EVNT_1010_Lesson_7_presentation

Lesson 7: Evaluating an Event : 

Salt Lake Community College EVNT1010 Lesson 7: Evaluating an Event

Overview : 

Overview Purposes of evaluations Evaluation construction Evaluation delivery Types of data Evaluation review

Purposes of Evaluations : 

Purposes of Evaluations Collect data Review initiatives Services Goods Gather comments Verify attendee qualities Demographics Income (SEI – socioeconomic status) Gain feedback (live or static) Go faster/go slower Add this/don’t do this Access effectiveness Guide business decisions This worked, this did not Gauge loyalty Will my attendees return? Why or why not? Set benchmarks Snapshot of one point in time to compare to others Get new ideas Attendees have a lot to share, it is like a giant brainstorming session Set pricing What are your attendees willing to pay and for what? What do vendors expect for payment? What do speakers, entertainment, etc expect for payment and why? Collect market data Data that will tell you all about your target market Get information about the competition Least expensive way to find out what your target market thinks about your competition and how you can corner their market

Evaluation Construction : 

Evaluation Construction Software examples Survey Monkey Zoomerang Microsoft Word Activate “forms” best practice Microsoft Excel Use macros – best practice Microsoft Access Create an entry form – best practice Open Source software Cvent EnnectSurvey Custom Surveys

Evaluation Construction : 

Evaluation Construction Basics of Survey Construction Do not use biased or leading words/phrases Use a logical order Begin with general questions Move to more specific questions End with easy to answer more general questions Use mutually exclusive response categories In other words there should be CLEARLY different options if options are provided Be specific about what you want on open-ended questions. If you want to know about the variety of food offered at lunch then ask about the variety not the taste or how satisfying options were Don’t require answers to questions that are of a personal nature unless you really need the information When you might get a long list of responses estimate the top 90% of responses and cover the rest by using “other” with the option to fill in the blank with what other means Do not use confusing or unfamiliar words – use easy to understand language (shoot for language well below the average attendee’s ability to understand) Be as specific as possible Use an appropriate scale – if a selection or the selection’s placement is undesirable consider an unbalanced scale As one and only one question per survey item

Evaluation Construction : 

Evaluation Construction Types of survey questions Open-ended Essay response Free-writing Fill in the blank Close ended Likert Scale On a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being hate it and 5 being love it rate your feelings of the food served for lunch. Multiple Choice Ordinal Rank, put in order, select your top or bottom choices Categorical Put into a category or select a category Age group, economic group, ethnicity, nationality, etc Numerical Response is a number like age, dates, weight, etc

Survey Construction : 

Survey Construction

Evaluation Delivery : 

Evaluation Delivery In-person Handed out on paper Administered by an agent Computer based Must have the survey developed and enough terminals available Online Accessed online via web-link Can be emailed or a link can be included in a mailing Can offer in-personal terminals with page set as “Home” In-time or Live Audience is polled during event – low tech or high tech solutions Anonymous Participant personal information is NOT connected to responses Optional Participant Disclosure Participant decides if personal information is connected to responses Required Participant Disclosure The “box” cannot be automatically selected the participant must be selected by the participant – suggested that you design the survey to require consent (if online/computer-based) in order to progress Active Consent If you plan to use the data for anything other than internal use (publications, research, etc) you MUST gain active consent If you plan to use the evaluation results you must guarantee the anonymity of participants OR gain permission prior to identifying the participant.

Types of Data : 

Types of Data Quantitative Numbers and quantities Qualitative Non-quantifiable data Feelings, emotions, observations Mixed Both qualitative and quantitative data

Evaluation Review : 

Evaluation Review Analyze data Statistics Read through open-ended question comments Talk about the results with vendors, attendees (focus group), clients, stakeholders, staff, etc Create charts, graphs, descriptions Use data when making future decisions Use collected data to decide what information should be collected in the future Share the results with the person/group being evaluated

Evaluation Review : 

Evaluation Review Statistical Software SAS SPSS MathLab Statistical software: http://www.psychnet-uk.com/experimental_design/software_packages.htm

Remember to….. : 

Remember to….. Pick up evaluations that were handed out Best practice is to provide locked and secured drop-boxes for these so you can pick them up when it is convenient Check your conclusions Make sure you didn’t insert your opinions against the actual results of the data collected Make sure your math is correct Have someone else review your findings before you finalize Provide easy to understand and read results to others