When it comes to consistently organizing and optimizing successful, in-person meetings, never underestimate the power of feedback from attendees.
As an Executive Assistant (EA) or meeting planner, your work is largely done on behalf of others. For a meeting, oftentimes you’re not experiencing the meeting firsthand, unlike those you planned it for. This makes it so much more important to get insights from attendees so that you can continuously improve the meeting experience for them and ensure you’re always running enjoyable, purposeful meetings that matter. This not only creates a better attendee experience, but also can make planning, managing, and booking meeting details a breeze for yourself.
The best way to get this feedback? Attendee surveys. We recommend sending a survey to attendees both before a meeting occurs and after it’s completed. A pre-meeting survey should address logistical needs and operational preferences for smooth planning. A post-meeting survey should ask about their experience for future improvements.
Many meeting planners have asked us what questions to include in attendee surveys to make sure they’re getting the right information and insights. That’s why we’ve created two handy templates filled with survey questions (62 in total) to ask attendees both before and after a meeting occurs.
Read on to see some key examples and to download the templates.
TROOP TIP: Use the templates as a starting off point and personalize from there, as every team and meeting is unique. We recommend keeping the survey relatively short, so prioritize the most important questions first. Doing so requires the least amount of work on the attendee’s end while getting you the most impactful information.
Pre-meeting surveys are a hugely effective way to ensure you’re listening and catering to attendee needs from start to finish. They help you avoid some of the larger pitfalls that might make a meeting unenjoyable or stressful, such as accessibility issues or travel headaches. And they ensure you’re listening to ways you can make the meeting more personalized, purposeful, and effective for attendees.
Organization is the bread and butter of a good meeting. Attendees who feel catered to and prepared for a meeting are far more likely to enjoy the experience. These example questions will help you understand if your meeting organization needs any fine-tuning before the meeting takes place.
Example 1: Do you have any dietary restrictions, allergies, or preferences?
Example 2: What will make this meeting a success for you?
Example 3: Do you require assistance with flight or accommodation bookings for this meeting?
Conducting a proper meeting follow-up offers the best chance for EAs and meeting planners to improve both meeting functionality and attendee satisfaction. A well thought out post-meeting survey is an incredibly effective way to glean information about what attendees enjoyed, and what could be improved upon.
The main purpose for the post-meeting survey is to capture attendee’s thoughts and opinions. Sometimes, attendees won’t have specific thoughts, but they can give you their general feeling about the meeting, which can be every bit as useful when trying to understand what works and what doesn’t. We recommend sending the survey soon after a meeting wraps up so attendees’ opinions are still fresh in their minds.
Example 1: Do you have feedback on the agenda? Were enough breaks given? How was the session structure, etc?
Example 2: Which elements of the meeting did you find most valuable or enjoyable, and why?
Example 3: What was your opinion of the meeting venue?
Download the full list of survey questions here: Questions to Ask Attendees Before and After a Meeting. This evergreen collection of questions will help you to organize meetings that cover all bases, from logistics to attendee opinions and everything in between, no matter what type of meeting you are planning.
Looking to streamline your meeting planning process? TROOP helps executive assistants and meeting planners save hours of time, make data-backed decisions, and manage all meetings in one place from start to finish.
Find out how TROOP can help you plan your next meeting: Get in touch