Feedback on SXSW feedback

That’s right. I was just asked to fill up a SXSW feedback form and was amused with some of the questions and answer options. (Note that this survey was more on the operational aspects of SXSW rather than the actual content of each panel…)

Firstly, we were asked to rate items on a scale of 1-5, but I felt the “NA” field was necessary as well. There was a sentence on the first page to skip items if they were non-applicable, but if we accidentally clicked on an option we can’t undo it.

For the music panels, I was asked how many music performances I attended. The options began with “None”, “5-10” and “11-20”. I attended between “1-4” but there was no such option. So I gave the closest answer which was “5-10” though I was really not that happening :P

When asked which social network platforms we used, I was surprised that Facebook was not even on the list. So I put ‘Other’. This was surprising given that Mark Zuckerberg was a keynote speaker this year, in a rather controversial interview that was reported in broadsheets and in the Blogosphere.

As you can see, we were also asked which telecommunications provider we used. While I’m not a US participant I know that Cingular is now “AT&T”, thanks to the iPhone ads. It was probably a feedback form from previous years that wasn’t updated.

Fortunately there were many open text fields for me to post further comments, so I have given all this feedback to the SXSW organisers. Hopefully they’ll be able to modify the survey while it’s still ongoing.

To end off, here’s a photo of me re-enacting the scene of me collecting three heavy SXSW schwag bags! As I was a Platinum badge holder I received a bag each for Interactive, Film and Music. It is not funny if your hotel’s far away, because that means you have to lug it around for the whole day or pay expensive cab fare to drop it back at your hotel and return to the festival. I suggested that materials shouldn’t be duplicated. Save the trees, and save the backs!