Community Corner - Your Feedback
The heartbeat of the Scottish Society of Ottawa (SSO) is its membership. Your voice matters. Over the past three months, we sought your views on topics related to the OttScot Festival 2020-21. Were you a first-time attender? Were you satisfied with the SSO events? Are you likely to participate in future SSO events? Over 150 attendees responded. To those who answered the call, please accept our sincere appreciation. Your comments allow us to better gauge member interests, to inform future events, and to address let our sponsors and partners know how we did. Your insights help SSO to build community, membership trust and confidence. The SSO is committed to two-way communications. Voice given… is voice heard! Here are some of the things that we learned.
Who attended our events?
Based on survey responses, the OttScot Festival was of interest to both paid SSO member (47%) and not-paid members (53%). St. Andrews Day Tutored Whisky Tasting (November 30, 2020) drew the highest proportion of paid SSO members (75%). Hogman-eh! 2020 attracted a higher proportion of not-paid SSO members (63%).
The survey revealed that the Ottscot Festival 2020-21 attracted older attendees, largely the baby boom generation (69%). The Burns Celebration drew the largest proportion of older attendees, mainly the baby boom generation (78%). In contrast, Hogman-eh! tended to attract a younger crowd, Millennial and Gen X generation attendees (45%).
Welcome to all our first timers! The OttScot Festival 2020-21 largely attracted first-time attendees (63%). The Burns Celebration attracted a higher proportion of first-time attendees (72%), compared to other SSO events. Hogman-eh! 2020 drew a higher proportion of repeat attendees (52%).
Among survey respondents, overall satisfaction was very high. Over 72% of attendees indicated that they were "very satisfied" with the OttScot Festival 2020-21. Our whisky event fans showed us some real love with the highest proportion of attendees who were "very satisfied” (88%). In comparison, while still high, the Burns Celebration had the lowest proportion of “very satisfied” (63%).
Do you really like us?
We were incredibly happy to hear that the likelihood of attending future events was very high (91%)! Burns Celebration had the highest proportion of respondents who would consider attending future SSO events (95%). In comparison, whisky tasting had a lower proportion of respondents who signaled an interest in attending future SSO events (79%).
Outside of statistics, we received many great comments. While too extensive to report here, a first-time Burns Celebration attendee, not a paid SSO member, seemed to capture the comments and sentiments of many OttScot Festival 2020-21 attendees.
“I loved the introduction video for Scotland’s year of Coasts and Waters; The introduction from the Scottish Society of Ottawa (SSO) organizers; The toasts, special guests reciting the (Burns’) odes and poem; and The piping in of the haggis was beautiful. Seeing the comments come in and spotting loved ones, far and near that I was able to invite, was a real treat. The fantastic fiddlers, wonderful drums, pipes, and highland dancing, was so lively and fun! Guests popping in from Scotland - Glasgow, Dumfries, Edinburgh etc. The Scottish country dancing was gorgeous!! And the afterparty music was so much fun. The video quality was excellent. I liked the Facebook live feed and that SSO posted these on YouTube. I loved the part when the SSO thanked the volunteers and people that worked so hard to make this Burns Night Virtual Celebration happen. The insights, comments and historical feed with the Burns stained glass - such a nice touch!”
To those who took the time to attend our events, we say tapadh leibh mo charaid (thank you friends)!