It’s starting to look like spring - at least the bulbs are starting to poke their heads out of the ground in my parts. And with onset of spring comes a little spring cleaning of sorts, and that is the completion of the Annual Meeting survey report by the Planning Committee.

Overall we had 92 respondents, with 80 completing all the questions. THANK YOU to those who took the survey! We do consider and respond to your input in planning the next meeting. Just a few highlights.

The overall meeting rating was 4.32 out of 5.00, which was up from 2008. We worked hard, in the very short timeframe we had (due to funding, we started planning months later than usual ), and it’s obvious that we hit the mark in providing a good meeting experience. The poster session continues to be a crowd pleaser. This year, the closing session on sustainability by Kate Wittenberg of Ithaka came in second in its usefulness to attendees.

We’ve also made a few recommendations for the next meeting, including a better process for monitoring speaker time and working with NSF to ensure more staff participation and opportunities to interact. As in past years, there are always attendee comments about including users, and the committee continues to discuss the options. It is a difficult issue to resolve given the limited budget for supporting meeting travel for outsiders and the reality that this continues to be a PI meeting, with emphasis on sharing results and insights.

So, please do take a look, and as always, feel free to send me ideas and thoughts for the future.