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The 31st AMWA Conference in Sydney post-conference survey report

Thank you to the conference delegates who completed the post-conference survey. The results help us know what we did well and how we can improve next year’s conference.

This is a short synopsis of the survey results; however, the entire survey summary is available at the following link:

• 2014 AMWA conference feedback survey results

The conference was attended by 57 delegates, most from New South Wales (53%) followed by Victoria (26%), ACT and Queensland (both 7%) South Australia (2%) and the New Zealand contingent comprised 5% of the delegates.

Of those, 21 delegates completed the post-workshop survey and the percentage of respondents from each state roughly reflected that of the conference attendees with 52% from NSW and 48% from interstate and New Zealand.

Most of the respondents were freelance medical writers/editors (43%), worked for health organisations (19%) or universities (14%).

The majority of respondents were very satisfied or satisfied with the plenary session topics (81%) and conference facilities (90%) and felt that the sessions were appropriate and informative. As well, most were happy with the workshop leaders (86%) and workshop topics (86%), and 71% felt the workshops were about the right length. We were pleased to find that most respondents (95%) felt the conference was well organized.

Similar to previous conferences, networking was the most liked aspect of the conference aside from the sessions and workshops. The second most liked was the dinner. The food (outside the conference dinner) was the least liked with 30% of respondents ticking that box.

Things we could do better: respondents’ suggestions included session topics that were less journalism oriented, more focus on the craft of writing and editing and a more diverse range of workshops.

Again, thanks to everyone who completed the survey. Next year’s conference committee has been formed and are taking your comments on board.

L.E. Ohman, PhD