P.Mean >> Statistics webinar >> Feedback on my webinars (created 2009-10-29).

November 4, 2009. Only one person attended. She reported no problems with an echo. She liked the section comparing the relative merits of data entry in databases versus spreadsheets, but felt it could be shortened a bit so as to add more information about data management in PASW. She also liked the material on coding categorical values and missing value codes. Finally she felt that the distinction between numeric and string variables was helpful.

October 14, 2009. A few people reported problems with an echo. The problem seemed to wax and wane. It might be related to when I bent closer to the computer. I'll try testing a few things and also talking to the support people at WebEx.

The content seemed to be at the right level for most people. One person wanted more advanced material. That's an unusual comment in my experience, and I'll think about whether offering webinars at two different levels might be appropriate. One person who did not attend did review the handout and was a bit intimidated by it. Of course, reading a handout without the lecture is always difficult, but this is still bad news. I want to avoid a sense of fear and intimidation, as that limits your learning. One person suggest that I talked too much about clinical versus practical significance--just two examples would have been more than enough. A couple of people thought the section on Bayesian computation was confusing. This was new material for me, so I will try to work on this.

One person, however, was "a bit disappointed" and suggested that I needed to present the material in a more "dynamic and engaging manner." That person suggested that what might work for a captive audience of university students would not work well in the real world. I'll have to think about this a bit without getting too defensive. The webinar format does tend to be less dynamic than a live presentation, but I still think there are areas I can work on. In particular, I should probably think about relating this material more closely with the real world needs of people.

One person was afraid to ask "dumb questions." I'm sure most teachers get this, and they'll say something like "There's no such thing as a dumb question." I would take it further and suggest that asking an apparently "dumb question" will make you more popular with the other attendees. They are probably struggling too, but they might not be able to put the point of confusion into words. I like questions at all levels because it breaks the monotony and gives me some feedback. So, please never hold back. If you ask more than 50% of the questions, that might be a problem, but no one, in my experience, tends to dominate the discussion to that extent.

Most people liked the idea of a one hour webinar. One suggested a 90 minute webinar. Another suggested that anything less than two hours would lead to a superficial discussion. I tend to agree with the last comment, but will still try to do a good job within a 60 minute time frame. It is just too hard to carve out more than an hour from most people's work schedule.

I also got positive feedback about the use of a live camera shot of myself during the talk. As a side note, I wish that I could have seen some of you.

The pricing seemed to be acceptable to most. One person, though, said that seeking compensation through their workplace would probably be too much of a hassle. I can sympathize with this, as I have worked in places where procurement procedures are a nightmare. Another person pointed out that I should accept purchase orders. I'd prefer PayPal, but I certainly will work with anyone who needs to use purchase orders instead. Be patient, though, as I am not too experienced with this aspect of business.

One respondent suggested the use of a class wiki where additional questions and comments could be raised. That is a bit tricky for someone with my background (I still haven't had the time to figure out how to put a good search box on my website), but a wiki does have some appeal. I'll investigate, but I can't promise anything.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to respond, especially those who offered critical comments and suggested areas where I could improve.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License. This page was written by Steve Simon and was last modified on 2017-06-15.