What party members and supporters said in my last mini-survey

Many thanks to everyone’s who has done my quick-dip survey:

Thanks to lockdown I’m not getting the chance to meet Liberal Democrat members and supporters at events in the way I’d usually do. Zoom video calls with local parties make up for that, but not fully.

So here’s a quick survey with a smorgasbord of different points I’d otherwise be asking people about in the queues for coffee

(For what members have been saying about the party leadership election, see my post previewing our next Board meeting.)

Things that have stood out from the responses are:

• The number of people using video conferencing has nearly doubled this year, and Zoom is by the far the most popular platform for Lib Dem activities. (Around 45% were using video conferencing anyway pre-coronavirus, and a little short of 40% have started using it since the crisis started.)
• A third of people who are involved with their local party say that it hasn’t started using video conferencing. The glass half full version of that, of course, is that two-thirds of local parties have. But it suggests there’s a lot to do still to encourage and help local parties to adapt to our new world, especially as normality is not returning any time soon.
• The most preferred time slot for party events is 8pm on a weekday evening, which is significantly more popular than even 6pm. That’s worth noting as 6pm is a much more traditional start time. (Of course, when physical events return, preferences may alter too).
• There is a notable dip in how well informed people say they feel about what the Liberal Democrats are up to in Parliament, even if they feel well informed about the party overall.

That last point is something I’ll take into account in my work as party president. In addition, one immediate thing I’ve decided to try is to create a new weekly email list. At the moment, my general email list for news about the Liberal Democrats includes a weekly update from the party website about what’s happened in the previous week in Parliament. However, it is rather buried in amongst the other stories, so I’ve now instead got a special stand-alone email list for those “Weekly Whip” updates.

You can sign up to it here: