LIFT06 was assessed as a big success by most attendees – 93% plan to attend LIFT07. According to the attendees, LIFT06 was successful in providing information and influencing their attitudes about emerging technology. One third of attendees saw the main benefit of attending LIFT06 as networking and are looking towards more facilitated networking at LIFT07. The quality of the presentations varied considerably for many attendees and a different selection process may be appropriate for LIFT07. In terms of the conference format, attendees suggested more interactive sessions and workshops around the conference. LIFT06 was successful in connecting people and provoking ongoing discussions amongst attendees and beyond the conference.
Download the full report (719kb PDF): lift_evaluation_report.pdf
This report is a summary of the main findings of an evaluation study undertaken of LIFT06. The aim of this study was to provide useful feedback for the LIFT team in order to improve the quality of future events and to estimate the impact of LIFT06 on conference attendees.
Semi-structured interviews with attendees, wiki-enabled feedback pages on the LIFT site, the monitoring of blogs and surveying attendees were research methods used in this study. Further information on the evaluation methodology (for the really keen).
One of the main sources of this study was the online survey completed by attendees. Responding to an email invitation, 173 attendees out of a total of 285 (not counting speakers and organisers) completed the survey. This is a very respectable 60% response rate which conforms to an acceptable sample size for a population with a finite size. What was the background and profile of the LIFT06 attendees? More about the demographics of the attendees who responded to the online survey.
When asked in the online survey “what is your overall rating of LIFT06?”, the majority of attendees, 54% (93 people) rated LIFT06 as “good”, 32% (56 people) as “Excellent”, 11% (19 people) as “Satisfactory”, 2% as “Poor” (3 people) and 1% (2 people) as “Very Poor”.
What was the greatest benefit of attending LIFT06? One third of attendees spoke of “networking” in their responses. “Ideas” and “improving knowledge” was also mentioned by many participants.
“The possibility of meeting an innovative cluster of people; an international and local mix; here in Geneva.“
“As professionals we tend to get stuck in our own specialised domains – LIFT was helpful for stirring up some cross-disciplinary ideas and re-evaluating our current thinking about technology in society.”
Browse all the responses concerning the benefits of attending LIFT06.
One of the aims of LIFT06 was to provide the latest information on emerging technologies and create an ongoing conversation about it. Was LIFT06 able to do this? The majority of attendees (82%) agreed that LIFT06 provided them with interesting information on the usage of emerging technologies and 70% agreed that LIFT06 influenced what they thought about the subject. In addition, LIFT06 was relevant for the majority of attendees and matched their background and experience.
That’s all very well you say, but wasn’t LIFT06 simply another “talkfest” – what did it actually change? Based on the self-assessment of changes to knowledge and attitudes, we can consider that LIFT06 influenced what the attendees know, think and feel about emerging technologies. In the online survey, when asked what will be of greatest use from LIFT06 for their daily activities, half of attendees’ responses could be described as changes to knowledge, attitudes and behaviour:
“LIFT was helpful for stirring up some cross-disciplinary ideas and re-evaluating our current thinking about technology in society”
“Started a blog; have a renewed sense of the potential of internet communication”
“Got a new partnership there.”
Browse all the responses concerning the greatest use of LIFT06 for daily work.
Evaluations of conferences are rarely able to show a direct relation between the event and changes in behaviour of attendees. With LIFT06, responses of attendees indicated a change in behaviour, such as starting a blog or getting a new partnership. Did you attend LIFT06? Then it is 94% sure that you did do something that you wouldn’t have done if you just stayed at home – you met some new people: 94% of attendees met new people at LIFT06.
More information about LIFT06 and changes to knowledge, attitudes and behaviour.
The analysis of blog posts mentioning LIFT06 also provided insight into the impact of LIFT06 on the attitudes of people. Although many of the posts analysed were reactions and comments on individual speakers, 26% of the posts could be described as displaying knowledge or attitudinal change. Following are some examples of the blog posts that show explicitly the influence of LIFT06 on what people know, think and feel:
“And just think; if I had never gone to Lift06 I would not be feeling anything like this strongly about the issue”
“I leave this conference with many more fresh ideas that I have trouble getting any sleep for fear of forgetting them. It was exciting, encouraging, fascinating and completely conversational.”
An interesting result of the blog monitoring was that 26% of the blog posts selected randomly were by people that did not attend LIFT06, indicating how the conference generated discussions in a wider forum. More about the blog monitoring results.
Attendees were asked in the online survey to rate key factors of the LIFT06. The conference administration, venue and communication from the organisers were rated highly; the quality of the program and networking to a lesser extent. The rating of the social events is notable for the number of attendees that did not participate in a social event.
Attendees were given the opportunity to leave a comment on these factors – 53 attendees did so. Most of the comments focused on the format of LIFT06, networking and social aspects.
“We have to find a way to better exchange ideas and point of views with participants: ateliers de creation; workshops; meeting points right after conference; like open questions rooms; express yourself points”
“Quality of presentations very variable. Some were excellent; some very poor. Maybe too many - some of the best should have had more time to present their things. (Like the one from UNAID)”
“These people have no culture! Juste looking their computers and reading computers books. You need intellectuals; philosophs; ethnologues; anthropologues; sociologues now!”
“I would have liked to hear more research scientists and software developers; who make a completely different use of web technology; including blogs. In general there was little talk on technical blogs.”
In the online survey, attendees were given the possibility to choose their preferred presentations. Based on this selection, the five presentations chosen the most often were as follows:
In the blog posts that were analysed, the presentations sparked many posts and consequent discussions; some attendees were posting their reactions to the presentations, while others were debating the topics raised often leading to discussions outside the immediate circle of attendees.
How could LIFT06 be improved? 127 attendees responded to this question on the online survey. In addition, attendees left many comments on the feedback page. Nearly half of these responses were on the conference program (e.g. suggestions for presentations). 25% of responses were commenting on the format of LIFT06. Other improvements focused on the networking aspect and administrative matters.
Concerning improvements to the LIFT06 Program, two themes emerged from the comments:
Concerning improvements to the LIFT06 format, two themes emerged from the comments:
Browse all suggested improvements
Attendees were asked in the online survey what future topics they would like to see addressed in LIFT07. 118 people responded to this question. One third of people spoke of the “social” use of technology in their responses; social networks, social change, human impact, etc. Other suggested topics focused on “design” and “technology”. Browse all suggested topics.
In terms of future activities from the LIFT team, the chart below shows the support for the different proposed activities.
Of the attendees who responded to the online survey, 93% said they planned, at this stage, to attend the next LIFT conference in 2007 and 96% said they would recommend the next LIFT conference in 2007 to a friend.
Attendees were given the possibility to comment in general about LIFT06 on the feedback page of the LIFT site or on the online survey – browse all general comments on LIFT06.
If you are interested to provide further feedback on LIFT06, please feel free to do so on the feedback page. If you would like to comment on the evaluation (that’s an evaluation of the evaluation known as a “meta-evaluation”), please do so here (as this is a wiki page):
Comments on the evaluation:
Download the full report (719kb PDF): lift_evaluation_report.pdf
The evaluation study was undertaken by Glenn O’Neil (oneil@benchpoint.com), evaluation consultant for Benchpoint Ltd., a new company specialised in measurement and evaluation. More information on Glenn’s approach to evaluation can be found on his blog.