This series of Professional Development webinars was supported by the Queensland Government funding for 2021-2022 and all eight have been successfully delivered. The response to the webinars was very good and the feedback received provided some insight into the participants’ motivation for attending the webinars and their ideas on how to improve them.

The aim behind delivery of the webinars was to offer additional support in an easy to access online format with topics that are pertinent and help to increase or refresh knowledge and to generate possible interest from others in the sailing community who may be looking to become involved in a variety of roles within our sport.  

The participation numbers we estimated as a realistic target of achievement was 20 per session. In some webinars we exceeded that target by far and in others we did not reach it. However, overall the participation level was deemed a success.

Feedback Overview

After each webinar the slides were sent to attendees together with a short survey to provide an opportunity for participants to give feedback.  The main survey questions asked for what motivated them to attend the webinars, were the webinars/presenters effective and how useful the content was.  The feedback responses from the first sessions in each webinar were used to generate the topic content for the second sessions and should future webinars be offered, the suggestions for further topics and improvements will be considered and actioned if suitable.

Feedback on Motivations for Attending Webinars

• Receive new, useful suggestions
• Refresh or improve knowledge
• Gain a deeper understanding of information (particularly in Racing Rules)
• Keep up to date & learn from demonstrated examples
• Have contact with others in the same role
• Like learning & interested in upskilling
• Interest in Officials Roles & Race Management

Improvements Suggested for Ongoing Webinars

• Make sure there is time to cover the topics fully & have full discussions
• Access to recordings to review/view later
• Attendees provided other topics that were of interest to them that we could use for the second round of webinars
• Choosing webinar software so that access to sessions is available to all
• Some content was not really appropriate for my individual needs

Slide from Professional Development Webinars