Rant warning: Feedback surveys at music events

Subject: RE: Rant warning: Feedback surveys at music events
From: keberoxu
Date: 24 Jul 18 - 08:27 PM

good idea!

Subject: RE: Rant warning: Feedback surveys at music events
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Jul 18 - 08:18 PM

Mischief managed, it is now a BS thread.

Subject: RE: Rant warning: Feedback surveys at music events
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 23 Jul 18 - 06:19 AM

Unfortunately, that's not how it is, they'll have their cookies lodged and will track every click you make. Which was the objective of the whole exercise to begin with.

Every click you make, every search you take, they'll be watching you.
Oh can't you see,
That's how it's gonna be
The pennies raked, with every click you make.

Ev'ry search you make, ev'ry toilet break, and all the sex you fake, They'll be watching you.

Disable your webcam now!
It's a "Police" state.

Subject: RE: Rant warning: Feedback surveys at music events
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 23 Jul 18 - 05:33 AM

'The only way to make these disappear will be if everyone automatically chooses No 1 for the answer to every question, so they become useless to the snoopy infogatherers.'

Unfortunately, that's not how it is, they'll have their cookies lodged and will track every click you make. Which was the objective of the whole exercise to begin with.

Subject: RE: Rant warning: Feedback surveys at music events
From: Thompson
Date: 23 Jul 18 - 04:38 AM

Quizzes are becoming ubiquitous - a lot of paywalled sites now offer limited access to things like newspaper articles, but only if you fill in a brief marketing survey. The only way to make these disappear will be if everyone automatically chooses No 1 for the answer to every question, so they become useless to the snoopy infogatherers.

Subject: RE: Rant warning: Feedback surveys at music events
From: leeneia
Date: 21 Jul 18 - 01:29 PM

Well, Guest, if organizers would publicize their festivals on Mudcat far enough ahead of time, they might get more attenders. If you'd read my post about the Scottish Traditional Boat Festival, you would have realized that.

Subject: RE: Rant warning: Feedback surveys at music events
From: Johnny J
Date: 21 Jul 18 - 05:25 AM

Well, well, Guest, Guest.

It's sometimes nice to let off a bit of steam and, of course, I don't expect anything to happen as a result of "moaning about things" here.

I'm sure many organisers of smaller events do look in here and some have even posted to this thread already. Many will not, of course, especially if the genre of music is a little different and these days there are far more "professional" organisers as opposed to amateur music loving enthusiasts.

Anyway, that's not the point. I deliberately haven't named the festival nor its location or any of the people involved and I'm not expecting any response from the organisers in this forum .
I may or may not decide to contact them directly with constructive feed back and, more generally, pass on my views re such matters to other festival organisers, local councils, funding groups and so on.
However, that's a different matter.

Subject: RE: Rant warning: Feedback surveys at music events
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 20 Jul 18 - 07:44 PM

Why do you people waste your time having a rant when the only people reading them are other people having a rant.

Certainly no event organiser with half a brain bothers with mudcat these days.

Subject: RE: Rant warning: Feedback surveys at music events
From: Richard Mellish
Date: 19 Jul 18 - 11:05 AM

Jerry Milne has a song "Did my service give you satisfaction" which works its way from a funeral to a prostitute.

Subject: RE: Rant warning: Feedback surveys at music events
From: GUEST,Jack Campin
Date: 19 Jul 18 - 10:48 AM

Aaargh. HTML typo. I meant:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-44860257

Subject: RE: Rant warning: Feedback surveys at music events
From: GUEST,Jack Campin
Date: 19 Jul 18 - 10:47 AM

Or, bring your own bar charts:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-44860257

Subject: RE: Rant warning: Feedback surveys at music events
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 19 Jul 18 - 09:11 AM

'The survey from last weekend was one of the worst I've ever seen' If that is the case then the best feedback you can give is to tell them so by writing across it your opinion and then handing it in.

Subject: RE: Rant warning: Feedback surveys at music events
From: Jack Campin
Date: 19 Jul 18 - 08:46 AM

Has any festival thought of requiring a DNA sample yet?

Subject: RE: Rant warning: Feedback surveys at music events
From: Johnny J
Date: 19 Jul 18 - 05:03 AM

Ah, it wasn't Portsoy although I've been there too but one nearer to my home. The flag idea is good fun though and much more subtle way of gathering information.

The survey from last weekend was one of the worst I've ever seen. Extremely long and tedious with the most ridiculous questions.

Some festivals now use a card where you can just make small tears around the sides and corners. This is also a very clever and less troublesome method.

Subject: RE: Rant warning: Feedback surveys at music events
From: leeneia
Date: 18 Jul 18 - 10:02 PM

Hi, Johnny. The festival was the Scottish Traditional Boat Festival in Portsoy, Scotland. We selected it because it was one of the few local festivals we could find on the internet the January before, when the detailed planning was going on.

Subject: RE: Rant warning: Feedback surveys at music events
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 18 Jul 18 - 06:34 PM

I don't think they are compulsory so you can refuse if you are so inclined. However if the events are funded by grants and they help the organisers to obtain that funding and perhaps improve the next event, we shouldn't complain too much, especially when grant funding is becoming very tight.

Subject: RE: Rant warning: Feedback surveys at music events
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 18 Jul 18 - 06:27 PM

The buzz phrase is "economic impact assessment" (EIA): as past organiser of a festival which was and still is, thankfully, in receipt of some support from the local Council (and we know that may not last for ever as Council budgets get ever reduced!), it is almost a pre-requisite that we do ask people to fill in these forms - as Nigel said: they are usually couched in such a form that they can be fed through a scanner to analyse hundreds of results quickly rather than manually, hence your tick-boxes. Without such feedback, many festivals would die or at least, have their funding reduced. And there is an approved wording/format for such EIAs.
I do agree that it is a bit ridiculous to ask people to fill in a form at every single event, especially if they have bought a whole week or weekend ticket, and the stewards issuing forms should perhaps be less zealous in trying to get everyone to fill in forms at every single concert or workshop and allow for this.
The other purpose of these forms is for feedback to the organisers, and in my experience, the inclusion of a freetext comments section can be the most enlightening and helpful in planning future events (as well as, on occasion, being ludicrously wide of the mark - e.g. "well what the F did you expect???" might be our reaction)

Subject: RE: Rant warning: Feedback surveys
From: Johnny J
Date: 18 Jul 18 - 12:14 PM

Leeneia,

I may have been at that festival as I remember the flags on the map project.

It's actually a very International festival with the word "International" in its name.
In fact, it doesn't really attract too many local folkies except those who have a particular interest in the genre.
However, it is very well organised and succesful it its own terms with well attended concerts, courses, workshops and the like.

That's local councillors for you. :-(

Subject: RE: Rant warning: Feedback surveys
From: leeneia
Date: 18 Jul 18 - 11:51 AM

Yes, I can see councillors being impressed by how much a festival brought in in sales of various kinds.

Whether the attenders are LBQTIA or Z? Not so much.

(Sings "And we all get put in boxes, little boxes just the same...")
=========
Recently we attended a small festival in Scotland and were invited to stick a surveyor's flag into a map of the world to show where we came from. The project was run by a local college, and the results were impressive - flags from all over Britain, several from Europe and one from the center of the U.S.

The project was started because local leaders had said, "Why should we support this festival? Only local people come." (As if local people were not worth any bother.)

Subject: RE: Rant warning: Feedback surveys
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 18 Jul 18 - 09:58 AM

;-)
You said "rant over"
;-)
ok, then you added "..."

...

Subject: RE: Rant warning: Feedback surveys
From: Johnny J
Date: 18 Jul 18 - 08:57 AM

Yep, it's usually to do with funding.
These local councils etc, however, seem to be more interested in "ticking boxes" than the music.

Another "bug bear" is the photographers which they now insist on sending to workshops and similar events all in the name of "funding". Again, I'm not against a limited amount of official photographs by professional press photographers at concerts for publicity purposes and to keep a record of events for posterity. Or even some private photographs with permission. All done without unnecessary intrusion, of course.

However, taking photographs "just to prove" the event is happening and/or that there are actually people there is another matter. I've always meant to bring a mask for such occasions but I usually just content myself by either shooing the photographers away with a big wave.

Subject: RE: Rant warning: Feedback surveys
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 18 Jul 18 - 08:56 AM

No, I don't mind.

Especially if it helps them to gain future funding.

And especially if it includes a box for me to have a little rant.

Subject: RE: Rant warning: Feedback surveys
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 18 Jul 18 - 08:30 AM

Or trying to justify support from a local council/arts group, who insist on such things.

Subject: RE: Rant warning: Feedback surveys
From: Jack Campin
Date: 18 Jul 18 - 08:19 AM

Maybe they're going to commission someone to do a concert of non-binary love songs or have an intersex ceilidh next year if they find there's enough demand?

Subject: Rant warning: Feedback surveys
From: Johnny J
Date: 18 Jul 18 - 08:00 AM

Does anyone else get really irritated about being asked to fill in feedback forms at festivals and music events?

It's even worse at festivals with multiple events as the "volunteers" will ask you to do this at every concert, workshop, or whatever you attend. Yes, we should be polite but it does get annoying after the umteempth time.

If there was actually an opportunity to offer genuine and resonable feedback regarding the actual music and organisation of the festival I wouldn't mind quite so much but this is usually low on the list of priorities and I'm not confident that this is usually the main aim with such projects.

I attended a festival last week and the feedback form consisted of four sides worth of total shecht. Everything from how much money one spent on food, accommodation, age categories, and gender "orientation". Just how any of that was relevant to the actual music baffles me!
The gender question gave you several options including male, female, mon binary, prefer not to say, and even "OTHER". I wonder how many possibilities there are these days?

Anyway, I've now made a decision to refuse(politely if I can) all these stupid feedback surveys unless they are specifically related to the music and actual event from now on.

Rant over...