{"id":2439,"date":"2016-01-15T14:13:56","date_gmt":"2016-01-15T19:13:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eventmobi.com\/en\/blog\/?p=3423"},"modified":"2025-08-12T13:14:49","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T17:14:49","slug":"gathering-feedback-at-events-best-practices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eventmobi.com\/blog\/gathering-feedback-at-events-best-practices\/","title":{"rendered":"Feedback Gathering at Events [Best Practices]"},"content":{"rendered":"

Surveys have been a part of the post event wrap-up for decades evolving from cumbersome paper handouts to electronic submissions, streamlined by event apps and audience response systems.\u00a0Planners have the technology to gather feedback efficiently but are they getting the most out of it?<\/span><\/p>\n

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Polls and surveys engage attendees in event content, giving you an insight into how the event is being received. It can also give you a better understanding of the success of the event (i.e. did the event accomplish what it was trying to accomplish?) Whatever your objective is,\u00a0the quality of the feedback you\u2019re gathering is entirely dependant on the quality of the survey\/poll\u00a0which will\u00a0either encourage or discourage participation. <\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s very important to think about the size of your event when gathering feedback, as this will indicate the appropriate sample size. Without enough participation, the pool of feedback won\u2019t be an accurate representation of how all the attendees really feel. If you\u2019re taking the opinion of a few as the consensus, you could be acting on bad information. Increased participation is just one of the many benefits of using <\/span>event apps<\/span><\/a> to gather feedback, and having surveys and polls available on all devices in all four app stores ensures every attendee has a voice.<\/span><\/p>\n

Using the right kind of survey, at the right time, in the right way will strongly increase the amount of submissions and the quality of feedback. This blog aims to provide planners with the information they need to build better surveys and polls to best gather insights into how to improve their event and engage attendees. <\/span><\/p>\n

Getting Started (Correctly)<\/h3>\n

At EventMobi we think about survey feedback in three different ways: live polls, session surveys and event surveys.<\/span> Determining what you\u2019re trying to accomplish with the poll or survey will inform which method of feedback you use, as well as what you\u2019re asking, when you\u2019re asking and how you\u2019re asking questions.<\/b> We could be here all day going through which questions you should or shouldn\u2019t ask at every stage of the event. However, nailing down your objectives for the survey or poll and working back (with the advice below in mind) will result in a polished poll or survey your attendees will be happy to complete. For example, if your objective is to gauge the quality of speakers, you should create simple star rating questions in a session survey and send it out directly following the session.
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Live Polls<\/h3>\n

Usually shorter than surveys, tied directly to sessions in the event app, Live Polls should be treated as part of the session and driven by the speaker. Particularly useful to serve real-time objectives, like taking the audience\u2019s temperature throughout the event, measure interest in the current topic of discussion, or drive conversations around the consensus. Live Polls require the advocacy and adoption from speakers, as they will be implementing them during their session.<\/span>
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Session Surveys<\/h3>\n

Also tied directly to sessions in the event app, session surveys should be sent out either near the end or directly after the session. Since attendees might be on a break and certainly on the move, the questions should be short and easy to answer (e.g. star rating, yes\/no, multiple choice.) Session surveys should focus primarily on the session they\u2019re linked with, as that will be top of mind for attendees. Leading survey vendors offer content-specific questions so speakers can tailor the feedback to the topics discussed (i.e. multiple choice question asking what the key takeaway of the session was.) It\u2019s also a great idea to encourage speakers to draw attention to the survey and budget enough time in the corresponding session for attendees to fill it out before the next activity.<\/p>\n

Event Feedback Surveys<\/h3>\n

Not tied to a session, event surveys should be utilized to gather more detailed information about the event as a whole, used primarily for pre and post event information gathering. \u00a0Event surveys are usually the longest of the three types of feedback and the most appropriate to include open-text response questions. Since attendees will be receiving these surveys before and after the event, they will likely have more time to fill them out. However, filling out a survey may not be a priority for attendees before and after the event so bringing their attention to a survey will go a long way. With EventMobi you can attach a survey to an Alert that’s pushed through the event app to each attendee’s phone.<\/p>\n

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Building a Better Survey or Poll<\/h3>\n

Technology improves the distribution and collection of surveys and polls, but it is also limiting in that they\u2019re being viewed primarily on mobile devices, which means smaller screens and more distractions. It\u2019s been said before but we\u2019ll say it again: The number of questions, the length of the questions and the detail in each question all have an impact on the quality of the feedback you\u2019re gathering. If the survey is too long, attendees are less likely to complete it, if the questions are too long, attendees are less likely to read it, and if there isn\u2019t enough detail in the question, the answers won\u2019t be useful anyway.<\/p>\n