Post-meeting Survey 58th SCIJ Meeting

Banff – Alberta

1. IntroductionNow that summer is behind us and we are once again well on our way to yet another SCIJ rendez-vous, the organizing committee of the 58th SCIJ meeting in Banff, Alberta wanted to share with you the results of the survey that 32% of all participants took the time to fill out. The does not include the rankings received by Canadian members.

We hope the feedback we received will help shape a stronger organization, richer meetings and more active participation and more open discussions. We’d also like to thank everyone who took the time to fill out the survey.

Question 1. Rate your registration experience

Going into the meeting we knew that even though Canada would generate excitement as a destination, holding two other meetings outside Europe within the same year would make participation in our event challenging. In comparison to the 1995 meeting, which had 225 participants, the 58th meeting had 202.

Online registration process?

Reservation and payment system?

Online support? User Experience?0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Rate your registration experience

Total Disaster

Needs improvement

Good job

Great job

You knocked my socks off

Question 1. Rate your registration experience

What worked?

• A registration system that, if kept in use, will help SCIJ build a rich membership directory that won’t require constant re-entering or refilling.

• Collecting funds in advance ensured a greater sense of commitment to participate. • While it may have been a little more difficult for some to finalize, we paid a lot of

attention to making sure the process was as smooth as possible for all the participants.

• With the profiles already entered into the system, the registration process should be much easier as SCIJ moves forward.

• SCIJ is now ready for the e-commerce era.

What to improve?

• Allow for team registrations. • Add more functionality to the registration system, so as to make it more flexible.

Question 2. Rate us on the quality of information

Total Disaster

Needs improvement Good job Great job You knocked

my socks offResponse

Count0 0 16 37 15 510 3 15 35 10 490 2 16 22 12 490 3 25 31 8 500 4 20 34 7 482 3 27 26 6 501 5 25 21 6 450 7 22 25 10 490 2 15 37 12 490 3 17 36 10 49

510

Response time and quality of the answer when you wrote

Story ideas?

Answer Options

Information relevance?

Quality of information on website?

Communications leading up to the meeting?

Information timeliness?

skipped question

Rate us on the quality of our communications.

Frequency of the communication?

Website (www.scij.ca) ?

Was the SCIJ invitation sent out in enough time to plan

Information clarity?

answered question

For the most part all respondents were happy with the quality of the information they received. However, according to some respondents, we could have delivered some of the information in a timelier manner.

Question 2. Rate us on the quality of information

What worked?

• Frequent communication with members.• A quality website, wherein all the information was centrally located, helped ensure

that everyone was kept up to date.

What to improve?

• We could maximize use of web to report on the meeting with daily online updates.

Questions 3. – 4. Pre and Post tour programsAmong all participants who responded, the Jasper pre and post tours along with the Calgary experience ranked highest among all tour programs offered.

Edmonton Adventure

Jasper, Wonderful by Nature

Calgary à la Carte

Shadow Lake Lodge

Build your own ski tour

Build your own itin-

erary

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

If you participated, how did we do?

Total Disaster

Needs improvement

Good job

Great job

You knocked my socks off

Did not participate

Question 5. How did you rate the following?

An overwhelming majority of survey participants enjoyed the hotel accommodations and the quality of the meals that were served during the week.

The expedient and organized check-in process upon arrival made things quite a bit smoother and more expedient for a number of participants.

Total Disaster

Needs improvemen

tGood job Great job You knocked

my socks offResponse

Count2 2 13 29 13 441 1 11 35 14 430 8 9 35 15 500 2 16 29 20 500 1 18 32 16 501 1 13 31 21 500 3 14 36 14 502 1 11 37 13 482 2 12 34 11 45

501

answered question

Bus Transfers to Banff

Breakfast

How do you rate the following?

Hotel Rooms

Airport Departures

Airport Arrivals

Dinners

skipped question

Hotel and Meeting check-in

Bus Transfers back to airport

Answer Options

Lunches

Question 5. How did you rate the following?

What worked?

• The check-in process.• The expediency in getting to the rooms. • The food quality.

What to improve?

• Both the ski rental pickup and ski room facilities at the hotel could have been better organized.

• Nordic ski rentals could have also been better organized.

Question 6. How would you rate the following presentations?

• The ‘Will Gadd’ presentation was the most popular with all SCIJ participants in Banff/Lake Louise, Alberta.

• This was closely followed by the ‘Digital Divide’ presentation with Frédéric Boulay, Stéphane Gagné and Jules Older.

• The ‘Hamster Wheel’ presentation with Jean-Francois Lisée, David Halton and Jean-Michel Leprince was the next most popular.

• The least popular speaker was the oil sands representative; this was largely due to the quality of the speaker and to the room’s configuration which proved less than ideal in maintaining audience attention.

Total Disaster

Needs improvement Good job Great job You knocked

my socks offResponse

Count0 1 19 21 13 400 5 26 17 7 404 20 24 12 5 450 9 27 22 6 460 3 23 14 9 360 7 28 15 5 41

483

Canmore Nordic Centre – J ohn Samms, Canmore Nordic

Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (Monday

skipped question

Answer Options

Digital Era: Future of Media (Boulay, Gagné, Older)

The Hampster Wheel (Lisée, Halton, Leprince)

answered question

How would rate the following?

Canadian Tourism Commission – Steve Podborski

Will Gadd

Question 6. How would you rate the following presentations?

What worked?

• Good content.• A theatre-style venue with comfortable seating, good lighting and a good

sound system.• A respectful audience who listened and participated.

What to improve?

• Less than ideal room configurations at Lake Louise. • Poor quality audio systems at Lake Louise.

Question 7. How would you rate your Sunday free day activity?

Most people enjoyed the organized activity day that was held on Sunday. The most popular activity was the ‘Flavour of the Region’ (culinary tour).

Total Disaster

Needs improvement Good job Great job You knocked

my socks offResponse

Count0 0 2 9 1 90 2 5 4 4 120 4 2 9 2 150 0 2 6 1 50 2 1 7 3 90 0 2 4 4 70 3 4 7 1 11

465

How would your rate the activity you selected?

Culinary Tour

skipped question

Flavours of the region

Snowshoeing

Ice Explore in J ohnston Canyon

answered question

Answer Options

Picture This

Banff Mountain Culture

Nordic Skiing at Lake Louise

What worked?• During a previous survey, members identified a photography workshop as an activity

they most wanted to learn about.

What to improve?• Offer participants an additional ski day.• Perhaps organize these ‘free day’ activities so they follow the Nordic ski competition.

Question 8. Which activity did you like the most?

The planning of this activity inspired many discussions among the organizing committee, but in the end SCIJ members thought the black-tie Gala evening was the best overall activity, proving once again that SCIJ is open to exploring new boundaries and ideas. In the end, we were glad to go ahead with it. Monday après-ski at Lake Louise and Nations Night were among the most popular events, while most people enjoyed the skiing at Sunshine Village. Although we planned the meeting on a step-by-step basis, doing a World Cup-style bib draw would need some improvement.

Total Disaster

Needs improvement

Good job

Great job

You knocked my socks off

Response Count

1 7 31 18 5 480 1 14 30 18 480 2 12 24 22 450 4 17 23 16 468 15 15 14 6 420 2 25 28 8 481 11 22 22 8 480 4 13 27 18 460 0 7 27 26 461 4 19 23 13 460 4 19 26 9 442 14 19 17 7 441 5 23 23 8 452 9 23 16 9 441 6 23 23 6 440 1 20 28 11 460 6 25 23 7 460 3 15 19 27 48

483

General Assembly content

Ski Norquay (Tuesday)

answered question

Canmore Nordic Centre (Thursday)

Après-ski Louise (Monday)

Free ski day or Activity (Friday)

Nations Night (Norquay)

Answer Options

General Assembly Venue

Ski Louise (Monday)

Alberta Public Affairs (Thursday night – Banff

Downhill Race (Mt. Norquay)

skipped question

Overall, how would you rate each one of the following activities?

Nordic Ski Race

Torchlight Dinner Louise (Monday)

Turkey 59th Meeting presentation (Friday)

Sunshine Village (Wednesday)

Opening Ceremony (Sunday)

Bib Draw (Lake Louise)

Friday Gala Evening (Friday night)

Wild Bills – Calgary Stampede (Wednesday

Question 8. Which activity did you like the most?

What worked?• Meticulous attention to a program that offered participants a good overview of the

region and the province.• Excellent participation rates from our members.• Participants who respected the events and the speakers.

What to improve?• The World Cup-style bib draw for the ski race.• The length of the speeches during the opening ceremony. - The downhill ski race

could have been a little more challenging. • The Nordic ski race required clearer signage, more race volunteers to monitor the

race, and a better consolidation of results by the race organizers.• More free time. This can easily be achieved in meetings where there is limited bussing

or where the hotel is within walking distance of the ski lifts. Unfortunately, Banff’s expansive Rocky Mountains did not afford us this opportunity. If events were held in the hotel, this could also save considerable time.

• Also, if organizers are able to secure two or three major sponsors, this could potentially reduce the number of presentations during the week. But as most organizers will realize, this is not always possible unless participating SCIJ members are willing to contribute more cash.

Free Forum Comments

Free Forum Comments: Click on the links within the website section to see what members said in general. The comments are unedited but provide you with some insights from our members.

http://www.scij.ca/index.php/en/survey

You can also download the document to see who produced stories about Banff (so far).