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2010 Feedback Survey Results
2010 Annual Conference & Bookfair Each year following the annual conference, AWP conducts an online survey of conference attendees. AWP uses responses from that survey to improve the planning and execution of our conference, and to address the concerns and needs of our attendees and members. AWP is committed to providing the best service and experience to our conference attendees with the staff and resources available to us. AWP continues to improve our conference each year, and feedback from our attendees is a tremendous help to us in doing so. If you attended AWP’s 2010 Conference & Bookfair and had a question or concern not addressed in this report, please feel free to email us at conference@awpwriter.org.The survey report is available below and in pdf:
The charts in this report illustrate a comparison between the 2008, 2009, and 2010 surveys. We are happy to report that all surveys demonstrate a satisfaction rate among respondents of over 94%. Overall, the results were excellent in comparison to previous years’, and tremendous improvements have been made to the conference over the last three years in service and execution of events. However, AWP does recognize there’s always room for improvement and we will consistently take a critical look at ways to make the conference even more beneficial to our members, attendees, and presenters.
*A few evening events and the Saturday bookfair were open to the public, increasing general attendance by more than 1,000 people. Click on the links below to review the results to a survey question:
Quantifying and Ranking the Written Comments Example: Comment (Number of Mentions within Written Comments / Out of 936 Survey Respondents with Written Comments / 1074 Survey Respondents / 6523 Registered Attendees).
AWP Responds to Written Comments AWP continues to improve our conference each year, and feedback from our attendees is a tremendous help to us in doing so. If you attended AWP’s 2010 Conference & Bookfair and had a question or concern not addressed in this report, please feel free to contact us at conference@awpwriter.org.
AWP received 74 responses requesting that future conferences be held exclusively in a convention center. While we received many positive comments regarding the exhibit space at the Colorado Convention Center, AWP is not able to always use such a facility, given the venues that are available to a conference of this size. As we move the conference around the country to meet the needs of as many constituents as possible, sometimes we will have better space for the bookfair, and at other times, a better space for the panels. However, given the growth of the conference in recent years AWP will be moving towards a permanent convention center model by 2014. Next year’s AWP conference will be held at the Marriott Wardman Park and the Omni Shoreham hotels in Washington, D.C. The bookfair will take place on the lower level of the Marriott Hotel. Although it is not in a convention center, there will be 95,000 square feet of contiguous exhibit space on one floor, with a layout that will be simple to navigate and comparable in many ways to the Colorado Convention Center. We had 88 responses that the planned occupancy of the rooms was inadequate, and that rooms were overcrowded or too large for the size of the audience. The 2010 AWP Conference & Bookfair hosted more events than any previous year; we increased the amount of panel discussions and readings from 332 in 2009 to 400 in 2010 conference. As the conference grows, and we strive to represent a variety of diverse voices, aesthetic viewpoints, and literary, academic, and pedagogical topics, sometimes our estimates for space requirements do not go as well as we would like. There are many variables that go into room assignments that often complicate the matter, e.g. time of day, other events going on at the same time, composition of panelists, and these things are never consistent from year to year. However, because the last thing we want is for any attendee to be shut out from an event that interests them, proper room assignments will continue to be at the forefront of our efforts when completing the scheduling. AWP received 24 responses that the conference has become too large of an atmosphere to network. As the conference grows to accommodate the expanding interests and concerns of our constituents, the networking atmosphere will change, and can seem overwhelming, especially for a first-time attendee. Quite simply, some individuals prefer smaller conferences. For those individuals, AWP offers the services of WC&C, a network of Writers Conferences & Workshops that provide a cozier experience, where an attendee can attend every event, reading, and workshop. Given that the AWP Conference & Bookfair is the largest of its kind, there are seemingly countless opportunities to network, but we do recognize these opportunities often present themselves in different ways than the opportunities at small conferences. AWP received 78 comments that panels were lackluster, uninformative, did not support the attendee’s needs, or were repetitive from previous years. While we are aware of some unfortunate circumstances, we always encourage presenters to prepare as much as possible, to not read directly from their paper, to engage the audience directly, to not speak beyond their allotted time, allow time for Q&A, and to not stray from the subject of the panel as described in the program. These are all things we strongly encourage, particularly because we know that the best panels are ones that capture the audiences’ attention. Each panel is accepted or rejected mainly on the strength of their proposal. In other words, we want the panels to be as good as we imagine they could be when we accept them. Given the size of the conference with over 1550 presenters, 400 panel discussions and readings in three days, and despite our best efforts, we cannot always guarantee presenters will abide by their obligations to give the presentations they're capable of. We will keep reminding our presenters and moderators by post, email, and through the presenter’s FAQ section of the website, to not only stick to their agreement with us, but also remind them to leave time for a Q&A, show up for their event prepared in a timely manner, follow the conversation indicated in their event description, and of other ways in which they can best fulfill their obligations to the audience. AWP will continue to provide all moderators and presenters with guidelines for their presentations in as many forms as possible. We must keep in mind that while respondents are rightly concerned with the lack of preparation on the part of some presenters, preparation has improved over the years. In the past two years we’ve had a better than 95% satisfaction rate for the conference overall, and this year 72.7% of the respondents ranked preparation among presenters as “excellent” or “very good,” compared with 71.1% last year. In 2009, 4% of survey respondents ranked preparation as unsatisfactory, and this past year that number has dropped to 3.1%. Further, in 2009, 4.5% of survey respondents stated that the conference had improved greatly over the years, and for the 2010 survey 15.9% of respondents noted that the conference had greatly improved. AWP will consider distributing blank survey templates for individual events on-site. Having such surveys on-site will not only assist our members in providing us with more feedback on individual events, but it will also give a greater sense of accountability among presenters and organizers of events. While AWP cannot consider micro managing the execution of events, or force presenters into discussion with attendees, time for Q&A and limiting the number of panelists can be strongly suggested or required in the guidelines. Though AWP embraces the creativity that is often impromptu among our conference presenters, we are still obliged to provide our attendees with well-executed and well-prepared events. We must continue to improve the quality of our events and presentations to the best of our ability. Lastly, we had 14 respondents report there was poor audio quality in the rooms for panels, particularly at the Colorado Convention Center. While we do everything in our power to ensure proper AV is provided for each and every event, often times we are at the mercy of built-in system that do not always meet our standards. We will continue to work hard with the various venues we employ to limit these disturbances as much as possible. Notwithstanding the audio equipment, respondents noted in several cases that presenters did not lean into the microphone, or repeat the audiences’ questions in reply, making it difficult to follow the conversation. In asking our presenters to properly prepare for each event we always remind them to follow these good practices to better facilitate an audience, and we will continue to do so. During the conference, the audio/visual companies are on hand to attend to any mechanical/technical issues immediately in order to provide the most optimal support for panelists and events. We work very hard to ensure conflicts in the schedule are avoided, but because the AWP Conference & Bookfair is the largest of its kind, some conflicts are unavoidable. AWP has a large and diverse constituency of writers; in other words, we try to make sure that panels on special literary topics, disability, sexuality, Latino/a, African-American, Native American, Asian-American, and other groups that comprise AWP, are not scheduled against themselves. We attempt to avoid any conflicts with panels that deal with similar types of issues; with 400 panel discussions and readings in three days, conflicts outside of specific groups, and mostly between genres, sometimes appear. Other contingencies to consider, such as the appropriateness of room size, audio/video requirements, and events that have to be scheduled at specific times, are issues we also have to consider in creating the schedule. One of the problems with having a conference of this size is that there are going to be more things our attendees would like to see than they are able to. AWP has several staff and board members go over the schedule, to try and avoid conflicts as much as possible, but there are simply too many events to alleviate them completely. AWP received 39 comments that this year’s conference was too expensive either in terms of hotel rooms or the cost for food and beverage. The conference rate at the Hyatt Regency in Denver was $189/night, which was reduced from the standard rate of $259/night. While the cost of food and beverage in any major American city is going to be expensive, the fees for these amenities at the hotels and convention centers that can contain the AWP Conference & Bookfair are always going to be at a premium. While we do understand how these added expenses are weighty to some attendees (particularly those on tight budgets), receptions, including the AWP Public Reception, offering free drinks were hosted each night for attendees. AWP will continue to provide such services as the Public Reception, as budgeting allows, and will continue to find new ways to serve our members and attendees by providing affordable conference services. We are always careful to consider expenses we have direct control over when considering the conference. As a nonprofit, the cost for registration and bookfair space is calculated in such a way to primarily enable AWP to cover the expense of hotel and convention center space rental, staff time, exhibit setup, decorating, and other significant expenditures necessitated by hosting such a large conference. Though these prices all fall below the normal costs of a professional conference of equal size, AWP meticulously analyzes how each fee is best put to use to further support our attendees. AWP understands, particularly in light of the current economic crisis, that visiting Denver stretched many of our members’ budgets thin. AWP recognizes that travel budgets and institutional support are currently being scaled back, or in some case eliminated, at many colleges and universities; we will keep this in mind as we negotiate future hotel contracts, ensuring that we get the best rates possible for our members. AWP received 18 requests for the conference to be held in a warmer climate or on the west coast. The hotel rates offered to AWP on the west coast have so far, been too high (over $200 per night), for our members. It should be noted that even in mid‐March, in warmer areas on the southeast and the west coast, the task of negotiating discount rates for attendees becomes more difficult because either there is not an off‐season rate, or the off‐season rate is six months later than our conference can take place. This makes cities like Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego difficult to take the conference to. In order to take AWP to the west coast, we may have to contract with a second or third tier city, such as Anaheim or Sacramento. The west coast is a very difficult area to receive good hotel and convention center rates. Even a smaller city like Seattle demands top dollar during our conference season. We are currently looking to bring the conference to the west coast for 2014. AWP received 32 comments that there were not enough fiction, non-fiction events, poetry, playwriting/screenwriting, or children’s/young adult literature events at the 2010 Conference & Bookfair. We received 28 comments that there were not enough academic, craft‐of‐writing, pedagogical, or literary criticism events. We received 21 comments saying there was not enough publishing, publishing presses, or job search events. There were 20 comments saying that there was not enough variety to the panels. There were 16 comments that there were not enough events related to avant-garde, cross-genre, or multimedia issues. AWP developed a system of modules to ensure that there is a balance between the variety issues and topics that interest our constituents. Over the past few conferences, the gap between poetry and other genres has been closing. An increased number of fiction and nonfiction events at the conference is no doubt a result of an effort to develop more quality featured prose events. Still, the number of accepted fiction and nonfiction proposals remains somewhat disproportional to the number of poetry events, even after improvement. Simply, AWP receives fewer fiction event proposals, and a lower number of nonfiction, cross-genre readings, playwriting/screenwriting, administrative, publishing, children’s/young adult literature, and agents/contracts proposals. If we are to maintain the increasing number of writers who are interested in joining us at these events, we cannot rely on such submissions to be made without AWP prompting. In 2005, the number of prose event proposal submissions shot up due to the AWP Board’s efforts to solicit prose proposals from colleagues, universities, and list serves. Because AWP is constantly looking for panels that are diverse, unique, and as wide ranging as our membership, such practices, and additional solicitations directly to AWP’s large constituency would continue to prove beneficial. AWP received 20 comments stating there was a lack of diversity to the presenters in regards to age, race, sex, ethnicity, nationality, prestige, or sexual orientation. We received 10 comments saying there were not enough events centered on diversity issues. The expansion of the conference from 16 panel discussions and readings in the 1990s to 400 panel discussions and readings today has drastically improved the variety of aesthetic view points, diversity, and the support we provide to AWP members at all stages of their careers. AWP has worked very hard to diversify its conference programming. Typically, event discussions and readings centered on diversity issues and minority participants receive special consideration in the review of proposals. At the 2010 conference in Denver, 70 of the 400 panel discussions and readings (17.5%) were focused on African‐American, Asian and Asian‐American, Latino/a, Feminist, sexual orientation, and other diversity issues important to AWP’s constituencies. AWP will continue to seek ways to bring the highest quality program to our broad and growing constituency. AWP’s events and participants should be representative of AWP’s far‐flung membership. Similarly to fiction and nonfiction events, AWP will continue to play a more active role in soliciting and encouraging such proposals in order to have more diverse representation among event topics. AWP is constantly looking for panels that are as diverse, unique, and wide ranging as our constituency. We want nothing more than to have panelists that best reflect the diverse community we represent. The committee, made up of qualified AWP Board and Staff Members who select the panels, changes each year, so the selection can vary significantly from year to year. Over the years, this committee has been diverse and comprised of various ethnic groups, sexual orientations, ages, beliefs, and varying genre interests. The selections do not have anything to do with prejudice, but much like with the editor of a press or journal, it’s hard to question someone's personal opinion of quality. Of course, that certainly doesn't mean the committee feels the panels they reject are not of a high quality. We received over 740 proposals this year, and each year the committee laments the difficulty of their decisions; because of space considerations, we were only able to accept 400. Due to the size of the Colorado Convention Center we were thankfully able to increase the amount of space for panels and readings over those accepted for 2009. We will continue to seek conference space capable of accommodating our desire to increase the number of accepted panels. While many high quality panels had to be left off the 2010 schedule, we do not take this lightly, and will continue to vet the panels in a transparent, honest, and as serious a way as possible. As the Bookfair has grown, the necessity for an exhibitor survey has increased. Exhibitor concerns should be broken out of the survey results in the future, so that we can better address exhibitor concerns, and better determine the quality of the conference overall from an attendee perspective. Exhibitors’ needs and preferences are generally very different from those of most attendees. AWP continues to do its very best to make use of the space available to us, but we should be prepared each year to face the challenges that come with a location, and to take advantage of the benefits that come with each location’s exhibit space. AWP considers the Bookfair to be one of the most important aspects of the conference, and this is consistently mirrored in our survey. We had a tremendous amount of positive feedback regarding the bookfair exhibit space in Denver. There were 68 requests from attendees to hold all future bookfairs in one hall instead of multiple spaces. While we were exhilarated that the exhibit space in Denver worked so well for the exhibitors and attendees, there are many aspects of the conference to take into consideration. As we move from location to location, we will continue to face different challenges with our exhibition space. AWP will do its best to face these challenges, and to adequately serve our exhibitors and attendees to the best of our capabilities. One thing never changes from exhibit hall to exhibit hall: not all placement is created equal. The best and worst placement of booths and tables is always relative to primary entrances, corner units, concessions, etc. AWP has always used and will continue to use ethical means to place exhibitors in the hall. For that reason AWP has created the “Point Placement System,” which informs exhibitors of the method by which tables and booths will be placed in an easy and straightforward way. To accommodate the fairest method of placement, the date of purchase was the primary means of determining placement for the 2010 bookfair, along with other “free” means of earning points, such as participating in consecutive years as an exhibitor, Advertising in the Conference Program, and Sponsorship. AWP received 15 requests for a designated lunch hour and/or breaks. Attendees may take breaks whenever they would like, and while it is unfortunate that a panel discussion may be taking place at the same time a person would like to have lunch, it would be unwise to bring back the lunch break, or to increase the break time between events. Increasing the break between sessions would require eliminating an entire time slot of events from our schedule, and that would force us to include fewer events on the schedule—one of our biggest compliments is the variety of sessions. Similarly, bringing back the lunch break would require eliminating a time slot, but more so, because of the size of the conference and the number of attendees, the standard lunch break would cause overwhelming crowding, bottlenecking, general mayhem, and safety concerns when all attendees exit meeting rooms at once, jetting for the front door or nearest hotel vendor. Eliminating the lunch break was a practical move to open up a time slot, and to eliminate the crowding. AWP received 19 requests for free or discounted wi-fi for attendees. While we definitely understand the desire for wi-fi service in the exhibit hall for our bookfair participants, procuring wireless internet capability in the exhibit halls is often cost prohibitive, particularly because we need to be able to keep the bookfair table and booth rates as low as possible for vendors. Adding wireless capability would drive the table and booth prices up significantly. We always try to provide free wi-fi at the conferences, but as we move around the country we're obviously working with different venues that are going to have various cost structures. We tried to provide free wi-fi in the exhibit hall this year but the lowest cost we could get the convention center to agree to was $20,000. As a non-profit that has to constantly scrutinize and contain our costs this was obvious a non-starter. We will keep the requests for wireless service in mind when we seek out future venues—if we can find a way to feasibly provide it for our attendees, we will do so. We received 22 requests for on-site childcare at the conference. While we certainly appreciate the needs of our members with young children, on-site daycare is unfortunately unfeasible for financial reasons. At a professional conference of AWP's size, the insurance policy alone for on-site childcare would force us to dramatically raise conference rates for all attendees. It's also important to keep in mind that in order to conduct on-site childcare at this level we would need to hire professional fully licensed providers who work at a premium in any of the major cities the conference visits. Because of these reasons, and because AWP is a non-profit that must be constantly concerned with the costs of conference services and their effect on our attendees, on-site childcare is simply not possible at this time. However, when possible we will provide information on local childcare providers as recommended by the hotel who attendees could contract individually. We will work toward making this information available both on the website and in the conference program.
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2010 Survey Report
