Preparations for Walking Festivals this year are in full swing – and many of them are listed here.
With so much planned we are spoilt for choice. Whether exploring your local area or travelling to places further afield, walking festivals are great annual focal points for new and experienced walkers. And they would not exist without support from thousands of volunteers and staff from a range of organisations.
Last year I looked at the range of walking festivals – where, when and for how long they ran. Here we look at how walking festivals are evaluated.
The benefits of walking are well rehearsed as are the benefits of being in nature and socialising. But what do participants think about walking festivals?
Walking festival evaluation report
Evaluations provide great learning for future activities and as such are a key part of organising a festival. The quality required for the evaluation report largely depends on who is going to read it. When multiple stakeholders and funders are involved the importance of the report increases. Here are a couple of examples from Bristol Walk Fest and GM Walking Festival.
There are some basic numbers to include in the report, such as:
- Number of walks, where and who delivered them,
- Number of participants,
- Total miles walked (10 people on a 5 mile walk = 50 miles)
- Number of supporting volunteers and staff,
- Number of stakeholders, supporters and partners.
Comprehensive evaluation reports include accounts of the organisation and promotion activities, but a key focus is feedback from participants.
Participant surveys
One useful tool for evaluation is the participant survey, but what questions to include? Reviewing a sample of walking festival evaluation forms highlights four categories of questions.
1. The quality of the experience, such as:
- How satisfied were you with the walk you attended?
- What do you think about the booking process for your walk?
- How likely would you be to attend this event again?
- How do you rate the walk/ walk leader?
2. Understanding the participants, such as:
- How regularly do you go out for walks? Or what type of walker are you?
- How did you travel to the walk?
- How far did you travel to the walk? Or what is your postcode?
Some evaluation forms include questions about demographics, but this could also be captured during the booking process.
3. Guidance for future festivals, such as:
- Are there any types of walks you would like to see more of?
- What would make the festival better?
- What did you like least about the festival?
4. Achieving the festival outcomes:
The purpose of the festival can be varied and may be defined by the interests of those organising or supporting it. Intended outcomes might include:
- Impact on individuals, such as health and wellbeing benefits, increased ongoing uptake in physical activity and walking, increased knowledge of an area, connectedness to nature, etc.
- Increased tourism and spend in the local economy, such as staying in local accommodation to attend the festival, buying food and drinks in local businesses.
- Increased diversity of participants – were activities aimed at attracting more diverse participants effective?
Well defined outcomes will lead to specific activities to achieve them. The evaluation should assess to what degree the outcomes have been achieved through the activities. The questions asked in the participant survey should provide evidence to assess this. Contacting people again, a few months after the event, can help to assess longer term outcomes, such as ongoing behaviour changes.
Response rates
Survey response rates depend on many things, some festivals use prize draws to encourage responses. Here are some other useful thoughts about improving response rates.
As with any survey, the questions should be chosen carefully. Not too many or too complicated, but enough to get all the information needed for evaluating. Multiple choice options are good, and spaces for people to provide specific feedback can provide useful insights and quotes.
Walkers: please contribute to evaluations. It provides a boost to organisers to see that people enjoyed or valued an activity. And while receiving negative feedback isn’t the best feeling, it is useful for making improvements. Feedback is preferred to attendance at an annual event dwindling and not knowing why.
Whichever festival you are walking at this year, I hope you have a great time (and then explain why on your participant survey!)
