FHC Evaluation Summary


Executive Summary

What a great Family History Conference (FHC) we had on 2 May! Every year at the FHC, the Society asks attendees to fill out an evaluation form to help us in planning future events. This year 217 of those forms were turned in, representing more than sixty percent of the possible total. The Society thanks everyone who took the time to fill out their evaluation form for this excellent return. So, based on these responses, what did you tell us?

Nearly all of you heard about the FHC from this newsletter, our website, or at Society events. While many indicated they had difficulty selecting their two “most worthwhile” classes, six classes were favored by over fifty percent of those in attendance at them. Those classes (in alphabetical order by speaker) were John Dougan’s “Missouri Digital Heritage,” LaDonna Garner’s “C.S.I. for Cemeteries,” Bob Goode’s “Early American Migration,” Ruth Ann Hager’s “Civil War Pension Files,” Ilene Murray’s “Making the Most of your Library Visit,” and David Rencher’s “Sneak Peek at the Near Future.” We consider it a testament to the strong overall program that these classes were by six different presenters.

About two-thirds of you indicated you purchased something from a vendor, the Society Trading Post, or the audio CD area. About twenty percent were attending their first FHC with about the same number having attended ten or more. The remaining sixty percent was divided nearly equally between those having attended two to four or five to nine previous events.

We asked you to rate the syllabus, vendor area, lunch, and overall experience on a scale of 1 (poor) to 4 (excellent). The average scores of each of the four areas were 3.5, 3.0, 3.2, and 3.4, respectively.

Based on the 180 zip codes supplied, 104 attendees lived within a fifteen-mile radius of the event site, and thirty-two came from over thirty miles away. The long-distance champs (at least of the 180 respondents) were attendees from South Bend, Indiana, and Indianola, Iowa, both driving distances well over 300 miles.

All of the above are numbers and more detail can be found here. Where the FHC planning teams get the most value from these forms is in the “fill-in” answers to what you would like in future conferences and your additional comments. There were a lot of both and with some limitations they are recorded here. A few of these are addressed below.

As was mentioned last month, comments from the Family History Conference (FHC) evaluations are very valuable to the planning committee. We asked for ideas on what you would like to see, and there were a lot of great suggestions. Vice-President-Programs, Barb Larson, is already excited about a few items that may prove to be good topics for general meetings. As usual, there were a number of comments about room temperature. As with Goldilocks, some were too hot and some were too cold! We always try to monitor that situation; and we will see if we can’t get even more control of the thermostats next year.

Vendors

The vendors always draw a lot of comments––the area is too crowded, there should be more, or there should be longer hours. Every year, StLGS contacts many more vendors than actually attend. This year, the state of the economy may have kept some away; but there are other factors at play. One is that, regrettably, societies are folding or combining, leaving fewer societies to attend events like this. Another is that more and more brick-and-mortar vendors are opting to put their resources into online sales. Basically, the good will they get by attending our, or some other society’s, conference is insufficient to draw them unless they generate a high number of sales on site, and that is not happening. That said, we are always looking for other options; so if you have a suggestion of a vendor to invite, please send us your ideas.

Parking

A few of you were unable to obtain a handicapped parking space. You can all help us with this. Each year we ask if a registrant has special needs, including handicap parking. This year only three indicated a need for such parking. We set up for eighteen handicap spaces and could have provided for more. Yet some attendees were not accommodated. It is VERY IMPORTANT that you all help us plan by letting us know your needs.

Syllabus/Program

Some of you requested more information from the presenters––copies of slides, all classes taped, e-mail addresses, more syllabus content, or in some cases ANY syllabus content. With the exception of the last item, which we plan to address, these are things that are beyond our control. Our speakers are often very busy and in demand. Their material is copyrighted to them and the amount of effort required to develop a lecture is more than anyone who has not done so can understand. Hence, most speakers will not hand out copies of their slides or print them.

We can and will try to address any issues within our control and appreciate greatly both your attendance at the FHC and your responses on the Evaluation Form.