Several surveys were distributed in advance of the San Antonio Annual Meeting to collect input from SOT’s membership to support future planning and continuous improvement of the Annual Meeting. The first survey was designed to collect feedback from SOT’s membership on ways to increase access and engagement in the science presented during the poster sessions. The second survey explored potential alternative formats for the Annual Meeting such as shifting the meeting to weekdays vs over the weekend, extending the last day from half to full day, and alternative programming options for the last day.
We appreciate your time to take the surveys—the response was very robust—nearly 1,100 responses to the poster format survey and over 900 responses to the meeting format survey! The surveys closed in early April and the data recently have been compiled. While SOT Council is still reviewing the results, we wanted to share a few of the findings.
The poster session survey was taken in response to past member feedback seeking greater access to SOT poster content, reflecting the importance of the posters and recognizing the many competing demands on time and schedules.While the majority of respondents did not favor a move to display posters for a full day, approximately 70% supported extending poster viewing time by 30 minutes in the morning and afternoon. In addition, there was consensus (~75%) regarding the suggestion to provide the opportunity for posters to be made available on the SOT Meeting website for a period of time before and after the Annual Meeting. (Another enhancement to increase access to Annual Meeting content and extend the overall value and impact of the meeting already has been implemented—an Annual Meeting Presentation library has been created and is accessible to members on the SOT website.)
One clear message from the meeting format survey was the desire to have a less scheduled lunch hour that would enhance networking time and overall enjoyment of the meeting. There also was significant support for moving to a full 4th day for the meeting; however, the logistics surrounding this type of a change preclude implementation prior to 2015. Our thanks to the many of you (nearly 400!) who provided many creative suggestions on how to use that 4th day with distinct programming formats and exciting topics.
Stay tuned as SOT Council continues to evaluate the survey data and considers potential actions and options to continue to enhance the SOT Annual Meeting.