So, I spend a couple of weeks after the annual conference
tallying the scores that our attendees give for each lecture they attended. This is very valuable information for
me. It helps me decide who to put on my
high priority invitation list, and provides overall insights into what our
conference attendees think of their learning experience, and other things about
the meeting: the venue, the food, the
social events. I compose a letter to
each faculty member, including their overall average score and a sampling of comments
from their audience. We have great speakers
but it takes a lot to get up and talk in front of over 100 people! Fear of public speaking is sited as second
only to fear of death! So I appreciate
it when attendees offer constructive comments and kindness in their remarks.
There is a second evaluation form that we ask attendees to
fill out; more about what they want from a conference, their thoughts on the
meeting space, and the like. This form
also includes demographics about our attendees: their location, type of work,
reason for attending. As I read through
the 303 evaluations I received, I saw trends in the comments, some inspiring
ideas and some suggestions that I would like to reply to in a general way.
Forty percent of our attendees preferred resort properties
for our conference location, followed by urban locations then family
destinations. But many of the same
attendees who checked off resort properties commented that the dining options
on-site were too expensive, and it was not convenient to get to the downtown
area for less expensive dining. The quandary
is that often resorts are more isolated and they are likely to have limited
dining options on site. To achieve an
abundance of choices for dining in walking distance, an urban hotel is the best
bet. We try to alternate between each
type of meeting venue, to provide variety over time.
Some attendee comments that I would like to address:
“Have a social event or lunch with people grouped by
regions so we can meet other technologists from our area”. This is a
great idea! We already have a special
interest section lunch, where people can meet others with a common
interest. So it would be easy to
designate regions at tables for another lunch or come up with a way to find
colleagues from your region at a social event.
“Include an opportunity for students to meet and greet.” This is
also a great idea. We had 11 students
attending this year. It could be as
simple as helping them find each other with a sign on a table for them too!
“Add IONM hands-on workshops” (One suggesting a needle placement workshop. Ouch!).
We don’t have medical simulation mannequins and I can’t imagine anyone
volunteering to be the subject for this workshop! Many of the aids we use to monitor cases
during surgery are not something that an awake subject would want to
experience! Any ideas for a non-invasive
IONM workshop would be welcome!
“Include dinners in the conference program as well as
breakfast and lunch” This one is also very difficult. While it would provide a convenient meal to
attendees on a resort property, the reason we avoid serving an evening meal is
because of the expense. The average hotel
meeting continental breakfast (we are talking rolls, juice and coffee) costs
about $24 per person. The coffee
at break costs 80 to 90 dollars per gallon.
A sandwich lunch costs $35 per person. A plated or buffet dinner is easily $60 per person. We would have to raise the registration fee
significantly to cover that cost. So, we
try to keep costs down and limit evening food, and hope that attendees enjoy exploring
the local dining scene.
“Offer full day Board Prep Courses for EEG and other
topics”. We try to offer
courses and lectures that have broad appeal.
The profile of the average ASET conference attendee is not an entry
level person, but a technologist with quite a few years in the field, who has
multiple credentials and is seeking CEUs for recertification. These folks are
seeking learning challenges and new information. So we provide lectures with excellent
clinical information, of help to both the beginner and the seasoned
technologist. We welcome students and new technologists but technologists who
are entry level are less likely to have expenses paid by an employer and they
also have less income to spare, so cannot always come to the annual
conference. For our Board Prep
educational opportunities, we can offer a less expensive option by hosting
two-day seminar courses separate from the annual conference. We can use hospital conference space instead
of expensive hotel meeting space and find nearby inexpensive hotel rooms to
help our members save money.
Some comment “shorter breaks” and others “longer breaks” The exhibit hall breaks are one hour long to
allow people to explore exhibits and talk with vendors. We could not put on a conference without the
financial support of our vendors. In
return for that support, they appreciate the opportunity to network with
potential customers and show you their latest innovations. We also have our poster abstracts on display
during breaks in the exhibit hall. This
qualifies as continuing education so what many attendees don’t know is that
they get one CEU for each hour long exhibit hall break.
Chatting with a poster author can be a great learning experience
“Spread conference out over four days” We had
four-day conferences until 2012. We
decided to try the compressed three day program because we heard from members
that they had difficulty getting extra time off to be at a conference for four
days, challenges covering lab services or just being away from home. In general, we have received very positive
feedback about our three day format.
I appreciate all of the comments I receive. It helps us create a new and better
experience every year. I just wanted to
take some time to explain why some things are done the way they are. As we plan for next year, we will take all
comments to heart and try to bring you a new and exciting event!
See ya in Weston, Florida!
