Feedback is one of the most important things for me. I like to know personally where I can improve and where I am succeeding (I am a millennial after all). Compliments and criticism are critical to growing and moving forward in one’s career. Without hearing from supervisors and peers where you can grow, you will never move up in your career. Just as feedback it important to me, I believe it is critical to the success of my clients to hear from members.
In association management, we spend months planning conferences and meetings. After meetings are done, it is easy to wrap everything up and start planning for the next meeting. But before you start planning right away you need to make sure to receive the proper feedback from attendees and vendors so you can always keep improving your event. I believe the best way is to conduct surveys.
Tips to make your survey successful:
- Send the survey quickly after the meeting. If you wait too long, the feedback will not be as meaningful.
- Make sure to emphasize the importance of the survey. You want to make sure attendees know you will use the results to plan future meetings.
- Make the survey brief – no one wants to fill out a 30 minute long survey. You will loose a lot of results and members will be less likely to take your evaluations in the future.
- Ask questions in a logical order. Your survey should be pain free for attendees and vendors to take.
Finally, listen to the results! To be successful, you have to continue to change and develop your meetings.
