FEEDBACK QUESTIONNIARE

The organising committee and of the 4th and 5th International Abalone Symposium will be grateful if you could spend a little time answering the following questions. We will compile a document of suggestions and forward these to the next symposium organising committee. We are looking for constructive criticism and suggestions .......not just praise!! You needn’t stick to the format presented below, all comments will be accepted. Please e-mail your responses to Neville Sweijd (nsweijd@botzoo.uct.ac.za).

  1. Communication

    2. Was there enough information flow to delegates and presenters in particular?

    Was the web site useful?

    How could this be improved ?

  2. Scientific Programme

    3. One of the issues raised at the 3rd International Abalone Symposium was that the scientific programme was too academic and that industry and aquaculture was not afforded equal status.

    Was there enough material presented at the symposium to meet your interests and make the trip worthwhile?

    Was there enough industry/aquaculture material?

    How could this be improved?

  3. Workshops

    4. Were the Technical Workshops a good idea and would you like to see this repeated at the next meeting?

    What other topics should be covered?

    What are your comments about the discussion workshops and the extra-cirricular industry related workshops?

  4. Poster sessions

    5. We have had some comments about the poster sessions - it has been suggested that the poster feedback takes place on a daily basis (some posters each day) and not left to the end. In order to accept more presentations and avoid parallel session, poster presentations will need to be increased.

    What are you suggestions with respect to posters?

  5. Parallel Sessions

    6. How did the parallel session work? Would you be in favour of these in the future? 

  6. Technical Tours

    7. Were the Technical Tours adequate?

    Did they meet your expectations?

    What are your suggestions in that regard?

    Should we have held more than one trip? (there were 2 Saldanha trips organised and only one Hermanus trip).

  7. Accommodation

    8. Was the accommodation offered to your satisfaction?

    Any suggestions?

  8. Finances

    9. Do you have any comments on the finances of the symposium? Should we have charged more in order to subsidise the travel expenses and registration fees for some students and other researchers who couldn’t obtain funding? Should we have charged separately for the social functions?

  9. Social Functions

    10. Now that you have all hopefully detoxed, did you enjoy the social functions? Were there too many?

    Any suggestions or comments?

  10. Structure

    11. Was the 2 + 1 + 2 day formula a good idea? The Middle day was reserved for workshops, with some repeated on the Saturday. Should theses workshops have been held only once?

  11. General Comments

There are several aspects that are not covered in this questionnaire and so if there are any other aspects that you’d like to comment on, or if you have any general comments, please feel free to make them.