Convene - February 2016

12 Which ONE of the following is the most important
reason people come to your meetings/conferences:
13 What type of answer choices do you typically provide?
(Select the single most common type that you use.)

To network
To learn
To boost career
To select vendors/products
To enjoy location
Likert-like scales
Numeric scales
Answer choices that utilize
specific wording
Space for written comments
to open-ended questions
Other
35%

58%
4%
1%
3%
30%
56%
3%
8%
3%
34+58413
30+5638
11 For each of the items you indicated you successfully
measured in Question 10, describe how you did it.

Respondents who felt they were successful in measuring whether their attendees were able to learn key concepts taught did so through questions asked on the survey (for example, if the content matched their expectations based on its description), by asking attendees to state a few session takeaways, and through pre- and post-session questions using an audience-response system. “Only a few use quizzes and tests,” Thalheimer said, which is a more reliable way to assess learning.

Those who felt they were successful in measuring
whether their attendees had practical insights asked
attendees to name two things they had learned at the ses-
sion that they didn’t know before attending; whether they
intended to make any changes to their work, and if they
would like the organizer to contact them several months
after the conference to check on their progress; and how
hands-on group experiences assisted their learning. For
health-care meetings, participants were asked to self-eval-
uate: “Will information gained from this program result in
enhancing optimal patient care?”
As far as remembering key concepts and applying what
they learned, there were several mentions of post-event
surveys sent 15, 60, and 90 days after the event’s conclu-
sion. One respondent said the post-event survey specifi-
cally asks whether attendees made the changes they said
they would in the initial survey.

No surprises here: Respondents said the top reasons
people attend their conferences are to learn ( 58 percent)
and to network ( 35 percent).

The kind of answer options — Likert-like rating scales — that most respondents use in their feedback forms are actually the least helpful types of answer choices, Thalheimer said. (For their shortcomings, see “What’s Not to Like About Likert Scales?,” opposite page.)