Top tips on gathering event feedback from attendees

As we near the end of another year, this is a great time to take stock of our achievements, the challenges we’ve faced and how we can improve for the future.

For event managers, a vital aid in this process is gathering feedback from each of our projects. Constructive feedback helps us to learn, constantly improve and plan ahead.

When we are in the midst of organising the logistics of a particular event, harvesting attendees’ opinions about their experience may seem the furthest thing from our minds – and can be overlooked. But it’s a helpful way to keep us on our toes and ready for the next challenge.

Another reason this particular task may be neglected is the perceived difficulty of getting people to respond to our various feedback strategies. Anyone who has conducted any kind of survey or questionnaire can testify to the demoralising effect of respondents’ complete lack of interest – after all, what’s in it for them?

So to get useful, meaningful data from a good cross-section of our event audiences, we need to get creative, keep up with the latest technological tools and – crucially – offer a variety of ways for people to give their views, to suit them and their inevitably busy schedules.

On the day

Capturing people’s opinions at the event itself means you get their immediate response, when everything is still very fresh in their minds. To engage them, you want to make it fun, interactive or rewarding for them in some way.

Social media – Encourage people to share their thoughts, feelings and experiences (and photos) at your event via social media, then monitor the various platforms to build up a picture of how it’s going.
Comment walls – Let individuals give their opinions on aspects of your event via interactive screens or large boards where they can post emoji stickers.
Fun food – Offer edible mood indicators, such as smiley cupcakes or thumbs-up/down biscuits, for attendees to choose after specific activities.
Polling – At conferences, meetings or group discussions, participants can give feedback by voting on particular sessions via an event app, social media, keypads or even an old-fashioned show of hands.
Feedback cards – Leave postcards around in different areas of the venue, so people can give instant feedback, quickly and easily.
Staff insight – As well as gleaning useful information about attendee response during the de-brief with your team afterwards, it’s worth having some support staff around on the day to help guests with their queries while chatting about what they think of the event.
Voting bins – Place bins in exit areas so guests can leave their name badges – or a blank voting ticket instead, if they want to remain anonymous – in whichever bin (smiley, sad or neutral face) reflects their opinion of the day’s activities.
Survey – Ask attendees to complete a simple, short survey (either on paper or online) as they leave, covering a handful of useful but easy-to-answer questions.

If your client’s budget can stretch to it, there’s also some impressive technology out there to help gauge how well your event is being received:

Facial recognition – Cameras dotted around the venue can pick up and report back data on how guests are feeling, based on their facial expressions.
Wearable technology – Sensor-equipped wristbands monitor people’s physiological signals and emotional responses during the course of an event, giving a unique insight into how the audience feels about what’s going on.

After the event

Follow-up can net more reflective, in-depth feedback from your visitors but may need more of an incentive for them to take the time to respond. So running competitions or offering discounts on future events may be useful ‘hooks’ to get them involved.

Post-event survey – Prompt attendees (via email or social media) to fill in a more comprehensive survey covering a wider range of questions about the event, activities, venue, catering and their overall view. Make sure your questionnaire suits different digital devices, including smartphones and tablets, to make it as easy and convenient as possible for people to respond.
Follow-up email – It’s worth emailing guests within a day or so. Thank them for their attendance, ask what they did and didn’t like (plus any suggestions for improvements) and end with an appropriate call to action (whether signing up for latest news, donating to a campaign or simply a chance to flag up forthcoming events).
Social media – Keep your event fresh in people’s minds, create a buzz and get them talking about it by posting on social media about how it went, reinforcing its key messages and circulating photos and videos to encourage interaction and further valuable feedback.

Having gathered an array of data across a host of channels, you will then need to collate results and take time to analyse and discuss the information with your stakeholders in order to learn lessons, make improvements, draw up new goals and plan for future events.