Tech For Free!

Prior postings in my series on how I captured the backchannel of an event have been focused on the “how” I did it, and the success of the iReporter role as viewed by myself and other SpecialQuest staff. Today the perspective shifts to what the iReporters thought about their role.

A brief survey was sent to the 22 iReporters and 12 responded. Their responses were overwhelmingly positive and have validated our assumption that the iReporter component of the event was a success from all angles. All but one of the respondents reported that their role as an iReporter enhanced their own experiences as a participant and learner, and they described themselves as being more attentive and reflective throughout the event and more engaged with others.

FULL RESPONSES

Do you feel that your role as an iReporter enhanced your own experiences as a participant/learner at the National Leadership SpecialQuest?

IF you felt your role as an iReporter enhanced your experience as a participant/learner, describe how.

“Being and iReporter made me more reflective of the National Leadership SQ retreat experience as a participant and learner. It also, challenged me to challenge others as we had dialogue on various topics presented. As participant I wanted to gather information to share how others received the topics provided. As a learner I had several Aha moments about myself and my future support role for sustaining the SQ efforts at home.”

“I was forced to engage more with the sessions and content by reflecting on it in a way that I could share it with others. Ordinarily, I might have received the same information, but not applied in such a meaningful way. I also felt like I had a sort of “burden” to share with and support the learning of others by taking on the role. I didn’t want to let anyone down!”

“It gave me the chance to process and review every session in a more thorough way. Having to report back on content and give feedback as the session was happening or after kept me thoroughly engaged at all time. Loved having the ‘Press Pass’ too – great fun learning just like the Head Start motto ‘Play is learning’!”

“1. paid closer attention to the details of the event. 2. felt I took a “bird’s eye view” of the sessions 3. cool goodies for volunteering to be an iReporter”

“It forced me to pay attention more to everything that was happening.”

“Writing about what I was hearing/experiencing made me more reflective about what was happening and how I felt about it at the time. I was also forced to think more quickly about my experience multiple times a day.”

“In helping to document the event, I found that I was more thoughtful in highlighting the salient, notable points.”

“Well, I did try to listen harder and I networked more.”

“Yes, because it made me more engaged in the NLSQ event. The role made me more conscious, deliberate and intentional capturing/recording the camera moments as well as the tagging photos. This was a great “bright” idea. I loved being involved in the techie session as well and think the way the material was packaged as awards totally ROCKED!!!!!”

“Although I didn’t get to tweet much due to tech issues, thinking about tweeting helped structure me so that I could get the meat of the presentation summed up.”

“Being an iReporter enhanced my experiences as a participant in several ways. One, I felt immediately connected to Rebecka and the other iReporters. Second, because I had the responsibility for posting, I was careful to listen to the other participants for unusual quotes or training activities around me. Third, I read the blog more than the average attendee and that was a source of good information as well. I also liked all the nice freebies you gave me.”