Start with the question that decides everything
The first question is always attendance: will you be there? Everything else depends on it, so nothing else should come before it — not a greeting paragraph, not a name field the system already knows. Offer clear choices in the guest’s words: “Yes, I will be there”, “Sorry, I cannot make it”, and, where it helps you, “Not sure yet”. A guest who says no should be thanked and finished in one step; asking a decliner for their meal choice is a sign the form was not thought through.
If the event has several parts — ceremony and reception, conference days, a dinner after the talks — ask attendance per part. “Yes” to a wedding means very different numbers if half the guests only come to the evening.
Party size and the names of plus-ones
If the guest may bring others, ask how many, up to the allowance you set for that guest, and then ask for each companion’s name. A number alone is enough for a caterer and useless for a door, a badge or a seating plan. Ask the companion questions — meal, allergies, sessions — once per person, so a couple’s two different allergies do not end up in one note.
Children deserve their own count and, for a meal, their age group, because children’s portions and high chairs are planned separately.
Meals, allergies and dietary requirements
Keep the meal choice and the dietary need as two questions. A meal choice is a preference among the options you offer; an allergy is a safety matter that the kitchen must handle whatever the guest chose. Offer a list of common requirements to tick — vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, no pork, halal, kosher, lactose-free, nut allergy — and always a free text field for detail and severity: “nut allergy, carries an adrenaline pen” is information the kitchen needs; “nuts” is not enough.
Questions that depend on the event
Beyond the basics, the right questions come from the kind of event and what you will actually organise. Ask only what you will use.
- Sessions or workshops: which ones, if rooms have limited seats.
- Days: which days, for festivals and multi-day conferences.
- Transport: whether the guest needs the shuttle, and from where and when.
- Accommodation: whether they need a room in the hotel block, and which nights.
- Arrival time: roughly when, for receptions where guests arrive over hours.
- Company and job title: for business events, badges and the report.
- Press: publication and whether they need a photographer’s pass.
- A song request or a message for the couple: for weddings, if you will use it.
Accessibility, asked with care
Ask an open, respectful question rather than a checklist of conditions: “Is there anything we can arrange to make the event easier for you to attend?” Guests then tell you what matters — step-free access, a seat near the stage, a quiet room, a sign language interpreter, a companion who needs a free place — without having to label themselves. Make it optional, and make sure the answer reaches the people who will act on it: the venue, the floor team, the door.
Consent questions, kept separate
Some questions are not about the event but about what you may do with the guest’s data: photographs that may be published, being contacted about future events, having details shared with a sponsor. Each is its own question, unticked by default, worded plainly, and never a condition for attending. Bundling them into one “I agree” box, or ticking them in advance, makes the consent worthless and, in many countries, unlawful.
What not to ask
Every field you add is one more reason to leave the form unfinished, and every piece of personal data you collect is something you then have to protect. Leave out anything you already know, anything you will not act on, and anything sensitive that the event does not genuinely need.
- The guest’s name and email address, if the invitation was personal — you already have them.
- Date of birth, identity numbers or home address, unless a venue or authority requires them.
- Gender, unless it changes a practical arrangement such as shared rooms.
- Why someone is not coming.
- Questions “for later” that no one has a plan to use.
Question order and conditional questions
Order the form from what decides to what refines: attendance, party size and names, meals and allergies, event-specific choices, accessibility, consent, then a free note at the end. Group questions about one person together, and put the optional ones last so a guest in a hurry can stop early with the important answers given.
Conditional questions keep a thorough form short. Show the meal question only to those who said yes, the companion fields only to those bringing someone, the pick-up time only to those who need the shuttle. Each guest then sees just the questions that apply to them. In Winglark you can add your own questions to a reply form and make a question appear only when an earlier answer calls for it, and every answer lands on the guest’s record.