By Dave Albin
ISMA Senior Director of Membership and Marketing

As part of the ISMA’s 171st Annual Convention, we asked delegates, members, past and current officers and guests to weigh in on ISMA’s first-ever virtual convention experience. Over 175 registrants were online for the event, and the reviews were overwhelmingly positive.

Approximately three-fifths of the audience took the online survey regarding the convention and a few other topics; we will use the results to focus our work in the coming year.

Here are some key metrics:

• 98% rated the convention as “excellent” or “good.”
• 95% to 99% rated the individual speakers, such as Gov. Eric Holcomb, AMA President Susan Bailey, MD, and the ISMA officers as “excellent” or “good.”
• 100% rated interaction with ISMA staff as “excellent” (89%) or “good” (11%).
• 45% would prefer an in-person convention experience in 2021 if the COVID-19 pandemic is contained; 40% would prefer a hybrid in-person and virtual convention; and 12% would prefer a virtual-only experience.
• 41% would prefer online voting to continue for next year’s district elections, while 36% would prefer a hybrid of online and in-person voting, and 15% would prefer in-person voting only.
• 50.5% would like to receive text messages from ISMA about important news or legislative action.
• 97% describe the amount of information or news they receive from ISMA as “about right,” compared with 2% who thought it was “too little” and 1% who thought it was “too much.”

ISMA staff will use this and other survey data, including detailed verbatim comments, to bring more value to your membership in the next year.