In December and January, we shared a survey as widely as possible. The idea was to get your input, as a potential attendee, on what kind of conference you wanted: from topics and speakers to logistics and events.
People responded, over 200 of them, in English and French. This data has been very helpful for just about all of our planning sub-committees, but was obviously most important for our Programs Committee and Logistics Committee.
A few of the highlights from the survey:
- In general, respondents wanted a conference that was weighted towards practical experience, for example by having presenters with government experience, having sessions built around specific case-studies, and so on. In terms of the types of sessions at the conference, there was a preference for practical sessions over academic ones.
- None of the sub-themes was treated as being out of place, and in general seemed to provide the right kind of variety. As a reminder (we’ll keep doing this every time!), our sub-themes are:
- Public Sector Transformation
- Innovation and Disruption
- Reconciliation in Action
- Digital Government
- Networking was seen as important, but most of our respondents noted that they preferred structured sessions that allowed them to interact with new people around a given theme or activity, rather than just blank sections in the calendar for networking.
- Logistically, there was a clear preference for a Conference App, for shorter sessions (1 hour), and for fewer breaks, but breaks that lasted longer.
All of this helps, so many thanks to all of those who took the time to answer our survey!
IPAC Manitoba Region 