Inward Bound's purpose was to "turn students on" to the highs, lows, challenges, and ultimate magic of the "spiritual adventure." To do this, there were two primary goals:

• Provide students with an experiential taste of "radical authenticity" and self-honesty
• Provide students with an experiential taste of the benefits of spiritual community

Question 1: Please rate your overall impression of the keynote speech:

Uninspiring	OK	Good	Very good	Phenomenal
1	2	3	4	5

Number of responses: 122
Avg Response: 3.56 (halfway between "Good" and "Very Good")

Question 2: Please rate how effective the keynote speech was at setting the right tone:

Not very effective	Mildly effective	Effective	Very effective	Perfect
1	2	3	4	5

Number of responses: 121
Avg Response: 3.36 (closer to "Effective" than "Very Effective")

Question 3: What was the most memorable part of the keynote for you?

The Movie Clips: 27
Boy in the Freezer Story: 14 comments
Jelly Beans: 13
American Beauty (movie clip): 10
Fight Club (movie clip): 9
Matrix (movie clip): 3

Question 4: General comments about the keynote:

1. Multi-media: The multi-media aspects of the keynote were far-and-away the most spoken about, and the overwhelming majority were very excited about them ("The movie clips were very effective"..."Using American Beauty scene—very meaningful for me"..."choice of film clips, excellent for truth & beauty"..."The movies were a cool touch") though one person was offended by the "you are not your f--king khakis" line from the Fight Club clip.
2. Energy/Intensity: Some people were very excited by the energy/intensity of the keynote (e.g. "like 'in your face' truthfulness"..."showing the true emotion, extend and depth that everyone experiences during their sincere spiritual journey"..."Augie was very enthused—this was good."..."Aug's humor & excitement"..."The vivid stories and the humor") though one educator commented "Feeling like I had been hit with something I wasn't prepared for and hadn't prepared my students for."
3. Inspiration: Quite a few respondents indicated being very inspired by the keynote. Some of the more notable quotes include
   • "Spirit of readiness in the group—we were pumped!"
   • "I LOVED, loved Augie's story about the young man in the freezer and how he tied it into OUR lives in searching for the truth like your hair is on fire."
   • "August's direct approach set the tone for a 'quickly open and honest' conference"
   • "The keynote speaker's initial presentation brought me to tears...I felt like I was ready to mercilessly work with myself about the ways in which I have been holding up my own progress."
   • More available in the Full Eval Survey Report.
4. Turn-offs: About a dozen respondents were very turned off by the keynote, some of them describing the speaker as "sexist" or "misogynist" or "lookist" (in response to a metaphor employed by the keynote speaker referring to a "400 pound woman"). One student complained that the speaker's "examples and references were very heterosexual male oriented," while another was "extremely uncomfortable and offended," and said that the speaker "Came of [sic] as some great guru when is not in my opinion [sic]. Very domeneering [sic]. Hes brainwashing people [sic]." One student survey respondent offered a possible explanation saying, "a lot of people seem to have gotten caught up in the fact that Augie isn't PC and missed the point of his address."