When searching for an event venue word-of-mouth and past experiences tend to lead the way to a final decision.
While those methods have their merits, they can easily lead you down the wrong path with missing information or someone else’s tainted experience. To zero in on the perfect venue it’s best to start with your guests’ preferences gathered from last year’s post event survey.
Surveys can provide your team a wealth of information from which to plan future events. To get the most information from your post event survey incorporate a few questions into your survey that specially address issues that came up during the event, then dig deeper to get a general understanding of how your choice of venue affected your guests’ impressions. Below are a few questions to get you started.
What is the most important aspect in deciding whether to attend an event?
Beginning your survey with this multiple-choice question will put parameters around the rest of the information you uncover, giving you a hint of what concerned your past guests the most and whether or not they will attend your next event.
Rank items numerically and, depending on your event’s requirements, you might include answer choices like location preferences, transportation style, conveniences and amenities
Do venue reviews affect your decision to attend the next event
Guests may have prior knowledge of the venue, which could affect their decision to attend your event.
Ask them for a simple “yes” or “no” question about their previous knowledge of the venue, and if the answer is “yes,” ask for a source (was it an online review or a friend, co-worker, or personal experience), then follow it up with a ranking question to find out just how much it affected their decision to attend.
Venue location
Offer guests a simple one click question where they can either provide their zip code or the number of miles they’ve traveled to be there.
Stick to five or six choices in ranges in miles, including “Other” and a comment box to capture those who’ve traveled from outside your immediate area. This provides you with a general idea of the radius you should stay in when you begin looking for your next venue.
Venue Convenience
You don’t want to inconvenience any guests, so a simple multiple choice question with options like “car” or “public transportation” can tell you if you need to improve parking, or accessibility to bus stops, cabs or other driving services, e.g., “Will your venue be able to handle a line of cars waiting to pick up guests?”
Another area to explore on your survey are your guests’ opinions of the time and date of the event. It’s is a simple way to learn how you can make next year’s event easier for your guests to attend.
What services do you expect in a venue
A question concerning the services and amenities offered by the venue will oftentimes tell you a lot about the needs of your guests.
Offer a multiple choice question where guests’ can choose venue features like free WiFi, a business center, hotel rooms, or a restaurant and bar.
What was their opinion of the venue space
Getting your guests’ impressions of the venue space and layout will tell you if you nailed the right feeling for the event. This question can be a simple “Agree” or “Disagree” ranking question with a comment box available to further explain their answers.
Take the guesswork out of the research for the perfect venue with revealing survey questions from the people you want to please most; your guests. By incorporating a few venue-targeted questions into a short survey, your search will automatically be narrowed down to a place that can provide the right atmosphere for a successful event.
