We recently got the results from the evaluation survey of LIFT06. As one of the organizer I am quite happy with what people said. The response rate is significant (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). The survey and its analysis has been conducted by Glenn O’Neil from the independent company called Benchpoint:

LIFT06 was assessed as a 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.

Why do I blog this? this push us to do something even more interesting next year. Our challenge would be to keep the ambiance and improve the interactions between people. This is the main thing we have to work on as shown on this pie chart (the rating of the social events is notable for the number of attendees that did not participate in a social event.)

As for the variety of feeling towards some presenters, it's very funny, some people were really impressed by some speakers and other persons did not get anything from the same one; my feeling is that it's good: it shows that we manage to bring people from different interests.