The BCCPA conducted a survey from May 28th to June 11th on overall delegate experience at the 38th Annual Conference: Sustainability Through Innovation that took place in Whistler, BC. This was a chance for delegates to inform staff and our Annual Conference Committee regarding their experience at the workshop and plenary sessions, as well as evening events including the Sunday night reception and Monday’s “Club Care”.
“We’d like to thank everyone who took the time to provide us with their feedback” says Gagan Lidhran, an intern with the BCCPA who conducted the online survey. “This information will prove invaluable as we have already begun work on the 2016 Annual Conference.”
[quote name=”Daniel Fontaine, CEO, BCCPA” pull=”left”]We’ve conducted these types of surveys over the last several years as a way to help improve the delegate and exhibitor experience. This is likely one of the key reasons we experienced record attendance this year.[/quote]
A full summary of the detailed survey results were compiled and shared with the 2016 Annual Conference Planning Committee last week.
“It’s great to see the positive feedback on so many fronts,” says Daniel Fontaine, CEO for the BCCPA. “We’ve conducted these types of surveys over the last several years as a way to help improve the delegate and exhibitor experience. This is likely one of the key reasons we experienced record attendance this year.”
The BCCPA also distributed a separate survey to exhibitors and their feedback will be reviewed and incorporated into the planning of next year’s event.
See below for a summary of findings from the 2015 Annual Conference Survey Report:
Overall Experience
An overwhelming majority of the survey respondents were service provider delegates and speakers. Respondents found the Annual Conference to be relevant, interesting, timely, well-organized, informative and Interactive, with good ratings of 85% or higher. Participants also responded positively to all conference facilities (session rooms, guest rooms etc…) and conference materials (access to staff, CVENT, and registration etc…), with good ratings of 70% or higher.
Similarly, survey respondents gave good ratings for the optional conference events, which included the Annual Golf Tournament, Sunday Night Welcome Reception, and Monday Night’s “Club Care”. Participants did provide additional commentary about food quality and a lack of seating at the conference and evening events.
Conference App
This year’s Conference App was downloaded 187 times which is an impressive 42% of conference attendees. This compares to only 27% when it was launched last year.
Overall, 52% of survey participants utilized the conference app while 48% of participants did not. Major reasons for not using the app was because of incompatibility with Blackberry phones, and not having the session or registration code.
Plenary & Workshop Sessions
The majority of survey participants who attended the first plenary session (The Innovation Paradigm: Delivering Excellence and Sustainability in Continuing Care), found it to be very good (43%) and fairly good (45%). Similarly, Plenary B (Revisiting End-of-Life in Canada) was found to be very good (30.8%) and fairly good (24.6%). Participants who attended plenary B said they were challenged to effectively hear the panel discussion due to the sit-down lunch taking place during the session.
Individual workshops were also rated for their participant interest and effectiveness. This information will be shared with each speaker later this month.
Contest Winner Announced
Congratulations to Edwin Cheung, the Executive Director of Capilano Care Centre in West Vancouver. He was the lucky winner of our $50 gift card to Tim Horton’s for completing an annual conference survey. Thanks again to everyone who completed the survey and automatically entered the draw to win.
Devji Appointed Conference Chair
The BCCPA is also pleased to announce that Board Director Aly Devji (Delta View Habilitation Centre) has been appointed as the chairperson for the 2016 Annual Conference. Devji also served in the same role for the 2015 Annual Conference.
The 2016 Conference Planning Committee consists of a number of service provider and commercial members including:
- Hendrik Van Ryk (H&H Total Care)
- Michael Aikens (Glacierview Lodge)
- Alex Jones (Heritage Office Furniture) – Commercial Representative
- Karen Baillie (Menno Place) – Canadian College of Health Leaders liaison
The final committee member will be announced after the final selection of our Title Sponsor. An RFP for this opportunity will expire on July 24.
