Aw, shucks.

In which we take a break from read receipts...

This blog grew out of a Ragan Conference session on metrics in communications. In that session I extolled the beauty of www.surveymonkey.com, a great site for creating and analyzing surveys. I asked attendees if they would take a post-session survey and gathered their e-mail addresses for that purpose.

(Here I must again cop to the fact that I managed to lose all those e-mail addresses, except the ones given to me on business cards. Let me publically state for the record, again, that I'm a dope. If any of you are out there, my abject apologies.)

Anyway, I ended up with only nine respondents to my survey, which I conducted using www.surveymonkey.com. It is extremely easy to use -- I was able to put together a fairly sophisticated survey on my first visit. Basic features are free, and advanced features are an extremely reasonable $20/month. I've even used it for fun, silly surveys to amuse friends and family.

I promised to share the post-session results when they were in. I've hesitated because, frankly, they are embarassingly positive and I am -- deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep down -- the modest type. I guess it's my small-town upbringing.

But you may be interested in the survey questions, and I'd be interested in your thoughts on them. So in this post, I'll cover the demographic questions, and what my nine new best friends answered. (The numbers after the questions are the percent and raw number responding.) My next post will cover the questions and responses about the session itself.

In the demographic section (enticingly titled "About You") I asked these questions:

1. How would rate your experience with using metrics in your job before attending my session?

• No experience - I'd never done any real measurement (33.3% - 3)
• Beginner - I'd taken some small steps toward measuring my activities (55.6% - 5)
• Intermediate - I conduct regular measurement (0% - 0)
• Advanced - I've done considerable measurement and it's a regular and valuable part of my activities (11.1% - 1)

2. How long have you worked in communications?

• One to three years (33.3% - 3)
• Four to seven years (22.2% - 2)
• Eight to 10 years (11.1% - 1)
• More than 10 years (33.3% - 3)

3. What do you consider your core skills as a communicator? Please rate the following choices.

• Writing
  1 No experience or proficiency 0% (0)
  2 Beginner: I don't do it well and largely rely on others for this skill 0% (0)
  3 Competent: I'm OK -- maybe not the best around 0% (0)
  4 Proficient: Colleagues come to me for this skill 78% (7)
  5 Expert: I'm among the best around 22% (2)
  Response Average 4.22
• Communications strategy
  1 No experience or proficiency 0% (0)
  2 Beginner: I don't do it well and largely rely on others for this skill 0% (0)
  3 Competent: I'm OK -- maybe not the best around 33% (3)
  4 Proficient: Colleagues come to me for this skill 56% (5)
  5 Expert: I'm among the best around 11% (1)
  Response Average 3.78
• Project management/organization
  1 No experience or proficiency 0% (0)
  2 Beginner: I don't do it well and largely rely on others for this skill 0% (0)
  3 Competent: I'm OK -- maybe not the best around 33% (3)
  4 Proficient: Colleagues come to me for this skill 56% (5)
  5 Expert: I'm among the best around 11% (1)
  Response Average 3.78
• Relationship building
  1 No experience or proficiency 0% (0)
  2 Beginner: I don't do it well and largely rely on others for this skill 0% (0)
  3 Competent: I'm OK -- maybe not the best around 44% (4)
  4 Proficient: Colleagues come to me for this skill 56% (5)
  5 Expert: I'm among the best around 0% (0)
  Response Average 3.56
• Analytics, including metrics
  1 No experience or proficiency 33% (3)
  2 Beginner: I don't do it well and largely rely on others for this skill 33% (3)
  3 Competent: I'm OK -- maybe not the best around 22% (2)
  4 Proficient: Colleagues come to me for this skill 11% (1)
  5 Expert: I'm among the best around 11% (1)
  Response Average 2.11
• Business knowledge - general/finance
  1 No experience or proficiency 0% (0)
  2 Beginner: I don't do it well and largely rely on others for this skill 22% (2)
  3 Competent: I'm OK -- maybe not the best around 56% (5)
  4 Proficient: Colleagues come to me for this skill 11% (1)
  5 Expert: I'm among the best around 11% (1)
  Response Average 3.11
• Employee/internal communications
  1 No experience or proficiency 0% (0)
  2 Beginner: I don't do it well and largely rely on others for this skill 0% (0)
  3 Competent: I'm OK -- maybe not the best around 22% (2)
  4 Proficient: Colleagues come to me for this skill 67% (6)
  5 Expert: I'm among the best around 11% (1)
  Response Average 3.89
• Public relations
  1 No experience or proficiency 11% (1)
  2 Beginner: I don't do it well and largely rely on others for this skill 0% (0)
  3 Competent: I'm OK -- maybe not the best around 33% (3)
  4 Proficient: Colleagues come to me for this skill 44% (4)
  5 Expert: I'm among the best around 11% (1)
  Response Average 3.44
• Marketing/sales communications
  1 No experience or proficiency 0% (0)
  2 Beginner: I don't do it well and largely rely on others for this skill 25% (2)
  3 Competent: I'm OK -- maybe not the best around 25% (2)
  4 Proficient: Colleagues come to me for this skill 50% (4)
  5 Expert: I'm among the best around 0% (0)
  Response Average 3.25

Sounds like a pretty proficient group to me, bless 'em.

This is my list of communications proficiencies -- is it the right list? What's missing?

Next post -- the session questions and responses.