Do The Right Thing

Domestic Violence and Children Evaluation Report

London 19 June 2008

Here are the average ratings by delegates who scored each section on a scale of 1-5 (with 5 being "excellent" and 1 being "poor"). We always look to score at least 4.0 on these ratings. Responses were received from 22 delegates.

1 How would you rate the seminar overall?	4.2
2 How would you rate the venue?	4.0
3 How would you rate the administration before the conference?	4.5
4 How would you rate how things were organised on the day?	4.2
5 How would you rate Heartstrings – the conference drama?	4.9
6 How would you rate Marianne Hester’s session on child protection?	3.8
7 How would you rate Hedy Cleaver’s general session on child protection – domestic violence and parental substance misuse?	3.2
8 How would you rate Hedy Cleaver’s workshop session on the impact of parental substance misuse and DV on a child’s development?	3.2
9 How would rate Ruth Aitken’s session on communication between mothers and children?	4.3
10 How would you rate Helen Baker’s session on rural issues?	3.8
11 How would you rate Chris Harrison’s session on child contact?	4.3
12 How would you rate Heather Coady and Fiona Morrison’s session on children as change makers?	4.4
13 How would you rate Kathleen Baird’s session on DV and pregnancy?	4.6
14How would you rate the lunch?	4.7

Comments: the good stuff
Handouts useful. Nice to have info/handouts for workshops I didn't attend.
Thank you - enjoyed it.
Overall the day was very good.
The drama and video were great.
Very informative about domestic abuse and its effect on children.
Overall good.
It is frustrating to know there is still so much to do but encouraging that people are committed to it.
Very informative. Very enjoyable day.
I found today very well thought out, prepared, informative and well presented. Thank you!!
Very well presented and informative.
Gave a good overall view of DV and impact on children and need to work together.
Very interesting and informative.
Mostly good - useful information and chance to think about issues we need to work on.
I like the "intimacy" of workshop numbers.

Comments: on individual aspects of the day
Heartstrings (conference drama)
Excellent - well done!
Moving.
Excellent - 5++
Fantastic - very moving.
The drama piece was excellent.
Very impactive.
Very moving.
Stereotyping case - not impressed by support offered, even worried.

Marianne Hester
Very good.
Too little class impact.
Interesting concept of planets.

Hedy Cleaver (presentation)
Interesting - but no class exercises.
Ok - too much same old issues, not enough solutions.
No "life" in speaker.
Not very interactive.

Hedy Cleaver (workshop)
Repetitive stats, not enough dialogue. Very poor presentation.
Very disappointed with Hedy Cleaver.
More of the other presentation.
No group work - listen, listen, listen: 5 minutes audience time.
Not very interactive.

Ruth Aitken
Group activity - good to share experiences of communication between women and children.
Repeated impact stats again.
Good that we broke up into groups.
More interactive with our participation.
Very useful.

Helen Baker
Good input - too short (lots to express).

Scottish Women's Aid
DVD was excellent.
DVD - 5/5.

Kathleen Baird
Excellent information.

Food
Very good.
Lovely and plenty.
Good variety for vegetarians which makes a change.
Compliments to the chef - 5+

Comments: the not-so-good stuff

Acoustics very bad in main hall;
Very high ceiling difficult to hear some people;
Found some of the speakers hard to hear;
Acoustics poor (could not hear other participants);
Acoustics not so good;
Pleasant environment but acoustics not great;
Difficult to hear people talking - particularly across the room;
It was very hard to hear;
Acoustics not great.

We say: Well this is pretty conclusive. Just when we thought we had found a venue in a good location, friendly and helpful staff and relatively cost effective (for London) - we are undone by bad acoustics. The venue might work better as a small conference venue - with PA system- but, we admit, it didn't really work for an intimate seminar setting.

Timings - a bit out; agenda was good but things not to time;

We say: As Chair of the day I have to take the blame for timing - but it is a dilemma - do you cut debate short to keep to time - or let it ride a bit? An excuse on my part and not a reason, I know.

It is difficult to sit down all day.

We say: Sure - we'll need to work in some movement to future seminars - make them more interactive (indeed see next comment!)

Would have liked more interaction.
More time to ask questions and interact with other agencies.
Workshops were not interactive: a lot of presentation (I can read...)
Not very interactive or facilitative.

We say: We did brief speakers to be in a seminar rather than presentation mode and, to be fair, they did all invite contributions from delegates at any time. However, we realise we were trying something new and it is difficult to encourage people to "interrupt". Nonetheless, we will need to think more about making sure the speakers do more than just present and await questions and think more about structuring what they want to say in a way that encourages participation.

Too much OHP but good content; more examples less overheads would be good; more variety in presentation styles might have been better...death by powerpoint.

We say: See above.

Very friendly admin before conference but shame the programme changed so much.

We say: Thanks for the "friendly" comment - it is the way we want Do the Right Thing to work. But you're right about the programme changes. The series of seminars on DV and children were badly hit with enforced changes - and we can only apologise for that, but did try to keep delegates informed of replacements (when we were able to book them).

At a seminar attended by delegates from the field of domestic violence it should be assumed we know the basic facts and stats.

We say: True, but people still love to start off talks with definitions and stats. To combat this - our flagship national domestic violence conference - Home Truths 3 - will be subtitled: No Stats! Just Solutions and Success Stories! It will be on 11 November in Derby.