The conference – well what can I say? It was fantastic. A big thank you to everyone that made it work behind the scenes, especially Diana and David, who put in countless hours prior to the conference making sure speakers were well supported before, after, and during the conference. So, a big thanks. Our keynote speakers were awesome and gave such great insight into two very different areas. Such great speakers on a wide range of topics, I was humbled to be a part of the DRTA conference.
83 of the 130 participants responded to the conference evaluation. There were three questions we asked to understand the demographics of the people that attended the conference. The first question gives us an understanding of the state or location where people were from with the following results:
In terms of future events, this information helps us to understand which advertising channels were the most effective in driving participants to attend. From the responses the majority of people decided to attend based on receiving a direct email about the conference.
Information collected about the area of work can reveal if attendees accurately reflect the industry as a whole.
Of course, we also need to be aware that only 83 out of the 130 people that attended the conference responded to the survey which is just over 60% of those that attended.
We are a little excited and a little scared to see what next year holds. There is a possibility of a face-to-face conference with synchronous online delivery (via zoom at the same time) but will need to wait and see what unfolds over the next three or four months, based on the following question answered in the evaluation.
All but four of the presentation were scored five out of five by the majority of participants. The other four presentations had a score of four out four rated by the majority of participants.
Participants indicated they would like to these topics at future conferences (in no particular order): animal therapy, more aspects on community care, substance abuse, meeting the new aged care standards, dementia training, assessment in different contexts. Research and the different areas where it is practiced, disability focus, intergenerational and mental health.
A number of participants requested to have break out rooms in future conferences and we would love to include that feature, however Zoom only has the capacity to have breakout rooms when there are fewer than 100 people in attendance. A webinar allows for more people, but it does not have breakout room functions. Perhaps next year if we can have it in person, we could also incorporate a normal Zoom session instead of a webinar, so we are able to have breakout rooms. We will certainly consider this for future conferences.
In other news, the board is really excited to confirm the restarting of student awards and prizes for the courses accredited by DRTA. Due to the financial position the association was previously in, these awards and prizes were stopped a number of years ago. Courses eligible for student awards will have current course accreditation with DRTA and will include Certificate 4, Diploma and Degree courses. The course accreditation process is undertaken by educational institutions every three years. The educational institution will be eligible for one prize per course accredited annually. So essentially three times for each accreditation cycle which will be awarded in November each year.
Don’t forget we have our AGM this month on Tuesday the 12th. The zoom link will be emailed out to members.
Until November,
Charlise Bennett
DRTA President