Post Event Considerations

Isn’t a Post-Event Web Survey Better?

Considerations for using a Post-Event web survey instead of an on-site survey for session evaluations.

• On-site measurement captures the immediate reaction of the attendee rather than the “considered” opinion of a post event survey.
• When responding to a post event survey, people often remember the good and minimize the less than good (human nature) which produces misleading results.
• It is often difficult to distinguish between sessions when responding to a post event survey taken days (or weeks) after the event even if we can remember which sessions were attended. The alternative is to track which sessions the person attended and provide a survey for each session. The on-site approach avoids the necessity of tracking who attended each session.
• When rating multiple sessions post event, a ranking phenomenon occurs. That is, we rank sessions against one another rather than rate a particular session. While this too is valuable, it is another dimension of event measurement that should be part of an overall measurement strategy.
• On-site evaluation forms are anonymous, thereby capturing more honest reactions. Attendees always suspect that on-line evaluations can be tracked back to the person (and they are often right) even when the survey says it’s anonymous.