CWA+Feedback

CWA Feedback
You all shared some excellent insights about and suggestions for improving the CWA in class on Monday 4/12. Post those ideas here. Specifically, post suggestions on ways the CWA could better appeal to students, and be better suited and structured and scheduled for students. Also, name specific panels that you really liked, and specific panels you didn't like, and say why. Plus, include any/all of those other great ideas you talked about in class (breadth and depth of content, role of moderator, etc).


 * The CWA leaders will be reading this, so make sure you ...**
 * **explain your points carefully and precisely**
 * **back up your claims with examples and evidence based on your experiences at this year's conference**
 * **format your entries so that they are clear and easy to follow**

Ben Polun
 * a lot of the panels i liked overlapped
 * seems very liberal doesnt get both views
 * get better panelist who are actually experts in their field
 * try to get funding to pay for a speaker who may want to be paid or at least provide air travel, hotel, and food.
 * make non-cu students pay and have students have to get free tickets instead of first come first serve so its not so chaotic getting everyone in
 * let the moderator be able to mediate and make comments and have more direction


 * I think it would beneficial to limit the number of old people at the panels, so the students don't feel so out numbered.
 * When you create a panel make sure that there will be experts in that field attending the conference. "Worshiping Athletes" was a real disappointment because none of the panelists were qualified to speak on the subject.
 * Bring Tom Shadyac back to the conference. He was absolutely hysterical and really made the panels he sat on enjoyable because of the way he was able to engage the audience.
 * Erik Wolf **

I definitely think it would be helpful to cater more of the Conference towards students. I really liked the idea of scheduling the panels so that they fit in with the M/W/F and T/Th classes, so that students are able to attend the panel for the whole period. Also, I feel it is important to bring people in from very different backgrounds and controversial viewpoints.
 * Ashley Wilson**


 * After attending the conference, I listened to my peers and realized that many students did not get to attend the panels that they would have liked to due to scheduling and over capacity of the panels. I myself found it difficult to attend two of the panels I was really looking forward to seeing because I just could not make the panel during the day. If possible I think it would be a relief for many students, including myself to see panels with knowledgeable experts speak on the same subject more than just once. This could mean a two part panel, where the first part of the panel is in the morning and is picked up later in the evening. The topic of the panel at night would be the same as the one earlier in the day with the same experts, but the focus would be different. One panel with two focuses at different times during the day would mean that more students would receive an opprotunity to see panels they are very interested in, but the panelists would not get bored because although they have discussed the same topic twice in one day they look at the issue from a different angle. This idea of a two part panel does not have to exist for all panels, but maybe just for a select few that might attract the most interest and the largest audience.
 * Like Erik said above, I also feel that the best panels are the ones with experts who can really get engaged in the topic of discussion and who are extremely knowledgeable on the panel they are attending. Some of the panels I attended had alot of potential to be great but needed experts who were more knowledgeable on the panel topic.
 * I think reaching out to students is key because many are very interested in attending but find it hard to do at 9 am.
 * Mac Warfield**


 * I was disapointed when I found out that there weren't any panels in the evenings. My days are packed with classes and work, so it was difficult to find time to see panels.
 * I was also disappointed that some of the panels that were of most interest to me were at times that I could not attend. The Conference could do the same panel topic twice, at different times, with different people. I did not think that there was much difference in opinion either.
 * The majority of opinions seemed to come from the left. I think it would have benefited the discussion to get a bit more controversy in there. The most engaging panels were the ones where the panelists really arguing about their opinions.
 * I did not have a problem with all the old people. In the panels that I attended, they contributed and asked meaningful questions.
 * I was disappointed in the lack of student participation, but I think that the CWA could change that by altering their schedule and fitting it around the students.
 * -Ben Fuller**

I believe there should be something like a student door or entrance for the larger sessions such as Glenn Miller and Mackey so that students know there is a space for them to interact along with that I think the first rows of the sessions should be reserved for students and then it would be easier to have the students ask the questions because they would already be in the front. Also make sure all moderators say that students have priority for asking questions so that community members don't get on their soap boxes during the question period.
 * -Anthony DeLaRosa**


 * I think that the university should incentivize conference attendance somehow. Maybe give students the week off of school or come up with some creative essay scholarship for the most inventive essay written about a panel. This might not work but it is worth a shot and I believe it will be more beneficial in increasing attendance than the mon wed fri and tue thurs schedule.
 * Try and get the panelists together before they get to the panels so they can arrange what the focus of their talk is going to be. i went to hip hop be bop flip flop politics of music and all of the panelists were like what the hell does the title of this panel even mean? what are we supposed to talk about? Then the panel is all over and people lose attention and leave.
 * Titles of panels and picking of panelists who will be on panels needs to be a lengthier process.
 * try to get panelists to confirm attendance further in advance so panel construction can have more time
 * --Anthony Gonzalez **


 * One thing that I think might be beneficial to increasing student attendance would be to get teachers of particular subjects more involved. None of my teachers, aside from this class, proactively told us about specific panels that we might be interested in. If teachers devoted one lecture to address a specific panel, giving students some "sweeteners" that would attract them to the panel, I think that more students would want to participate. It would be even better if this were not included in the syllabus, but rather sprung upon students the week before the CWA started. Students like straying from the syllabus and doing something sporadic.
 * Additionally, I think it would be great to have some of the larger panels held outdoors. April in Boulder is usually amicable, and I think that the last thing students want to do during a nice sunny day is sit inside and listen to a discussion about comparative politics. Obviously, these events would be weather permitting and would have to offer some shade due to the number of elderly citizens attending, but these would incur relatively minimal costs.
 * However, the most inconvenient aspect of last week was the conflict with UCSU, now CUSG, elections. Only a few students run during the elections, but thousands of students become active through voting. The sheer chaos that is created on campus from the CWA and CUSG colliding is not conducive to getting votes. Sidewalks are packed, hallways are jammed and you would be lucky to get five votes an hour with the traffic going through the UMC. Although I think it effects turnout minimally, it would be great if the two were scheduled for different weeks.
 * -- Travis Krogman**

** -Ryan Stock
 * 1) Asking the crowd to please hold their applause until the end of the speaker's piece. Had trouble hearing everything a speaker had to say in some cases.
 * 2) The Islamaphobia panel had a weak diversity of speakers. Yes the panelists brought interesting insight into how Europeans view Islam, but all of the panelists were "old white men" as Chip Berlet put it when a question was raised about the fact that there were no Muslims taking part in the panel.

1. Like a lot of other people in the class, I was not thrilled with the abundance of old people. I don't think young people want to go be around old people when they have time off of class. Also, I found myself weaving around them in the UMC...it was annoying. 2. Like others have said, I believe that there should be more diversity on the panels. I almost left during the Afghanistan panel because it was almost all George Bush bashing until Ike Wilson's segment. I went to the panel to learn more about the Afghan conflict, not to hear about how Bush is a criminal. 3. I almost always left during the Q & A sessions because the questions either sucked, or the people asking the questions would go on for 5 minutes, showing off their intelligence on the subject. There were a few good questions raised here and there. 4. Evening panels would be great for CU students. I had to miss a few that I wanted to attend because of class.

-Rick Thomas**

1. My biggest problem with the CWA was my inability to find seats at certain panels and my inability to attend certain panels because of lack of space. I had to stand during the mexican drug war panel and was unable to get into the time, memory and landscape panel. To correct this problem i would suggest reserving the first few rows of seats for students to make sure that we have seats. I would also recommend having a separate student line to enter the panels. 2. Another problem i had was that many audience members used the question part of the panels to voice their own opinions without asking a question. To correct this i would suggest that people write down their questions and that the questions answered will be viewed by the moderator who will choose the questions. 3. I would also suggest that the panels be scheduled with the students class schedule in mind.

-Jeremy Cypres

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//- I think it would be extremely valuable to encourage diversity among attendees of the CWA. Judging by audience reactions, applause, etc. it was apparent that most audience members shared a similar world-view. Getting the conference to appeal to other perspectives would probably mean bringing in more conservative speakers and advertising outside of Boulder.//======

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//-I agree with the suggestion made in class that an added step in the audience question process would really improve the panels. It was pretty clear that many people did not have a real question in mind for the panelists but simply wanted to speak themselves. Since there were so many of these people, maybe there could be an outlet for this kind of opinion sharing at the conference next year, like a room with a microphone just for people who want to voice their opinions?//======