1.            The 2012 Men's Spring Knitting Retreat is scheduled to take place from Thursday, May 17, 2012 to Sunday, May 20, 2012. How likely is it that you will attend the 2012 Men's Spring Knitting Retreat in Upstate New York?
	Response Percent	Response Count
Highly Likely	43.6%	17
Likely	12.8%	5
Not Sure	25.6%	10
Not Likely	5.1%	2
Definitely Not	0.0%	0
Other (please specify)	12.8%	5
2.            Most of the retreats have involved door prizes, contests and or give-aways of fiber-related items. How important to whether you attend are these prizes give-aways?
			Response Percent	Response Count
Of no importance whatsoever, get rid of them.			2.6%	1
Of little importance. It wouldn't matter if you had them or not.			17.9%	7
I like them, but they wouldn't influence whether I attended or not.			53.8%	21
Somewhat important. I like getting to go home with fiber.			23.1%	9
Very important. I would consider not attending the retreat if they weren't a part of it.			0.0%	0
Critical. A "must have" feature of the retreat.			0.0%	0
Other (please specify)			2.6%	1

 

3.            How important to you is the retreat center where we hold the event?
					Response Percent	Response Count
Not at all important. I'd attend no matter where it was held.					17.9%	7
Not very important. I'm just comfortable with it since I've been there before.					10.3%	4
Somewhat important. If it wasn't at Easton Mountain, the venue would have to have similarities.					33.3%	13
Important. I consider Easton Mountain an important aspect of my attendance.					20.5%	8
Other (please specify)					15.4%	6

 

4.            If the retreat center is at least somewhat important to you, select the aspects of the retreat center that are important in choosing that option (select all that apply).
	Response Percent	Response Count
Geographic Location - It's near where I live or easy to get to for me.	42.4%	14
Close to an airport.	24.2%	8
Transportation is available from airport or train station.	42.4%	14
The food is good.	75.8%	25
The lodging rooms sleeping arrangements.	42.4%	14
The gathering spaces.	69.7%	23
The staff at Easton Mountain.	30.3%	10
It's situated in a beautiful area with a pond and a mountain.	45.5%	15
The casual atmosphere of the retreat center.	72.7%	24
The fact that it's mostly gay.	48.5%	16
Local attractions (yarn stores, sheep farms, ice cream places, etc.).	36.4%	12
Hot tub availability.	18.2%	6
Sauna availability.	18.2%	6
Massage Therapist availability.	6.1%	2
Other (please specify)	15.2%	5

 

4.            As part of the registration process and putting a deposit on your spot at the retreat, would you be interested in contributing to a scholarship fund?
			Response Percent		Response Count
Yes			66.7%		26
No			10.3%		4
Other (please specify)			23.1%		9
5.            As part of the registration down-payment process, would you be interested in contributing to a fund to help support future events (for example to be used for the down-payment for future retreats, or to buffer profits or losses for each year). The purpose of the fund would be to ensure that the MSKR organization could be taken on by anyone, without worry about being able to financially handle some of the upfront costs?
	Response Percent	Response Count
Yes	64.1%	25
No	23.1%	9
Other (please specify	12.8%	5

 

 

 

7.            Are there any other issues that you'd like to make sure we know are important to you about future planning of the MSKR?
Help make it easy as possible for newbies to get integrated. I just love it, and just wish I could afford to attend all the others around the country and abroad. think moving to a new location might be good....add a new outlook, refreshing, new faces ADA accessible, I think if it's going to be a retreat, it needs to be away from the hustle and bustle of life. I can't imagine holding one in NYC, for example. Once you begin collecting monies in advance for scholarship funds and upfront costs, it seems to me that it becomes necessary to establish administrative machinery to oversee it's care use. That means elections (where, when, how often, in-absentia, in-person, majority, plurality, who gets to vote?) for a consultative body (how many members, who is eligible?) such as a Board of Directors or Executive Committee (with formally agreed upon rules and by-laws written by whom, agreed upon by whom?), with bank account, Treasurer's reports and periodic meetings. Accusations of mismanagement or pilfering are inevitable. I'm not sure that being male and knowing how to knit is a powerful enough unifying principle to prevent an organization like that from falling going to pieces when the challenge of differing opinions presents itself. I would not enjoy seeing the men 's retreats turn into something like that. (Although I understand the harsh reality that it might be unavoidable in order to have Retreats continue into the future.) same time each year is good: permanently on my calendar, nice time of year @ Easton, all year I know it's out there. THANKS Joe for all that you do! Yes. The event is important enough to me that it was confirmed in my agenda before I left Easton last year. Thanks for your care and commitment to this event