How to choose the date, venue and programme from the answers

A planning survey is a survey before an event whose result is not opinions but decisions: when, where, for how long and with what programme. That is why most questions offer options that can be added up.

• Date: in the second question fill in only dates that you have agreed in advance with the venue. The winner is the date with the most votes among the people who answered I will definitely come or I will probably come in the first question.
• Length and days: read both questions together. When the majority want working days and one day at most, a weekend event of several days will reduce attendance, however good the programme is.
• Venue: the question on travel distance sets the radius in which to look. Then judge the tips from the open question only within this radius. When many people make their attendance conditional on shared transport, include a coach in the budget.
• Programme: everyone chooses up to three options, so the order by number of votes is directly the order of priorities. The first two to three places form the backbone of the programme.
• Guests: answers with a partner and children change the type of venue and of programme. Decide whether the event will be with guests before you book the venue.

Send people the results of the vote together with the invitation. Those who see that their vote carried weight are more likely to come and will fill in the next survey more willingly.

How to send the survey to participants from Quanda

1. Create a new survey in Quanda and enter the thirteen questions of the template. The help article Creating and setting up an online survey describes the procedure.
2. Fill in the places in brackets: the name or season of the event and three specific dates that you have agreed in advance with the venue.
3. In the Distribution step switch the survey status to Ready to use and choose Distribute by e-mail, the answers are then saved to the contacts.
4. Send the campaign two to three months before the event and state in the e-mail the date until which you collect answers. Ten days is usually enough.
5. Send one reminder with the closing date to those who do not answer within a week. More reminders already feel like pressure.

How to evaluate participants' answers

The attendance estimate is the number of people you go to book the venue with. It is based on the first question and is made more precise only by the binding registration in the invitation.

1. Open Analysis of answers in the survey. For each question you see the counts and shares of the individual options.
2. Estimate attendance from the first question: the answers I will definitely come plus roughly half of the answers I will probably come.
3. Use the advanced filter to show only those who will definitely or probably come, and only in this selection read the dates, length, travel distance and programme.
4. For food, add up the individual restrictions and list the answers from the Other restriction or allergy field. Pass the list to the caterer.
5. Download the results as a PDF in the Final report and attach them to the event proposal for the management.

How to use the answers in the invitation and at the event

An invitation to a company event is an e-mail that should turn non-binding interest into confirmed attendance. It works best when it builds on what people themselves said in the survey.

• State in the invitation how many people voted and what won: the date, the venue and the main points of the programme.
• To people who answered It depends on the date and programme, send an invitation with the programme in first place. They decide by it.
• In the survey automations set the Add tag action, for example Summer event, survey completed. By the tag you then address separately those who filled in the survey and those who did not.
• Go through the tips for special guests and the ideas from the last question with the management. One fulfilled idea, where you say at the event whose it was, does more than an expensive programme.
• After the event send a short feedback survey of three questions and save the results for planning next year's event.