If you are organizing a conference, you want to create an agenda that meets the needs and expectations of your attendees. One of the best ways to do that is to use attendee feedback to design your conference content and format. In this article, you will learn how to collect, analyze, and apply attendee feedback to plan a conference agenda that delivers value and satisfaction.
Before you start designing your conference agenda, you need to collect feedback from your potential and past attendees. You can use various methods to gather feedback, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, social media, or online forums. The key is to ask relevant and specific questions that help you understand your attendees' preferences, challenges, goals, and interests. For example, you can ask them what topics they want to learn more about, what speakers they want to hear from, what format they prefer, what problems they face, and what outcomes they expect.
The best way to get feedback is running an online survey, posting the qr code during the event, and giving a small gift to those completing it.
In my experience as an ISO standards auditor, I've observed that gathering feedback from participants before designing the agenda for a conference is crucial. The opinions and expectations of attendees are valuable for customizing the content and structure of the event. This not only addresses their concerns and specific needs but also contributes to the effectiveness and relevance of the conference. Integrating their feedback helps tailor the agenda more accurately, thereby enhancing the overall experience of the event.
Once you have collected feedback, you need to analyze it to identify common themes, patterns, and gaps. You can use tools like spreadsheets, charts, or word clouds to organize and visualize your feedback data. You can also segment your feedback by different criteria, such as attendee type, industry, role, or experience level. This will help you tailor your conference agenda to different segments and create more personalized and relevant content. You should also look for any feedback that contradicts or challenges your assumptions or goals, and use it to improve or adjust your conference plan.
Feedbacks may be anonymous and probably most of the answers are just positives for skipping the survey, so focus only on the negative feedbacks
Always seek to understand the needs of the attendees. This will help to satisfy the attendees and contribute to better organisation branding. In turn, attendees will be more likely to return for future conferences. With more attendees, more sponsors and speakers can be attracted.
Once you have analyzed your feedback, it's time to apply it to the design of your conference agenda. Your feedback can help you define the main message and purpose of your conference, aligning it with your attendees' needs and expectations. It can also help you select topics and speakers that match your conference theme and objectives, and even invite some of your attendees to share their insights or experiences as speakers or panelists. Furthermore, your feedback can assist in choosing the format and schedule of your conference, such as the duration, the number of sessions, the types of sessions (e.g., keynote, workshop, breakout, networking), and the timing and frequency of breaks. Additionally, consider different options for delivering your conference, such as online, offline, or hybrid. Finally, use your feedback to design an evaluation and follow-up strategy for your conference, such as sending post-conference surveys or providing certificates or badges.
Finally, you need to update your feedback throughout the conference planning and execution process. You should not rely on feedback that you collected once and never revisited. You should keep in touch with your attendees and ask for their feedback on your conference agenda and content as you develop and finalize them. You should also monitor and respond to their feedback during and after the conference, and use it to measure your conference success and identify areas for improvement. Updating your feedback will help you create a more responsive and engaging conference experience for your attendees.
Feedback is as useful as you plan for it to be. Be clear about what you are soliciting feedback for (rubbish in, rubbish out), and how the data supports your larger intent and objectives. Some components eg. on the catering are clearly less critical unless your event is for the F&B industry so prioritise what you want feedback on.