I have made many many feedback forms for events I have run or been a part of. Here are some simple heuristics of mine, that I write for others' to learn from and for my collaborators in the future. Most of my events have had between 50 and 500 people in them, that's the rough range I have in mind.

1. The default format for any question is a mandatory multiple-choice, then an optional text box

Most of your form should be 1-10 questions! (e.g. "How was the food, from 1-10?") Then next to it give people an optional space to provide additional text.

This looks really clean in airtable, where the multiple-choice is on the left, and the optional text on the right. It doesn't take up more vertical space than the multiple choice alone!

All forms I make primarily look like a stack of these questions.

This is because you can get a lot of signal cheaply through getting ~100 people giving a 1-10 on how the food was, or how the talks were, or some other thing. An average of 7/10 is very different from an average of 4/10, and the latter suggests you screwed up and [...]

---

First published:
November 29th, 2025

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/iuMrcTJfRWgjT9DhY/ben-s-10-tips-for-event-feedback-forms

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---

Images from the article:

This looks really clean in airtable, where the multiple-choice is on the left, and the optional text on the right. It doesn't take up more vertical space than the multiple choice alone!

Two survey questions with 1-10 and 1-7 rating scales about FTX event impact.

Form asking which attendees improved or worsened LessOnline experience.

Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

Collect Social Security Early & Invest in the Market?

Retirement Starts Today

Listener question: Risk parity and alternatives in retirement

The AI-powered Podcast Player