SUCCESSFUL CONFERENCE SEASON IN 2012
History tells us that change, even great change, in society is possible.
However, nothing changes if nothing is done. This year’s SADD conference season is all about ‘being’, promoting, and encouraging the change we want to see in the world – namely, an end to the senseless harm and devastation caused by drink driving.
In our country young people (15-19 years) are over-represented in all key statistics relating to drink driving. If you’re a New Zealander aged 15-19, you are more likely to die in a car crash than by any other cause. That is unacceptable – particularly given that most (especially alcohol related crashes) are entirely preventable.
We have a vision that significant change, starting with our youth, is possible – a cultural shift in attitudes and behaviours that eventually ensures that NO young person makes the serious mistake (often fatal) of getting behind the wheel intoxicated, or in hopping in a car with an intoxicated driver. Our vision is long-term, we know that change takes effort and time, but along the way we will begin to save lives and reduce harm – and every injury prevented, and every life saved will be worth every minute of time and every ounce of effort!
The time for change is now, and action is crucial – be part of a movement to create significant social change and do your part to help save lives in the future!
In the April School holidays we held another very successful SADD Conference Season, with two events in Invercargill and Napier. Building on the Conference Season in 2011, which was themed Social Entrepreneurship – working together for positive change, this year’s Season looked at moving students from the theory of being change-makers to action within the Conference itself, with the opportunity to work in teams and develop new SADD campaigns (for SADD to then work on and potentially roll out to all schools nationally).
We aimed for a highly interactive event, that enabled students to ‘take the lead’ from the first night and work collaboratively alongside students from across the North or South Island: sharing ideas, information and innovation to create a brand new key message and campaign for the SADD programme.
There were 205 students participating in this year’s Conference Season, forming 20 individual teams (12 in the North and 8 in the South). Each team was prepared and equipped to design a new social marketing campaign for SADD, which they then ‘pitched’ to the entire conference delegation on the final day.
The initiative, called ‘The Challenge’, required each team to complete 6 key tasks as part of their campaign design:
1. Create a message
2. Create a poster
3. Design an event/activity idea (for use in schools)
4. Develop a social media initiative
5. Develop a merchandise or resource item idea
6. And lastly, prepare a pitch for their campaign design
The outcomes of the Challenge, in both Islands, absolutely amazed us! The students created thoughtful, targeted and responsible campaigns, with imagery, activity and materials ideas that were both creative and engaging. Our national SADD team now looks forward to work-shopping the students’ campaign designs, over the coming months, with the view to making their ideas and resources available to SADD groups nationally.
EVALUATION RESULTS
We asked all delegates to rate our conference organisation and facilities on a scale of 1 to 5 [1 = Unsatisfactory; 2 = Below Average; 3 = Satisfactory; 4 = Above Average; 5 = Excellent] and below are the average results for each event:
Facilities & Organisation North Island Conference South Island Conference
Location i.e. city 3.8 3.9
Sleeping arrangements 3.5 4.6
Food 4.5 3.5
Conference facilities 3.9 4.6
Venue overall 4 4.7
Value for money 3.9 4.6
General organisation of conference 4.2 4.5
We asked all delegates to rate each of the sessions/sections of the Conference agenda on a scale of 1 to 5 [1 = unsatisfactory, 2 = very little was useful, 3 = satisfactory/useful, 4 = very useful, 5 = excellent] and below are the average results for each event:
Session North Island Conference South Island Conference
Expo 3.5 4.1
Panel Discussion 4.2 4.2
Night one – setting challenge 3.5 3.5
Day two challenge 4.2 4.5
Team Presentations 4.2 4.5
We asked each delegate if, given the opportunity, would they attend another SADD Conference and the response was:
North Island – 96% of students said ‘yes’
South Island – 100% of students said ‘yes’
We asked each delegate if they would recommend SADD Conference to a friend or fellow student:
North Island – 98.5% of students said ‘yes’
South Island – 100% of students said ‘yes’
What the students had to say … [Evaluation form comments]
‘It was all fun and relevant. Thanks for making us feel like we are thoroughly involved in SADD!’
‘The challenge was a great idea! Love that we get credit for our great ideas!’
‘Great fun and the SADD staff treat students as equals which is good.’
‘It was fantastic’
‘It helped bring out great team skills’
‘Enjoyed working with others and sharing ideas’
‘We were amazing!’
‘Amazing way to finish holidays and a chance to meet new people’
‘I am so coming back, it was so worthwhile.’
‘Achievable and rewarding.’
‘Challenging and fun, made you work as a team’
‘It was fun and interactive’
‘Some parts of the challenge seemed rushed, but clearly some teams were amazing!’
‘It was really cool and heaps of fun’
‘Awesome and tiring’
‘SADD is the bomb’
