[Events] getting people to fill out exit surveys

[Julia Evans]

Everyone at a Software Carpentry workshop has a red and a blue sticky note
to signal if they're having problems, and Greg has each person write a good
thing / a bad thing on the blue / red sticky notes at the end. Or something
they learned, and something that could have been better.

When I helped out at a SWC workshop with Greg he also went around the room
at the end and called on each person to say a good thing and a bad thing.

The sticky note approach is great because you don't have to go do a
separate survey afterwards -- it's integrated into the workshop and
everyone does it.

(correct me if I'm wrong, Greg)

Julia


On Wed, Feb 12, 2014 at 10:22 PM, Shauna Gordon-McKeon
<shaunagm at gmail.com>wrote:

> Good thought, Sheila.  I'm CCing Greg Wilson into the conversation, as
> he'll probably have a better answer to your question than I will.  (I
> volunteered at a Software Carpentry event a while ago but I've mostly
> forgotten what methods they use.)  Greg - we are discussing exit
> surveys/other feedback mechanisms and how to convince attendees to use
> them.  How does Software Carpentry manage this?
>
> (One thing I want to try is spending about five minutes at the start of
> the event talking about the importance of giving feedback to FOSS projects
> generally.  If anyone's interested in helping me craft a quick and
> hopefully amusing presentation/activity on the topic, let me know - I'm
> brainstorming over here: https://etherpad.mozilla.org/feedback-feedback)
>
>
>
> On Wed, Feb 12, 2014 at 4:02 PM, sheila miguez <shekay at pobox.com> wrote:
>
>> What is the participation % for software-carpentry bootcamps? I follow
>> their blog and they post recaps after events with examples of good things
>> and bad things from the comments. I wonder what method they use?
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Feb 12, 2014 at 2:58 PM, Tim McNamara <
>> paperless at timmcnamara.co.nz> wrote:
>>
>>> Something that can work well is an Etherpad/Google Doc/etc with an
>>> easy-to-type-in URL. Post the URL at the start of the day and invite people
>>> to add their thoughts as they're going along.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 13 February 2014 09:53, Carl Karsten <carl at nextdayvideo.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I attended a conference where you did not get your shirt until you had
>>>> filled out the survey.  I was busy, so I jammed thought the questions as
>>>> fast as I could thinking "I wish I had a little more time to give better
>>>> answers"
>>>>
>>>> how about:
>>>> When someone signs up for an event that agree to give feedback with the
>>>> threat that they will be sent an email every day reminding them until they
>>>> do.
>>>>
>>>> and if you really want to squeeze, email everyone the list of people
>>>> who are still outstanding "if you know these people, please encourage them
>>>> to fill out the survey."
>>>>
>>>> I didn't say it was a good idea.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, Feb 12, 2014 at 2:04 PM, Shauna Gordon-McKeon <
>>>> shaunagm at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> We've historically had a really hard time getting people to fill out
>>>>> exit surveys.  This is a problem, as it's one of only a few ways we have of
>>>>> finding out how events go and how to improve them.
>>>>>
>>>>> What do folks recommend?  Should we try to get folks to fill out
>>>>> surveys at the event, rather than afterwards?  (Maybe we could frame it as
>>>>> an open source contribution?)  Should we build in time for exit surveys
>>>>> during the event?  Offer prizes/rewards/stickers/thank yous for filling it
>>>>> out?  Is there language we could use to express how very much we would like
>>>>> people to complete it?
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Events mailing list
>>>>> Events at lists.openhatch.org
>>>>> http://lists.openhatch.org/mailman/listinfo/events
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Events mailing list
>>>> Events at lists.openhatch.org
>>>> http://lists.openhatch.org/mailman/listinfo/events
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Events mailing list
>>> Events at lists.openhatch.org
>>> http://lists.openhatch.org/mailman/listinfo/events
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> sheila
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Events mailing list
>> Events at lists.openhatch.org
>> http://lists.openhatch.org/mailman/listinfo/events
>>
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Events mailing list
> Events at lists.openhatch.org
> http://lists.openhatch.org/mailman/listinfo/events
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openhatch.org/pipermail/events/attachments/20140212/25bc94e5/attachment.html>