[Events] getting people to fill out exit surveys

Wed Feb 12 23:32:27 UTC 2014

That reminds me somewhat of the sprint retrospectives we did at my last
job. At the end of the sprint (two weeks), we'd have a retrospective
meeting after the demo. We went around the table and ranked our experience
of the sprint on the faces of pain scale - 0 to 5, and then brought up what
worked well, what could have been better, and what we would continuing
doing, or fix, for the upcoming sprint.

This didn't take too long for my group since we were usually four or less.

On Wed, Feb 12, 2014 at 3:53 PM, Julia Evans <julia at jvns.ca> wrote:

> 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?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>>> Events at lists.openhatch.org
>>>>>> http://lists.openhatch.org/mailman/listinfo/events
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
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>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
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>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> sheila
>>>
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>>>
>>
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>
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-- 
sheila
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