When I reread my previous evaluation I started off by evaluating the mini conference but ended by evaluating the course. Must have been post evaluation amnesia so will try again.
1. What went well and what didn't go well - I think the general flow of the session was logical and easy to understand and follow. The subject was relevant to our course and was applicable to all participants despite the platform being used in a health organisation. This point is important if different types of participants will be attending We ran to time nand I felt we were not rushed or pushed for time. I know at one stage Malcolm was a little worried we were running late but I was able to reassure him through a chat message seen only by the staff which made it easy to manage. I had watched the other facilitated sessions throughout the course to see what time they kept and it generally followed the same plan of 5 - 10 minute introduction / house keeping, 20 - 30 minute presentation followed by questions and summary.
What didn't go well - we didn't advertise soon enough or wide enough. This was due to not finalising our topic exactly till the last minute and therefore were unable to put out the correct information soon enough.
2. How the event was organised and promoted - adequate info, support & relevance. I felt there was enough information in the advertising although I found this hard to do on Twitter due to the word count. If I had my time again, I would just include my blog url so to redirect them to my site so they can check out the full details. This also provides extra traffic to my blog which is only a good thing. I don't think we advertised long enough or wide enough. I felt able to offer technical support as this was one of the biggest issues for me. I assisted a brand new user how to navigate from the start and she only managed to get on 2 minutes before we started. I didn't want to leave her so had a plan B if she was unable to access Elluminate and I had to go. As stated before I thought the session was relevant to the course and all our participants.
3. Event was managed & conducted smoothly - yes I think this occurred, in saying that, it felt like it did to me. I was very prepared, we had rehearsed and each of us had a back up plan for the other. I was obsessed with having a back up plan for everything - my OCD coming out with avengence.
4. Efforts were made to ensure participants knew where they were supposed to be and when and arranged technical support. Yes I felt that the course wiki and advertising details were quite explicit and we didn't seem to lose anyone that said that they would be coming. I noticed some groups asked for a reply to say if you were coming. This might have been a good idea, more so to alleviate us of the worry that potentially no one would turn up - now that would be awful.
5. How you set the stage, made introductions, remained neutral - I felt we could have done a little more introducing of ourselves to help people know who we were. I thought this was too brief. As for remaining neutral - I think this may have been easier had I not been involved with the subject matter that happened to be close to my heart at the time. I wonder what it would be like to faciliate an event that you knew nothing about?
6. Did you go round , draw closure and indicate where recordings would be? - I felt we went round and I kept a note of who had asked a question and the subject matter of that question. Malcolm did the summarising and I supported him in this. I thought it was good how Malcolm put over the chat box that people could interupt and ask a question or wait till the end a the beginning of the presentation. It intially felt peopel were a bit reluctant to engage and so I think this broke the ice a little. In the future I would like to go around everyone in the introductions and just to do a quick intro to get people in the right frame of mind to engage.
7. Feedback from the audience - was very positive. I liked how someone commented it was the first time she felt her voice /opinion was asked for which made me feel like I had really listened to the participants ( a skill I have been trying to improve).
8. How would you do things in the future? - overall the session went well, Just a few twicking things to do - advertising, general confidence with being able to solve IT problems, sorting out why I can not upload a power point presentation.
I enjoyed it and would do it again tommorrow.
I don't think there is any feedback I can give you that you haven't already heard from me. I do like your point about linking from Twitter to your blog post. This is a fabulous strategy that, as you say, sorts the problem of having too many words for Twitter, drives people to your blog and then you have a record of what you've done...and any comments/feedback that people give you.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to be in Brisbane 24th January - 14th February. Give me a bell if you'd like to meet up for a chat :)
ReplyDeleteGreat Sarah, would love to catch up with you in January. Just give me a call. We are not going away for Xmas this year so will be home all holidays.
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