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Whistler Card survey starting to show trends

Information will help nine local organizations better meet local community needs

What sort of community programming do Whistlerites want? Some answers are starting to emerge through a survey being done by Learning Communities and the Chamber of Commerce.

"We’re four months into the program and we’re beginning to see some trends," says Don Dewar, Director of Program Development for the chamber. "We have enough responses that we can accurately say, ‘This is what the majority is saying.’"

Earlier this year, Learning Communities joined forces with the Chamber of Commerce to gather information on behalf of its nine partner organizations: Capilano College, Community Futures, Lil’wat Nation, Millennium Place, Resort Municipality of Whistler, School District #48, Whistler Community Services Society, Whistler Public Library and the chamber itself.

The vehicle for this ambitious undertaking is a survey administered in conjunction with the new Whistler Card, a discount card for Whistler residents. Additional messaging concerning creating a better guest experience for resort visitors has also been incorporated into the project. Materials supporting this unique program reinforce that the card is a benefit to residents from local businesses in exchange for focusing on a better guest experience.

Since the launch of the program 700 cards have been bought and 300 people have completed the survey. Priced at $37 per year (or $20.10 for six months) the card gives users discounts of up to 25 per cent on various goods and service from more than 200 local businesses. As a condition of the Whistler Card’s renewal, members are required to fill out the survey. The initial data, which started being collected mid-September, has been analyzed and has revealed some interesting and surprising demographic information.

Having the survey fully automated using state of the art statistics software is making exacting extrapolation of information possible, allowing the partners to "mine" the information in a variety of ways.

"We can find out what the women are thinking, what the men are saying… what are the people 26 and older saying about a particular learning partner or particular program," Dewar says. "The power of the development for the questions really starts to come together."

The digital nature of the project also serves to support Learning Communities’ mandate.

"One of the objectives within the Learning Communities project was to incrementally increase, via electronic means, awareness of the partners and their initiatives," says Stephanie Wells, Learning Communities Project Co-ordinator. "We’re finding the number of people asking for more information on programs has been overwhelming."

Aside from demonstrating that Whistler is a community that values engagement, the survey is revealing some assumption-challenging data. Some of the demographic information Wells and Dewar cite as surprising:

• 58 per cent of respondents have lived in Whistler more than one year;

• 20 per cent of respondents have lived in Whistler less that one year;

• 85 per cent of respondents have some post-secondary education;

• 48 per cent of respondents have a college or university degree;

• 70 per cent of respondents were over 26;

• 50 per cent of respondents were in a position to influence employees.

Dewar will be meeting with partners and "drilling down" information for the groups to use to influence their programming decisions and judge the popularity of existing programs.

"Our goal is to have our members take this information and validate what they’re doing so they can put more money and resources into the things that are working well, discontinue what’s not working and then be able to move ahead on other projects," explains Wells. "Using this information groups should be able to save time and money."

Feedback on the survey from Learning Communities partners has been enthusiastic. Roger Weetman, manager of Programming, Service and Community Liaison for the RMOW, sees the information as invaluable.

"We get to know what facilities people are using," says Weetman. "From a program perspective we haven’t done a survey in quite a number of years."

Weetman added that the last in-house survey took at least two weeks of staff time and that was only surveying facility users. He estimates that a survey that would reach people not currently using resources such as Meadow Park Sports Centre would require a consultant at a cost of at least $10,000.

"As the program gains speed we will be able to understand what the community is looking for. It’s another avenue to access users who may not use Parks and Rec program," says Weetman. "By knowing what the barriers there are to participation are can investigate ways to mitigate that."

Library director Joan Richoz feels that with construction of the new library building scheduled to start in April 2005 the timing of the survey is excellent.

"It’s raising people’s awareness of what we do and telling us where people’s interests lie," she says.

Richoz says an interesting aspect of the survey was how it differed from one conducted by the library earlier this year, particularly in regards to getting information about the library programs and the educational speakers series.

"I was surprised that there was so many requests for that type of information. We did a user survey in the library and the rating for that was very low," says the library director.

This information further validates both the library plans for amenities, such as a multi-purpose room that can facilitate speakers, and its commitment to lifelong learning.

"It’s great," Richoz says of the unanticipated finding. "Being part of Learning Communities we’re all about offering formal and informal educational opportunities."