Author: Ian McGonnigal

Sponsor surveys allow event organizers can gather valuable feedback, foster open communication, and establish a foundation for future collaborations.

The sponsor survey is a valuable tool in understanding how well the event performed in adding partner and sponsor value, and can be used to improve performance moving forward. When used correctly the sponsor survey can also held to build and strengthen partner and sponsor relationships. Here’s how.

Gathering Feedback

Post-event sponsor surveys offer a unique opportunity to collect feedback directly from sponsors. This feedback is invaluable in understanding their experience, identifying areas for improvement, and uncovering any pain points they may have encountered. By providing sponsors with a platform to share their thoughts and suggestions, organizers demonstrate their commitment to delivering a successful event that meets or exceeds sponsor expectations.

Customizing Sponsorship Packages

Each sponsor has different objectives and expectations. Post-event surveys enable organizers to gain insights into what sponsors truly value, allowing them to tailor future sponsorship packages accordingly. By understanding specific goals, desired outcomes, and preferred marketing channels, event organizers can create personalized sponsorship opportunities that maximize sponsor ROI and enhance the overall partnership.

Strengthening Communications Channels

Post-event surveys act as a communication bridge between organizers and sponsors. By initiating conversations with sponsors after the event, organizers convey their interest in establishing an ongoing dialogue. This communication can help address any concerns, clarify expectations, and foster a stronger relationship built on transparency and collaboration. Sponsors will appreciate the opportunity to express their opinions and feel valued as partners in the event’s success.

Demonstrating ROI

Sponsors invest time, effort, and resources into supporting events, and they understandably expect a return on their investment. Post-event sponsor surveys enable organizers to measure and demonstrate the value sponsors received from their involvement. By asking targeted questions about the effectiveness of sponsorships, brand exposure, lead generation, or overall satisfaction, organizers can gather data to support sponsor ROI claims, providing tangible evidence of the event’s impact.

Building Long-Term Partnerships

Successful events rely on the support of loyal sponsors. Post-event surveys serve as a valuable tool for nurturing long-term partnerships. By using feedback from sponsors to improve future events, organizers show a commitment to continuous growth and a willingness to adapt. Sponsors appreciate being involved in the evolution of an event and are more likely to renew their sponsorship when they see their feedback being implemented.

Key Questions to Ask on Sponsor Surveys

1. Overall Experience

“Please rate your overall experience as a sponsor with Experiential Event.”

Answers: 5-point Likert Scale, “Poor” to “Excellent”

Follow-up questions: “What worked well?” / “What didn’t work well?” “What can Brand do to improve the rating you provided?” with open text fields.

Why it’s great: It helps event marketers understand sponsors’ perception of the overall experience from top to bottom. It also helps identify strengths and weaknesses, as well as sponsor needs and expectations. This can provide organizers with valuable insights that can be used to improve events and sponsorship packages and design experiences that better meet the needs and expectations of their partners and sponsors.

2. Net Promoter Score (NPS)

“How likely are you to recommend Experiential Event to a business associate or colleague?”

Answers: 10-point scale. Total Promoters (9-10 score) – Total Detractors (1-6 score) / Total Responders (1-10 score) * 100 (for percentage)

Scoring: Rage -100 – +100. <0 = Poor, 0-10 = Fair, 11-30 = Good, 31-50 = Excellent, 51+ = Outstanding

Why it’s great: NPS provides a simple and standardized way to measure sponsor loyalty and satisfaction over time. By tracking NPS scores, companies can identify trends and areas for improvement, as well as track the effectiveness of event and sponsorship adjustments aimed at improving partner and sponsor satisfaction.

In addition, NPS is often used as a benchmark to compare a an event’s performance against other events in the portfolio, competitors events, or industry events. This can help companies identify areas where they may be falling behind and focus their efforts on improving those areas to gain a competitive advantage.

3. Effectiveness

“How effective was Experiential Event in meeting your objectives?”

Answers: 5-point Likert Scale, “Not at all effective” to “Extremely effective”

Follow-up questions: Be sure to ask these questions across Awareness, Demand Generation, Business Opportunities / Partnerships, Brand Positioning, and Industry Support / Affinity. It’s also a good idea to include an “Other” open text category to capture any unknown sponsor needs. For more information, you can also ask “What are the reasons for your effectiveness ratings?” as an open-ended question to get more insights form sponsors.

Why it’s great: Effectiveness questions provide insights into sponsor needs, as well as the effectiveness of the event in meeting these needs.

4. Sponsor Satisfaction

“As a sponsor, how satisfied were you with the following?“

Answers: 5-point Likert Scale, “Not at all satisfied” to “Completely satisfied”

Follow-up questions: Satisfaction should be gauged across the following categories: Sponsorship Package Offerings, Cost / Value of Sponsorship Packages, Sponsorship Sales Process, Event Promotions and Marketing, Expo, Sessions, Speakers, Content, Networking, Sponsor Support, Quantity of Attendees, Attendee Quality. Asking “What are the reasons for your satisfaction ratings?” as an open-ended question as a follow up can help you gain additional insights here.

Why it’s great: Understanding partner and sponsor satisfaction with each element of the sponsorship process can help prioritize and focus improvement areas for future events.

5. Sponsorship Suggestions

“Do you have any suggestions for additional sponsorship opportunities that you would like to see offered at future Experiential Events?”

Answers: Open-ended text.

Why it’s great: Free ideas! This can also validate sponsorship offerings, or decisions made to include or not include certain sponsorship opportunities.

6. Future Sponsorship

“How likely is your company to sponsor Experiential Event next year?”

Answers: 5-point Likert Scale, “Definitely will not sponsor” to “Definitely will sponsor”

Why it’s great: Give a sense of the impact the event made to sponsors/ Can be used as one input to forecast future sponsorship participation and revenue. Secondary indicator of sponsor satisfaction and value.

Post-event sponsor surveys hold immense potential for event organizers looking to understand the effectiveness of everything from sponsorship packages, to the overall sponsorship process. If executed well, sponsor surveys can also help build better relationships with sponsors. By utilizing these surveys to gather feedback, customize sponsorship packages, strengthen communication channels, demonstrate ROI, and foster long-term partnerships, event organizers can provide sponsors with what they need out of the event. The insights gained from post-event surveys empower organizers to deliver exceptional attendee experiences, meet sponsor expectations, and monetize the event. Together, this process can create mutually beneficial partnerships that thrive well beyond a single event. Remember, a successful event is not just about the attendees; it’s about nurturing and valuing the sponsors who help make it all possible.

For more great content on event surveys, check out: 4 Important Questions for Keynote and Session Surveys, Attendee Survey Best Practices, and Event Survey Best Practices.

The attendee survey is a fantastic tool for gaining an overall understanding of event performance. It helps answers the question “Was the event successful or not?” Attendee surveys help us to gauge audience perceptions and intent, but they typically do not provide the depth needed to answer the “why” behind your event’s success. For this, we need other diagnostic tools to go deeper into different elements of the experience. Enter keynote surveys and session surveys.

There are several questions you could ask on keynote and session surveys, including questions about format, length of time, etc., but often its best to keep them short and sweet, and focus on the core four.

1. Content Relevance

“Did you find the content of the session relevant?”

Answers: 5-point Likert Scale, “Not at all Relevant” to “Extremely Relevant”

Alternative Questions: “Was the content informative?”, “Was the content valuable?”

Follow-up questions: “Please rate the breadth of content.”, “Please rate the depth of content.”

Why it’s great: This question alone lets you know if the keynote or session content was on the mark. You can compare session scores against one another to rank the most to least relevant content to inform your content syndication efforts post event, or content planning for next time.

2. Speaker Quality

“Please rate the quality of the speaker as a session leader.”

Answers: 5-point Likert Scale, “Poor” to “Excellent”

Alternative Question: “Did the speakers effectively engage and captivate the audience?”

Why it’s great: This question helps gauge whether or not a speaker was a good presenter and engaged the audience in a meaningful way. It contributes to decisions on inviting speakers to participate in future events, or provides them valuable feedback to improve on for next time.

3. Speaker Knowledge

“How would you rate the speaker’s knowledge and expertise of the session topic and materials?”

Answers: 5-point Likert Scale, “Poor” to “Excellent”

Alternative Question: “Did the speaker(s) effectively communicate their ideas and insights?”

Why it’s great: This question helps gauge speaker expertise in the subject matter, and their perceived value to the audience.

4. Engagement / Interactivity

“Were there opportunities for audience participation or Q&A?

Answers: 5-point Likert Scale, “Strongly Disagree” to “Strongly Agree”

Alternative Question: “Were you able to engage with the speakers and ask questions or share your insights?”

Why it’s great: Nobody likes just a talking head. It’s important to foster learning through creating opportunities to engage and interact with speakers or content to reinforce understanding. This question give you a sense of whether the session was truly engaging and interactive, or not.

By using these core four questions on your keynote and session surveys, you’ll have a quick diagnostic view for your event. This will help you understand how session content aligned with attendee needs and expectations, as well as how speakers performed. Leveraging this data can help in future content planning, agenda creation, and experience design. It can also help identify which speakers to bring back to future events, and corrective actions you can put in place to improve the event moving forward. For more great content on event surveys, be sure to check out Event Survey Best Practices and Attendee Survey Best Practices.

The Event Attendee Survey is the final report card on all your efforts to create a meaningful and memorable experience for your target audiences. It’s also a key indicator of whether or not you’ve achieved your business, brand, marketing and sales objectives.

According to a study by Cvent, event organizers who use surveys to collect feedback are 2.7 times more likely to report increased attendee satisfaction. It’s no wonder so many put so much stock in creating and deploying a useful post-event attendee survey. Here are 10 core questions to get you started.

1. Overall Experience

“Please rate your overall experience with Experiential Event.”

Answers: 5-point Likert Scale, “Poor” to “Excellent”

Follow-up questions: “What worked well?” / “What didn’t work well?” Alternatively, “Favorite part of the event?” / “Least favorite part of the event?” with open text fields.

Why it’s great: It helps event marketers understand attendees’ perception of the overall experience from top to bottom. It also helps identify strengths and weaknesses, as well as attendee needs and expectations. This can provide organizers with valuable insights that can be used to improve events and design experiences that better meet the needs and expectations of their target audiences.

2. Net Promoter Score (NPS)

“How likely are you to recommend Experiential Event to a business associate or colleague?”

Answers: 10-point scale. Total Promoters (9-10 score) – Total Detractors (1-6 score) / Total Responders (1-10 score) * 100 (for percentage)

Scoring: Rage -100 – +100. <0 = Poor, 0-10 = Fair, 11-30 = Good, 31-50 = Excellent, 51+ = Outstanding

Why it’s great: NPS provides a simple and standardized way to measure attendee loyalty and satisfaction over time. By tracking NPS scores, companies can identify trends and areas for improvement, as well as track the effectiveness of event adjustments aimed at improving attendee satisfaction.

In addition, NPS is often used as a benchmark to compare a an event’s performance against other events in the portfolio, competitors events, or industry events. This can help companies identify areas where they may be falling behind and focus their efforts on improving those areas to gain a competitive advantage.

3. Relevance

“How relevant is Experiential Event to your work?”

Answers: 5-point Likert Scale, “Not at all relevant” to “Extremely relevant”

Why it’s great: Relevance questions provide insights into attendee needs and interests, as well as the effectiveness of content and experiences at the event. Relevance questions can also be asked at the individual session level to fine-tune content offerings.

4. Value

“Considering your reasons for attending, what is your rating of Experiential Event in terms of the value you received compared to the time and money you spent?”

Answers: 5-point Likert Scale, “Poor” to “Excellent”

Why it’s great: Just because an event is relevant, it doesn’t mean it was valuable. By asking attendees to rate the value they received from attending the event, organizers can gain valuable insights into how attendees perceive the cost-benefit ratio of the event. This information can be used to adjust pricing or to make changes to the event content or activities to ensure that attendees perceive the event as a good value.

5. Event Effectiveness

This is typically a two-part question which ranks reasons for attendee participation against the event’s ability to deliver against each area.

“Please rate the importance of the following reasons for attending Experiential Event.”
These reasons are pre-determined and may include things like “Networking Opportunities”, “Education”, “Access to Experts”, “Ability to Identify New Partners or Suppliers”, etc.

“How Satisfied were you with Experiential Event in meeting each of these reasons you rated highly important“

Answers: 5-point Likert Scale, “Not at all important” to “Extremely important” / “Not at all satisfied” to “Extremely satisfied”

Why it’s great: By examining importance against satisfaction for each area, event planners can identify gaps which areas to prioritize focus on in the event, as well as understand where there are gaps in event performance for each area for continuous improvement moving forward.

6. Content Breadth and Depth

Another two-part question which gauges breadth of content against depth of content to ensure event content meets attendee expectations based on their organizational role.

How do you feel about the depth of content at Experiential Event?

How do you feel about the breadth of content at Experiential Event?

Answers: 3-point Scale, “Not broad / deep enough” to “Too broad / deep””

Why it’s great: This series of questions can help meet attendee expectations based on their roles, and how they perceive the content of the event. By plotting the depth and breadth of content on a quadrant chart (breadth on the x-axis / Depth on the y-axis), you can have a visual representation of how on the mark you were with overall event content. From here, you can use the session surveys to understand exactly where you were successful or not, and develop a content action plan that gets you closer to center.

7. Content Effectiveness (Familiarity)

“As a result of Experiential Event, How familiar are you with content / product / solution / process / company, etc.?“

Answers: 5-point Likert Scale, “Not at all familiar” to “Extremely familiar”

Why it’s great: This is a simple gauge to measure message retention. especially powerful when paired with a pre-event survey asking a similar question. Can also be paired with a simple quiz to “test” attendees on their knowledge if you want to confirm message and content impact on attendee knowledge.

8. Operational Elements

Using a similar approach as Event Effectiveness, this question rates the performance of each operational element of the event.

“Please rate the each of the following operational elements of Experiential Event.”
Operational elements may include things like “Registration”, “Event Communications”, “Event App”, “Hotel Availability”, “Way-finding”, “Transportation”, “F&B”, “Help Desk”, etc.

Answers: 5-point Likert Scale, “Poor” to “Excellent”

Why it’s great: This question gives you a targeted approach to identifying which elements of the event may have impacted overall attendee experience. Using this data will help identify specific areas of improvement for future events.

9. Future Attendance

“How likely are you to attend Experiential Event next year?”

Answers: 5-point Likert Scale, “Definitely will not attend” to “Definitely will attend”

Why it’s great: Give a sense of the impact the event make across attendee profiles. Can be used as one input to forecast future attendance. Secondary indicator of attendee satisfaction and value.

10. Future Intent

“How likely are you to consider / use / purchase / apply / reach out / etc. X as a result of Experiential Event?”

Answers: 5-point Likert Scale, “Not at all likely” to “Extremely likely”

Why it’s great: Major indicator of performance against business objectives. Especially valuable when paired with hard metrics like pipeline influence, velocity, or value.

Of course, the questions you ask on a post-event survey are virtually limitless. It’s important to note that the shorter the survey, the more likely attendees are to complete it, and the more accurate the results tend to be. This core set of questions is an excellent place to start. For information on event survey best practices, please check out Event Survey Best Practices: How to Get the Data You Need.