45+ Pre Event Survey Questions that Skyrocket Attendance [2024]

Kathryn Humphries

December 5, 2023

Pre event survey questions, when crafted properly, can give you so much more than you could ever imagine.

Sure, they’re key to gaging your audience’s level of interest and gaining insights into what they want, need, and expect from your event. But sending out a pre-event survey as part of your pre-event engagement strategy is one of the best ways to get more people to attend your event.

In fact, it can make it 60% more likely that people will show up!

There’s a reason why 85% of our 12,000+ event builders from Fortune 500 companies and 10 of the top 20 life science companies ask pre event survey questions before hosting their virtual, in-person, and hybrid events.

To find out how sending pre event survey questions can upgrade your events, how to boost response rates, and which questions to include in your pre-event survey to get the most out of responses, read on!

Pre event survey questions on mobile app

What are pre event survey questions and why do I need them?

Pre event survey questions are crucial to gaining insights into your audience and making sure your event is a success. Besides gathering valuable data, sending these questions out can also create a buzz around your event and generate more interest.

But not only that!

Think about it. If you send out a pre-event survey about your event content in the form of a knowledge quiz 1 week before your event, you can start engaging people before your event has even started.

In fact, we’ve seen that getting people to interact with your content before your event boosts the chance that they’ll actually turn up by 60%!

Plus, if you run training events like hundreds of our life science customers who host speaker trainings, advisory boards, etc., you can send out pre event survey questions to get a clear understanding of your audience’s level of knowledge and skills.

This will not only help you develop training content that meets their needs and expectations. Studies have shown that it will also make it much more likely that your audience the information you gave them in the long run. And some event platforms like SpotMe let you target these pre event survey questions to specific attendees, so you can create different knowledge quizzes for different sessions.

Pro tip: If you decide to send out pre event survey questions in the form of a knowledge quiz, send out the same questions in your post event survey. The beauty of this is that you get a valuable comparison point, so you can measure how much attendees learned or whether they enjoyed your event more or less than expected. This feedback will help you refine future events by giving you concrete information about what works best for your audience.

Of course, you can also use this type of pre event survey questions at other types of events in different industries too, like conferences, onboardings, sales kickoffs, webinars, etc.

By sending this kind of pre-event survey, you’ll be doing something a bit different that hardly anybody does. And people love different! They’re bored of the same old stuff. So you’ll really stand out from the crowd and get more people showing up.

We suggest sending out 3 pre-event surveys:

Why? To:

Measure interest in your event
Use insights to drive your planning
Give people what they want, need, and expect from your event
Get more attendees
Get higher quality engagement
Improve your audience’s learning retention
Help plan your future events
Get attendees to start using your event app

To find the an event app that suits your needs and helps you achieve your business goals, check out our list of the best event apps and compare them to one another.

8 ways to boost responses and get valuable data from your pre event survey questions

Surveys are notoriously unpopular. How often have you started filling out a survey only to find out that it was 20 questions long? You either give up or (if you can’t get out of it) end up giving the same answers across the board.

But after 20+ years in the event tech industry, we’ve seen what boosts responses to pre event survey questions.

Here are 8 top tips from our internal team of 100+ event experts:

#1 Keep it short and sweet (KISS)

Nobody wants to fill out a long, drawn-out survey. Keep it concise. Just ask relevant questions that will give you what you need. That way, you’ll get more responses as people won’t be put off by having to answer too many questions. We recommend including a maximum of 8 questions. After that, people will lose interest.

#2 Limit free text questions

Don’t include too many open-ended questions that don’t provide any tangible information. One or two (maximum). You’ll only make it difficult for yourself to extract and understand data. Instead ask specific, targeted questions that will give you actionable insights into your audience. And that lets your audience quickly respond and move on. Use multiple choice questions or ratings with a maximum of 5 options.

#3 Send out pre event surveys in digestible chunks

As mentioned above, we recommend sending out 3 different pre event surveys. One during the event planning stage, one at registration, and one a week before your event. By sending short surveys one at a time, your audience can digest them easily, won’t feel bombarded with questions, and is more likely to respond to them.

#4 Make it fun and memorable!

Make your pre event survey questions interactive and engaging. If your survey is dry or boring, your audience won’t want to fill it out. And if you want them to remember or learn something from your pre event survey, they’ll struggle if you don’t use different types of content. Especially because everyone learns differently. Include a variety of different types of questions and content such as videos, images, sliders, and matrix questions.

#5 Personalize pre event surveys

By targeting your pre-event survey to specific groups of people, you make your questions relevant to them. That makes them more likely to respond and helps you organize the data that you collect. Your questions should be tailored to your audience and their needs. Questions that relate directly to the event theme or topics can help create a buzz around it and make people more likely to engage with it.

#6 Use research and data

Use research in your pre event survey questions as much as possible. Especially if you’re a pharma company running a training event for healthcare professionals. You can use statistics or studies related to your topic so that respondents become immersed in it and learn something new while they complete the survey.

#7 Incentivize responses

If people have an incentive for answering your pre event survey questions, such as being entered into a raffle or getting a discount or some swag, they’re more likely to respond. If you want to promote your event content and speakers even more, for example at a medical congress, you could offer engagement incentives like having a 1:1 chat with the keynote speaker or a meet-the-expert session with a group of other healthcare professionals.

And if you have an event platform with advanced gamification options, you can give people points when they complete a survey. Doing this can significantly improve the number of responses you get!

#8 Send reminder emails

It’s easy for people to forget about pre event surveys, so don’t be afraid to remind them! Sending a few reminder emails at different points is a great way of getting more responses. You can also include a link to your event platform in these emails so that it’s easy for them to access and complete the pre event survey.

If you want to use tried and tested emails for your event communications, download the best 18 free event email templates now.

#9 Make sure it’s accessible

You want as many people as possible to answer your pre event survey questions, so make sure it’s accessible on all devices. Luckily you can create pre-event surveys on event platforms like SpotMe that are available on all devices (mobile, tablet, desktop). Simply test them out before launch to ensure you give your audience the best experience.

By following these tips on pre event survey questions, you’ll increase the number of responses you get and gain valuable insights into your audience while also creating a buzz around your event. And ultimately get more people attending!

The 3 main types of pre event survey questions

There are 3 main types for pre event survey questions and each one gives you different data to analyze. Here’s a breakdown of each type:

#1 Quantitative

Numerical data, such as age or rating scales
Allows for statistical analysis and can be used to measure trends and patterns
Can be closed-ended, with pre-defined response options, or open-ended, allowing respondents to provide their own answer

#2 Qualitative

Focuses on understanding opinions, feelings, and beliefs of your audience
Often open-ended, allowing respondents to provide detailed answers
Difficult to analyze quantitatively, but can provide rich insights into the reasons behind certain behaviors or attitudes

#3 Binary

Requires a yes or no, true or false, or agree or disagree response
Useful for quick and easy data collection and analysis
Can be limiting in that they don’t allow for nuanced answers or the exploration of underlying reasons for the response

8 styles of pre event survey questions

Mix the above pre event survey question types to gather rich data. And use the following different styles of questions to keep your pre event survey engaging.

Here are 8 styles of questions you can use:

Matrix

Type: Quantitative
How it works: Create a multiple-choice table for your audience to select an option for each item.
Example:

Rank

Type: Quantitative
How it works: Ask your audience to order items using drag and drop based on their priority or preference. You can see the results as percentages. Based on responses, each item is given a score with the first item having the highest score. Scores are then added up across all responses for each time. Then, the average score for each item is calculated and converted into a percentage of the total score.
Example:

Rating (stars)

Type: Quantitative
How it works: Ask your audience to rate something specific from 1 to 5 using stars.
Example:

Rating (slider or radio buttons)

Type: Quantitative
How it works: Ask your audience to give a rating on a Likert scale, for example asking if they strongly agree or disagree with something.
Example:

Single answer (radio buttons)

Type: Quantitative / Binary
How it works: Ask your audience to select one out of a few options.
Example:

Multiple choice (radio buttons)

Type: Quantitative
How it works: Ask your audience to select multiple out of a few options.

Conditional choice

Type: Qualitative
How it works: You can follow up multiple-choice or single-choice questions with a conditional free-text comment box if you need more information.

Free text

Type: Qualitative
How it works: Ask your audience to respond to your question in their own words. Make sure your question is meaningful, focused, and short so that you boost response rates and get useful answers.

To see how to use these types of questions on SpotMe’s event platform, check out our technical Knowledge Base article or reach out for a personalized walkthrough.

Pre event survey questions for any event format

Of course, the pre event survey questions you ask depend on the format of your event – virtual, hybrid, or in-person. But there are some pre event survey questions that you should ask before any type of event.

Here’s a list of some of the most important ones, including when to ask them, why to ask them, how to ask them, and some examples of how they look on SpotMe’s event platform:

During event planning

Ask these pre event survey questions when you’re still planning your event to generate interest and get input from your audience to make sure you plan an event they’ll love.

Please rank the following aspects based on how important they are for you at our upcoming event:

Aim: To understand what your audience wants to get out of your event. If the answers seem to be in line with what you already have planned, great! If not, you may need to tweak your event to better meet your audience’s needs.
Type: Quantitative
Style: Rank
Example:

Which social media platform do you prefer?

Aim: To know on which social media channels you should be putting most of your marketing efforts and where you should be promoting those all-important event hashtags.
Type: Quantitative
Style: Multiple choice
Example:

Which event format do you prefer and why?

Aim: To understand which event format your audience prefers. You can then use these answers to help you decide which type of event to host.
Type: Quantitative & qualitative
Style: Single answer (and follow it up with a conditional choice question)
Example:

How long would you like the event to be?

Aim: To see how much time your audience is willing to give up to attend your event. Of course, it will depend a bit on the answer to the previous question. This also helps you plan your event accordingly.
Type: Quantitative
Style: Single answer (Include options that are possible for you)

What’s missing from other events?

Aim: To give you some ideas on how to make your event stand out from the crowd.
Type: Qualitative
Style: Free text

When people register

Ask these pre event survey questions while people are registering for your event. You can also use this information to make any tweaks to your event to make sure it will meet your audience’s needs and expectations.

Name, job title, company, company size, age, email address, phone number

Aim: To learn as much as you can about your audience and use this information for better targeting in the future.
Type: Qualitative / Quantitative
Style: Free text / Single shoice

Pro tip: Don’t forget to include this pre event survey question! Otherwise, you won’t know who your attendees are or anything about them.

How did you hear about this event?

Aim: To give you insights into which of your event marketing channels worked best and which didn’t work so well. This helps you understand which channels your audience uses the most and helps you target your marketing better.
Type: Quantitative
Style: Single answer
Options: Include 4–5 options with the main marketing channels you used to promote your event.
Example:

Why would you like to attend this event?

Aim: To understand the reasons why your audience chose to register for your event. Use this to tweak your event plan to meet audience needs if needed.
Type: Quantitative & qualitative
Style: Multiple choice & conditional choice (We recommend having a set of responses for your audience to choose from but following with a conditional choice question so that they can add their own reasons too).
Example:

Have you attended this event before?

Aim: To quickly be able to see who are returning participants. The more returning participants you have, the better! You must be doing something right! And the better this looks for your event sponsors and stakeholders.
Type: Binary
Style: Single answer (Yes/No)

Which speakers are you excited about?

Aim: To see which speakers your audience is most interested in hearing. If one speaker is very popular and you’re running an in-person event you may want to move them to a bigger room. Or if you’re running a hybrid event, you may want to record that speaker’s session and make it available on your on-demand content hub after your event.
Type: Quantitative
Style: Multiple choice

Pro tip: You could adapt this pre event survey question to find out which sessions, products, or activities your audience is most excited about.

Please tell us if you have any special needs, restrictions, or requirements we need to know about.

Aim: To make sure that your event is fully inclusive and that anybody can attend and have a great experience. For example, if you’re running a virtual event and someone says they’re hard of hearing, you can provide closed captioning for live events.
Type: Quantitative & conditional choice
Style: Multiple choice & conditional choice (We recommend having a mandatory multiple choice and an optional conditional choice question so that your audience can express their needs, whatever they may be.)
Example:

Pro tip: This is an important pre event survey question to ask at any event format. But of course, you will need to tailor the options depending on whether you’re running a virtual, in-person, or hybrid event.

How did you find the registration process?

Aim: To get an idea of how simple your registration process was. After all, if you don’t provide a great experience at the registration stage, you’re not starting off well. You want it to be as smooth as possible so people finish the registration process and are more likely to turn up to your event.
Type: Quantitative
Style: Rating
Example:

Pre event survey question example 7

Pro tip: If you want more information about your registration process, we suggest adding a follow-up question:

Was any information confusing or hard to find?

Aim: To make sure that the information you provided was clear and created no confusion. Look at these answers to understand how you can improve your event communication strategy and registration process in the future.
Type: Binary & qualitative
Style: Single answer (Yes/No) & conditional choice (We recommend having a follow-up conditional choice question so that your audience can tell you what they found tricky and you can put it right.)

Is there anything else you’d like us to know?

Aim: To give your attendees the chance to give you feedback on anything that wasn’t in your other pre event survey questions. That way, you can tweak your pre event survey for the future if you missed something out.
Type: Binary & qualitative
Style: Single answer (Yes/No) & conditional choice (Add a follow-up conditional choice question so that your audience can tell you what they would like you to know.)

A fun question about your content/industry

Aim: To start getting your guests excited about your event. You could also use a fun question about your industry to put a smile on your guests’ faces and make them aware that your event will be both engaging and beneficial for them.
Type: Any
Style: Any

Pro tip: The type and style of this pre event survey question really depend on what you want to do with the answers. One idea could be to collect the responses and talk about them your event kickoff as an icebreaker activity.

One week before

As mentioned above, sending out a specific pre event survey about your event content 1 week before your event has so many advantages:

You can find out what your audience does and doesn’t know to tailor your content to them.
You’ll make it 60% more likely they’ll show up.
You’ll help your audience remember your content much more easily by reinforcing before, during and after your event. (Remember to use your pre event knowledge survey questions in your post event survey too!)

By asking these pre event survey questions, you can start getting an understanding of what kind of event will resonate with your audience and bring more people through the door (literally or figuratively speaking if you’re running a virtual event).

Pre event survey questions for a virtual event

If you’re hosting a virtual event, you’ll definitely want to include specific pre event survey questions tailored to that kind of event. Virtual events need to be strong on content and have more engagement activities for attendees, so you’ll want to capture that information and make sure it’s in your pre-event survey.

Here are some great questions to include:

Will this be your first time attending a virtual event?
What would make this virtual event more valuable for you?
Are there any topics/activities that you would like to see at the virtual event?
How would you like to engage with other attendees during the virtual event?
Which device will you be using to attend the event?
What time would you prefer to attend the event?
Do you have any technical questions or concerns when it comes to joining us virtually?
Is there any type of pre-event activity that would help you prepare for the virtual event?
Would you be interested in attending a post-event follow up session or webinar?

These questions will give you insights into what your audience wants from your virtual event and how they want it delivered. Plus, it’ll help ensure your participants are engaged throughout!

For inspiration on how to keep your audience’s interest, check out our ideas for virtual event engagement and see a huge decrease in dropout rates.

Pre event survey questions for an in-person event

Pre event survey questions are key for planning a successful in-person event. Before sending out pre event survey questions, you should determine what insights will be most useful to your in-person event and how you’re going to use those insights.

No matter the goal, here are some essential pre event survey questions for an in-person event:

Where would you like the event to be / Does our location work for you?
Do you have any dietary restrictions we should know about?
How will you travel?
When will you arrive?
Will you stay at one of the hotels we’ve partnered with?

These pre event survey questions should provide the information that is important to identify your attendees’ needs and tailor your in-person event accordingly.

Pre event survey questions for a hybrid event

If you’re organizing a hybrid event, there are some key pre event survey questions you should ask. A hybrid event is held both online and in-person. So, you should make sure you tailor your pre event survey questions to each audience. Some event platforms like SpotMe have the option to target your pre-event surveys to specific groups, as well as questions inside your surveys. Plus, you can make questions appear depending on previous answers. This is perfect for hybrid events.

To get the most out of your pre-event survey, you need to collect actionable insights that you can use to shape the event. Here are some useful pre event survey questions to ask hybrid event attendees:

Pre event survey questions for the online attendees

Why have you chosen to attend this event online?
Which device will you be using to attend the event?
Will this be your first time attending an online event?
What time would you prefer to attend the event?
What would make this an enjoyable experience for you?
Do you have any technical questions or concerns when it comes to joining us online?
What do you think would be the best way of engaging with other attendees during the hybrid event?
Is there any type of pre-event activity that would help you prepare for the hybrid event?
Would you be interested in attending a post-event follow up session or webinar?

Pre event survey questions for the in-person attendees

Why have you chosen to attend this event in-person?
Which sessions are you planning on attending in person?
Do you need any additional information about transport options or hotels nearby?
Will you be bringing any guests?
Do you have any dietary restrictions we should know about?
When will you arrive?

These pre event survey questions will help ensure a successful hybrid event by giving organizers valuable insights into their audiences and helping them create powerful experiences no matter how their attendees participate.

How to get the most out of answers to pre event survey questions

It’s not enough to just ask pre event survey questions – you need to know what to do with the answers to get the most out of them.

With an event platform like SpotMe, you can easily see the data you collect from responses to your pre event survey questions.

And you can even export all the answers to your pre event survey questions in an Excel spreadsheet with just 2 clicks.

Here are 4 steps you can take to use the answers from pre event surveys for maximum benefit:

#1 Analyze the data

Understand who your event attendees are and what they want by looking at the responses to your pre event survey questions. This can help inform decisions about topics and speakers, as well as give you insight into how to make your event more engaging and relevant.

#2 Use response data to craft a more personalized experience

By looking at you audience’s answers, you can create a more tailored experience for attendees by making sure that the content and format of your event are tailored specifically for them.

#3 Measure engagement

Check your survey results to measure engagement and see if there is anything that you could have done better. This data can help inform future events and decisions around marketing efforts.

#4 Compare results to the results of your post event surveys

If you want to see how much your audience learned at your event, compare the answers from your pre event knowledge survey to your post event knowledge survey.

Pre-event survey questions, when used properly, can make a real difference to your event’s success. Asking the right types of questions can help you gain insights into your audience and create a buzz around your event that will draw more people in. Asking the same pre event and post event survey questions helps to measure how much people learned and engage them further.

So, don’t forget to use pre event survey questions as part of your pre-event engagement strategy. Whether you’re planning a virtual, in-person or hybrid event, take the time to put together the right questions to help you gain the insights and engagement you need to make your event a success.

Get the best tool for effective pre-event surveys

You’ve probably heard of SurveySparrow, Typeform and SurveyMonkey. They’re great tools to create pre event survey questions if you want to get insights from your audience during the event planning stage.

BUT once you start communicating about your event and the registrations start rolling in, you’ll save so much time and stress if your pre event surveys and responses are directly on your event platform.

With SpotMe’s event platform and app that the Big Four professional services networks, 10 of the top 20 pharma companies and thousands of other leading global companies use to send out their pre event survey questions for their virtual, in-person, or hybrid events, you can:

Set up engaging pre event surveys with a huge variety of questions in a matter of minutes
Target your pre event surveys to specific groups of participants
Send notifications that direct people to your surveys
Get analytics and graphs created for you automatically and export results into Excel in just 2 clicks

To get a personalized walkthrough of how effective event surveys can be with SpotMe, book a free demo now. We’ll be delighted to show you!

Downloadable templates to help you run engaging events that audiences love:

Event experts who contributed to this article

Michael Sherrillo, Operations Manager
Jean-Baptiste Lamouline, Operations Lead
Kim Goetze, Senior Project Manager
Jamie Knight, Technical Writer
Andrew Tosh, Operations Lead