Feedback and Future Requests Wanted!

Do you experience anxiety about annual performance reviews?

Whether you are the reviewer or the reviewee, it can often be a dreaded moment. Or maybe that’s just me.

When I review people, I often realize that my feedback needs to be more frequent, that I have a strong recent view (don’t we all), and that some people, if not most, dwell on the one constructive piece of input versus the multitude of positives.

Most of the time, I am being reviewed en masse. I receive most of my feedback through delegate surveys, partner feedback, client reviews, online comments, and body language. Bidy language? Yes, body language, questions, on-site interactions, and LinkedIn invitations are a few of the ways I measure whether a public speech I gave had any impact on my audience.

As I type this, our delegate surveys for the Changemaers Summit are in market; I am awaiting follow-up meetings with several of our key partners; and my tech team is reviewing which articles, podcasts, and content we shared performed the best in 2025.

I used to hide from feedback.

The teenage Mark became allergic to feedback because, quite frankly, I was pampered in elementary school. Teenage feedback then prepared me for a summer job and university professor feedback, but even then, I didn’t like it, though I faced it.

However, my first job taught me a valuable lesson in feedback. In my only agency role, I worked on the Effem (Mars) Canada account. They were a fantastic client, the best training ground, and the toughest group of people I have ever encountered.

There was no filter in their feedback protocol. They called you out early and often without flinching. It was so ubiquitous that if I didn’t get my butt chewed, I was convinced the work I presented was vacuous.

I grew up to love it. It was never impolite. It was never personal. It was never based on opinion. Their feedback was informed by sound judgment, best practices, data-driven results, customer success, and consumer engagement.

I loved it. Their feedback made my job the most challenging it could be. The higher they made the mountain, the higher I wanted to climb.

Over time, the concept of feedback to drive creativity became a reality for me and for whoever else I worked with. We were blessed.

Thank you for your feedback on SponsorshipX in 2025. The ROI Forum and Changemakers Summit both exceeded our attendance goals. Your enthusiasm and engagement were extraordinary. Our BASECAMP event didn’t draw what we wanted, and that was partly due to our confusing and inconsistent (and late) communications.

You embraced our podcast, and we are thrilled with the steady audience, but we are still looking for breakthroughs. Our newsletters were also opened and read, yet our web articles did not get the traction we hoped for. Our request for you to provide e-content, articles, etc., for our platforms failed. We sold some ROI on Demand courses, but only a fraction of what I expected and our membership program clearly needs a retooling.

Those are my quick thoughts on how we did in 2025. But the student should not grade their own homework. How about you tell us how we did? What made sense, and what doesn’t?

Looking forwrad, what do you want to see from us in 2026? More events? If so, where, when and with what partner host? More exeeuction? More industry leader profiles? More spotlight on up-and-comers? More innovation? More education? Mor webinars? No webinars?

We would love to hear all of your thoughts and are grateful for your sharing.

Please help us improve as you would someone on your team.

My email is yours to fill - mark.harrison@sponsorshipx.com