MAC FALL SYMPOSIUM 2010 DAYTON, OH Spring 2011 - Final REPORT

Symposium Final Report: Archival User Studies

The Symposium was held on Friday, October 22nd and Saturday, October 23rd at the Berry Room of the Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio. There was an attendee reception on Thursday, Oct 21 for the attendees. There were a total 57* attendees: 47 members, 3 nonmembers, 7 students.

Overall the symposium went well with the majority of comments from the evaluation forms being positive. Some of these as well as some negative comments will be addressed later in this report.

Prior to the symposium, the facilitators and speakers were placed in specific number small groups to facilitate discussion and the creation of a user study. Friday was comprised of presentations by the speakers with small group work at intervals, including a working lunch. On Friday night, there were restaurant tours to a number of eclectic locations such as the Ye Olde Town Tavern in Yellow Springs (built in 1827), Pasha’s Mediterranean Grill, and Jeet India. All received positive comments from attendees. Saturday was devoted exclusively to small group work and at the conclusion, each group presented a synopsis of the user study they had created.

All of the speaker presentations and the group presentations were made available on the MAC Website at http://www.midwestarchives.org/index.php?option=com_ccboard& view=topiclist&forum=11&Itemid after the symposium. A recap of the symposium also appeared in the MAC newsletter.

There were some last minute food and beverage issues with the hotel such as an increase in prices that made for interesting discussion but this was offset by the positive experience in working with the Nutter Center - Berry Room staff.

*includes PC & LAC members

Things we learned specific to Fall Symposiums:

. The Symposium isn’t expected to make a profit, just break even. This should be communicated often and up front to the PC and LAC so that they can have room to work with regarding the reception and the food and beverage for the meeting.

1 We would have had a much better reception and more food for breaks and breakfast had we been aware of this fact.

. There should not be a working lunch. This was one of the comments made by a number of people on the evaluations. If group work is desired, time should be made at other times during the day.

. Introductions – provide the opportunity at the start for everyone to introduce themselves (if fairly small group)

. Location – a number of comments centered around the fact that the symposium was not held downtown and seemed to be in the “Burbs.” This is something to consider when deciding on a location.

. Plan on designating someone to take pictures – we weren’t aware that we were expected to take pictures, thinking that the PIO would do that (or not really thinking about it!).

. Quit 30 minutes early – on the first full day. There were a number of comments about “content overload” – this would also allow for more time exploring the city if attendees are so inclined.

. Get it in writing – One week prior to the start of the symposium, the conference hotel notified the LAC of an increase in overall charges regarding food and beverage. Had an agreed upon charge amount been written into the contract, MAC would not have had to deal with this issue. Agree on a price and make the hotel stick to it by having it in the contract. This includes tax & gratuity amounts.

Things we would have liked to change/recommend changing:

1. No one on the symposium committee should pay a registration fee. Even if employers cover the registration, they contribute a lot of committee members' time and organizational resources to the symposium – whether they are aware of it or not. And if employers don't cover it, the responsibilities of symposium organizers (as facilitators and go-to people) do not make it possible for them to attend as participants either. The purpose is defeated if you pay $100 to "attend" a meeting you planned and then also end up working most of it!

2. If there are specific people who assist with the meeting, such as facilitators, they should receive a discount on registration.

3. Restaurant tours are a must on the evening when there isn’t the reception. It’s a great way to meet new members and MAC leadership/council should participate.

2 4. Provide more food options, if the budget allows.

5. The budget needs to include copyright permission fees. These and copying fees will be variable from symposium to symposium.

6. MAC leadership/council should all attend the Attendees’ Reception and use this occasion as an opportunity to connect with members and introduce themselves.

7. The PC and the LAC chair(s) of the succeeding year’s symposium should be ex- officio participants on the current committee, i.e. the PC & LAC chair(s) of the 2013 Fall symposium should be ex-officio members of the 2012 Fall Symposium committee – if nothing else – to be involved in the teleconference meetings and get copies of the minutes. This will aid in their gaining knowledge of what to do and what not to do.

8. Consider having the symposium on a Thursday and Friday with a Wednesday night reception. Approximately 25% of the registrants did not attend on Saturday – most having personal commitments due to the weekend although some just wanted the information and not the hands-on activities. If the symposium does continue on a Saturday – perhaps a different mix of content and hands-on needs to be considered.

Things for further consideration:

1. Future symposium organizers and MAC Council will need to discuss and clarify if all MAC members or only those who participated in the symposium should receive or have access to speaker presentations and other symposium documents. There is no clear policy on this. For this symposium, the MAC President and Vice-President as well as some members of the symposium committee felt that they should be made available only to the symposium participants. The MAC Webmaster did not respond directly to queries about this and set up a public access site. The committee did not pursue this discussion further since it took such a long time to get the site in the first place.

2. Future symposium locations should be considered in terms of proximity to airports (along with appropriate transportation to and from), appropriately priced hotels, and close-by restaurants and conference facilities. The Dayton area has a tremendous amount to offer but putting all of the considerations together in for this symposium left few options for people who did not have cars. It seems that many symposium participants would like to have things to do with their colleagues within walking distance at the end of the day.

3 Final Budget:

BUDGETE D ACTUAL INCOME

Registrations 4,000.0 Member (40@100 ) 0 4,700.00 3,000.0 Nonmember (20@150) 0 450.00 Student (10@20) 200.00 140.00

Fund Raising: Local ARMA Chapter 100.00 100.00

7,300.0 TOTAL INCOME 0 5,390.00

EXPENSES

Program Honoraria (3@250) 750.00 750.00 Instructional Supplies - Copying 100.00 - Copyright fees 375.00 Facilities 100.00 100.00 Audiovisual 75.00 30.00

Catering Friday morning 120.40 113.74 Friday lunch 855.46 707.18 Saturday morning 120.40 76.04

Reception Facilities 75.00 95.85 Food 726.00 726.00

Transportation Hotel shuttle -

Miscellaneous Packet Folders (usually in-kind donation) Badges 250.00 83.05 Copying (misc.) 200.00

Flyer Design 300.00 300.00 Proof/edit 50.00 75.00 Printing 525.00 720.58 Mailing 380.00 380.00

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4,627.2 TOTAL EXPENSES 6 4,532.44

2,672.7 NET 4 857.56

Respectfully submitted,

Shari Christy, 2010 Symposium LAC Lonna McKinley, 2010 Symposium LAC Colleen McFarland, 2010 Symposium PC Rosemary Flynn, 2010 Symposium PC Anne Thomason, 2010 Symposium PC Rick Pifer, 2010 Symposium PC

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