Pre-Event Survey Template
Ask attendees what they want before you lock the agenda — goals, topics, formats, and the speaker questions they are hoping someone will ask.
You are registered — now help us shape the day around what you actually want. Two minutes, and the agenda listens.
Most event feedback arrives when it is too late to act on. A pre-event survey flips that: it reaches registrants while the agenda is still soft, catering is still adjustable, and a speaker can still be briefed on the question half the room is bringing. The trade is that registrants owe you nothing yet, so the survey must be short and visibly consequential — this one is six questions, and the intro promises the agenda listens.
Why these six. The attendee-type question sets context for every other answer — a first-timer asking for networking help and a sponsor asking for foot traffic are different work orders. Goals are capped at two picks on purpose: an uncapped list tells you everything matters, a capped one tells you what to cut when the schedule fights back. Topics and format preferences translate directly into program decisions — if roundtables beat panels two to one, that is a floor-plan change, not a philosophy debate. The speaker-question prompt is the sleeper hit: forward the best submissions to your speakers and the Q&A stops being "any questions?" silence. The accessibility question is open-ended rather than a checkbox list because real needs never fit the checkboxes, and asking early signals that comfort is part of the plan, not an afterthought.
Four audiences, four readings. The first answer sorts every response into a distinct work order. First-timers' goal picks tell you what orientation and signage must do on day one; returning attendees' topic votes deserve extra weight because they are comparing against a baseline they actually experienced; speaker answers reveal what the people on stage hope the room will bring; and sponsor responses are quietly a renewal survey — an exhibitor whose goals the day cannot meet was never going to sign again.
What we left out. Logistics questions your registration form already answered (dietary checkboxes, t-shirt sizes), satisfaction scales (nothing has happened yet), and contact fields — this links to a registration record you already own, so asking again is friction without information.
Who uses this. Conference programmers finalizing tracks, internal offsite planners choosing between workshop vendors, meetup hosts sizing rooms, and course instructors tuning a syllabus to the actual cohort.
Make it yours. Swap the topic options for your actual candidate sessions and let registrants vote with their picks. Add a show/hide rule in the Logic panel if speakers should see different questions than attendees — the structure is already segmented by the first answer. Send it two to three weeks out, close it a week before doors with an automatic close date, and export the CSV for the program meeting. Watching partial submissions is quietly useful too: where people stop answering tells you which questions feel like work.
Frequently asked questions
When is the right time to send a pre-event survey?
Two to four weeks before the event — early enough to change the program, late enough that registrants are thinking about it. Set an automatic close date a week before doors.
Can speakers and attendees get different questions?
Yes — the first question already identifies them. Add rules in the Logic panel to show speaker-specific questions only when that option is selected.
How do I turn the answers into an agenda?
Export the CSV and rank topics and formats by vote share; the two-pick cap on goals makes priorities unambiguous. The speaker questions column is worth forwarding verbatim.
Will this create duplicate answers if someone opens it twice?
Turn on duplicate prevention per device in Settings — registrants who revisit the link cannot accidentally double-vote the agenda.