How do you prefer to get news and information about the Local?
	the Official site @ ia15.org 56 64% the Backstage site @ iatse15.ning.com 38 44% Monthly Membership Meeting 29 33% The Cue Sheet 60 69% A phone call 14 16% On the job 18 21% Snail Mail 12 14% Email 52 60% Facebook 8 9% Twitter 1 1% text message 6 7% Other 6 7% People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.

Frequency of Use - How often do you check either of the websites? (IA15's Official & Backstage sites)
	Not very often 29 33% Monthly 23 26% Weekly 23 26% Daily 1 1% Never 3 3% Other 8 9% People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.

Which website(s) are you likely to visit regularly?
	the Official site @ ia15.org 50 57% the Backstage site @ iatse15.ning.com 46 53% the Local 15 Facebook group 17 20% Local 15 on Twitter 1 1% The website of the venue I work at 9 10% Other 13 15% People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.

"I would be willing to voluntarily chip in $1 (one dollar) a year to keep the Backstage online." 60 True, 19 False, 8 Abstained.
	People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.

"I would rather have much of what is available on the Backstage available on the Official site and consolidate the two instead of having separate sites." 59 True, 18 False, 10 Abstained.
	People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.

"The current online presence of Local 15 __________"
	fulfills my needs. 24 28% is more than I need. 12 14% is lacking in some way. 34 39% I have no idea what you are talking about. 3 3% Other 14 16% People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.

Which site do you like better - the Backstage or the Official site?
Backstage site Official site	1 - Backstage site 13 15% 2 13 15% 3 37 43% 4 9 10% 5 - Official site 7 8% People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.

"The Backstage site empowers the rank and file membership in a positive way."
Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree	1 - Strongly Disagree 3 3% 2 8 9% 3 23 26% 4 38 44% 5 - Strongly Agree 7 8% People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.

"The Official site is kept up to date and current. I can not think of anything else that it might need to be a more useful site for me."
Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree	1 - Strongly Disagree 10 11% 2 28 32% 3 32 37% 4 6 7% 5 - Strongly Agree 2 2% People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.

"I would use the Official website more often if it was used by the Officers and staff to communicate the Local's business and goings-on more often."
Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree	1 - Strongly Disagree 3 3% 2 2 2% 3 12 14% 4 31 36% 5 - Strongly Agree 31 36% People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.

"The idea of having the option to submit my weekly availability to Dispatch via a webform interests me."
Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree	1 - Strongly Disagree 6 7% 2 4 5% 3 12 14% 4 22 25% 5 - Strongly Agree 36 41% People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.

"The idea of having the option to submit my weekly availability to Dispatch via an email interests me." (FYI - this option is currently being offered on a testing basis by writing "call-in@ia15.org".)
Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree	1 - Strongly Disagree 3 3% 2 5 6% 3 14 16% 4 24 28% 5 - Strongly Agree 34 39% People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.

"I might even start using a service such as Twitter if it proved to be an economical way for the Officers and staff to reach the membership in a quicker, more efficient manner."
Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree	1 - Strongly Disagree 32 37% 2 20 23% 3 11 13% 4 9 10% 5 - Strongly Agree 8 9% People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.

Would you be interested in contributing an article in your area of expertise as part of an Educational section of the Official website?
	Yes 22 25% No 12 14% Maybe, if you give me a donut or a bagel. 41 47% People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.

Features of the Backstage site I like and/or use.
	Notes 30 34% Interest Groups 40 46% Discussion Forums 42 48% Members Pages & Blogs 24 28% Calendar 62 71% Forms 37 43% Venue Map 51 59% Traffic Flow Map 21 24% Photo Gallery 38 44% Video Gallery 14 16% Music Player 8 9% Events Listing 42 48% Messaging other members 32 37% Other 19 22% People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.

Features of the Backstage site I do not like and/or use.
	Notes 10 11% Interest Groups 10 11% Discussion Forums 10 11% Members Pages & Blogs 11 13% Calendar 4 5% Forms 6 7% Venue Map 4 5% Traffic Flow Map 16 18% Photo Gallery 9 10% Video Gallery 18 21% Music Player 33 38% Events Listing 4 5% Messaging other members 7 8% Other 48 55% People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.

Analysis

We ran the survey for 20 days, received 87 results out of a potential 290 individuals invited. We achieved a 30% response rate to this survey by the invited 290 Backstage members. This is a great response by any measure and shows that a good portion of people in the Local care to give input on the direction that the website heads towards.

For the most part, the results were predictable but with a few surprises, and the comments submitted were constructive.

Most surprising (to me) was that 72% agreed with the statement that if the staff and officers used the website more then so would the members. This is a significant result in that it shows a correlation between keeping the site up to date with current activities and news would bring in higher usage, which would be a good thing for communications seeing that most respondents only check the website occasionally (59% monthly or less often), due to the perception that the sites are not up to date (43% think site is not up to date). Also, among the favored methods of receiving news about the Local, email had a very strong showing, just behind The Cue Sheet and the Official website. Which is a bit strange, since not much of our communications to the members is sent via email, but shows that they would not only be open to it but probably like it if news were sent that way. It was also a little surprising, but nice, to see the Official website rank so high and the Backstage to be lower than email, again a nice surprise.

The least surprising result was that 47% of the respondents would contribute to the site(s) if they were offered a donut or a bagel. Who would have thought...?

39% of the respondents feel the online presence of IA15 is lacking in some way, while 14% felt it was more than they need, and 28% are fairly happy with it. Those that answered in the "Other" category on this question were generally saying what the site specifically was lacking. The Backstage site was a bit more favored but 43% were neutral over which site they prefer. 43% feel the site(s) are not kept up to date, while only 9% did feel things were up to date. This seems to show a need for more information sharing on a timely basis.

2/3rds would like to be able to report their availability online, either via a webform or email. We used this opportunity to promote the fact that Availablility can currently be reported via email, a fact that many members are still unaware of. Unsurprisingly, adoption of Twitter amongst the membership seems very unlikely at the present time, with 60% of the respondents indicating that they don't give a hoot about Twitter.

As far as those willing to pony up $1/year to help pay to keep the Backstage viable we had 69% say they would, 22% wouldn't, and 9% abstaining from answering. Working out the math, this percentage would be just enough to pay the yearly fee Ning is going to start charging. Similar numbers said they would prefer the sites be consolidated. These two points taken together come up with a rather inclusive result, and if people don't come up with the money in time for us to continue the Backstage site then it will go dark. At that point, the membership is probably going to want the Local to pick up some of the slack I think.

Speaking for myself, I would prefer it if we consolidated the sites into a single site. Let Facebook pick up some of the slack on the social side that people like (sharing photos, events, open discussions, etc.) The Ning site is really nice in that it is absolutely painless to maintain and is secure. The worst part about the Official site is that we don't have the security on it that we want yet. There might be time to install the security feature hopefully before TechReady or sometime soon afterwards. By the way, here is a link to the announcement of Ning's pricing structure: http://about.ning.com/announcement/?xg_source=announcement_bar

In conclusion, the thought occurs to me that one possible, and desirable, alternative is to roll the Backstage into the Official site by having the Local pay the additional $200/year hosting fee to Ning. This would solve the security issues we have, preserve the data we would lose if the Backstage goes dark, save countless (current and future) hours of administrative time, and entail much less of a learning curve for the user base. Other things that would need to happen if we went this route would include some of the following: discussion forums would have to become moderated, some groups might need to be more or less private depending on their nature, etc.

respectfully submitted by
Brian Foley
on behalf of the Web Committee