University of California, Davis
June 25-29, 2007
WAS THE AGENDA FOR THIS COURSE ADEQUATE AND MET YOUR EXPECTATIONS?
 | Yes - I learned a lot from Alvin. I also really enjoyed the role-playing because I could see the government’s side from a "public" perspective. That helps me see how things can be misinterpreted in how things can be said better. |
| Yes. I learned an enormous amount, particularly in the scenarios and from Alvin, although his talk may have gone too long. |
| The best structure, best instructors. Way over expectation. I didn’t lower my expectations. |
| Yes and no, I expected more on "the message" of risk and not how to communicate. More on how to compare risk/options. |
| It seemed to start slowly, but really gained speed. Alvin Chun was great, but all presenters brought value to the course. |
| Yes. |
| Yes, the information presented provided a very good cross section of skills techniques, and ideas that can be applied to the work I will be involved in on a regular basis. The breakout sessions were great cross-learning opportunities. |
| Absolutely! The course was highly recommended by other regulators who attended the first course. |
| Yes the course met my expectations. I was able to learn from people who had many years of experience. I also enjoyed visiting with the presenters during their stay in the course. |
| The course exceeded my expectations by several orders of magnitude (ha ha). I learned a great deal and the exercises and breakout sessions allowed me to practice new ideas and learn from others’ myriad examples. I liked the breakout/exercises in lieu of state presentations - had great ad hoc conversations at break and lunch. |
| Yes. |
| Sure |
| Very full agenda - not one dud speaker. The breakouts are probably better than state presentations but maybe some extra time for discussion could be added somewhere. |
| Yes, it covered most areas. I really appreciated Al’s time on conversation and empathy. The role-playing brought it home. |
| Yes. It exceeded my expectations. |
| Yes, the situations were very real. |
| The course exceeded my expectations!! I had heard good things about last year’s course and was excited I was selected to participate. I was not disappointed!! Always enjoy the course and networking opportunities that PREP provides. Look forward to participating in the future!! |
| Yes it was. I did not have a great feel for what this course would include before hand, but this was a great mix of speakers. |
| Yes, very complete. |
| This was a great agenda - very diverse, very useful, and very current. |
| Yes, the agenda was adequate. Several sessions far exceeded my expectations and could have been expanded. The review of EPA risk management/assessment and communication (generic) could have been shorter to allow time for other topics (e.g. Fred, Allan - who should have had more time). |
| Yes! This was great. I felt like I gained knowledge in risk communication and risk assessment. |
| Yes. A bit more effort on the risk communication-as in more scenarios. Practice is so important. |
| It exceeded my expectations. |
| Yes, Alvin, Rich and Fred did a great job on communicating the message to us. |
| Well worth my time. Did a great job having every segment well limbed. Good level of overlap among speakers. |
WHAT COULD PREP PLANNERS HAVE DONE TO MAKE THIS COURSE MORE USEFUL TO YOU?
| Maybe a little more time with Alvin. Also, maybe another ½ day field trip or having more time outside? |
| More break type time - to see town. By the end, I was pretty burnt-out. |
| More speakers on effective messages on the risk of or lack thereof of pesticides. I just got a whole lot more benefit from the last two days of the course. Please expand this part to 3 to 3 ½ days. |
| It couldn’t have done any better. |
| Excellent course, maybe a different type tour. |
| Add a little discussion time to our personal risk examples. |
| On risk communication? Can’t think of anything. All the subject matters were very relevant. |
| My expectations were exceeded. More roundtables? |
| They did an excellent job. I don’t know what could have been done to improve the program. |
| I can’t think of anything with respect to content. The mix of people (state/tribal) was great and planning was excellent as evidenced by the execution. |
| I liked the last role playing, the breakout with the writing fact sheets wasn’t given enough time (or maybe we didn’t use our time well). |
| I really enjoyed the hands-on sessions. I think more of those would put the information we learned into perspective. |
| While I enjoyed all the sessions think fewer sessions with more time for each would have been more useful. Would have given a more concentrated course/experience for participants. Let’s do something or a few things well. Would have allowed participants to really delve into risk communication and crisis communication and develop skills and abilities in those areas. |
| Focus less on the nitty-gritty science and policy, and more on practical application and real life practice. |
| The variety of speakers was very good. |
| Let the precautionary principle presenter talk several hours, but down on EPA presentation on risk assessment. |
| If the selection process could occur longer in advance of the course it would have been nice to have some input on the subject matter. Planners should also be aware of conflicts with other meetings (e.g. SFIREG.) |
| The planning was excellent. Just need better speaker for risk assessment. |
| More take home material. |
| More Alvin! |
IF THIS COURSE WAS TO BE HELD AGAIN IN THE FUTURE, CAN YOU SUGGEST FACULTY WHO COULD SUBSTANTIALLY IMPROVE THE AGENDA?
| Don’t know of anyone. |
| Role-playing was excellent. It would be kind of neat to pretend we were in one state or another (with either a member from that state or someone else in the class from that state). |
| Dr. Michael Hare, TDA. Need more EPA HQ folks to talk! |
| I really enjoyed all the speakers. |
| Collie Graddick. |
| I don’t know any better. |
| Provide the scenarios ahead of the course. |
| I am just entering the regulators and learning people. |
| I’m hoping that Alvin and Allan will come back! |
| It would be interesting to hear from the environmental/anti pesticide groups (if there’s one that would be willing to work with us). This would give us the "both sides" aspect. |
| Believe this course should be offered every year. Most states don’t consider to focus on this area. Perhaps session on "risk communication" could be standard in all courses - it is certainly applicable to all program areas. For faculty consideration - put Alvin Chun on the payroll, can’t think of anyone better!! Fred Whitford is also a keeper! Finally, would suggest also looking at participants as speakers. You had the perfect opportunity to discuss cultural norms and beliefs with our tribal participant. |
| Will look into it. Dave Brown at the Sac/Yolo Mosquito & Vector Control District in Elk Grove. He has personal experience with this. |
| Randy Sagawa from CDPR. |
| I do not have a specific person in mind, however it might have been nice to have someone from the media involved on this topic. |
| Anne Marie DesMacais from Massachusetts (adjunct professor at Tufts Grad School of Hazardous Materials Management.) Excellent speaker, teacher and professional currently working in the field. Superb speaker. I can provide contact info. (Anne MacMillan/VT) She could replace R. Dumas or complement him. |
| Data mining training. |
ANY ADDITIONAL COMMENTS?
| Very organized!! I liked that. Not too much/not too little info or contractor. Well done you all! |
| None. |
| Staff and participants = totally enjoyable. |
| Great course. |
| It would be nice to possibly reduce the number of days of the class. Possibly go 8:00-5:00 everyday and reduce the number of days. |
| I will highly recommend my colleagues to attend this course. I plan to pass on information from this course to my staff. The breakout sessions were more useful than the state of state reports. |
| I was able to learn a lot in communicating risk. I was also able to visit with people that had expertise in certain areas and learn from them. I also picked up ideas to put into my presentations. I also enjoyed the many viewpoints that were presented. I also hoped to make connections with other people. |
| Table set-up, chairs, "poster sessions"-NPIC like topics may be adequately covered in poster session. Could hold them at UCD (wine and cheese reception with posters?) or at hotel? |
| I liked getting feedback on all of the products of the breakouts and role playing. |
| I am very glad I came to this. I really think it will improve my communication skills. |
| Would like to see courses including Endangered Species and container containment. Think 2008 may be appropriate. Not a "compliance" focus rather implementation, etc. Would like to see water quality PREP repeated! Finally, a course focusing on Grants, Cooperative Agreements, etc. would be of great value. Thank you!!! |
| Thank you for the opportunity to attend this course. I learned many valuable things which, I will use at my job. More Alvin, Fred, and Myron. |
| Don’t like theme dinner concept. |
| Overall good and reinforces common sense ideas. |
| EPA needs to provide informed faculty who limit their comments to only subject matter they can respond to accurately! Otherwise, this was another great PREP! I do wish we would have a little free time on one afternoon. |
| I appreciated learning more about EPA’s process for pesticide registration. I look forward to attending more PREP courses. |
| Please do more breakouts. |