You will be surprised, but there are many conferences handing out paper feedback forms at the end of their event. This may have been okay in 1999, but in 2016 shouldn’t we be making a commitment to stop this bygone practice?
One, it’s a waste of paper, ink and some poor tree has been cut down for no good reason. Two, some poor soul has to spend hours doing a hideous data entry process inputting all the info into an excel sheet, when an event app could help get the job done in seconds. It’s a waste of time however you look at it.
It’s a given that collecting feedback is essential to improve events. Organisers need to know if the event was a hit or not. Whether the venue worked or the food was inedible. We all need feedback to improve.
So, as a conference organiser, other than the paper option (which is rubbish – literally) you have two options open to you:
-
Use An Online Survey Tool
An online survey allows you to send out a survey through your event app after the event. This works well, it’s cost effective and simple to setup. There are plenty of online solutions out there. Survey Monkey probably being the one everyone knows about.
The problem with these survey solutions is that they tend to get sent out after the event and in many cases people have moved on to the next thing. The last thing they can be bothered to do is fill out another survey a week after a conference.
-
Use A Conference App
The best time to capture feedback is actually at the event when it’s fresh in people’s minds. If you do it at the event more people will participate. The content will be more accurate as people are actually there and it’s fresh in their minds.
How do you capture the survey info? The best place is in the conference app as it’s where everyone is already engaged. Have session feedback included in the session info in the conference app, believe me it’s a winner.
Ok, so you have an event app and have included a feedback form and session feedback. How can you guarantee the attendees will complete it? In short you can’t, but emphasising that the feedback is important to event improvement will encourage people to participate. Cite examples of where you have acted on previous feedback to show that you take attendee’s views seriously
If you think attendees need more of an incentive, think about attaching a prize draw for people who submit. There’s nothing like an expensive bottle of Champagne to get the responses flooding in!
Vanessa Bishop – CrowdComms, Head of Sales (Australia)
Even after 20 years selling IT solutions Vanessa is a self-confessed “non techie”. She loves is bridging the gap between people like her and technology. Vanessa helps CrowdComms clients build and deliver highly engaging events apps that deliver fantastic results. Outside of the event tech world, you can find Vanessa on a beach somewhere in Sydney.
