SiRvey SiRvey or How are we doing ? John S. Lemon

SiRvey Do you remember this ?

SiRvey Why did we do it ? Have been running events for many years Actually 20+ years Are they really what users want Produced SiReporter for years Production and Mailing costs rising Was it still needed ? What should we offer in future ?

SiRvey Procedure Decided needed survey at October committee meeting I ‘volunteered’ as use SNAP for surveys design On train back north to Aberdeen Created survey Uploaded it to Aberdeen web server ed rest of committee First response / suggestion from Australia (Mo)

SiRvey Procedure Revised survey Re-published By time reached Edinburgh survey was finally approved after about 4 iterations Created address file from all the sources we had – 79 addresses. Set it all going 39 replies – 49.4% !!

SiRvey So what did we find out Who attended which conferences and how did they participate.

SiRvey Why people didn’t attend

SiRvey Other reasons for not attending Only two of the six actually stated what the ‘Other’ reason was: “fort holding “ “Did not know about them, or about the user group “ The latter is a little worrying What have we not being doing right as a committee ?

SiRvey What you want & Where ?

SiRvey ‘Other’ location suggestions Easy transport for all 3 day event - Dublin By checking "Europe", I mean to include the UK! From comments I heard at Stratford, I think people would travel further to stay at a "tourist" location (like Stratford) - London, Edinburgh, York? How about Ireland? What about having joint 3 day conferences with other groups eg. ASSESS (SPSS user group), LARIA, SSRG, Royal Statistical Society and such like. Then mean spirited Employers may feel they are getting better value for money and be more inclined to fund prospective attendees. Expense is an issue for most people...including me. So the cheaper the better. But not to an extreme...I just mean, please don't have the only hotel available be $300 a night. Keep meetings close to an international airport if possible. I was going to go to Avon but the transportation and time commitment to travel from the states was too much. Also, is it possible to have at other times of the year? September or October? I have benefited from both conferences attended and have enjoyed how the conferences were organized. This year, the conference from June was great since the school year was over in America. However, if I am involved with a grant submission for July 1, then it becomes a bad time to be traveling. Overall the end of June or sometime in July would be a great time to attend this conference. Dublin, Copenhagen or Brussels I prefer the three day events but don't mind the location

SiRvey Likelihood of attending next event(s) 50% of respondents probably attend London 59% probably go to Dublin

SiRvey Training needs Offered ‘Intermediate Training’ this time ‘Other’ needs General developments in survey software Use of SIR ODBC and SQL in report writing. Crystal reports and SIR. Version migration.

SiRvey SiReporter Despite a mailing list of almost people ( 41% ) claim not receive it

SiRvey SiReporter Very few sections are ignored Overall well liked !!

SiRvey Suggestions for improvements I would like to receive it I think the support has always been excellent when it is required. I want a chat room!!!!!!! (...or message board). It should be a dedicated site (don't have to navigate through 16 screens to get to it) It should be user friendly. Effort should be made to make it inclusive Keep up the good work! More often? Can you send me a sample?

SiRvey SiR version and Operating system SiR XS under Win95 – that’s something !

SiRvey Conclusions It appears that as a committee we are possibly doing most things right !! Where do we go from here ? SiReporter will be electronic from now on Reduced costs Easier to produce Wider audience Dublin 2008 ?

SiRvey