Feedback and survey design
Designing session feedback forms
Delegates are asked to rate every session, and by the afternoon the forms come back blank or all the same.
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The short answer
A session feedback form works when it is short, specific to the session and used by someone. Ask three to five questions at most: relevance to the delegate's work, clarity, one thing to keep or change and, where useful, whether the time and format worked.
Agree before the event who reads the forms, what a speaker will see and what the programme owner will change as a result.
Decide what sessions are being judged for
Ask what the form is meant to help with: improving the speaker's next session, picking sessions for next year or checking whether the right audience attended. Each calls for different questions.
Write the purpose on the form itself, so delegates know why they are being asked.
Paper, QR code or app
| Method | Works well when | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Paper slip at the seat | Short sessions, a mixed-age audience, patchy connectivity. | Collection, data entry time, illegible comments. |
| QR code on the final slide | Delegates have phones and the venue signal is reliable. Confirm with the venue. | Few responses if the code is shown for seconds; screens that are hard to read. |
| Event app rating | The app is already in use and delegates know how to open it. | Delegates ignoring prompts; people unsure whether ratings are anonymous. |
| End-of-day combined form | You need delegates' overall view and the programme is light on sessions. | Memory fades; later sessions get more attention. |
A short session form
- Which session was this? (Pre-filled.)
- How relevant was the content to your work? (Five-point labelled scale.)
- How clear was the presentation? (Five-point labelled scale.)
- What is one thing the speaker should keep or change? (Open text.)
- Optional: was the time and format right for this topic? (Yes, no, not sure.)
Feeding results back
Give each speaker a short summary of their session's results, comments included, within an agreed number of days. Tell speakers in advance what they will receive and who else sees it.
Use the combined results to decide which formats and topics to keep, noting how many delegates responded for each session.
Personal data and respondents
Collect names only if a follow-up is planned, and say so on the form. If a form is linked to a badge or app profile, tell delegates before they fill it in.
Ask your data protection contact how long forms are kept and who may read the comments. Plan a way to handle comments about conduct or safety.
Building and linking the form
Draft the questions with the feedback questionnaire builder, choose labelled scales as in response scale selection, and map each question to an objective using the objective-to-measure planner.
Worked example · Fictional example
A conference organiser adopts a three-question session slip
Fictional organisation and figures, written to show the level of detail that is useful.
A fictional professional-learning network runs a full-day event with six sessions for about 160 delegates. Last year's end-of-day form asked about every session and few delegates completed it.
This year each session ends with a QR code and a printed slip with three questions: relevance, clarity and one thing to change. Speakers receive a short summary within seven days. The programme owner notes the number of responses for each session, so a session with low response is read carefully.
Use this yourself
Session feedback form template
Copy this form and fill in the bracketed parts for each session. Keep the whole form to one screen or one slip.
- Purpose line: Your answers help the programme team and [speaker] improve future sessions.
- Session title and time (pre-filled):
- How relevant was this session to your work? Very low, Low, Medium, High, Very high.
- How clear was the presentation? Very unclear, Unclear, Acceptable, Clear, Very clear.
- What is one thing the speaker should keep or change?
- Optional: was the time and format right for this topic? Yes, No, Not sure.
- Optional: your name or email, only if you would like a reply.
- Data note agreed with data protection contact: [who reads, how long kept].
Handle it in-house, or bring in help?
Your team can usually handle this when
- The programme has a few sessions and one person to collect and read the forms.
- Speakers are comfortable receiving simple feedback.
- The venue has dependable connectivity or you use paper.
Outside planning help earns its fee when
- A multi-track programme needs many forms collected and summarised the same day.
- Speakers or sponsors expect formal feedback that must be handled carefully.
- Feedback links to accreditation or learning records, which need the awarding body's own rules.
Want session feedback built into the programme?
An Event Blueprint can place session feedback in the run sheet: when the form is shown, who collects it, how summaries reach speakers and which questions link to the objectives. A project lead can coordinate the collection on the day while your committee decides what to change.
Questions organisers ask
How many questions should a session form have?
Three to five. Delegates will fill in short forms for several sessions; they will not complete long ones.
Should speakers see the results?
Usually yes, as a summary with comments. Tell speakers beforehand what they will receive and who else sees it.
Are paper forms outdated?
Not necessarily. They work well in short sessions and where connectivity is uncertain. The cost is collection and entry time.
Can session ratings decide which speakers to invite again?
Treat ratings as one input. Response numbers, session time and audience mix all affect them, so read them with the comments and the programme owner's judgement.
Related resources
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