Wikimedia Summit 2019/Feedback evaluation

Wikimedia Summit 2019 from above

Results of the feedback survey

tl;dr: you can find the Wikimedia Summit survey evaluation (PDF) (2,9 MB) on Wikimedia Commons.

Methodology

• Online feedback survey via LamaPoll
• Questionnnaire on Wikimedia Commons
• Data collection:
  • March 31st - April 14th 2019 (after closing of the Wikimedia Summit)
  • Conference participants (registration): 210
  • Participants invited to the survey via email: 210
  • Two reminder emails
  • Participation: n=153 → 73 % of conference participants (2018 survey: 62% of participants)

Summary

Survey Report

Background of participants

• The age distribution of this year’s respondents was similar to the previous years, with the majority coming from the age groups 25-34 y.o. (39%) and 35-44 y.o. (35%).
• The proportion of female respondents (36%) was slightly lower than last year (2018: 38%; 2017: 30%; 2016: 31%).
• 44% of this years respondents had not been involved in the Movement Strategy discussions at the 2017 or the 2018 Wikimedia Conference.

Content / program

• The majority of the respondents judged the conference as suitable for their background (88% ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’), as providing an opportunity to contribute one’s perspective on Movement Strategy (82%), as contributing to a shared understanding of the future of our movement (80%) or for gaining a better understanding of the Movement Strategy Process (72%).
• Overall, 74% of the respondents showed themselves as ‘very satisfied’ (26%) or ‘somewhat satisfied’ (48%) with the program of the Summit. On the other hand, 15% felt at least somewhat dissatisfied with the program.
• 76% showed themselves as satisfied with the size of the conference, and 79% as satisfied with the composition of the audience. Slightly lower ratings were given for ‘Quality of contributions’ (71%), ‘Conference facilitation’ (70%), ‘Communication regarding program design process’ (70%) and ‘Overall flow of the conference’ (69%).
• Session formats received some criticism (63% satisfied). The aspect of a clear call to action / definition of next steps (60% satisfied) was again one challenge of the conference.
• Most respondents valued the large in-person time slots, both with the 9 working groups of the Movement Strategy process, as well as with the Core Team of the Movement Strategy Process. Some mentioned also how valuable it was to have all the scoping documents available online before the event, and as a printed version at the event itself.
• Several respondents expressed their regret or dissatisfaction with the strong division between working groups and non-working group participants throughout the program.

Organizational and social aspects

• As in the previous years, the organizational aspects of the 2019 conference received excellent ratings: especially the support by the WMDE/ Wikimedia Summit logistics team before (82% ‘very satisfied’, 14% ‘somewhat satisfied’) and during the conference (77% ‘very satisfied’, 17% ‘somewhat satisfied’) or the team’s help with travel and visa (79% ‘very satisfied’, 9% ‘somewhat satisfied’) were positively highlighted.
• The general atmosphere at the conference was perceived as good (62% ‘very satisfied’, 32% ‘somewhat satisfied’).
• The catering received more criticism than in previous years (62% satisfied vs. 24% dissatisfied). The conference venue was also evaluated partly critical, especially with regards to the limited room settings for small group meetings and informal gatherings.
• Meeting the other participants at the conference helped to have good conversations (95% ‘strongly agree’ or ‘agree’), to make new friends (89%), to understand each other’s views about the movement better (88%), but only partly to reduce some tensions (70%).

Overall Evaluation

• In summary, 89% of the participants evaluated the conference as “good” (46%) or even “very good” (43%).
• Not all prior expectations of the participants were fully met – presumably also due to the novel nature of the conference’ concept: over one third (34%) of the respondents saw their prior expectations partly met but partly also not met.
• Compared to the 2018 Wikimedia Conference, ‘Networking’ remained as the most prominent benefit from a participant’s perspective. Whereas ‘Learning’ , ‘Sharing & Inspiration’ and ‘New partnerships/ projects’ were perceived as the main benefits of the 2018 conference, the benefits of the 2019 Summit focused on ‘Meeting the working groups’, ‘Understanding strategy’ and, more generally, ‘Moving movement strategy further’.

• The new focus of the Wikimedia summit was valued by the most: 78% of the participants regarded a conference which is focusing on structures and governance as being useful for the movement. Alas, it seems a bit less clear if this type of conference benefits the needs of one’s own group or organization (71% ‘strongly agree’ or ‘agree’).

Detailed survey evaluation

• You can find the detailed survey evaluation as a pdf file (2,9 MB) on Wikimedia Commons.