are more likely to enjoy (and finish) the survey, giving you richer data.
AI analysis of responses: Even though follow-ups create lots of open text, AI-powered tools like Specific's qualitative survey analysis summarize and synthesize responses in seconds. “Too much qualitative data” is no longer a barrier.
Follow-up questions are a fresh way to turn your survey into a conversation. Try generating your own survey and experience the difference.
Prompting ChatGPT for great survey questions
AI boils down to the prompt—so framing your request clearly pays off. Try starting with this:
Suggest 10 open-ended questions for online workshop attendee survey about agenda preferences.
But the more context you give, the better the results. Here’s an upgraded version:
I’m organizing an online workshop and want to design a survey for attendees to share their preferences about the agenda. My attendees are mostly busy professionals from tech. We want to be sure our sessions are valuable, relevant, and convenient for them. Suggest 10 open-ended questions.
Once you have a set of questions, ask the AI to organize them:
Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.
Pick the categories most relevant for your goals, and go one level deeper:
Generate 10 questions for categories “Session format” and “Speaker preferences”.
Iteratively prompting like this makes AI a powerful brainstorming partner—even more so when used with flexible platforms like Specific's conversational survey builder.
What is a conversational survey?
A conversational survey reimagines feedback collection as a chat, not a form. Instead of moving linearly through static questions, respondents engage in a responsive, interactive exchange. The AI adapts—probing for more context, clarifying vague answers, and making the experience feel human and low effort.
Here’s how AI-powered survey generation stands apart from the old-school manual approach:
Manual Surveys | AI-Generated Conversational Surveys |
|---|---|
Time-consuming to create and update | Quick survey creation—just type your goal or prompt |
Rigid question flows | Adaptive, context-driven follow-ups |
High risk of unclear or incomplete answers | Clarifies intent and gathers rich detail automatically |
Dull for respondents, higher abandonment risk | Feels like a friendly chat, higher engagement |
Manual analysis of open-ended responses | Automated insights and GPT-based summaries |
Why use AI for online workshop attendee surveys? AI surveys boost engagement, reduce cognitive load, and deliver cleaner, more actionable data. When the survey feels natural—like chatting with a smart researcher—you get more and better responses, with less work. If you’re looking for an AI survey example that combines conversational design with smart analytics, you’ll find Specific excels at this: it streamlines the process for both survey creators and respondents, making it easy, fast, and enjoyable. Learn more about how to create a survey for agenda preferences using AI.
See this agenda preferences survey example now
See what meaningful feedback feels like—build your online workshop attendee agenda preferences survey with conversational AI. Capture sharper, actionable insights and get the feedback you actually need—faster, smoother, and smarter.