intelligent measurement

Measuring long term impact of conferences

July 8, 2010 at 7:52 pm Leave a comment

Often we evaluate conferences with their participants just after the conferences, measuring mostly reactions and learnings, as I’ve written about previously.

Wouldn’t it be more interesting actually to try and measure the longer term impact of a conference? This is what the International AIDS Society has done concerning one of its international conferences – measuring longer term impact 14 months after the conference – you can view the report (pdf) here.

Their overall assessment of impact was as follows:

“AIDS 2008 had a clear impact on delegates’ work and on their organizations, and that the conference influence has extended far beyond those who attended, thanks to networking, collaboration, knowledge sharing and advocacy at all levels.”

Entry filed under: Conference / event evaluation, Training evaluation.