Our July 20th, 2016 Event: “Making Sense of the Nonsense: The 2016 American Presidential Campaign”
We conducted a Survey Monkey survey immediately following the July 20th event. Over 75% of those who responded thought the event was “excellent” and the balance thought it was “very good”. Almost 76% were “extremely likely” and over 21% were very likely to recommend ProfTalks to a friend.
Specifically they commented that:
- Prof. Watson was very interesting.
- I finally understand how U.S. elections work. Very informative indeed!
- We take Dr Watson’s course in Florida and knew it would be a great talk!
- Best speaker very knowledgeable.
- Love to have more like it.
- Informative, interesting Overheads with statistics would have been helpful.
- Very interesting talk. Succinct discussion of current US political situation. Learned a great deal re the “usual” rules in political analysis and how these rules are being broken by one candidate. The information re swing states and how these states will affect the results was new to me.
- Great job in providing excellent speaker on topic of current interest and controversy.
- Great speaker. Interesting topic. So good to hear every word.
- Great speaker – engaging, knowledgeable.
- Very interesting.
- It had my attention all the way, which is always what one would want.
- Excellent speaker.
Our April 25th, 2015 Event:
Our Professors Wrote:
“You really did a fabulous job….let me know if you think there is any way I can help to realize your dream…”
“Thank you for the wonderful comments, but most of all thank you for including me in your fabulous event. I have no doubt that given your sincerity, energy, and creativity ProfTalks Toronto will soon see its way to being a major landmark on your cultural calendar! It was a joy to meet you both and our wonderful other speakers. I wish we could have spent more time exploring your city and its many features. Please do not ever hesitate to ask me for any kind of involvement again. This was a great experience.”
“You run a tight ship – I was impressed with the organization, hospitality, venue… and other details of the program! I’d be delighted to work with you in the future.”
Our Attendees Wrote:
- The venue was perfect. The topics were wide spread and all encompassing.
- I found most of the lectures informative and interesting. The event was very organized and professional.
- 1 hour format for each seminar – just right amount of time; Good venue & good location of venue; Interesting and innovative topics; Lively and engaging speakers.
- Was well organized and time was respected. The topics are varied and fun. The four speakers that I heard were excellent.
- very interesting and different topics and very knowledgeable presenters
- All very interesting, and very well timed
- interesting and current topics
- the topics were relevant although I would have liked more literature as in 2014 series; opportunity to have a chat after the lecture; thoughtful material; engaging lecturers’ style; good location although too cold with the air conditioning; comfy chairs:
- Listening to a variety of talks by the professors. Very well organized and liked the wide variety.
- Speakers, venue were excellent.
- The quality of the lectures.
- A combination of excellent topics plus informative and entertaining speakers. Liked the venue.
- Lots of information in a short time; eclectic topics
- Excellent lectures on Hitchcock, the Blues, the US Presidency
- Speakers were amazing, loved the venue.
- The speaker from McGill OSS and the speaker on “small is the new big” covered interesting topics in a dynamic and often humorous way.
- The quality of the speakers and the diversity of topics
- Sophisticated set up. No old overheads etc. Variety in speakers and topics.
- Prof choice for relevance to current issues
- Very well managed and lived up to my expectations
- variety of lectures location easy to get to from out of town
- I can only speak for the a.m. session. The spacing between the lectures was good, and they started and ended on time. The professors were, for the most part, charismatic speakers. The venue was excellent. I would have liked to attend for a full day, but found it rather expensive, especially since there were one or two lectures that I wasn’t particularly interested in. It would have been nicer to have been able to cherry-pick, but I understand that a “pay for the lectures you want” model would be more difficult to administrate and likely wouldn’t be financially feasible (at least until audiences grow).
- I enjoyed the variety of the speakers, and how well they presented. This is the first time I have been to that setting, and the room was great. I was pleased that the presentations began right on time.
- 1st and 3rd speaker.
- Very interesting. Great location. I;’m only sorry, I could n’t stay for Lloyd Alter, who i wanted to hear most of all, but it was too late in the day.
- Knowledge shared. On time for all sessions
- The speakers were excellent and their topics were very relevant and very interesting.
- as advertised, truly great profs – engaging, informative
- Schwarcz
- I enjoyed the enthusiasm of 2 profs. From the states
- I liked the enthusiasm of the speakers. Their ability to interpret their subject with clarity
- The location, the variety of topics and the quality of the speakers
- It never hurts to tie a little humour into a presentation. The McGill Prof did this very well.
- quality of tje lecturers
- The topics were most interesting and the professors were intelligent, humorous and so knowledgeable.
- Diverse topics presented engagingly by outstanding yet modest professors.
- Excellent day and knowledgeable professors… Enjoyed diversity of the topics
- Enjoyed the 2 talks I attended. Joe Schwartz and professor Insdorf were both very informative and well presented.
- Varied, interesting and “sexy” topics! Enjoyed it tremendously.
Our Professors Wrote Regarding our Inaugural Event:
“My thanks to YOU for putting on such an enjoyable and well-organized event! …..I thoroughly enjoyed the day yesterday. I loved hearing the other lectures — I wish I could have taken in all of them — and it was such a pleasure meeting …. the other professors. I think you did a fantastic job pulling this all together — no mean feat! — and I look forward to seeing this event grow in future. It was an honour to participate and I would be delighted to be involved again!”
“I must say again that your organization of this event was marvelous and the idea is great.”
“Amidst the crush of last minute exam marking and appeals, I forgot to send you a quick note to say thanks – very much indeed – for inviting me. It was a great honour to be selected, and to be part of such a wonderful crew of speakers and a fantastic audience. I am a big believer in public education and getting out of the “Ivory Tower”, particularly in such well-thought out and well-organized forums. You have come up with a super idea and organization, and kudos to you for it. Please do let me know how to help if you ever need moving forward.”
“I thank you for giving me the honor of participating.”
“Thank you again for the opportunity to speak at your first ProfTalks. It was very stimulating and gratifying, and I truly enjoyed it.”
Survey Results Following May 4th ProfTalks Event
We conducted an online survey of those who attended the May 4th ProfTalks event. More than 36% of the attendees responded. Of those that responded, 89% were satisfied with the event with more than 66% being extremely satisfied. In addition, 76% of respondents were either extremely likely or very likely to recommend ProfTalks Lectures to a friend. As well, more than 96% of respondents said they would attend another ProfTalks Lectures event!
If you were an attendee at the May 4th event and have not yet provided your feedback, you can access the survey by clicking here.
- I liked the variety of teachers/speakers that appealed to both the young and old. And I loved the q an a at the end. That was my favorite part.
- Every talk was great.
- THE WHOLE FORMAT WAS RUN VERY WELL, INCLUDING THE STOPOVER FOR LUNCH, WHICH WAS VERY GOOD
- I thought the lectures were very educational, I learned a lot in 3 out of the 4 lectures.
- the variety of topics. The fact that several talks were repeated at different times
- interesting topics
- The speakers were able to communicate their areas of expertise in lay terms very well. The topics were inherently interesting and the variety made the day.
- Well organized. Friendly environment. I am happy that I attended.
- Well organized, good venue, variety of topics
- I enjoyed the variety of topics and the different lecture styles
- Chance to learn about variety of topics from people with great expertise in the field and excellent lecturing skills.
- The lectures were all stimulating
- Well organized and structured. Good variety of profs and topics.
- Good selection of topics
- Even before reading about the topics and the profs, the idea appealed to me. That I can learn about a specific topic by a prof who is highly knowledgeable about the subject. It’s like being at Sheridan Nurseries, for example, and finding the right individual who can help me with my specific planting needs. Or, it’s like having some of these great minds, who specialize in a topic, come to my home for lunch or dinner and we, that is my friends and I, get to have great conversations together with them, of course, about a topic which we either know about or don’t know about.
- Profs were approachable, spoke our language not too technical
- Hearing about topics I might not otherwise hear about
- The variety of topics and the schedule was well designed with enough repetition of lecture so I could select the ones I wanted to attend.
- Perfect organized
- The speakers were good.
- Very entertaining, lively
- Professionally done: all lecturers were excellent, concise overview of topic, enthusiasm, attention to detail.
- I was surprised how well organized it was. The day went by so fast, and I felt like I was really introduced to speakers whom I originally I thought I may not be interested in hearing speak, and to my surprise I enjoyed everyone’s lectures.
- I had a marvelous time – thank you.
- Excellent day, thoroughly enjoyed the talks.
- The event was well organized and the topics were very well selected. Most of the lecturers were excellent.
- Just great!
- Great variety of speakers and topics and I liked the venue.
- Informative and interesting. I found value in each presentation I went to.
- The speakers were great and the venue was good. The only negative was that the parking was expensive. The day was well paced and the moderators kept everyone on time.
- It should have been better attended. I thought the content and speakers were very good. Hold the questions until the end. If you had more attendees you could have the audience write down their questions as the speaker is presenting and have them past forward to the moderator to ask at the end.
