As the fintech circuit hits its stride with Money20/20 Europe about to kick off followed by SXSW and London Tech Week, we’re not just entering a season of insight and innovation, we’re stepping into the annual ritual of the post-event survey.
You know the one. It lands in your inbox just as the plane wheels lift or your train departs and with your mind on your own bed, you delete or worse – leave on read.
Because let’s be honest, how many of us actually fill it in? A rule of thumb is usually that the larger the event, the lower the feedback counts. And that’s mainly due to a lack of engagement from event owners as a focus turns to brands rather than people.
Let’s take a minute and picture the show floor. It’s day two of a fintech mega-conference. You’ve walked half a marathon, sat through five back-to-back panels, swapped business cards, dodged sales pitches, maybe even squeezed in a half-decent coffee. Is filling in a survey really on your mind? Or are you thinking of your comfy shoes and who you need to email back first.
I followed my nose and posted by own poll on LinkedIn. The highlights? Out of 5,000+ followers a whopping 26 of you filled it in (thank you). A little lower than most organisations but certainly not out of the realms of possibility. The results were intriguing:
- 38 per cent of attendees never complete post-event surveys.
- 23 per cent do it every time they’re asked.
- 31 per cent respond when prompted or reminded.
So yes, the good news is that with a nudge, over 50 per cent of delegates will give feedback. But peel back another layer and it gets interesting. Only four per cent said they fill out a survey to share a compliment, and just four per cent to share criticism. The rest? It’s anyone’s guess. Maybe apathy. Maybe they just forgot.
Which begs the question: if feedback is so important, why is so little of it useful?
Rethinking feedback collection: A show floor reality check
Surveys are part of the ritual for event organisers but often go down as background noise. For delegates, they’re just one more thing in a packed day. The reality is though that those results are gold, or at least they should be. Too often, the data collected ends up as a spreadsheet that’s skimmed once and is then archived for next year.
But the tide is starting to shift. Smart organisers are beginning to understand that asking the right question at the right moment makes all the difference. Imagine replacing clunky post-event surveys with a single-button session rating as you leave the room. Or better yet, tapping a smiley face as you grab your coffee (it’s a shame that most of these instant impacts are mainly seen in bathrooms!) Feedback in context, not hours (or days) later when the buzz has faded.
Then there’s the gamification idea. What if leaving feedback earned you points toward a free pass next year? Or better seating in the keynote? A little incentive goes a long way when your inbox is overflowing and your attention is thin.
But it’s not all gimmicks. Some companies are genuinely reimagining what listening looks like. Fiserv, for example, has been using conversational AI to turn traditional customer surveys into two-way interactions, real dialogue instead of checkbox fatigue. The result? Sharper responses, better insights, and a reported 10-point jump in customer satisfaction. That same thinking, feedback as a conversation, not an audit, could easily be applied to events.
Technology is watching: shaping the next 12 months
It’s worth noting: your voice really can dictate what comes next. Fintech Week London, for instance, has started using real-time tools via Cvent to gather session feedback mid-event, not just post-show. They’re not just gathering data for the future, but tweaking experiences as they happen. Your quiet comment about a dodgy lunch queue or a top-notch moderator? It could actually influence what next year looks like.
Of course, the problem with feedback is that sometimes it can be too nice. I know of at least one event where real-time data was used to capture audience feedback on over two hundred speakers and only one received a negative review. Moreover, when the session was watched back there was nothing notably discerning about the person which brings us into a new and incredibly complicated realm of audience bias.
So maybe that’s the real takeaway. Not just for organisers but for attendees too. Don’t delve too deeply into the data but equally, justified feedback might be exactly what sharpens a good event to a great event or at least saves someone else from wasting an hour in a boring breakout next year.
Think back. When was the last time you actually filled in a survey? Did you feel strongly about something? Did a session surprise you? Or, and here’s a nostalgic one, can you still remember picking up an actual pen and scribbling in a feedback form on a clipboard? A golden oldie move and yet somehow, more deliberate. More real.
Wherever you’re headed this summer, don’t forget to lend your voice when asked. It’s needed.
