IFMA18 Congress – New Zealand – 20th – 25th March 2011
Canterbury, New Zealand
During and following the Congress Delegates were asked to complete an evaluation form of the congress. This Congress was held following the earthquake in Christchurch and involved the organisers moving the whole congress including accommodation out of Christchurch to the small ski resort and town of Methven at very short notice.
100 delegates completed the 23 question evaluation – nearly one third of the total delegates attending. The forms have been collated and the report produced.
Main Findings
The congress was highly rated with 95% of the group giving the congress an Excellent or Very Good rating. Plenary Sessions and Field Trips also received very high ratings with 95% and 93% respectively rated Excellent or Very Good. The pre congress tour had a unanimous Excellent or Very Good rating from the participants who completed the form.
Please see the full report about the particular highlights – there were many both in the Plenary, Field Trip and general congress areas.
There was a large number of congratulatory comments: ‘congratulations to the team’, ‘for overcoming the earthquake’, ‘outstanding job’, ‘world class’, ‘organisers should get a gold medal’, ‘extremely well done’, ‘exceptionally well run, tight scheduling, punctual’. Content ‘diverse, relevant, andplenaries well presented’, with lots and lots of “thank you”s, ‘fantastic crew’, ‘great people and venue’, ‘organisers should be proud’ and much more. The students were also highly appreciated. And a ‘Thanks to NZIPIM and Lincoln and Massey Universities’.
Methven as a town and venue generally got the “thumbs up” from delegates, ‘Methven Resort top class service & friendly staff’, ‘enjoyed community involvement’, ‘Methven resort was superb venue and place to stay’, ‘food was good all day’, ‘quaint location made for informal and rural feeling’.
All in all a very good report but with some areas of improvement identified. Our thanks go once again to the organisers for the monumental effort they made to ‘rescue’ the congress in difficult circumstances – and for the sheer excellence of the delivered product.