How to Make Your Good Event GREAT Using Event Surveys
Your dinner is over. You can breathe now. How was it? Did you even have a second to listen to the program you spent months planning? Did it feel like everything went wrong?
The tables weren’t where they were supposed to be.
People showed up at the last minute who you weren’t expecting.
The potatoes didn’t look as appetizing as they did at the taste testing.
The speaker went over by THREE MINUTES!!!
When you’re in the midst of all the details, it’s sometimes hard to see the big picture. Thankfully though, your guests do see the big picture. So what ultimately matters isn't the tiny mishaps, but rather your guests' lasting impressions.
The primary purpose of your event—beyond fundraising—should be to educate your guests on your mission and show them what you're doing to achieve it. Are you communicating your mission well? Are you being respectful of your guests’ time? How do you know?
Thankfully, Attendance gives you tools to communicate with your guests, and you have the opportunity to gauge their opinions. When using Attendance, you’ll have access to a breakdown of the following types of guests: regular attendees, no-shows, guests who canceled, as well as walk-ins.
We give you the ability to email these different segmented groups of guests. So I urge you to use these tools, and get a survey out to them!
Email guests & hosts who attended from the “Attendance Live Check-in” section of your event!
Event Surveys
I suggest creating two surveys, one for all guests and one for Table Hosts.
All Guests
This Event Survey will give you great insight into your guests’ experience and will take them just a minute or so to complete. Use the below button to copy this google form to use for your organization. You’ll be able to edit the survey before sending it. For more on how to use Google Forms, access their help resources here.
Note: You must be signed in to a Google account to copy the survey for your use.
Table Hosts
Additionally, this Host Survey can be sent to your table hosts to ensure that they felt prepared and equipped as hosts. A “Table Host” is the person who was responsible for filling a table at your event. You may refer to these partners as “Table Captain”, “Corporate Sponsor” or other terms.
Use the below button to copy this google form to use for your organization. You can edit the questions to match the messaging for your event.
The above survey templates are comprehensive and designed to help you have a full understanding of your guests' experience. These are important things to gauge each year, and often these are the things that separate a good event from a great one.
Within your thank you email to all guests and Table Hosts (preferably sent the next day), include a link to your survey with your genuine thank you and the estimated amount raised (if possible). Doing so will help you identify what your guests liked and disliked allowing you to make your event even better next year!
Make it a great one!
If you'd like to learn more about our Attendance, Peer-to-Peer or Crowdfunding Products, please reach out! We’d love to chat.
Also, if you haven't joined already, we have an exclusive Facebook Group just for our customers! If you are a current FundEasy Customer and would like to join, go here to learn more and request to be added!
Crystal Hoag
This article was inspired by our customers and written to encourage your fundraising efforts. Although we work with nonprofits and events daily, our team members are not Event Consultants. We encourage you to consult with your event consultant, executive team, and/or affiliate organization before making any major changes to your events.
