Workshops

Speaker: Michael Patton

Developmental Evaluation (DE) informs and guides innovative and adaptive initiatives helping social innovators, intervention designers, and program implementers navigate the uneven and treacherous terrains of program adaptation and systems change. Dynamic designs incorporate systems thinking and complexity concepts to generate actionable findings. DE processes balance real-time feedback with long-term vision, informing key decisions with useful, relevant data. We will share what we have learned as an intergenerational team conducting Developmental Evaluations that are useful across a range of contexts, from local to global, including successes and failures, based on our new, second edition of Developmental Evaluation (2026).

Participants will learn the purpose, niche, strengths and weaknesses of DE; how to competently apply DE principles to be useful, ethical, and culturally responsive; and

the new ADAPT framework that supports being agile, dynamic, actionable, principled, and timely. The workshop will include how to make contextually appropriate methods and design decisions co-created with primary intended users. Participants will engage actively over two days in four half-day modules that include a framing presentation, interactive discussion, real-world examples, a small group practice exercise, and debriefing Q&A.

The workshop is geared at an intermediate level of evaluation knowledge and experience including basic understanding of evaluation fundamentals. This course is ideal for evaluators, managers, and commissioners of evaluation looking to enhance their capacity to evaluate developmentally and adaptively, and anyone engaged in dynamic and complex contexts and challenges. Through active engagement over two days the workshop will build a community of developmental evaluators across borders and boundaries.

Speaker: Jennifer Jewiss

This beginner-friendly workshop introduces core concepts that provide an important foundation for the use of qualitative inquiry in evaluation. Three primary data collection methods are featured: individual interviewing, participant observation, and document review. Partner and small group activities, along with illustrative examples from several qualitative evaluations, are woven throughout the session to develop participants' knowledge and skills in gathering data via these methods. Group discussions explore essential ethical and methodological considerations, including the practice of reflexivity to examine one's positionality and subjectivity and to foster cultural humility and monitor biases. In addition, the workshop presents a practitioner-oriented conceptual model that illuminates five core processes for enhancing the quality of qualitative evaluations and provides a valuable touchstone for future evaluation efforts. (Please note that due to the inherent constraints of a six-hour introductory workshop and the scope of the featured topics, data analysis is not covered in this session.) In addition to the materials presented during the workshop, participants will receive a carefully curated list of recommended resources to support continued learning and skill development.

By the end of the session, participants will be able to:

• Describe core concepts that inform qualitative inquiry and a conceptual model that can serve as a touchstone for enhancing the quality of qualitative evaluations
• Apply foundational knowledge and skills when gathering qualitative data via three commonly used methods: interviewing, participant observation, and document review
• Engage in the practice of reflexivity, applying featured techniques for examining one's positionality and subjectivity and monitoring biases.

Speakers: Rucha Londhe; Katrina Bledsoe

Evaluation holds the power to push boundaries and bridge communities - the stories we tell, and how we tell them, shape policy, resources, and the communities we serve. Yet evaluation processes themselves can reproduce the very inequities they seek to measure, unless evaluators actively work to center equity and resist re-traumatization. This full-day workshop introduces participants to the theory and practice of a trauma-informed, equity-focused, community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach to evaluation and research. Drawing on real-world examples across diverse national contexts, participants will explore how historical and structural trauma shapes community participation and data quality, and how a trauma-informed, culturally responsive, and equitable framework can deepen authentic community partnerships, shared leadership, and democratic accountability in evaluation. Through theoretical grounding, interactive activities, role-play scenarios, and facilitated reflection, participants will leave with concrete strategies they can apply immediately and a commitment to ongoing self-care and reflexivity as ethical evaluators. The workshop is suitable for evaluators at all career stages with an interest in equity-focused, participatory, community-based evaluation. No prior knowledge of trauma-informed approaches is required. Although an ideal group size for the workshop is between 10 to 40 attendees, the facilitators are equipped to work with groups of various sizes and will ensure an enriching experience for everyone, regardless of group size. Specific strategies will be designed to accommodate groups of varying sizes.

Speakers: Lyssa Becho; Bianca Montrosse-Moorhead; Daniela Schroeter

Selecting an approach that is fit-for-purpose is foundational to credible and useful evaluation-and it is genuinely difficult to do well. Evaluators must weigh values, context, intended use, power dynamics, and other elements simultaneously, often without a structured way to do so. This course introduces the Garden of Evaluation Approaches, an empirically based framework published in several evaluation journals, as a tool for making choices more manageable and transparent. The course combines interactive lectures and hands-on exercises to provide a dynamic, engaging learning experience. Using the Garden of Evaluation Approaches, participants will design an evaluation approach responsive to a real-world case study. This process encourages users of the Garden framework to think critically about their implicit choices when designing evaluations and visualizing their practice in a new way. This course is intended for graduate students, early career scholars and practitioners, experienced evaluators and researchers, and evaluation commissioners interested in updating their evaluation knowledge and skills. Participants must have a basic understanding of evaluation approaches (sometimes called 'theories' or 'models') and would benefit from having a basic understanding of research design. By the end of the course, participants will be able to (a) distinguish unique dimensions of evaluation practice, (b) apply the Garden framework in their work, and (c) navigate the free Garden resources and tools.

Participants should bring a laptop or tablet. Hard copies of materials will not be provided./p>

Speaker: Matt Feldmann

Independent consulting. Side hustle. Entrepreneur. Small business owner. Evalpreneur. If these terms resonate with you and your goals, then this workshop is for you. More than 20% of AEA members are independent or have independent consulting side jobs. This workshop will provide you with key understandings to initiate an independent consulting practice including niche identification, marketing approaches, organizational structures, and finances. Matt Feldmann has developed a thriving consulting practice and will share his insights for how you can develop your practice through valuable samples, worksheets, and insider tips. If you need some help getting started with consulting, this is the place for you.

Speakers: Ann Price; Sheila Robinson

Facilitation is one of the most frequently used and least formally developed skills in evaluation practice. This workshop addresses that gap with a highly interactive, learn-by-doing approach. Participants will experience effective facilitation while learning, and leave with a practical toolkit and action plan they can use immediately.

The workshop covers a group of interconnected areas: facilitator mindset; what facilitation is and when evaluators use it; core communication skills including listening and questioning; building a facilitation strategy repertoire; designing the facilitated experience; reading the room and navigating challenging dynamics. Throughout, participants will practice various facilitation approaches, including structured reflection, small group discussion, carousel brainstorming, triad skill practice, journey mapping, and fishbowl role play. Each of these approaches is chosen for what it teaches and models.The workshop is itself a demonstration of skilled facilitation intentionally designed so that every choice made by facilitators becomes a learning opportunity for participants.

By the end of the session, participants will be able to identify core facilitation principles and skills and effectively facilitate activities that support engagement, reflection, and collaborative problem-solving. They will leave not just with new tools, frameworks, protocols, and resources, but with greater confidence and a clearer sense of themselves as facilitators.

Led by two experienced evaluators who have made high-quality, equity-centered facilitation a hallmark of their evaluation practice and who have trained and coached across a range of contexts, this workshop is designed for evaluators at any experience level who facilitate meetings, workshops, learning experiences, or community conversations.

Speaker: Lisa Aponte-Soto

This interactive half-day workshop equips participants with practical tools to apply culturally responsive and equitable evaluation (CREE), including Latine Culturally Responsive Evaluation (LatCRE), with communities of color. Drawing from real-world practice , the session integrates the Tanoma model for trauma-informed, upstream, and strength-based approaches for self-reflection including Dr. Hazel Symonette's "self-as-instrument" framework to support reflexive, community-centered evaluation.

Participants will engage in a blend of brief lectures, guided self-reflection, small-group dialogue, and applied case studies. The workshop emphasizes participatory, art-based, and visual methodologies as innovative strategies to center community voice, support data sovereignty, and strengthen evaluation capacity within community-based organizations working across mental health, violence prevention, housing, economic justice, and education.

By the end of the session, participants will be able to: (1) apply culturally responsive and trauma-informed frameworks to design community engagement strategies, (2) analyze their positionality and its influence on evaluation practice, and (3) design participatory approaches that elevate lived experience and community knowledge.

This workshop is designed for evaluators, researchers, and practitioners working with communities of color, particularly those in community-based organizations, philanthropy, public health, and education. It is most beneficial for beginner to intermediate practitioners, though all experience levels are welcome. No advanced prerequisites are required; familiarity with CREE concepts is helpful but not necessary. Required materials include space for small-group work, flip charts, and basic art supplies.

Speakers: Julie Poncelet; Noemi Avalos; Marc Fernandes; Natalie De Sole; Rugiyatu Kane; Lilian Chimuma

Youth are taking on more prominent roles in decision-making about programs and policies that impact their lives, including in research and evaluation. Yet many youth-adult partnerships struggle with issues of quality, effectiveness, and power-sharing. This interactive half-day workshop blends theory with real-world strategies to help participants strengthen youth-adult partnerships in research and evaluation contexts. Co-facilitated by evaluators, young and emerging evaluators, and youth development professionals, the workshop will introduce a framework for understanding youth-adult partnerships (YAP) and focus on building a culture of YAP in practice.

Participants will reflect on their values, beliefs, and contexts around sharing power with young people and ground themselves in the theory and practice of youth-adult partnerships. Through interactive group activities, individual reflection, and small and large group discussion, participants will develop a common language, analyze how youth-adult power-sharing shapes partnership quality and outcomes, and learn the core ingredients of strong youth-adult partnerships. The workshop will also introduce practical strategies, tools, and scenarios to help participants apply these ideas in their own research and evaluation settings. Participants will leave with access to a digital resource library.

This workshop is designed for evaluators, researchers, youth development professionals, and others interested in strengthening youth-adult partnerships in their work. It is appropriate for participants at any career stage, from beginners to experienced practitioners. No prerequisite knowledge is required.

Speaker: David Fetterman 

This interactive workshop introduces the practical application of artificial intelligence (AI) tools and devices in evaluation. Drawing on real-world case studies-including tobacco prevention and criminal justice reform-participants will explore how AI can enhance data collection, analysis, interpretation, and communication.

The session will feature hands-on engagement with key platforms, including a custom private GPT, NotebookLM, and Rural Senses. After a brief overview of each platform, participants will be guided through setting up a NotebookLM workspace, uploading relevant materials, and using its chat and inquiry functions to generate insights.

Participants will then apply AI studio tools to their own content, producing an infographic, a podcast, and a slide deck-demonstrating how AI can transform evaluation findings into accessible, stakeholder-friendly formats.

The workshop concludes with a forward-looking overview of emerging AI-enabled devices in evaluation practice, including tools for recording, transcription, and summarization; AI-enabled glasses for video capture, translation, and communication; and wearable health technologies such as smart rings. Together, these tools illustrate a rapidly evolving ecosystem that expands the reach, efficiency, and inclusivity of evaluation.

Speakers: Erik Glenn; Esrea Perez-Bill; Gregory Phillips

In order to re (shape) evaluation together, we need to create a space to re-imagine the concepts of sex, sexual orientation, and gender identities (SSOGI), and how current evaluation practice has promoted limiting and exclusionary categories that fail to capture the complexities and diversity of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other sexual and gender minority (LGBTQ+) individuals and communities. This introductory-level workshop will provide a theoretical, practical, justice-focused approach to LGBTQ+ evaluation, challenging attendees to broaden the ways they think of capturing and categorizing data. Recent discourse within the field of evaluation urges evaluators to examine their positions and the power they have to transform the system they work within to build towards a more equitable future. In her 2017 Culturally Responsive Evaluation and Assessment Conference keynote, Dr. Robin Miller called for the field to do better when it came to accounting for sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity within evaluation practice. To do so, it is crucial that evaluators have the language, understanding, and strategies to be inclusive of the LGBTQ+ community in their work.

Speakers: Kristin Cowart; Breanne Burton

"This changed my whole data life." - Spring 2026 AEA eStudy participant

This interactive half-day workshop introduces Airtable as a flexible, user-friendly platform for collecting and organizing evaluation data. Participants will engage in a live data collection activity and guided exercises to experience how Airtable can support structured, accessible, and transparent evaluation practices. The session is highly practical and hands-on. Participants will explore how data are collected and organized within Airtable, then design and build a simple survey within an Airtable base. Real-world examples will highlight when and how Airtable is most useful, including how clean data collection can seamlessly support dashboards and reporting. Designed for evaluators, nonprofit and foundation staff, and consultants, this session requires no prior Airtable experience. Participants should bring a laptop and be ready to actively engage, leaving with tools and approaches they can begin using right away.

Speaker: Tasha Parker
"Beyond Do No Harm in Practice: A Field Guide to Implementing TRIEE-A™ Across Five Levels" builds on the framework's 2025 AEA debut with a year of field-tested implementation evidence from real evaluation contexts.

This half-day workshop introduces and applies the Trauma & Resiliency-Informed Equitable Evaluation & Approaches (TRIEE-A™) framework, a methodology integrating four pillars (Trauma-Informed, Resiliency-Informed, Equitable, Evaluation & Approach) across five nested relationship levels (Within Us, Between Us, Around Us, Among Us, Beyond Us) and six foundational principles. Participants learn through facilitated framework orientation, real-world case analysis, structured peer consultation (Troika Consulting, Wise Crowds, 1-2-4-All), and guided application to their own evaluation practice.

By the end of this session, participants will be able to: (1) identify the four pillars, five levels, and six principles of TRIEE-A™ and describe how they operate together across the evaluation lifecycle; (2) analyze an evaluation scenario using the TRIEE-A™ matrix to identify where harm occurs and which pillars and principles to activate; and (3) apply field-tested tools to design at least one concrete adaptation to their evaluation practice, including practitioner-tested approaches for navigating common implementation barriers.

Intended audience: evaluators, evaluation managers, researchers, and capacity builders at all experience levels. Newcomers leave with working framework literacy; experienced practitioners leave with implementation strategies and tested tools. No prerequisite knowledge required. Participants are encouraged to bring a current or recent evaluation project to use as their working application.