workshop feedback review - Sustainable Homes & … Reasons for Attending the Workshops.....22 6. Sustainable Transport.....25 6.1 Logistical Issues of the Workshop6.2 Reasons for 7

A Summary of Workshop Feedback from the Sustainable Homes Program 2008

Prepared by Veronica Rustica as part of an industry placement for the University of Melbourne

December 2008

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I would like to extend a big thank you to the many people who contributed to this report, in particular Emily Physick and Kathleen Kemp of Darebin Council’s Environmental

Strategy department and Jim Barrett of Darebin’s Business Improvement branch. A big thank you also to all the participants of the 2008 Sustainable Homes Program for taking

the time to contribute feedback after the workshops.

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Table of Contents

Introduction ...........................................................................................................4

Key Findings .........................................................................................................6

1. Showcasing Sustainable Homes.......................................................................7

1.1 Logistical Issues of the Workshop Presentations ........................................7

1.2 Reasons for attending the workshops .........................................................8

2. Create a Water Efficient Home and Garden ...................................................10

2.1 Logistical Issues of the Workshop Presentations ......................................11

2.2 Reasons for Attending the Workshops ......................................................12

3. Being Waste Wise and Buying Green.............................................................14



4. Create an Energy Efficient Home....................................................................18



5. Create a Sustainable Garden .........................................................................21



6. Sustainable Transport.....................................................................................25



7. Create a Sustainable Workplace.....................................................................29


7.2 Reasons for attending the workshops .......................................................30

8. Sustainable Homes Tours...............................................................................32

8.1 Logistical Issues of the Tour Presentation.................................................33

8.2 Reasons for Attending the Tours...............................................................34

Appendix.............................................................................................................36

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Introduction

The Sustainable Homes Program is a joint initiative between Darebin, Banyule

and Whittlesea Councils, and is supported by the Victorian Sustainability Fund. It

is designed to encourage and promote sustainable living practices in the homes

and workplaces of local residents of the three participating municipalities.

The program comprises two inspiration events and a series of workshops on the

topics of water, energy, waste, transport, gardening and workplace sustainability.

The inspiration events include a two hour evening presentation (consisting of two

to three presentations by local residents) and a Sustainable Homes tour, in which

participants are transported by charter or community bus to various local homes.

All workshops (except for the Sustainable Workplace breakfast) take place in the

evening over two hours. As the program spans across three councils, each

inspiration event and workshop was run three times, once in each municipality. In

2008, a total of 926 attendances were recorded across all 24 events.

At the end of each event, participants were asked to fill out a paper feedback

form comprising a mixture of scaled and open-ended questions. An example of

the feedback form used at the Sustainable Gardening workshops has been

included in the appendix of this report.

Whilst most forms were filled out on the spot and submitted to event organisers

by the end of the workshop, some residents chose to take the form home and

post it in to the Sustainable Homes Program coordinator at a later date, often at

their own cost. This was a great indication to event organisers of the level of

enthusiasm and commitment many participants held towards the program.

In total, 598 feedback evaluation forms were received from participants across 24

events, resulting in a response rate of 65%. Errors affecting the response rate

include forms not being handed out to participants of the Banyule Sustainable

Homes Tour until after the tour had ended (at which time they were posted to

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participants with a reply-paid envelope included) and some participants choosing

to fill out one form between two or more people (i.e. one form per household).

Also, some participants did not answer every question. It is not felt by program

organisers that these errors impacted greatly on the final results of this

evaluation.

This report primarily evaluates the open-ended questions included in the

questionnaires, which invited comments from participants and are therefore

primarily of a qualitative rather than quantitative nature. Quantitative assessment

has been carried out on participants’ reasons for attending workshops and on the

method by which they came to hear about the program, in line with the issues of

interest of the program organisers. Other results from the surveys are

commented on only where they demonstrate an overwhelming response worthy

of comment.

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Key Findings

• Support for local speakers is high, with many participants enjoying hearing presentations from ‘everyday people’ who make achieving sustainability at home possible for those who are beginning their sustainability journey.

• The main reason participants come to workshops is to learn how to

increase sustainability and save money and resources in their own home

• Although participants enjoy hearing stories and experiences from other local presenters, they are not necessarily interested in making contacts with other local residents interested is sustainability.

• Some participants felt that the ideas and suggestions presented in some

workshops were not well suited for elderly participants and requested ideas that are easier for elderly residents to adopt.

• Participants overwhelmingly requested that technical information

presented at workshops be made accessible afterwards, either in the form of handouts or documents made available via the Sustainable Homes website.

• Council Environmental Newsletters (such as Sustainability News,

GreenWrap and EnviroNews), advertisements in local newspapers and internet advertising (through email and advertisements on websites) were found to be the most successful means of recruiting participants for the program. The only exception to this finding is the Sustainable Workplace breakfasts, in which email invitations were the only effective means of attracting participants.

• Auslan interpreters are well received and requested at workshops.

• Participants found councils to be inconsistent in the delivery of their

sustainability message at the Waste Wise workshops by not using, or by not advertising that they were using, sustainable resources (such as recycled pens and fair-trade, organic foods) at the workshops.

• 76% of participants felt that after attending workshops, they had the

knowledge and confidence to implement changes in their homes and workplaces (see appendix 2).

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1. Showcasing Sustainable Homes The Showcasing Sustainable Homes workshops consisted of evenings in which three to four residents prepared a brief presentation (approximately 10-20 minutes) about their home and the actions they had adopted to make their homes more sustainable. Overall, participants were very happy with the workshops and found them positive and useful. Having Auslan interpreters at the workshops made them more accessible, which was well appreciated by deaf participants. Residents seemed to really like hearing ‘real people’ talk about their experiences, which made the possibility of change in their home more realistic. For example:

“Great to hear real people doing real things and making mistakes and not being perfect. This made it seem possible to make changes and that just giving it a go is good.” “Hearing about and seeing what local residents have done to make their homes more sustainable gave me more ideas of what we also can do to our homes.”

There were numerous requests for more technical information, such as:

“Too many motherhood statements with almost no practical and useful information, options, costs, items to consider. Interesting but not overly useful for persons like myself who are interested in investigating options - perhaps the workshop is better for me?”

1.1 Logistical Issues of the Workshop Presentations There was some difficulty in hearing speakers at the Darebin event due to microphones not working correctly. Other criticisms included a few comments about presentations being too long at Darebin, with there not being enough time to ask questions:

“Suggest speakers keep to time” “Not enough question time” “The lack of question time limited the usefulness particularly of "the blue house" presentation…3 presentations, or limited length presentations, and fixed length question time after each one.

Residents of Banyule and Whittlesea made no comment on presentation times being too long or short, however graphs for both councils displayed most

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participants choosing either ‘neither agree nor disagree’ or ‘disagree’ when answering questions on whether the presentations were too long or too short. One Banyule resident commented on the time of the event saying that holding it a little later would have been preferable, however no further comments on the timing of the workshops was received:

“Difficulty getting to event on time after a day of work (7-7.30 would be easier).”

One resident suggested having more ideas and suggestions that are easily achieved by the elderly:

“For an elderly single (widowed) retired person the obstacles to emulating the speakers are almost insurmountable - it all becomes too hard. Cost and return must also be considered… I would like presentations aimed at single elderly people of either sex who are not home handymen (DIY types) and because of age have reduced motivation but are still interested in sustainability. Perhaps a home inspection and report.”

1.2 Reasons for attending the workshops The majority of residents were motivated to come to the showcasing workshops by a desire to learn how to make their home more sustainable, followed by a wish to see what other local residents had done in their homes, as can be seen in figure one. Reasons falling into the ‘other’ category include wanting as much information as possible before beginning home renovations and wanting to hear about the blue house (an ex-housing commission home retrofitted by a local Preston resident). It should be noted that for this question, residents were given a list of five reasons to choose from, but were able to select more than one reason. This resulted in 204 responses being selected by a total of 93 different participants across all three councils for the Showcasing workshops.

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How did you find out about Showcasing Sustainable Homes ?

17 1713

26

137

24

05

1015202530

Banyule'sGreenwrap

A sustainableHomes programsent by email

A sustainableHomes programinvitation posted

to me

Local Paper Picked up aSustainable

Homes Programbrochure from a

customerservice centre,

library,

Word of mouth other

method

num

ber o

f peo

ple

Figure 1: Reasons for attending the Showcasing Sustainable Homes workshops. Feedback shows that most participants of the Showcasing workshops heard about the program through the local paper (26 responses). Word of mouth was the least successful recruitment method, as can be seen in figure two.

Figure 2 ‘Other’ category includes the Internet and at the Darebin festival.

Other 3%

Learning about how to make my home more sustainable

37%

To be inspired & meet other people interested in sustainability

17%

Hearing and seeing what local residents have done to

make their homes more sustainable

29%

Learning about what council is doing to help

residents make their homes more sustainable

14%

n=204

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2. Create a Water Efficient Home and Garden

The Create a Water Efficient Home and Garden workshops moved forward from the Showcasing events, presenting water saving methods in greater detail. Participants were offered a free kit containing practical water saving devices (such as a shower timer and a water-efficient shower head) in return for signing a commitment form in which they promised to implement six water saving actions over six months. At all the Darebin events, the first 45 participants who arrived at the workshops by public transport were also given a free Metcard. Just like the Showcasing workshops, overall comments from the water events were positive, with participants finding information inspiring and useful. Numerous comments were received praising council for providing the workshops. There were also many comments from participants thanking council for the provision of food, especially for those that had come straight from work:

“Nothing but praise! I am grateful to live in an area that provides these types of workshops to people in the area” “Really enjoyable, interesting, informative and motivating.”

There was once again a request for more written information from participants of all three workshops, especially contact details of speakers and providers of water-saving technology:

“It would have been great to get handouts from presenters. Alternatively the option of receiving notes electronically could have been given”

A couple of residents at the Banyule workshop felt that information from the three speakers either overlapped, or was not practical enough for residents to implement. There were also a couple of comments about affordability:

“In my opinion I felt that the 3 speakers overlapped with their information and could have been more efficient. I felt I got the most out of the 1st speaker but the other speakers at times had me confused & doubled up on information.” “Particularly liked the last speaker who had practical advice that anyone could implement. Some of the speakers presented unrealistic projects that are far too costly. Simple & pragmatic is best.”

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“Some of the DIY - cheaper alternatives were shown too quickly. I am not a handy woman and don’t know what to ask for at the hardware shop. More information on DIY would be a great help. Money is always a problem.”

One Whittlesea resident wrote that they “Prefer more presentations by local residents.”

2.1 Logistical Issues of the Workshop Presentations Quite a few comments were received from Darebin participants stating that speakers went for too long, and suggestions were made about keeping speakers on a strict time limit, particularly for the second speaker:

“Good speakers. Second speaker too long.” “Please encourage events to start on time and speakers to keep to time.” “Speakers are clearly passionate about that they are doing but the organisers need to be strict on time. Make speakers stick to the allotted time. The first speaker tonight was good, the next was far too long… you need to control this.”

A few Darebin participants also felt that personal questions were not appropriate during presentations and should be reserved for interval periods or the end of the night:

“More control over questions and 'unnecessary comments' from the floor” “The 2nd speaker went on. People should ask personal questions during the break.”

One Darebin participant felt that the way Metcards were distributed could have been better organised:

“Please, a better system for metcards. Such a good idea but publicity said for first 45 but then it seemed a bit of a free for all. Maybe as people register they can indicate how they travelled to the event.”

One Banyule participant was also unhappy with the free gifts, writing “If you give out gifts - make sure you have [enough] for everyone”

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2.2 Reasons for Attending the Workshops As figure three shows, most participants attended the water workshops in order to learn how to save money and water in the home. Meeting other people interested in sustainability was one of the least motivating factors for attending the workshops. Residents were given a list of seven reasons to choose from, but were allowed to select more than one answer. This resulted in 360 responses from 114 respondents across all three councils, as many participants chose more than one reason for being motivated to come along to the event.

n=360 Figure 3: Reasons for attending the Create a Water Efficient Home and Garden workshop. Most residents heard about the water workshops through one of council’s Environmental Newsletters (Sustainability News, Green Wrap or Enviro News). Invitations picked up at community venues were least successful in recruiting participants, as can be seen in figure four.

Finding out more about Greywater

systems 17%

Finding out about rainwater tanks 16%

Learning about how to save water and money in my home

23%

Hearing about what others have done to create a water efficient

home 17%

Other 1%

To be inspired and meet other

people interested in sustainability

11%

Finding out about water

efficient appliances

15%

13

How did you hear about Create a Water Efficient Home and Garden ?

32

23

128

2215 14

05

101520253035

Darebin'sSustainability

News,Banyules

GreenWrap orWhittlesea'sEnviroNews

An invitationsent by email

An invitationposted to me

An invitationpicked up

from a localcouncil or

communityvenue

Local LeaderPaper

Word ofmouth

Other

method

num

ber o

f peo

ple

Figure 4 ‘Other’ category includes the internet and displays at Banyule’s Arty Farty Festival.

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3. Being Waste Wise and Buying Green These workshops focused on reducing the amount of waste produced at home through composting, worm farming, buying in bulk and choosing products that had minimal or recycled packaging. Free kits were again distributed to participants who chose to fill out commitment forms, however figure 5 shows that receiving a free kit was one of the least motivating factors for attending the waste workshops. Comments that stood out the most from these workshops related to Darebin and Banyule Council’s use of sustainable products on the night:

“Why is Darebin Council not using recycled pens! And I would hope the paper is recycled.” “1) Offer soy and non-caffeine beverages; and organic/fairtrade in keeping with theme of evening 2) non petroleum based kit bag.” “Great to see that both sides of the A4 paper have been used.” “Suggest that used tea bags are placed in a separate bowl so that they can be put into compost. Presently all are mixed with the foil that encloses the tea bag.”

At this point, it should be noted that councils did provide fair-trade tea and coffee, however did not advertise that they were doing so. In future, organisers of the night should endeavour to advertise where resources used at workshops have been sourced from. Case studies and presentations from local residents were requested by a few residents of the Darebin workshop:

“Maybe just 2 speakers, the case studies are the best speakers - you can relate to their stories.”

Comments from Whittlesea participants were few in number (6 comments in all); however all were positive, with participants expressing thanks for the workshop:

“Thank you for running these informative evenings!” “Good presentation please provide this as an annual event”

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As always, there were numerous requests for more information, or advice on where to go for more information:

“Other DIY methods to reduction and recycling” “Website addresses and internet resources” “I would like more time spent on how to find appliances, recommended manufacturers, evaluations from people with certain appliances etc.” “List of local places to buy bulk food and where you can bring own bags/containers etc”

3.1 Logistical Issues of the Workshop Presentations One Darebin resident expressed frustration at the number of comments and questions coming from other participants, however comments about too many questions being asked were not expressed as largely as at some other workshops, such as the water workshop. Only one Banyule participant was not happy with the mode of delivery on the night:

“Speaker should face us when speaking and not face and talk to the screen.”

Whittlesea results showed that most participants agreed or neither agreed nor disagreed about presentations being too short (three and four participants respectively out of ten). The majority chose ‘neither agree nor disagree’ in response to the question ‘the presentations were too long’ (five out of ten respondents). In Banyule, most residents chose ‘neither agree nor disagree’ in response to workshop lengths.

3.2 Reasons for Attending the Workshops Most participants came along to the workshops in order to learn about reducing waste at home and in order to find out about environmental products they could be buying. Receiving a free kit and finding out about what items can be recycled were the least motivating factors (see figure five). Once again, residents were allowed to choose more than one reason from a list provided.

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Advertisements in the local paper and council environmental newsletters were most successful at recruiting participants for the workshops, with advertisements at local community venues once again not being very successful at advertising the events (see figure six).

Figure 5: Reasons for attending the Waste Wise and Buying Green workshop

To receive a free kit

6% Learning about composting and worm farming

9%

Finding out about what items can be recycled,

and where 3%

Hearing what others have done to create a

waste wise home 15%

To be inspired and meet other people

interested in sustainability

12% Other 1%

To pick up my free waste kit

8% Finding out

about environmental

products I could be buying

19%

Learning about how to reduce waste at home

27%

n=198

17

How did you hear about the Being Waste Wise and Buying Green workshop

1613

4 2

1924

63

05

1015202530


News,Banyules

GreenWrap,Whittlesea's

EnviroNews or



An invitationpicked up froma local councilor community

venue

Darebin News,BanyuleNews,

WhittleseaNews orNillumbik

News or Ward

Local Leaderpaper

Word of mouth Other

method

num

ber

of p

eopl

e

Figure 6

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4. Create an Energy Efficient Home The energy workshops focused on methods of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and energy bills ranging from the simple (such as switching to energy efficient light globes) to the more costly and complex (such as installing a solar hot water system). Kits were again offered to participants. Comments from participants from all three councils regarding the energy workshops were few in number, yet all were positive, with presentations and information found to be useful and interesting:

“I find it very informative and interesting” “Fantastic event got a lot out of it!”

Only one Banyule participant found the information to be a little too technical. Another Banyule resident commented on the difficulty of applying ideas provided on the night by pensioners, again reflecting a need to focus on ideas that can be implemented by all members of the community:

“Assistance to pensioners to equip their houses. All suggestions were far too costly for people surviving on a pension.”

Requests were made for more information on who to speak to at Council if participants had further questions after the workshop. A couple of Darebin participants also made requests for copies of the PowerPoint presentations to be made available online:

“Possibly who to speak to regarding information of all the ideas to make a home energy efficient.” “Bill's presentation (with relevant website addresses) would have been great as a handout or emailed to interested people.” “Knowledge of who to talk to at Darebin council - if there are further questions” ” Power point presentation/notes made available on website with links.”

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4.1 Logistical Issues of the Workshop Presentations One Darebin resident requested more time for questions. No comments were made by Whittlesea or Banyule participants on the logistics of the night. Results for all three councils showed that most participants ‘neither agreed nor disagreed’ with presentations being too long or short, suggesting that they felt presentation lengths to be just right. This is, however, a conflicting result (for if residents felt that presentation lengths were good, then they theoretically should have selected ‘agree’ in answer to these questions). As a result, presentation lengths should remain as they are, adjusted only for those speakers specifically commented on by participants and event organisers.

4.2 Reasons for Attending the Workshops 258 motivating factors were selected by a total of 75 respondents, again demonstrating that many residents chose more than one response from the list provided when nominating their reasons for attending the workshops. As shown by figure seven, the most popular reason for attending the energy workshops was to learn how to save energy and money at home. Once again, council environmental newsletters were most successful at recruiting participants for the three workshops, along with invitations sent to residents via email. ‘Other’ successful publicity measures included the internet and council websites accessed by council employees (see figure eight).

20

How did you hear about the Create an Energy Efficient Home workshop?

20 20

37

16

9 10

05

10152025


News,Banyules




An invitationpicked up

from a localcouncil or

communityvenue

Local LeaderPaper

Word ofmouth

Other

method

num

ber

of p

eopl

e

Figure 7: Reasons for attending the Create an Energy Efficient Home workshop

Figure 8

Learning about how to save energy and money in my home

23%

Hearing the presenters speak

about energy efficient homes

16%

Finding out more about photovoltaic

systems and installing them

7%

Finding out about energy saving products and

installing them 13%

Finding out about energy

efficient appliances

11%

Hearing about how others have

created an energy efficient

home 18%

n=258



12%

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5. Create a Sustainable Garden The Sustainable Gardening workshops were amongst the most popular in the series, attracting 70 and 66 participants at the Banyule and Darebin sessions respectively. The event focused on composting, worm farming, growing your own food and growing indigenous plants as ornamentals to increase biodiversity. Free kits and a free plant from a local indigenous nursery were on offer to participants on the night. Comments from Whittlesea residents were few in number (8 participants provided written feedback). There were a larger number of comments from Darebin and Banyule Councils. Many comments were expressions of thanks for the workshops and comments on the usefulness and interesting nature of the presentations:

“Very educational” “Speakers were excellent (so knowledgeable) and able to answer all the questions” “Thanks - great opportunity” “Excellent workshop. Interesting presenters, kits, catering. Well done.”

As always, there were requests for more information, particularly written information:

“Would have been interested in finding out council rules re. Having chickens in my backyard.” “More written info on attracting/ housing specific types of wildlife” “Would like to know how to get/make a raised garden bed”

A couple of Banyule residents suggested that council have mulchers for hire, or organise a network for residents to borrow from each other:

“Maybe networking neighbourhoods to assist sharing major tools (mulching machines) - purchasing in bulk lots/truckloads etc” “mulchers available from council to hire locally at reasonable rates”

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5.1 Logistical Issues of the Workshop Presentations One Whittlesea resident felt that the presentation was rushed and didn’t like questions being left until the end; however, another resident felt that being able to ask questions during the break was a good thing:

“Some parts were rushed and questions left to the end” “Handy to be able to talk to presenters about specific issues in break”

One Darebin resident felt that more question time would have been good:

“It's good to hear a variety of people’s questions so a few more would be good to hear - I understand you don't want to overdo questions”

Participants once again appreciated having Auslan interpreters at the Darebin workshop. Two Banyule residents commented on the logistics of the night:

“The new Banyule book looks great. Unfortunately there weren't enough” “Chairs too close together for comfort”

5.2 Reasons for Attending the Workshops The most popular reason for attending the gardening workshops was to learn about making gardens more sustainable. Finding out about sustainable gardening tools and meeting other people interested in sustainability were the least motivating factors for attending the workshops. In total, 309 responses were selected by 93 respondents from the list of eight motivations provided, as seen in figure 9.

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Other 1%

Learning about how to

make my garden more sustainable

26%Hearing the

presenters speak about sustainable

gardening 17%

Finding out about sustainable

gardening products and using them

11%

Finding out about

composting and worm farming

18%

Figure 9: Reasons for attending the Create a Sustainable Garden workshop Council environmental newsletters, email invitations and advertisements in the local newspapers were most successful at recruiting participants for the gardening workshops, however many other methods were successful including announcements at previous workshops, advertisements on banners in Banyule and the internet. The latter three methods were included in the ‘other’ category. Figure ten provides a full breakdown of how participants heard about the workshops.

Hearing what others have done

to create sustainable

gardens 12%

Finding out about

sustainable garden tools

7%



8%

n=309

24

How did you hear about the Create a Sustainable Garden workshops?

2723

5 4

22

11

18

05

1015202530


News,Banyules




An invitationpicked up from a local councilor community

venue

Local LeaderPaper

Word of mouth Other

method

num

ber

of p

eopl

e

Figure 10

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6. Sustainable Transport Transport workshops focused on increasing use of public transport and bike riding, as well as choosing cars with good environmental ratings when purchasing a new car (such as the Toyota Prius). The Darebin workshop took a more hands-on approach, inviting participants to ride electric bikes and see a Prius up close. This workshop was enjoyed overall by Darebin and Banyule residents. Darebin participants loved the hands-on nature of the workshop:

“Really great to have hands on sessions this time” “It was great. Enjoyed the hands on activities” “Really dynamic and enthusiastic speakers/Quite entertaining as well as informative” “Really enjoyed the night thanks”

Requests for more information, especially of public transport timetables and maps of bike paths, were many in number:

“Timetables for public transport. Map of bike paths - streets and off road” “A booklet on public transport fares and timetables, this particularly applies to buses and trams” “It’d be good to give out met ticket price guide so people can see the whole range of ticketing options”

Residents also expressed a desire for improved infrastructure in the Darebin and Banyule areas, making riding a bike or taking public transport a lot easier:

“Better bicycle tracks. Better education of drivers about sharing roads with bicycles” “Safe undercover bike storage in Preston near station/market” “More bike lanes in Darebin area - especially along plenty road (ride to work each day)”

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“Roads are still not safe for cycling. Need safe on road lanes for bikes that don't runout and that are kept clean for bikes/policed and book offenders”

Feedback from the Whittlesea workshop was limited; however participants expressed similar concerns regarding infrastructure issues as Darebin and Banyule residents:

“Encourage traders to provide safe, secure bike parking within shopping centres.” “Better transport infrastructure would be fantastic!”

There was one different comment from the Whittlesea workshop:

“Expected it to be more on cars and driving practices, comparing LPG, diesel, hybrid. Inspiring to hear personal sustain travel stories. Hope CoW working to ensure new subdivisions have good safe bike paths”

6.1 Logistical Issues of the Workshop Presentations There were a few comments by Darebin residents about the time of the workshop and the fact that it was held outside:

“Maybe a pre-warning that it was outside so I could've worn a coat/tights (it was cold).” “Should have warned people they'd be outdoors and being physical so they could be prepared. Also say there's finger food so people arrive on time instead of trying to cook and eat tea in a hurry” “Perhaps start earlier as some sessions were a little dark eg bike riding groups”

Banyule and Whittlesea participants had no comment on the logistics of the night, save one regarding the prize draw at Banyule:

“Only thing l didn’t like: The person plucking out the winning ticket…Plucked out her own this looked suspect and left a bad feeling.”

27

6.2 Reasons for Attending the Workshops There was no particularly outstanding motivating factor for attending the transport workshops, as can be seen in figure 11. 204 responses were selected by a total of 60 respondents from the list of eight reasons provided; again indicating that many residents chose more than one motivation for attending the workshops. Email invitations and the council environmental newsletters were once again two of the most successful means of attracting participants to the transport workshops, as seen in figure 12.

Figure 11: Reasons for attending the Sustainable Transport workshop

Other 2%

Hearing the presenters speak about sustainable

transport 13%

Finding out more about

sustainable transport

technologies 14%

Learning about how to make my transport more

sustainable 16%

To be inspired & meet other people


13%

Hearing about what others have done to make their

transport more sustainable 12% Finding out about

sustainable transport options

15%

Finding out about

sustainable transport

products and using them

15% n=204

28

Figure 12

How did you hear about the Sustainable Transport workshops?

15

21

0

5

13

59

0

5

10

15

20

25


News,Banyules




An invitationpicked up from a local councilor community

venue

Local LeaderPaper

Word of mouth Other

method

num

ber o

f peo

ple

29

7. Create a Sustainable Workplace Feedback from workplace workshops was mixed, with some participants getting a lot out of the workshops whilst others did not:

“Excellent event! Paul from "ironbark sustainability" was terrific. Great presentation, very interesting and covered a wide range of actions! Thankyou!” “Paul spoke for too long but didn’t give a great deal of information” “The speakers were very interesting and informative.” “It appeared "cheap" - energy dense/nutrition poor. The catering was very poor quality, I expected "sustainable" catering - 100 mile food, organic. Also it would have been an opportunity for local food suppliers to exhibit/advertise their products.”

One Whittlesea participant particularly enjoyed the opportunity to network with other businesses:

“It was terrific meeting & chatting with other businesses/workplaces” There were requests for more information (as always!):

“Advice on training employees” “Info re: printer/photocopier cartridges/toners etc which are best, how to dispose of them”

7.1 Logistical Issues of the Workshop Presentations Darebin participants made no comment on the logistics of the session. There was only one comment from Banyule participants: a request for tea and coffee on arrival. One Whittlesea participant felt that the breakfast was a little short:

“Perhaps a little short (I hr maybe not enough time)” Again, there were conflicting results with most participants choosing ‘neither agree nor disagree’ in response to presentations being too short or too long for the Whittlesea and Banyule workshops. A majority of participants at all three

30

To be inspired and meet other people


22%

Other 7%

Learning about making my workplace

sustainable 45%

n=58

workshops felt that breakfast was a good time for a workshop (26 out of 37 respondents).

7.2 Reasons for attending the workshops 58 responses were recorded from 37 respondents, with learning about making the workplace more sustainable the most popular reason for attending workshops. The ‘other’ category included reasons such as inspiring staff to be happy about sustainable changes made at work and learning techniques that can be spread from business to business. See figure 13.

Figure 13: Reasons for attending the Create a Sustainable Workplace breakfast

Contrary to trends shown by all other workshops, the council environmental newsletters and advertisements in the local paper were not very successful at attracting participants to the workshops. Email invitations were proven to work best, as shown by figure 14.

Hearing and seeing what local businesses have done to improve sustainability in their

workplace 26%

31

How did you hear about the Create a Sustainable Workplace breakfast?

1

18

2 1 2

8

4

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News, Banyule's Greenwrap,or Whittlesea'sEnviroNews



Darebin News,Banyule News,or WhittleseaNews or WardNewsletters

Local Leaderpaper

Word of mouth Other

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Figure 14

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8. Sustainable Homes Tours Generally, all three tours were well enjoyed by participants of all councils. There were many comments from participants on the generous nature and friendliness of the home owners:

“The householders were all delightful. Please, if you have not already done so, tell them that.” “I enjoyed the second house in Eltham, the fellow there was a real character, I believe he could have told me how many blades of grass per square inch he had on his lawn.” ” I was very impressed by the generosity people showed in allowing us through their homes. Great idea!”

Participants were also happy with coordinators of the tours:

“Thanks to coordinators for their enthusiasm and commitment and organisation of the day.”

As with many of the previous workshops, there were numerous requests for more information, including information handouts and follow-up emails with product details. A couple of Darebin residents also felt it would have been useful to have architects and experts (where they were involved) present at the homes explaining why they made the choices they did on product choice and sustainable design:

“Have some of the specialists to talk at the home. I.e. power guy for power, designer - why he did this or that. Architect for example.” “It would be nice to visit the Northcote/Thornbury home in the current Sanctuary and be able to speak to the architect.” “Some information on costings would be beneficial.” “. To have product information and household actual results/estimates to assist in project/product decisions.”

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8.1 Logistical Issues of the Tour Presentation One Whittlesea resident was concerned with bus safety:

“No one wore seatbelts on the bus!” One Darebin resident was not happy with the bus driver and another Darebin resident thought that the method in which buses were used to transport participants was inefficient:

“The bus driver was rude and complained a lot. I thought Kathleen coped with him really well.” “If you hired buses that took all 17 people or used Darebin buses and drivers the cost may not be much more and would cut down on waiting. I had other engagements at 4:30pm which I did not quite make.”

There were no complaints from Banyule participants regarding buses (it should be noted that only two feedback forms were received from the Banyule tour), however one participant requested more time on the tour:

“Need to have more time (which could perhaps be later) to discuss projects/options in greater detail with the property owners and other interested parties.”

There was disappointment from Darebin residents at the absence of Auslan interpreters (the interpreters were late and missed the bus):

“I am deaf, Auslan interpreter did not attend as promised. The council of all 'organisations' should provide access for their citizens with disabilities without hassle. My experience is that interpreters are not hard to arrange, I use them in full time study, the effort was poor.” “Good. Not sure where our interpreters were today but overall very good. Difficult as interpreters didn't come and am deaf but overall very good, appreciated notes written for us.”

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8.2 Reasons for Attending the Tours Participants were provided with a list of seven motivating factors for attending the tours and were given the option of choosing more than one reason. The result was a total of 187 responses recorded from 57 participants, indicating that many participants had more than one reason for coming along to the tour. Learning about how to create a more sustainable home was the most popular reason. See figure 14.

Figure 14: Reasons for attending the Sustainable Homes Tours

Learning about how to

create a more

sustainable home 24%

Finding out about water

saving ideas for the home

14%

To be inspired and meet other residents


15%

To go on a tour of local people’s

homes 10%

Finding out about energy saving ideas for the home

14%

To meet up with people I met at earlier sustainable

homes seminars

3%

Other 1%

Learning about what council is doing to help

residents make their homes

more sustainable 14%

n=187

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How did you hear about the Sustainable Homes Tours?

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Figure 15 Figure 15 shows that email invitations and council environmental newsletters were the most successful methods of recruiting participants for the home tours, with invitations brought home from school being the least successful method, recruiting no participants at all.

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Appendix 1. An example of a feedback form from the Create a Sustainable Garden workshop

Create a Sustainable Garden

Please tick the workshop that you attended:

Thursday 4 September - Whittlesea Council Thursday 11 September - Banyule Council Tuesday 16 September - Darebin Council

Please take a few minutes to help us improve our workshops in the future. Circle the number which best fits your response to the following statements. 1. I enjoyed the event. 1 2 3 4 5 2. The event was what I expected. 1 2 3 4 5 3. The event was a learning experience. 1 2 3 4 5 4. I enjoyed the speakers. 1 2 3 4 5 5. The presentations were too short 1 2 3 4 5 6. The presentations were too long. 1 2 3 4 5 7. I enjoyed having the opportunity to 1 2 3 4 5 meet and chat to other interested residents. 8. There were enough opportunities to ask questions. 1 2 3 4 5 9. The event helped inspire me to make 1 2 3 4 5 changes in my home and garden. 10. I now have the confidence and knowledge to implement changes in my home. 1 2 3 4 5

Strongly Disagree Disagree

Neither Agree or Disagree

Agree Strongly Agree

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11. Which of the following best describes your motivation for attending tonight’s event? (please circle one or more)

i) Learning about how to make my garden more sustainable. ii) Hearing the presenters speak about sustainable gardening. iii) Hearing what others have done to create a sustainable garden. iv) Finding out about sustainable gardening tools. v) Finding out about sustainable gardening products and using them. vi) Finding out more about composting and worm farming. vii) To be inspired and meet other people interested in sustainability viii) Other……………………………………………………………. 12. How did you hear about tonight’s workshop? (Please circle one or more)

i) Darebin’s Sustainability News, Banyule’s Greenwrap or Whittlesea’s EnviroNews ii) An invitation sent by email iii) An invitation posted to me iv) An invitation picked up from a local council or community venue v) Local Leader Paper vi) Word of Mouth vii) Other……………………………………………………………. 14. What other resources, support or materials would you need or like to make your garden more sustainable? ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 13. Do you have any other comments, criticisms or suggestions about tonight’s event? ………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Thank-you for your involvement in Darebin, Banyule & Whittlesea’s Sustainable Homes Program, coming along tonight and taking the time to fill in this feedback form. We hope the evening has been worthwhile for you and look forward to seeing you at future workshops and events. Please hand in this form at the completion of the workshop, or else mail to: Sustainable Homes Coordinator Cities of Darebin, Banyule and Whittlesea PO Box 91 PRESTON VIC 3072

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2. Responses to the question “I now have the knowledge and confidence to implement changes in my home/workplace”

Strongly Disagree Disagree

Neither Agree nor Disagree Agree

Strongly Agree

Total responses

Showcasing 2 4 29 49 9 93

Water 1 4 28 53 26 112

Waste 0 3 5 31 27 66

Energy 1 0 13 38 22 74

Transport 1 0 4 35 19 59

Workplace 0 0 9 23 4 36

Tour 0 0 8 14 13 35

Total responses 5 11 96 243 120 475

Percentage 1% 2% 20% 51% 25% 100%

Documents

workshop feedback review - Sustainable Homes & … Reasons for Attending the Workshops.....22 6. Sustainable Transport.....25 6.1 Logistical Issues of the Workshop6.2 Reasons for 7