Convene - February 2016

Average response rate: 41. 4 percent
7 If you use after-session digital feedback, what is your
response rate (i.e., what percentage of your attendees
submit feedback)?
8 One difficulty conference organizers experience is
low response rates for getting feedback from conference
attendees. What has your organization done to
significantly increase your response rates?
9 Education sessions are designed to help people learn.
Which of the following results do you care about the most?
(Choose three.)

730+270= 73% Whether audience members
were able to successfully apply
what they learned to their work.

490+510= 49% Whether audience members
were able to help their organiza-
tions based on using what they
had learned.

390+610= 39% Whether audience members
had practical insights during a
session.

350+650= 35% Whether audience members
were able to learn the key
concepts taught.

230+770= 23% Whether audience members
were able to remember key
concepts when they returned to
their work.

Only 20 percent do not collect data in this way. While one respondent said, “We’ve learned you can’t do it at the end of the conference — you have to do it in the moment,” that experience doesn’t seem to be shared by most of our survey takers, whose responses indicate that after-session digital feedback is as effective in generating responses as end-of-session feedback.

In addition to making reminder announcements, respondents said that tying completed evaluations to attendees’ ability to get continuing-education credit for attending the conference, and distributing the survey on site as well as after the event help to encourage participation. According to one respondent, posting survey results to the conference website “so people can see the data and know it’s important to give an opinion” has also proven effective.

Of course, response rates vary depending on the nature
of the meeting. “Our attendees spend three to six days
with the same instructor,” one respondent wrote, “so it
makes sense to have attendees complete the survey during
the morning of the last day of the conference.”
And incentives were often mentioned as an important
piece of the puzzle. (See “Sweetening the Pot,” p. 68, for
some creative enticements.)

Seventy-three percent of respondents said they valued whether their participants are able to successfully apply what they learned to their work, which Thalheimer found encouraging. Unfortunately, “the missing link here is that people don’t seem to see the importance of remembering,” he said. Only 23 percent said this outcome was important to them.