A survey of participants in the 2011 Istanbul IAMCR conference has indicated a strongly positive response to the overall event and a high evaluation of the intellectual exchanges at the Istanbul conference. At the same time, respondents identified specific aspects of the local arrangements that require improvements.
Survey questionnaires were sent to the 1,133 registered participants. 500 of these, (44%), responded. For a survey of this type, this is a very high response-rate. 80.6% reported that they had a 'very good' (34.7%) or 'good' (45.9%) evaluation of the overall Istanbul conference. A further 12.3% felt the conference was okay or satisfactory, while about 7% felt it was poor or minimal in overall quality.
Regarding the quality of intellectual exchanges in Istanbul, the survey found that almost 80% of responding participants had a 'very good' or 'good' evaluation of this aspect. (39.6% felt the intellectual quality of the conference was 'very good' and 40.2% felt it was 'good'. Some 14% of the respondents felt the intellectual quality was okay or satisfactory, while 5.9% felt it was poor or minimal.
These findings represent a strong affirmation by respondents of the value they ascribed to the event and their assessment of the overall intellectual level of academic exchanges in which they engaged at the 2011 conference.
Local Arrangements
At the same time, a significant percentage of survey respondents indicated that specific aspects of the practical arrangements needed improvements. Among the most notable were the quality of lunches, heat in a particular block of venues and aspects of the translation and transportation services. There was also concern about the number of no-shows that had earlier confirmed attendance. Close to half of the survey participants (45.4%) felt that the boxed lunches were unsatisfactory, while only 7% felt the lunches were very good and 25% indicated that these meals were satisfactory. 17% of respondents were neutral and the remainder had no opinion on the matter of lunches.
In terms of the remainder of the survey results, the plenary sessions, hotel accommodation, communication infrastructure and social events all ranged between 40% and 70% in approval ratings. While there was room for improvement in all these areas, respondents were in the main satisfied with these conference activities and arrangements and with the associated local practical details. Airport reception and hotel-university transportation services were listed as No Opinion/Not Applicable by 60% and 55% of the respondents, suggesting that many participants made their own arrangements regarding these two matters.
Translation
In the area of translation, some 6.5% felt it was good, 14.9% said that translation in Istanbul was satisfactory, 8.3 % were neutral and 2.6% felt it was unsatisfactory. A substantial 67.7% of survey respondents had no opinion on the matter or felt that the issue was not applicable to them. However in individual communications we have registered that a number of Latin American colleagues still felt far more needs be done in this area in organizing panels. The final policy recommendations on this topic will be summarized and discussed online between now and the Durban conference, where they will be voted on. Please visit the IAMCR website in the New Year for more on this topic. (Translation and interpreting services are traditionally provided only for the plenary sessions.)
Remedial Actions
The Executive Board has examined and discussed the survey outcome. The EB agreed that full details of the survey would be made available to the in-coming Local Organizing Committee (LOC) in Durban, so that measures could be implemented to address the organizational issues highlighted in the report, including translation services, lunch quality, meeting room temperature and transportation services, among others. These issues were underlined at the recent site visit to Durban by IAMCR President Annabelle Sreberny and Secretary General Hopeton Dunn during the first week of November, 2011.
The EB has also resolved to take special measures, in consultation with the IC and the Scholarly Review Committee directed by Tom Jacobson, to address the issue of 'no-shows', which has been affecting successive conferences in the past.
Appreciation
In appreciating the overall positive evaluation of the conference by respondents, and in particular their favourable rating of the intellectual exchanges at the event, the EB expressed its appreciation to all concerned, including Sections and Working Groups, the academic planning and technical secretariats and, in particular the Local Organizing Committee in Istanbul. The IAMCR continues to feel a debt of gratitude to the dedicated team in the Istanbul LOC that made such a successful conference in Istanbul possible.
Click here for a summary of the main statistical findings of the survey.