Posts filed under ‘Trainings, Seminars & Conferences’
Evaluation of events and conferences
I’ve written in previous posts about my work in evaluating the impact of events. A very interesting paper on this subject “A Guide to Measuring Event Sponsorship” has been published by US-based Institute for Public Relations. The title is misleading as the paper focuses on how to measure the effectiveness of an event and not on sponsorship evaluation (a separate subject, don’t get me started on it…).
The guide states:
“There are four central questions to keep in mind concerning
event evaluation:
1. How effective was the event? To what extent did the event impact the target public in the desired manner?
2. Did the event change the targeted public in unexpected ways,
whether desirable or undesirable?
3. How cost effective was the event?
4. What was learned that will help improve future events? “
The Guide goes further than I have done in event evaluation by looking at calculating ROI and at the impact on sales (applicable for a commercially focused event). It also confirms my general opinion on event evaluation – we have to go further than simply counting attendees, general reactions and press coverage – we have to look at the impact on attendees’ knowledge, attitudes, behaviours and anticipated behaviour (e.g. intention to purchase a product).
Glenn
Training and innovative evaluation
If you are based in Europe and interested in learning more about evaluation, the European Evaluation Society is organising their biennial conference in London from 4-6 October 2006. Even more interesting is the series of Professional Development Training Workshops they are organising around the event. One workshop looks particularly interesting – "innovative evaluation approaches" covering the following subjects:
- Theory based approaches
- Participative evaluation and ‘social inclusion’
- Integrating qualitative and quantitative methods
- Monitoring and Evaluation in international development settings
- Synthesis reviews and meta-evaluations
- Experimental methods and RCTs
- Modelling and risk analysis
- Self evaluations
- Cost benefit analysis
Glenn
PR Guru Grunig on intensive research PR
Professor James Grunig, a leading thinker in the field of communications / PR evaluation was in Switzerland last week. While here, he gave an interview where he spoke about the notion of PR being "research intensive" amongst a wide range of subjects in the PR field.
Glenn
LIFT06, WIKI and Evaluation
The LIFT team have put up a wiki page to gather feedback from people who attended LIFT06. A wiki is a relatively new tool that allows anyone to add or modify content to a web page. For evaluating an event such as LIFT06, this is an excellent way to gather feedback.
For evaluation purposes, testimonies and anecdotes collected through such feedback mechanisms can be equally convincing as quantifiable data collected by surveying and content analysis.
Glenn
LIFT06 and Blog Monitoring – Part 2
As an indication of the level of interest and noise concerning LIFT06, I’ve looked again at the number of blog posts that mention LIFT06. In the first graph below from Technorati, we can see the some 70 posts mentioned LIFT06 on 3rd February, the last day of the conference. The second graph from BlogPulse of Intelliseek shows out of all blogs posted globally, what percentage mention LIFT. We see a jump from .001% on 1st February to .008% on 3rd February. I presume these charts are compiled based on posts that tag with “LIFT06”, so they probably do not register all posts. Nevertheless, the jump is quite significant.
Glenn
Highlights from interviews at LIFT06
As part of my project to evaluate the impact of LIFT06, I spoke with some 20 people over the last two days about their initial reactions to the LIFT06 conference. This helps me gain further insight into the feedback we will receive when we survey all LIFT06 attendees next week. Here are some highlights from my interviews:
Why come to LIFT06?
“I need to know what is coming in the web field – in the near future. We need to know what services and features we can propose to our clients” [webmaster for large organisation]
“In my workplace people are using this technology. For me what is interesting is the impact of technology on people” [education worker]
“I’m here to exchange ideas with people working in similar positions – that’s the added value for me” [webmaster for NGO]
“I have nothing to do with technology. I’m in business intelligence. But this is the future I am told” [financial analyst]
What are the benefits?
“Ideas, ideas, ideas. I need the futuristic stuff like spimes but i also need the bread and butter stuff like communication channels” [web consultant]
“Concrete proposals. Mash-ups for example. That’s an area we’ve got to explore” [webmaster for large organisation]
“The communication aspect. I’m here for the marketing and communication perspective and how these new technologies can be applied [communication manager]
“Just before leaving for LIFT06, the Head of Media asked me “What do you know about blogs?” “Huh!” I said “Let’s speak when I get back on Monday” [Information Manager]
Are you connecting?
“It seems a bit geekish – I don’t know anyone. Could you introduce me to some people?” [consultant]
“Over breakfast and lunch, I’ve chatted with plenty of interesting people, of most interest were people working in the same field as me” [webmaster for NGO]
“Hey, that’s the UNAIDS cocktail taking place over there. Let’s go and network with them as I’ve got a job application pending there” [web editor]
Admittedly, these highlights are not all representative of the views expressed, but provide a flavour of what people thought – and said.
For some random quotes from LIFT06, check out Nicolas Nova’s collection on pasta and vinegar.
Glenn
LIFT06 and live dialogue
An interesting trend I’ve been observing at LIFT06 is the online dialogues that are taking place during the LIFT06 conference in Geneva. Not only are there some 20 people blogging as the presentations are going on, but participants are also carrying out a realtime discussion using IRC and putting their thoughts into a collaborative writing document through a tool called SubEthaEdit. I’ll be interested to see what we can learn from these immediate reactions and comments about the conference.
Glenn
LIFT06 and Blog Monitoring
As part of the evaluation of LIFT06, I am looking at what the attendees are blogging about concerning the conference. This chart from Technorati shows the number of posts that mention LIFT06 – it will certainly peak over the next days of the conference. From an evaluation point it’s limited in its use but it provides an indication of the interest and noise concerning the conference.
Glenn
Communication Event in Geneva
Speaking at this event will be:
James Michael Lafferty, Vice President-Western Europe, Family Care, Procter and Gamble
Thomas Schultz-Jagow, Director of Communications, WWF International
PR Guru Grunig in Switzerland
Professor James Grunig, a leading thinker in the field of communications / PR evaluation will be in Zurich on 16 March 2006 for the MScom Excellence-in-Communications Lecture. James Grunig was one of the first academics to produce credible theory on how communication activities can be evaluated. He later lead the IABC excellence study which focused on the role of PR in strategic management.
If you are interested, you can register on the MScom website .
Disclosure: I am an alumni of the MScom course at the University of Lugano (where I earned my Masters in Communication Management).
Glenn
intelligent measurement 