The
8th BACP Research Conference held in May 2002, was a two-day event
in London with the Royal College of Nursing Counselling Service
as co-host. The Conference attracted nearly 170 participants of which
more than half came for both days. Presenters and delegates from
as far as New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia and the USA were amongst
those who came to the Conference from abroad. The following feedback
is the result of the evaluation forms completed by almost half
of
the delegates of whom a fifth were non-BACP members. Nearly 50%
of returned evaluation forms were completed by non-presenters. All
rating
scores were on a scale from 1 (poor) to 10 (excellent).
Overall
satisfaction, quality, structure and administration
Overall, the delegates were indeed very satisfied with the conference with
an average satisfaction score of 8.6 out of 10, (with no one scoring less
than 6.0). The quality of the venue received an average rating of 7.8 out
of 10 and the average score for the structure of the conference was 8.3
out of 10. The satisfaction with the BACP administration of the conference
received a very encouraging average rating of 8.9 out of 10. Most of the
scores were similar to those from last year (see table below for comparison).
Presentations
With 80 presentations in all, the number was up 54% from last year. Both
the 60 paper presentations (including the plenum paper) and the 11
workshops were very well received with an overall average score of
7.5 out of 10 (spread 4.1-9.7) and with only 4 of these 71 presentations
being rated with an average score below 6.0 out of 10.
The
overall average score for the 60 paper presentations was 7.4 out
of 10 (spread 4.1-9.4). The overall average score for the 11 workshops
was 7.9 out of 10 (spread 6.0-9.7). The averages were similar or
higher compared to those very encouraging scores from last year (see
Table below). The presenters have all received the average rating
score for their own paper/workshop.
Most
helpful part of the conference (open ended question)
When asked 'What part of the conference did you find most helpful and
why' the most frequent answers (from which fragments are cited below)
were under the following headings:
Presentations: "Individual presentations, workshops, poster presentations,
plenty of choice, excellent programme, range of method and
presentation styles, very helpful, interesting and useful,
challenging, motivated me to research, gave me ideas to follow
up, finding out how other people approached research, related
to my work/interests, small intimate sessions, time for discussion,
feedback on my presentation, learned a huge amount"
Networking: "Opportunities to exchange ideas, social time, meeting
other members of the profession, contact with other researchers,
talking to and meeting others, enjoyed drinks reception, networking
room"
Administration/support: "Excellent, efficient, extremely friendly, organisation
and support from staff, helpful, friendly and professional approach,
atmosphere very comfortable, non-threatening and encouraging"
Suggestions
for future Conferences (open ended question)
When asked 'How could the Conference be improved next year' the
most frequent answers (from which fragments are cited below) were
under the following headings:
Papers/Programme: "More time for presentation, more diversity, less strands,
longer sessions, more balanced emphasis on methodology and findings,
weed out non-counselling research, further guidelines to presenters,
balance the keynote speech, more than 2 min for posters, put
good material at the end, less rushed, have a social event in
the evening"
Venue: "More refreshments in rooms, sitting down for lunch,
include salad/cold meal for lunch, no presentations in the main
hall, residential, hotels isolating and too far away"
Administration/organisation: "Access to abstract booklet in advance, receive programme
even earlier, involve more from 'non academic' background (managers,
practitioners, people from industry)"
Any
further comments? (open ended question)
Most of the comments given (which had not been put forward already) were
positive feedback, and the most frequent comments (from which fragments
are cited below) were under the following headings:
Venue/location: "Excellent food"
Administration: "Excellent organisation with support for presenters,
helpful pre-conference information, accessible and very helpful
and friendly staff, organisation helped me feel more relaxed
and enjoy the whole event"
Presentations: "By far the best conference so far - real variety and
quality of material, a shame the two strands on children and
families were running at the same time, 2 minutes (instead of
1) for posters much better, too much to see/do, did not feel
rushed - time for reflections, please do not feel obliged to
go down the 'scientific' route to research, appreciated the guidance
notes from BACP to help presenters"
General: "Proud to have been associated with it, liked the inclusive
and informal atmosphere, loved the whole experience - even if
scary at times, well done, thank you"
Next
year's conference The BACP Research Department will carefully consider the feedback
from the 2002 conference as part of its planning for the 2003 conference
in Leicester, with the University of Leicester as co-host.
From
the feedback and all the letters and emails we have received after
the Conferences it is clear that the 'trademark' of
the BACP Research Conferences is, apart from high quality presentations,
the "welcoming, comfortable, friendly, non-threatening, encouraging,
supportive, helpful, informal and above all very inclusive atmosphere" -
and we want to keep it that way! The dates to put in your diary for
next year are the 16 and 17 of May. See you there!
Evaluation
of Research Conference 2002, 2001, 2000 & 1999 (satisfaction
scores on a scale from 1 to 10)
2002
2001
2000
1999
Venue
London
Bristol
Manchester
Leeds
Return
rate for evaluation forms
48%
70%
53%
79%
Overall
satisfaction (average score)
8.6
8.7
8.4
7.7
Structure
of conference programme (average score)
8.3
8.4
8.1
7.1
Quality
of the venue (average score)
7.8
8.1
8.5
8.1
BACP
administration (average score)
8.9
8.9
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Satisfaction
with papers (overall average score)
7.5
7.4
7.6
6.9
Satisfaction
with workshops (overall average score)
