Feedback from participants and committee members is important. It helps you learn what worked well (and should remain the same) and what areas could be improved next time. Below are some tips for creating an effective event evaluation.
Question Guidelines
Ask satisfaction questions (Did you like the event? Would you attend again? etc.). Make sure you are only asking about thinks you could or would consider changing. Whether or not participants liked the weather doesn’t give you information you can use!
Questions that are on a rating scale are faster the analyze than open-ended questions, but open-ended questions can give you more depth. Consider which type of feedback you need.
Remember your questions should only ask about one thing. For example, “Did you like the food and sleeping arrangements?” asks about two things (food and sleeping arrangements). When participants answer the question, you will not know if they are responding about the food, the sleeping arrangements, or both!
The longer the evaluation takes, the fewer respondents will complete it. So be strategic in your question selection.
Analyzing Feedback
For questions with a rating scale, you can calculate the average rating or count the number of ratings at each level of the scale (i.e., the total ratings of “5,””4,””3,” etc. for “registration process”). Both methods will give you valuable information.
For open-ended questions, summarize the comments by topic. You could also sort the open-ended feedback into the following categories: positive comments, negative comments, general comments/suggestions, and ideas for the future.
Record your feedback summary and keep it with the event materials so the event committee can reference it the next time they run the event.
Example Evaluation Form
***coming summer 2025***