Details
The American Evaluation Association's (AEA) 2018 Conference (#Eval18) is taking place in Cleveland, Ohio on October 28 - November 3.
Evaluators, evaluation scholars, students, and evaluation users from around the world are invited to assemble, share, and learn from the successes of the international discipline and practice of evaluation. Join your evaluation colleagues in a lively, critical conversation about the role of evaluators and evaluation in Speaking Truth to Power, the theme of this year's conference.
At this year's conference, The Improve Group will be sponsoring a space for attendees to stop by for a moment of mindfulness throughout the conference. Stay tuned for more information!
You can find us presenting in several sessions at this year's event:
Thursday, November 1 8:00 am - 9:00 am
What does it look like to point our equity focused lens internally, to organizational practices including recruitment and retention, empowerment and inclusion, professional development, and decision-making? In this skill-building session, leaders from evaluation firms will share their preferred strategies and tools to promote more culturally responsive, equitable and inclusive environments within evaluation teams or firms.
Thursday, November 1 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
With the recent publication of Michael Quinn Patton’s book “Principles-Focused Evaluation: The GUIDE,” there has been interest among evaluators in learning how to apply this approach to the work that we do. This session will focus on learning from each other’s experiences with principles-focused evaluation, gathering ideas and insights to apply to our own evaluation work, and making connections with evaluators that want to further explore principles-focused evaluation. Anyone interested in this approach and in connecting with others is welcome to attend; no prior principles-focused evaluation experience is necessary.
Friday, November 2 11:30 am - 12:15 pm
How do you engage stakeholders when differing power dynamics are present in the room, or when findings are negative? In this think tank, evaluators will share strategies for thoughtfully engaging stakeholders in the interpretation of evaluation findings, and to turn findings into action. They will share tips for bringing diverse perspectives to the table for meaning-making, and for facilitating conversations around findings with stakeholders holding different levels of power.
Friday, November 2 2:15 pm - 3:15 pm
Youth can often be treated like an afterthought in an evaluation that affects them; this panel will address how to involve youth authentically. Panelists will discuss epistemologies on working with young people in rigorous data inquiry projects and strategies for meaningfully including youth at every stage in evaluation projects (particularly across divergent perspectives). They will also address frequent challenges to youth involvement, for example how to make the case to a funder that youth should be involved, how to be mindful of power differentials between youth and adults, and how to set up fair compensation.
