Two for one (Eval reviews #3 and 4)

I have much guilt about not getting a post up yesterday, so today is a two-fer. Today we look at evaluation comments related to programming - specifically the program book & educational program offerings...

I've provided the comments and a response to it directly below.

Had trouble making sense of some of it - might have been designed for "younger eyes"?

• This is great feedback for us. What I know right now is that we have more information we want attendees to have than pages in the book! I hope this year's layout is more user friendly for folks who feel this way - I'll get to see the first draft soon but this is really TBA!
  

I wish that this would be available sooner.

• As of this moment, the book is scheduled to go up on the AFA Website about Nov. 24th. Keep your fingers crossed we don't have any hiccups and you all can view it then!
  

Maybe use paper that is less slick and easier to write on; minor, minor critique. I wished the inside pages were less glossy ... They'd be easier to write on. AND Would possibly like some pages included for notes.

• Again, why feedback is great: this is in the category of "things I've never thought about." What I can tell you is this...we'll look into it. If it's a cost-saving measure, maintains the professional quality we hope for in the publication, and doesn't interrupt our production schedule to switch, we'll try do it. As far as the extra pages...see the first answer about more info than pages allotted - yikes tikes!
  

Please co-mingle FEA sessions with AFA program sessions. I did not discover the extra 'FEA' sessions until later in the conference and missed some I would have liked to attend. I didn't know to look in a separate place for them.

• Done and done! There will be a small icon at the end of the program descriptions that indicates if a program has been highlighted by FEA as a particularly good opportunities for FEA staff and volunteers.
  

Though it might increase cost, it would be easier to tab, or color code the pages by day, so that it's easier to access what you need quicker.

• True story about me: I love me some organizational tools! So I am all about this suggestion. I'm afraid that it's cost prohibitive for us at this point.
  

Give learning outcomes for the educational sessions or at least more description about the session topic.

• Also done and done! You'll see that the last sentence of each program description begins with the phrase "participants will..." This is the primary learning outcome for the program as provided by the presenters.
  

Additional educational sessions with more variety of topics.

• We have about 132 educational programs this year! I am confident that is a record of some kind; while I don't have a comparison from years past I can tell you that about 15% of those programs directly address some kind of otherness fraternity/sorority life - cultural groups, glbtq members, student of color in predominately white groups, etc. Anecdotally I feel like that's an increase for us - statistically I don't know for sure.
  

Email contact information for presenters printed in the program book (that way we can follow-up on sessions or contact presenters that we were unable to attend).

• Also a new addition this year. One coordinating presenter for each program provided the names, institution/organization, and email address of the presentation team. Those will all be printed in the program book.

Whew! That was a long post....but I feel less guilty about skipping a day. Don't forget, the regular registration deadline is one week from today - October 31. It'll be frighteningly sad if you forget to get your registration in and have to pay the late fees. Sorry, couldn't resist the bad Halloween pun...