John Clingeleffer, Treasurer, HIC'93 Organising Committee
Of the 309 delegates attending HIC'93, 102 completed the evaluation questionnaire. The following is a summary of their responses. This information is much appreciated as it provides invaluable information which will be used in determining the needs and expectations of delegates for future conferences.
In terms of level of computer expertise, the delegates rated themselves:
The majority of delegates felt that there was adequate information prior to the conference in the preliminary program and registration forms and were satisfied with the receipting and registration process.
Conference Activity Number Attended Unsatisfactory Satisfactory Excellent
Pre-conference Workshops 63 1 35 27
Conference Sessions 99 3 65 31
Trade Displays 98 1 66 31
Welcome Reception 64 1 33 30
Conference Dinner 62 0 19 43
HISA Breakfast 63 1 22 40
Hotel Catering 91 commented 6 60 25
Venue Signage 98 commented 24 57 17
Only 25% of responding delegates booked their airline through the conference special group booking number. 50% of the delegates stayed at the Gateway Hotel and 35% of those delegates who did not stay at the Gateway Hotel stated that it was because it was already fully booked.
94% of respondents felt that the conference furthered their health informatics knowledge.
97% felt that the conference provided excellent opportunities for networking with other health informatics professionals.
93% found the conference a good venue for meeting experts.
94% found the pre-conference workshops informative.
87% felt that overall, the papers presented at the conference sessions fitted with the conference objectives.
89% of respondents stated that they would attend future national health informatics conferences. The same percentage would prefer such a conference to be rotated around the states.
96% of delegates felt that any problems they had at the conference were dealt with effectively.
92% found the information presented at the event of value.
76% found the use of audiovisual and presentation support material acceptable.
Of the 63 who attended pre-conference workshops, 76% felt they provided "value for the dollar".
83% felt that overall, the conference also provided "value for the dollar".
63 respondents provided additional comments. Similar comments were grouped together and the most repeated (4 or more) were;
A large number of suggestions were also received for topics for future pre-conference workshops and themes and structures for future conferences. These are being reviewed by the HIC'94 programme committee to ensure the conference meets the requirements of delegates.
The HIC'93 and HIC'94 organising committees would like to thank all those who responded to the evaluation questionnaire for their contributions. A copy of the full evaluation report is available from the HISA Secretariat.
What Does This Mean for HIC'94?
While HIC'93 was a great success, particularly as an inaugural conference, the evaluation feedback indicates there are improvements which must be made to ensure that the health informatics conferences continue to meet the needs of delegates. The issues raised by the questionnaire responses focussed on travel and accommodation, layout at venue, quality of audiovisual/presentation equipment and incon-sistent quality of papers presented. The following steps will be taken to address these at HIC'94.
A new airline package has been negotiated with Ansett Australia which will see delegates booking through the conference airline procedure having access to the full range of discounts available.
The conference will be held at the Gold Coast International Hotel which has 296 rooms available. This will ensure that all delegates wishing to stay at the venue will be able to do so. The majority of venue and catering problems at HIC'93 were due to the larger than predicted attendance. To ensure this problem does not recur, attendance at HIC'94 may be restricted to 500 delegates which will allow all conference activities to be logically grouped together.
One of the criteria for venue selection is the provision by the hotel of full time audiovisual staff which should ensure that the problems encountered at HIC'93 are avoided.
While all papers submitted for HIC'93 were accepted, papers submitted for HIC'94 will be reviewed by the programme committee against pre-defined themes to ensure consistently high quality and applicability.
We are confident that these, and other changes, will ensure that HIC'94 is an even greater success than HIC'93.
We look forward to seeing you there.
