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How to run a women in leadership
event guide
This guide provides tips and information to help
students’ unions deliver a successful women in
leadership event to women students, officers and
staff.
Why run a women in leadership event?
The gender profile of staff and officers in the student movement and data on women in other sectors highlight that
that there is a large disparity between women and men in leadership positions. Based on this one of NUS’ key
priorities is to increase the number of women in leadership roles.
Women make up 56.4 per cent of HE students, 55.3 per cent of Postgraduates, 64 per cent of Undergraduates and
46 per cent of FE students. However, 45 per cent of student officers are women and only 38 per cent are
presidents. The 2011-12 NUS Diversity Survey also highlighted that although women accounted for 64 per cent of
non-student and student staff, the gender profile of senior managers and general managers/ CEOs fails to reflect
the students' union workforce overall. Of the 48 general managers/ CEOs who completed the survey, 40 per cent
were women and 44 per cent of senior managers were women.
Holding a women in leadership event is an opportunity to begin to address the barriers women in the student
movement can face on their leadership path and provide a range of development opportunities to women students,
officers and staff. Such an event should be an aspect of your broader work to address the structural and cultural
barriers to women’s leadership within your union, which will require a more long term approach.
Holding a women in leadership event or programme of work can have a significant impact on those who attend. For
example, at the NUS Women in Leadership Conference 2013 delegates shared the event had increased their
confidence, made them more assertive, developed their leadership style and gave them the motivation to run in
elections.
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‘I have the confidence to run for a sabb role at my university next term’
‘I am taking action to be more assertive, and more open minded about gender. It [the event] has also
given me the knowledge to challenge behaviour that challenges my beliefs, whereas before, I didn’t always
have the understanding.’
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‘I now feel more confident about my own leadership style rather than feeling like I need to fit in a box.’
Women in leadership events ran by Leeds University Union, Lincoln Students Unions and University College
London Union have lso resulted in an increase in the number of women running in council and officer elections.
How to run a women in leadership event guide
Planning your event
When planning your event it’s important to consider your aims and whether the event/s will be targeted at
students, officers and staff. Although there are a range of leadership areas and topics that will be pertinent to all
women there are some issues that will more relevant to students and officers such as barriers to democracy and
accessing elections, all of which should be considered when planning your conference. To increase the support and
understanding on the structural barriers to women’s leadership and the importance of increasing the number of
women leaders you could also consider whether aspects of your event will be open to men.
The University of Nottingham Students’ Union began developing their week of women in leadership events by
identifying the reasons why there are a larger number of women at Nottingham University but there is a lack of
women in leadership positions. They did this by holding one to ones with women leaders and women who were
applying to become part of committees and explored some of the struggles and challenges that they had faced.
From the issues raised in the one to ones, they held a series of workshops on areas such as confidence, public
speaking and personal journeys.
During the planning stage it will be important to develop a time frame to organise the event itself. This should take
into account the time taken to secure the venue, promote the event, submit external speakers request forms and
hear back from speakers.
It will also be useful at this stage to find out data on the number of women students, officers, student and nonstudent staff in your students’ union, as this information can be used to gain a picture of your institution and
possible concerns related to women’s leadership. For example, is there a lack of women officers or women in senior
leadership roles?
Liverpool Hope Student’s Union began their women in leadership work by finding out the number of women
students at the university and the gender profile of the union’s presidents and vice presidents since 1982. This data
informed their programme of work to increase the representation of women in the Union.
Whilst planning your event you will need to consider whether it will take place on one day, over a week or as a
programme of work. For example, Oxford University Students’ Union delivers a Women's Leadership
Development Programme for 35 women, who range from first year undergraduates from final year dphil students.
The programme runs over one term and includes a range of sessions on topics such public speaking, negotiation,
assertiveness and teamwork.
The University of Nottingham Students' Union organised a week of workshops/talks and also created a video
to showcase women leaders in the Union responding to the question Why is fair representation important at
university? The video can be seen here.
When seeking ideas for your event you may also want to look at other women’s events and resources for
inspirations such as:
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Women of the World Festival - An annual global festival where women and men of all ages and
backgrounds celebrate women’s achievements and discuss the obstacles they face across the world.
100 Women conference – This website provides the coverage from the BBC 100 Women Conference, which
includes articles, videos and information on a range of global women’s issues such as the gender pay gap.
Miss Representation –The award-winning documentary film that exposes how mainstream media
contributes to the underrepresentation of women in positions of power and influence in America. The
documentary can be watched on Netflix and the trailer can be viewed here. Manchester Metropolitan
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Students' Union organised its first women in leadership event, which included exploring the images of
women in politics. To do this the Union bought the rights from Miss Representation to use the documentary
images in their promotional material and show the documentary to students.
Data on women in the student movement and other sectors – The NUS I Will Lead the Way site provides
data on women students and officers, as well as data on women in a range of sectors such as national
politics, the media and the police.
The resources section of this guide provides further information including case studies from student’s unions on
their women in leadership events/programmes, the resources they’ve used and the impact of their events.
The aims of the NUS 2013 Women in Leadership Conference were to provide a variety workshops and speakers for
both officers and staff, which:
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explored the importance of women’s leadership in the student movement
developed women’s leadership skills through a range of workshops and plenaries, and
explored how barriers to women’s leadership can be removed
In addition to the aims of your event you will need to consider the following:
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Budget – do you have a budget to invite speakers, provide refreshments etc?
Venue – do you have a venue for the event that is accessible for all?
Agenda and workshops – what is the length and time of the event and how many workshops will you be
able to provide?
Speakers – who do you want to invite as your keynote speaker?
Promoting the event – how can you ensure as many students and staff members know about the event?
Evaluation form - do you want an evaluation form to be completed?
Resources – will you provide resources for those attending?
Agenda and time of event
When planning your agenda you will want to think about:
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How long is the event?
Do we want a key note speaker?
Do we want a panel debate?
Is there a variety of sessions for people to attend?
Can participants attend more than one workshop? If so should workshops be repeated?
Have we provided enough breaks in the day for refreshments and people’s access needs?
You will also need to think about when the best time will be for the event to take place and have most impact. For
example, Lincoln Students’ Union combined information from two NUS events and ran an hour and a half
workshop twice, over the nomination period for elections. The workshops were open to all students to attend and
were called Women in Leadership. The workshops were outlined as: Exploring the importance of recognising
leadership within yourself, identifying personal strengths and creating a leader identity which is based on own
values and purpose.
Appendix 1 shows the agenda for the NUS Women in Leadership Conference and the case studies in the resources
section highlight the agendas from women in leadership events held at students’ unions.
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Workshops
Deciding your workshops will depend on what your aims and focus for the event are. For example, do you want to
focus on the barriers to accessing elections and the lack of women officers in your union, or do you want to focus
on the representation of women in the media and/or leadership development more broadly. If you want to focus on
a range of areas you will want to hold more than one workshop.
Leeds University Union delivered a women in leadership workshop for women thinking about running in
elections. This was followed by a session for women candidates to explore leadership identity and creating
solidarity. University College London Union ran three workshops during the final week of union elections
nominations on public speaking and assertiveness.
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Workshop content: to begin to plan your workshops speak with colleagues to find out what ideas they have.
For example, in some unions’ staff and officers who have attended NUS events have used this information
to deliver workshops to their own students and officers.
You may also want to focus a workshop on a documentary such as Miss Representation or Ted Talks on
women’s leadership (please refer to the resources section). Appendix 2 highlights the workshops delivered
at the NUS Women in Leadership Conference 2013.
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Workshops facilitators: you will already have a variety of workshops facilitators in your union such as your
women officers and staff. Depending on your budget you may also want to invite external organisations to
deliver a workshop, ideas for which can be found in appendix 2. All workshop facilitators will need to know:
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the aims of the event
if they’ll be expected to write the workshop themselves
the length of the workshop
the workshop venue and Wi-Fi details if needed
Workshop information: to ensure people are able to decide what workshop they want to attend it will be
important to provide an overview of the workshop content and aims before the event.
Some of the students’ unions’ case studies in the resources section provide workshop outlines and presentations
that can be adapted to suit your event.
Speakers
Inviting a speaker to your women in leadership event will bring added value and provide an opportunity for
delegates to learn from and be inspired by a woman in a leadership position. If time permits you may want to invite
more than one speaker and have a panel debate.
Choosing a speaker: when choosing a speaker it will be important to ensure they support the aims of your event,
and understand the importance women in leadership positions. It is equally important to ensure you have a
diversity of speakers from a range of different backgrounds.
Depending on the speaker you choose, you may want them to talk about their leadership journey or share
information and/or research findings. When deciding who to invite you could consider the following:
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Is the chancellor or vice-chancellor at my institution a woman?
Is there a woman academic in my institution who is focusing on gender studies or carried out research on
women’s leadership?
Is our union president a woman?
If your budget permits you can invite a speaker from an external organisation. The resources section of the guide
outlines a range of women’s organisation that you may want to consider inviting. Appendix 3 outlines the speakers
who were invited to the NUS Women in Leadership Conference 2013.
Chester Students’ Union organised a women in leadership event to help graduates make the right impact in their
chosen career, which included hearing from several speakers such as the Deputy Chief Constable of Cheshire, a
woman academic from Cheshire University, Lord Mayor for the City of Chester and Chairman of Cheshire West and
Chester Council and NUS Women’s Officer, Kelley Temple.
Preparing speakers: Prior to the event it will be important to inform speakers about what you would like them to
speak about, to ensure they are on message with your event. For example prior to the NUS Women in Leadership
Conference 2013 speakers were given an overview of the conference aims and what they were expected to speak
about, which is highlighted below:
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Key note speakers and panellists were asked to speak about:
o their journey through the student movement (if applicable) and work with women’s organisations
o the importance of women as leaders
o challenges for women leaders and strategies to achieving leadership success
o strategies for overcoming structural and cultural barriers for women in the student movement
o the importance of women paying it forward and supporting one another (sisterhood)
Promoting the event
You will want to use a range of marketing formats to promote your event/s such as your union website, social
media and posters.
Liverpool Hope Students’ Union ensured they had university support by contacting the only woman on the
University’s senior management team and informing them about the event. Once they had University buy in the
Union was able to work in partnership with the University to promote the event on social media sites, through
student emails and posters.
Evaluation form
To evaluate the impact of your event and see what can be improved for future events you may want to ask those
attending to complete an evaluation form. Appendix 4 shows the evaluation form used at the NUS Women in
Leadership Conference 2013.
NUS Support
To support your women in leadership events or programmes of work you can:
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get in touch with your NUS Contact, to explore how NUS could support you
invite NUS officers to speak at your event
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For example, the University Of Nottingham Students' Union invited NUS Women’s Officer Kelley Temple to
deliver a workshop on Support for Running in Elections. Whilst at Manchester Metropolitan Students' Union,
NUS President Toni Pearce took part in a debate where women leaders from the student movement, business world
and women’s rights campaigns, shared their experiences of women’s leadership.
Resources
Below are some useful links you can use to inform the content of your event or share with delegates:
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Equality & Diversity Hub Gender Section – this section highlights a range of information on women’s
organisations and research.
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Women in Leadership Conference 2013 Resources – At the NUS Women in Leadership Conference
delegates were received a list of various resources such as TED Talks, documentaries, books on women’s
leadership. They were also given a set of inspiring quotes from famous women.
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Student’s Union’s Women in Leadership Event/Programme Case Studies: hyperlink to all case
studies
Chester Student’s Union
Leeds University Union
Lincoln Students’ Union
Liverpool Hope Students’ Union
Manchester Metropolitan University Students’ Union
Oxford University Students’ Union
University College London Union
University Of Nottingham Students' Union
For further information on women’s leadership please contact Mandeep Rupra-Daine, NUS Equality and
Diversity Consultant mandeep@nus.org.uk
For more information on increasing the diversity of elected officers please contact Emma Green,
Development, Training and Events Officer (Liberation) emma.green@nus.org.uk
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Appendix 1 - NUS Women in Leadership Conference Agenda2013.
10am
Registration
10.30am
Welcome: Toni Pearce, NUS National President and Kelley Temple, NUS National Women’s Officer
10.50am
Keynote speaker: Kirsty McNeill - Director of ThembaHQ
11.15am
Panel discussion: You can’t be what you can’t see. Panellists: Rajinder Mann (Network for Black
Professionals, CEO), Michelle Ryan (Professor of Social and Organisational Psychology, University of
Exeter), Jane Whalen (Liverpool John Moores’ Students’ Union CEO), Samantha Budd (University of
Bristol Students' Union CEO) and Toni Pearce (NUS National President).
12pm
Break
12.15pm
Workshops
1.20pm
Lunch
2.05pm
Workshops
3.05pm
Break
3.25pm
Workshops
4.25pm
Keynote Speaker: Ceri Goddard, CEO Fawcett Society
5pm
Close
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Appendix 2 - Workshops delivered at the NUS Women in Leadership
Conference 2013.
1. Assertiveness and Leadership – Vanessa Boon (Energise, MD)
Through using real life examples this workshop will enable participants to choose to assert themselves, say ‘no’ and
accept praise.
In this session participants will:
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Understand what assertiveness is and why it’s important for leadership
Explore how assertiveness differs from passive, aggressive and passive aggressive styles
Discuss how they feel about being assertive in different parts of their lives
Understand why it’s healthier to be assertive
Explore the assertive technique based on the CUDSA model
2. Raising Your Profile – Amanda Stanford (NUS Learning & Development Consultant)
This interactive workshop will highlight various concepts and tools related to visibility and influence within the
workplace.
In this session participants will:
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Discuss what their personal brand is
Explore how they can leverage their influence in different spheres
Understand how raising their profile will help to achieve better results and make a difference
Gain insight into the importance of benefiting others in their leadership style
3. Understanding and Developing Your Leader Identity – Mandeep Rupra-Daine (NUS
Equality & Diversity Consultant)
This workshop will explore the importance of women leaders recognising and accepting themselves as a leader by
understanding and creating a leader identity that is both authentic, accessible and founded on their values and
purpose.
In this session, participants will:
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Recognise the need to develop a leader identity
Explore the values that are fundamental to themselves as a leader
Consider their leadership purpose
Become clearer about their own leader identity
4. Understanding and Navigating Gender Bias – Carolyn Dawson (Aspire, Director of
Open Programmes)
Masculine and feminine stereotypes inform what we think about women at work and in particular women as
leaders. This unconscious gender bias presents women with a number of challenges that may impede their ability
to progress at work.
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In this session, participants will:
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Explore their own unconscious bias in respect of leaders
Gain insight into the challenges women face at work as a result of gender bias
Anticipate how these challenges may impact on their career success
Consider strategies to navigate gender bias
5. Identifying Your Strengths for Leadership– Rachel Whale (Vanilla Ventures, CEO)
This workshop will provide delegates the opportunity to identify their personal strengths and understand how to use
their strengths to enhance their leadership.
In this session, participants will:
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Reflect on personal qualities and strengths as women leaders
Make fresh connections with peers and expand professional networks
Explore the core characteristics of authentic leadership and identify personal actions
Consider the concept of "Courageous Conversations" and a tool for having them.
6. Electoral Dysfunction: What’s going wrong with women’s representation – Emma
Green (NUS Development, Training and Events Officer (Liberation)
This workshop will give delegates an understanding of the causes of under representation of women in leadership
positions, and what can be done in students' unions to address this. The session will provide an honest and at
points challenging examination of where our organisations fail in equal representation.
In this session participants will:
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Discover the key barriers to women's participation in leadership
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Discuss the impact of organisational culture, structural barriers and capacity development
on women's representation
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Identify strategies for change which address organisational responsibilities
7. Public Speaking: How to use and develop your skills to your advantage – Kelley
Temple, NUS Women’s Officer and Susuana Antubam, Women’s Officer, University of
London Union
This workshop will be a challenging look at what you need to succeed in public debate or speaking. Rather than
focusing on what you should do to conform to stereotypical expectations of leadership, this will support you to work
to your strengths and build your confidence.
In this session participants will:
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Learn the top tips for anticipating arguments and forming effective responses
Build confidence in public speaking
Learn to work their strengths as an individual to become a powerful orator
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8. Diversifying the Movement: A case study on increasing the number of women leaders
in students' unions – Nadia Mehdi, VPSA and Sarah Moffat, Women’s Officer,
Edinburgh University Students' Association
This workshop is a case study into the diversifying the movement project which was set up by NUS to support
students' unions in increasing the number of women standing in elections. This will be an opportunity to look in
detail at the audit and plans which one students' union has created to address women's representation, and to gain
best practice.
In this session participants will:
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
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Hear from a union taking part in the diversifying the movement project on their activities
so far
Find out what kinds of activities unions can undertake locally to improve diversity in
elections
Audit the three key areas of development in increasing women leaders and plan for
change within their union
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Appendix 3 - Speakers invited to the NUS Women in Leadership Conference
2013
Samantha Budd
Samantha Budd is currently the Chief Executive of Bristol University Students' Union.
Prior to this role Samantha has held a number of senior roles in local Government and
the private sector including as: Senior Manager responsible for fair access to education
at Gloucestershire County Council; Operations Director for a recruitment business that
she set up in the Bristol area as well as a number of non- exec Director roles including;
Womankind, a mental health charity for women and the Brixton Information
Technology Centre.
In her spare time Samantha has been involved in supporting women's issues including
translating papers from the second international women's conference ( Beijing plus 5) from French to English on
the topic of the global plight of the girl child.
Ceri Goddard
Ceri Goddard is chief executive of the Fawcett Society, UK’s leading campaign for
women's equality and women's rights. Ceri joined Fawcett in October 2009 and leads
the development and effective delivery of Fawcett’s strategy and plans to achieve
their vision and mission.
Prior to joining Fawcett Ceri was Acting Director and Head of Practice and
Development of the British Institute of Human Rights where she led national
programmes and campaigns to bring human rights to life. Prior to this she has
worked for the UK Community Development Foundation, Ireland’s Combat Poverty
Agency where she led national and cross border anti-poverty and peace and reconciliation programmes to engage
the voices of those traditionally excluded in public policy making.
She has also worked in a number of regional/ community equality and women’s NGO’s. She was also a full time
sabbatical women’s officer at Sheffield Hallam University Students Union and served two years on the national NUS
women’s campaign committee. She is a former Chair of the Women’s Resource Centre and a current trustee of the
Equality and Diversity Forum. She holds degrees in Philosophy and Women’s Studies and is a fellow of the Royal
Society of Arts.
Rajinder Mann
Rajinder Mann OBE is the newly appointed Chief Executive of the Network for Black
Professionals, the UK wide social justice organisation. A high profile figure in the social
justice field, she was formerly the Executive Director of the Black Leadership Initiative,
which focuses on practical measures to improve the career opportunities for black, Asian
and minority ethnic (BAME) staff and managers in schools and the FE and HE sectors and
beyond.
Rajinder has over thirty years’ experience in FE, adult, youth and community education. She was Director of
Community Education at Bilston Community College then Principal Officer for Lifelong Learning at the London
Borough of Richmond upon Thames. She is highly experienced in policy development, gained whilst working at
Birmingham City Council and Wolverhampton City Council. Rajinder also worked as a Race Equality Officer at
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NIACE (National Institute of Adult Continuing Education) developing strategies and policies aimed at community
cohesion. Significantly, Rajinder was a founding member of the NBP and Vice Chair of the ground-breaking
Commission for Black Staff in FE.
Rajinder was appointed an OBE in 2011 in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for her services to BAME communities.
Kirsty McNeill
Kirsty McNeill began her campaigning career as President of Oxford University Students’
Union. She is also a former Downing Street adviser and consultant to progressive
organisations on strategy, advocacy and organisational development.
Before moving to DATA (now ONE) as the European Government Relations Manager, she
served on the board of Make Poverty History. She was a national spokesperson for the
campaign across print and broadcast media and Make Poverty History’s sole spokesperson on
the global press conference panel with Bono and Bob Geldof reacting to the Gleneagles summit outcomes.
An experienced trainer, she has delivered sessions on communications and advocacy in the United States, Japan,
Rwanda, South Africa and Sierra Leone and developed candidates for public office through a range of organisations,
including the Labour Women’s Network and World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders programme. She was a
parliamentary candidate in 2005, securing the biggest swing to Labour in the country, and then served four years
as a Labour councillor in London.
Toni Pearce
Toni Pearce is the National President of the National Union of Students (NUS) and, as
such, represents over 600 students’ unions and seven million students. Toni is the first
NUS President who has not been to university. She believes in shaping the future of
education to help create a fairer society and is passionate about the power of students
to drive change. Toni is also the eighth woman president.
Having studied at Cornwall College before serving as President of Cornwall College
Students' Union from 2009 to 2011, Toni was elected NUS Vice-President (Further Education) in 2011 and reelected for a second term in 2012 where she won £41m for student parents through Care to Learn and £50m in
bursaries for adult FE student support. She also held the position of NUS Deputy President between 2011 and
2013.
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Appendix 4 – A copy of the evaluation form used at the NUS Women in
Leadership Conference 2013.
Women in Leadership Conference Evaluation Form
28 November 2013, Birmingham
Delegate evaluations are central to the quality and continual improvement of NUS events. In order for your
evaluation to be most useful to NUS, please approach completing it with thoughtfulness and honesty; and as an
opportunity for you to openly provide constructive feedback regarding the conference. Thank you.
Before the conference
Please circle your response
Poor
Fair
Good
Very good
Excellent
The conference registration process
1
2
3
4
5
Please circle your response
Welcome and registration on the day
Poor
1
Fair
2
Good
3
Very good
4
Excellent
5
Venue facilities (i.e. training room,
refreshments, etc.)
Venue location
1
2
3
4
5
1
2
3
4
5
Conference documentation provided on the day
Plenary sessions
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1
2
2
3
3
4
4
5
5
Workshop sessions
Overall, how satisfied are you with the
conference
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2
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3
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4
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5
5
After the conference
Which session was the most relevant to you and why?
Which session was the least relevant to you and why?
Is there anything that could be improved about the conference?
What action will you take as a result of your learning from the conference?
Would you recommend NUS training events to your colleagues? (Please tick):
Yes ☐
No ☐
Any other comments?
PLEASE LEAVE YOUR EVALUTION FORM AT THE REGISTRATION DESK
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