The Survey Strikes Back: What Do Organizers REALLY Think of Your Speaker Survey?

Backstage with Event Organizers: Leia, Han Solo, and Darth Vader on Surveys

If Darth Vader were an event organizer… 

One wrong move and you’d be Force-choked right off the stage.

That’s the kind of danger we’re diving into in this week’s Backstage look at what event organizers really think about speaker surveys.

And who better to guide us through than our trio of anonymous insiders: Darth Vader, Princess Leia, and Han Solo.  A trio ready to take on the galaxy!

Their opinions are 100% real, and the lessons you can learn are invaluable.

So, let’s take a deeper look at the feedback we received from our three (anonymous) heroes.

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Maybe it’s the ominous mask. Maybe it’s the wheezy breathing. Either way, Darth Vader HATES surprises — especially survey surprises

That’s why he said this about speakers using surveys:

“If you’re going to use a survey, you need to be clear with me about how you’re going to use it.  We need to come to an agreement on that.  Otherwise, I really do get pi$$ed!”

Yes, he really used those words!

Darth explained that he already struggles to get audience members to fill out the regular event surveys – even going as far as offering $100 Amazon gift cards to lucky winners who submit their feedback.

“I try to incentivize that as much as possible, so I don’t like when the audience is bombarded with even more surveys to fill out from the speakers too.”

He explained that event organizers are always asking people to “drop a business card” or “scan a QR code” and it can leave the audience overwhelmed and skeptical of any event-related emails they get – even the important ones that Darth sends out.

“It ends up reflecting poorly on the event as a whole.  It reflects poorly on us when audience members are spammed with 500 emails because they entered to win an iPod, gave out their business cards, and downloaded free guides from six different speakers.” 

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Leia & Han: Transparency and Trade-Offs

Our second two event organizers had somewhat similar feedback to Darth’s… perhaps a little less angry.

Han Solo is fine with surveys as long as they offer value:

“I’m fine with speakers asking the audience to fill out a survey or scan a QR code.  But there needs to be something that is offered in return – something special that the organizer can’t provide.”

Han emphasized that he also wants his audience members to fill out the broader event survey before they leave the venue.  This is very important.

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Princess Leia explained the importance of transparency:

“If they’re opting into something, they need to know what they’re opting into.  What are you going to do with their email?  What will they receive from you after the survey?  It needs to be pre-vetted with me.”

You can do this by explaining exactly what will happen after they fill out the survey.  For instance, you might say that you will possibly use their comments as testimonials.  If they have an event coming up, you will likely reach out to talk about it.  Or, they can expect a value-packed email from you once per week.