[Foss4g2009] Conference evaluations and feedback

[Paul Ramsey]

One survey that *must* be done, is the marketing/attendee survey, and
it should be integrated right into the registration process.

We want to find out
* how they learned of the conference
* what kind of attendee they are (nerd, manager, bigshot, public, private, etc)

P.

On Sun, Oct 12, 2008 at 2:34 PM, Cameron Shorter
<cameron.shorter at gmail.com> wrote:
> Dave, you have lots of good suggestions here.
> Would you like to copy them into the Lessons Learned?
> I'm not sure how we make sure it gets into 2009. Maybe we should incorporate
> into the program when we start building it.
>
> Dave Patton wrote:
>>
>> With the FOSS4G model that is now in place,
>> it seems clear that as soon as one year's
>> FOSS4G ends, the LOC for the next year's
>> conference wants to "know how it went".
>>
>> In 2007, it was months before the conference
>> and workshop/lab evaluation results were
>> available, and the final financial report.
>>
>> Perhaps we should try and plan for getting
>> evaluation results 'quickly' this year.
>>
>> Some thoughts:
>> A)
>> During the registration process, ask people
>> to opt in to doing a non-anonymous evaluation
>> post conference. "non-anonymous" because it would
>> be tied to their registration. Post conference,
>> have a 'short' timeframe(1 month) for people to
>> complete the online evaluation. Send them 3 email
>> reminders(e.g. 1 week after the conference, 1 week
>> to go, and 48 hours to go).
>> B)
>> For people who don't opt in, provide a paper
>> evaluation form in their conference satchel.
>> Have them collected and entered into the same
>> online system within 1 month. This option should be
>> discouraged, because with the online opt-in
>> system, the questions don't have to be finalized
>> until the conference is over, so they can be
>> adapted to how the conference unfolds.
>> We could even decide to do "online only" for 2009,
>> but it does have some risks.
>> C)
>> Some simple methods could be built into the opening
>> plenary, AGM, and closing plenary to get some form
>> of 'evaluations'. Could be things like "show of hands",
>> or something perhaps a bit more accurate such as
>> "exit this door for yes, that door for no" or using
>> colored bits of paper deposited into ballot boxes
>> with signs and matching colors, and using a digital
>> scale to weigh the ballot box contents.
>> D)
>> Most of the monies will have been spent/committed
>> and collected/promised before the actual start of
>> the conference, so have the PCO prepare a preliminary
>> profit & loss statement "just before" the conference.
>> It can be given to the OSGeo board for their meeting
>> (as a 'heads up'), and can be given to the 2010
>> organizers so they have a sense of how things went.
>>
>
>
> --
> Cameron Shorter
> Geospatial Systems Architect
> Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
> Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254
>
> Think Globally, Fix Locally
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