Event Feedback Form: A Ready-to-Use Template

An event feedback form is the short, fixed form people actually fill in: the same questions every year, quick to answer on a phone, and easy to compare across editions. It is different from planning a survey from scratch, which our event survey template covers, and from the full set of questions you could ask, which is in our bank of event survey questions. This page gives you the form itself.

• Short: 8 to 12 questions, about three minutes on a phone, and it says so at the top
• One scale: the same 1–5 rating, labelled at both ends, for every rating question
• Mostly ratings and multiple choice, so results can be counted, with one or two open questions
• Separate forms for attendees, exhibitors and speakers, because they judge different things
• Anonymous by default, with an optional contact field for people who want a reply
• A close date, so you know when to stop collecting and start reading

This attendee form has 11 questions and takes about three minutes. Paste it into any form tool, replace the bracketed parts, and remove any line in question 3 that doesn't apply to your event, such as the exhibit hall at a conference without one. Keep the wording the same from year to year so you can compare results.

For individual sessions, use a shorter card at the room exit or on the last slide, rather than asking attendees to rate every session in the main form.

Exhibitors judge the event on leads, traffic and how easy you made it to exhibit. Send one form per company to the person who booked the booth, within a week of move-out, and make this form named rather than anonymous: if an exhibitor had a bad show, you want to be able to call them before they decide not to rebook. The exhibitor checklist you published before the show is a good guide to which services to ask about.

Speakers tell you how organized the run-up felt from the other side. Send this with your thank-you, and if you collected session ratings, include their session's results: speakers who see their feedback are more likely to say yes next year. The event follow up email templates include a speaker thank-you you can pair it with.

Where people meet the form matters as much as what is on it. Use more than one channel: a QR code reaches people while they are still at the event, and an email reaches everyone who left early. Make sure each channel links to the same form so the results stay in one place.

Signs at exits work best when they match the rest of your wayfinding: see our guide to event signage. Printing the QR code on the back of the badge also works, if you add it to your name badge template before printing.

There is no standard response rate for event feedback forms: it varies widely with the audience, the channel and how the ask is made. Measure yours against your own previous events, and work on the things you control.

• Ask in person. A request from the stage with two minutes set aside usually beats any email
• Say how long it takes, and make sure the number is true
• Send the email within 24 hours, while people still remember the details
• Send one reminder about a week later, and remove people who have already answered if your form tool tracks it
• Make it work on a phone: one question per screen or a short scrolling page, no grids wider than the screen
• Tell people what you changed after last year's feedback, in the email and at the top of the form
• Set a close date and put it in the email, so there is a reason to answer now
• If you offer a prize draw, check the rules where you operate first, since prize draw and sweepstakes rules vary by country and US state

A feedback form is only worth sending if someone acts on the answers. Decide before the event who owns the results and when they will be shared.

1. 1

   Close and Clean

   Close the form on the date you announced and export the responses. Remove test entries and obvious duplicates before you count anything.

2. 2

   Count the Ratings

   Work out the average for each rating and the spread of answers. Split results by group where you asked, such as first-time and returning attendees, since an average across both can hide a problem with one.

3. 3

   Read and Tag Open Answers

   Read every open answer and tag it with a theme, such as check-in, session length or food. Count the tags. Three people mentioning the same queue matters more than one long complaint.

4. 4

   Compare and Explain

   Put the numbers next to last year's and next to what you know from attendance, session check-ins and sales. A drop in satisfaction alongside a sold-out hall tells a different story from one alongside empty aisles.

5. 5

   Share With the People Who Can Act

   Send speakers their session results, exhibitors a summary of the exhibitor form, and sponsors anything relevant to their activation. Keep individual comments anonymous unless the person agreed to be contacted.

6. 6

   Decide What Changes

   Pick a few changes for next year, give each one an owner and a date, and record them in your event debrief.

7. 7

   Close the Loop

   Tell respondents what you heard and what you will change. It is the most reliable way to get answers next time.

Most of the work happens before the event. If the form, link and QR code are ready a week out, the closing session ask and the next-day email take minutes.

For more questions to rotate in from year to year, use the event survey questions bank, and for the longer post-event version of the attendee form, see the post-event survey template.