PASS has been holding quarterly phone calls with chapter leaders, Carmen, Karla, and Grant. I’ve been attending them to see what PASS is working on for chapters, how they can help me, and how I can help other chapters. In today’s call, I mentioned that I had created a survey using Google Forms, emailed it to my chapter members, and collected responses. This worked really well for me! 

I wanted to find out why people attended meetings, what was important at the meetings, and how I could make them better. By asking 9 questions, I learned valuable information. Most people attended because of the topic, although there’s a core group that attend every meeting they can. I didn’t have a diverse enough range of topics, though – I’ve been focusing too heavily on DBA topics and I need to remedy that. Members wanted an online attendance option for days they didn’t have enough time to drive to the meeting and back home, or when weather was bad. I’ve started setting up a Lync meeting every month due to that feedback. I also learned my members wanted some after-meeting social time, so now I announce that we’re heading to the Buffalo Wild Wings next door if anyone wants to grab a snack or a drink. Also, swag isn’t a big deal – that’s not why people attend – so I can take the pressure off myself to have a stash of that for every meeting.

Since this was so helpful for me, I’m sharing it with other chapter leaders: FoxPASS 2015 Survey. Google Forms was really easy to set up, use, and collect feedback with – I’d recommend it!