Communication – A Two-Way Street

You sent out a newsletter to your distribution list. Did it end up in electronic la-la-land? Or did you get feedback? And if you did – are you really listening?

Feedback? For what?

For each message that you send, you will likely get some compliments, some inquiries – on the topic of your message or something completely unrelated – and a few “unsubscribe” requests. But if you are not hearing anything back consistently and from many members of your audience, it’s time to ask to make sure that your message is on track and being heard, not deleted without being read!

The same is true of live events, be it a conference, a training session, a speech contest, or a workshop. What did attendees really think? What elements should you keep for the next event? What can you do better?

Feedback? How?

You can ask individuals directly to give you anecdotal evidence. This method works well to test new ideas prior to an e-blast. Just make sure that you don’t only ask your friends and your team members, make sure you ask a cross-section of your target audience.

To evaluate an entire event that may involve 50, 200 or 1000 attendees, you need to make sure that everyone has a voice. A survey is the best way to obtain and consolidate that feedback. Paper surveys allow you to capture feedback immediately – participants can carry their surveys with them and jot down ideas as they go through the conference. Others may just forget to turn in their surveys, and a reminder with a link to an online survey, through services such as SurveyMonkey and Constant Contact, will give you additional feedback.

While online surveys are typically anonymous, social media forums such as LinkedIn and Facebook provide an online forum for participants to offer feedback in a discussion format with other participants. This works best, of course, once you have a critical mass of members in those forums.

You have tons of feedback. What next?

Act on it! If there are multiple requests for an additional breakout session at a conference, accommodate it – of course, as long as it makes sense for the organization. If breaks are too short – adjust the schedule! If participants like receiving handouts, continue to provide them! In other words, let everyone know that you have heard, otherwise you will not get future feedback.

One “gotcha” is that you will not be able to incorporate everyone’s ideas. For example, if you are designing a flyer, it is impossible to make everyone happy. Text cannot be both red and black. The logo can only be one size, not both larger and smaller than your proposal. Keep discussions on such specifics to a small group.

What you do get out of it?

You have the benefit of knowing how your audience reacts to your messages and your events…and can adjust to make sure you continue to be heard. In other words – you have just created a dialog.