Was that course you went on any good?

At the end of most courses and conferences these days you are asked to fill in a form to indicate what you thought of the day. If you are like most people, then you tick the “average” boxes in the middle of the rows before rushing off home. It seems rude to give bad feedback, and yet the course wasn't that good. But even if you thought it was a good course and wrote that down, what would it really mean? In practice it often means very little. These “happy sheets” measure only your immediate reaction …