 Feedback Loop:
Responses to Your Responses!
James Woodard, Conference and Publications Coordinator
James Woodard Consulting
It was my distinct pleasure to serve as Conference Coordinator for the 2007 VAEYC Fall Conference. Thank you so much to all of you who offered such positive and encouraging feedback on the post-conference online survey. Thank you also to the VAEYC Executive Committee for extending the opportunity for me to be the Conference Coordinator for the 2008, 2009, and 2010 conferences as well.
As part of my strategy for the 2007 VAEYC conference, I worked to bring the registration process online. Some interesting statistics:
- 56% of this year's attendees registered online, and of those individuals who answered the post-conference online survey, 100% said that they'd register online again for future conferences.
- Only 25% of the attendees who registered online required follow-up from me, and usually it was something simple like accidentally double-enrolling, or forgetting to enter a VAEYC membership ID.
- On the flip side, a staggering 75% of attendees who mailed in their registration required follow-up from me, most often because their course offerings were already full.
This survey comment sums it up well: "WOW! I was so impressed to be able to select a workshop and find out real-time if there was space! It was so easy..I am not computer savvy... I can't imagine an easier method!"
I was curious to hear what prevented more of you from registering online. 86% of survey respondents who mailed in their registrations said that they needed to pay by check, and that is what prevented them from using the online setup. I'm taking that suggestion very seriously, and working to find a way to include checks and purchase orders as payment methods for online registration for this year.
There was a lot of feedback about the length of the day, and particularly about the length of lunch. To that, I can only respond with "I can only do so much!" It takes a great deal of time and careful orchestration to feed 350 people in one sitting. Anyone remember the lunchtime snafus in Stowe the year before? If you finished eating quickly and were ready-to-roll right away, remember that there are a lot of behind-the-scenes logistics that are taking place all the time. Take some time to check out the vendors, catch up with colleagues, or kick back and relax. With a crowd as large as we are, we can only move so fast! I will continue to do my best to tighten up the timeline, but I do ask for your understanding. This is a BIG event!
I very much appreciate the full range of feedback from all of you who took the time to respond. If you have thoughts you'd like to share as I begin to plan this year's event, I definitely want to hear from you. And hey, we're always looking for volunteers to make the day run more smoothly! See you in October?
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