Summary Report of the 2015 CPS Annual Congress
By
Cameroon Professional Society 6700 Stonebrook Pkwy #1927, Frisco, TX 75035 congress2015.cpsociety.org | cpsociety.org | info@cpsociety.org
INTRODUCTION One of the key aims of the CPS is to provide a platform where Cameroonian and African professionals can forge robust networks and partnerships that seek to fundamentally transform their communities within and without the United States. To achieve its objectives, the CPS organizes seminars and symposia that serve as a medium for exchange of meaningful, progressive and productive ideas that are valuable and beneficial to self and to society. In order to assess and understand the needs and expectations of the community that they serve, to evaluate the outcomes and impacts of CPS programs and policies, and to assess opinions about a way forward, a survey was carried out at the 2015 Distinguished Congress in Houston on August 1, 2015
OBJECTIVES 1.
To collect demographic data about all 2015 Congress attendees
2.
To capture the needs and expectations of CPS Congress attendees
3.
To evaluate the outcomes and impacts of CPS programs
4.
To assess opinions about a way forward
METHODOLOGY Attendees at the 2015 Congress completed a hardcopy questionnaire; responses were collected and analyzed with MS Excel. The results and conclusions are presented below.
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RESULTS 26 individuals from a total pool of 96 participants were invited to take part in the survey Out of the 26 individuals, 25 responded to most questions.
GENDER DIVERSITY OF ATTENDEES The actual gender diversity of congress attendees showed a relative balance as depicted in Figure 1. The pie chart (Figure 1) shows that out of the attendees, who responded to question 2, 56% were males and 44% were females. It is worth noting that this ratio is consistent. In 2013, the ratio was 57% males to 43% females. The gender balance indicator might serve as a trigger to target more females at subsequent CPS events.
Figure 1: Distribution of gender of attendees
44%
M F 56%
AGE DIVERSITY OF ATTENDEES In general, age diversity is an important indicator since it can reflect different experiences and perspectives to the organization. People in various age groups have different challenges, different resource needs and different expectations. Figure 2A shows that 72% of all attendees were between the ages of 21 – 49 years, indicating clearly a high representation of a currently active working age population. The stacked column chart (Figure 2B) shows that 81% of all female attendees were between the ages of 21 – 49 and 64% of all male attendees were between 21 – 49 years of age.
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Figure 2A - Age distribution 35%
32%
30% 24%
25% 20% 16%
16%
15%
12%
10% 5% 0%
0%
17 or Younger
18-20
0% 21-29
30-39
40-49
50-59
60 or older
Figure 2B - Age distribution by gender 100% 90%
18%
21%
80% 14%
70%
27%
60% 21%
50%
27%
40% 30%
36%
20%
27%
10% 7%
0%
M 17 or Younger
18-20
F 21-29
30-39
40-49
50-59
60 or older
PRIMARY OF ATTENDEES No specific trend could be observed for affiliation of attendees to specific industrial sectors. Industries of affiliation of attendees ranged from healthcare, professional services, education, finance & accounting, general management, to Oil and Gas. In summary, most major sectors that constitute a modern society (except the Arts) was represented at the Congress and this indicates a strength that the CPS can leverage as a resource to expand its outreach. Figure 3 below shows a bar chart with the distribution of professional interest.
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Figure 3 - Area of professional interest 18% 16%
16% 16% 14%
14% 12% 10% 8%
10% 10% 8% 6%
6%
6% 4%
4%
4%
4% 2%
2% 0%
PRIMARY RESIDENCE AND LOCATION OF WORK Locations covered 9 states across the United States: Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, Washington, Maryland, Minnesota, Ohio, New York, and Florida. There were also 2 attendees Cameroon, and 1 from Angola. This data indicates how wide the CPS is recognized and represented, both nationally and internationally. About 70% of the participants were resident in Texas. Some of the respondents recommended that the CPS Annual Congress be rotated to other cities in order to attract Cameroonians resident in different regions of the United States.
LEVEL OF EDUCATION OF ATTENDEES As shown in Figure 4, 92% of congress attendees have graduated from college or have completed some or all courses at graduate level. The data indicates that there is a strong correlation between level of education and an interest in CPS programs or activities. The data also reflects a gap between non-professionals and non-college graduates in CPS programs. Given a general trend between the extent of higher education and benefits to society, this data highlights the need for CPS programs to attract non-college graduates as part of its activities.
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Figure 4 - Education Level Distribution 2 Year College, 4%
3 Year College, 4% Graduated from College, 8%
Completed PhD/Doctoral Program, 20%
Some Graduate School, 4%
Completed Graduate School, 60%
PRIMARY ROLE AT CONGRESS Figure 5 shows a distribution of congress participants according to the role played at the 2015 congress. Professional attendees (52%) constituted the majority of the population at the congress. Less than 4% of attendees were sponsors. If the CPS is to attract more funding for subsequent congresses and symposia, more sponsors must be attracted to its events. One way to convince donors to attend such events may be to encourage congress attendance turnout. This is a feasible recommendation since all respondents of the survey indicated that they were willingly to recommend the CPS to a friend or colleague.
Figure 5 - Primary Role at Congress Distribution Student, 4% Volunteer, 9%
Panelist/Moderator, 30%
Attendee Professional, 52%
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Special Guest, 4%
REGION OF INTEREST One key objective of the CPS is to empower society. The data indicates that attendees were mostly interested in two major regions: Cameroon and the USA. Congress attendees were interested in multiple regions across Africa as well outside Cameroon and USA. The data (Figure 6) provides an indication of the extent to which CPS activities could be disseminated.
Figure 6 - Region of Interest 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0%
37% 28%
12% 7%
7%
5%
2%
2%
0%
AREA OF PROFESSIONAL INTEREST The overall distribution of areas of professional interest from congress attendees is shown in Figure 7. Taken together there is an almost even distribution across attendees by areas of professional interest.
Figure 7 - Area of Professional Interest 18% 16% 14% 12% 10% 8% 6% 4% 2% 0%
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16% 16% 14% 10% 10% 8% 6%
6% 4%
4%
4% 2%
ATTENDANCE AT PREVIOUS EVENT Out of the individuals who responded to this question, 52% had attended one or more CPS events in the past while 48% were first-time attendees (Figure 8). It is important to re-visit the data to initiate and establish a relationship between all first-time attendees to ensure that they return to subsequent CPS events.
Figure 8 - Previous CPS Event Attendance
Y
48% 52%
N
TOPICS SUGGESTED FOR NEXT CONGRESS - USA & CAMEROON The topics suggested for future CPS congresses and symposia clearly mirrored areas of professional interest of attendees. In fact, most suggested topics were broad subject areas of interests rather than specific topics. A few specific topics were suggested and it is worth highlighting some in this report: “(1) How to integrate the Cameroonian Government into our actions; (2) Agro production and institutions; (3) Areas of investment; (4) Auditing & Control; (5) Linking the Diaspora to volunteering needs in Cameroon; and (6) Public Health, (7) Small business investments, (8) Balanced Educational Reform, (9) Health Literacy in Sub Saharan Africa.”
INTENTION TO SPEAK OR MODERATE AT THE NEXT CONGRESS 65% of individuals who responded to this question agreed to speak or moderate at the next congress. Areas of expertise of prospective speakers could be matched with topics suggested from the survey database. This will serve as a great tool when brainstorming for next years’ speakers and topics.
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ATTENDEES INTERESTED IN BECOMING MEMBERS 72% of individuals who responded to this question indicated an interest to become a CPS member. Unfortunately, the question was not structured to indicate in what category these attendees would preferentially want to render services to CPS. However, in a time when we are moving towards increasing membership count, it is recommended that these attendees be contacted individually to subcategorize their intentions and encouraged to become paid members, if they so wish.
SHOULD WE MAINTAIN THE CONGRESS AT RICE UNIVERSITY 82% of individuals who responded to this question indicated that we maintain the event at Rice University. Some of the reasons provided where around the fact that the CPS benefits more by being associated with a prestigious institution like Rice University. Given that more than 70% of participants were from Texas, it is recommended that the CPS does due diligence as to the next location for the congress. Houston definitely has its advantages, but a good number of individuals expressed their wish for the event to move to another city.
COMMENTS ABOUT THE CONGRESS The unedited comments from attendees are listed below. Some of these comments could serve as highlights in CPS social media pages. All comments are anonymous for the purpose of this report but specific names could be matched to each comment if the need arises: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19.
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More time for the panelists Keep up the good work Great Job Start on time CPS needs more volunteers Announce location, time, map & map link in emails Rice University bolsters the prestige of the CPS Enlist volunteers early, reach out to all groups through CAMCOH Build momentum in the US for a few more years before taking it to Cameroon Starting on time and management of time for the speakers, Rotate the cities One day event is too cramped - Have 10 minute breaks every 2-3 hours The topics were excellent We need more time, over an entire weekend Suggest the city choice should rotate Stress the importance of time Switch cities It worked just fine Great conference - better mindfulness of time Find an easier location
20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25.
Hall not easy to locate A better organization of the event, a more professional environment Directions to the hall will help Panel speaker selection needs to be more stringent. Some were really boring Good job A better organization of the event, a more professional environment
CONCLUSION AND REMARKS Several of the comments centered on time management. The morning panels started on time at 10:00AM but the event fell 30 minutes behind because of the difficulty in getting participants back from lunch. This was partly because lunch was not served on-time. The main reason for this lapse was the lack of adequate staffing levels of volunteers. Another reason was also in managing panelists who could not maintain their time allocation. This could be addressed in the future by increasing the panel times and limiting the number of panelists. It could also be managed by empowering the moderators to do more in cuttingoff time overruns. The CPS will work to continually improve the congress experience. It is important to note that this needs assessment cross-sectional survey does not include a rigorous statistical analysis. In the future, it will be necessary to carry out a longitudinal survey for congresses over periods of time in order to develop trends across cross-sectional surveys. Nevertheless, the story told by the indicators in this survey is that there is a general interest in CPS programs from both male and female graduate level Cameroonian between the ages of 21 – 49 years. One recommendation is that CPS should design activities and programs that include and encourage non-college level Cameroonians and Africans to be part of its nucleus. Some additional points of focus for the CPS:
Establishing a mentoring program Establishing a volunteer program to link Cameroonians in the Diaspora with volunteer opportunities in Cameroon Engaging Cameroon – Have programs on the ground in Cameroon.
We want to sincerely thank Rice University and our sponsors for making this event possible.
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Presenting Sponsor
Silver Sponsor
Bronze Sponsor
Other Partners
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