[Events] getting people to fill out exit surveys

Wed Feb 19 02:56:59 UTC 2014

As someone who's taken online surveys, my honest response is that most
surveys do not help provide an accurate picture of the perception people
have from the event! I'm not suggesting revolutionizing the
after-event-survey-everyone market, but if the response rate is maybe 10%,
then either people loved it, hated it, or are too apathetic to respond.
Maybe folks don't like taking surveys rating someone/some-talk on a scale
of 1-5.

Just my $.02

On Wed, Feb 12, 2014 at 6:38 PM, Greg Wilson <
gvwilson at software-carpentry.org> wrote:

>  Hi all,
> Julia's right: we _always_ do a "what went right/what went wrong" as the
> last thing in the workshop.  If nothing else, it gives participants a
> chance to reflect on what they've learned, and instructors a chance to get
> feedback while their work is fresh in their own minds.  We're working hard
> to get people to fill in a post-survey that goes into more detail, but the
> response rates are presently hovering around 10% --- which I'm told is
> pretty good, but it's still disappointing.
> Cheers,
> Greg
>
> On 2014-02-12 4:53 PM, Julia Evans 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?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>  _______________________________________________
>>>>>> 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
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Greg Wilson
> Software Carpentry   http://www.software-carpentry.org/
> Mozilla Science Lab  http://mozillascience.org/
> @swcarpentry  |  @swcannounces  |  @mozillascience
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Events mailing list
> Events at lists.openhatch.org
> http://lists.openhatch.org/mailman/listinfo/events
>
>

-- 
JP Bader
Principal
Zavteq, Inc.
@lordB8r | jp at zavteq.com
608.692.2468
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openhatch.org/pipermail/events/attachments/20140218/22eb2534/attachment.html>