CONFERENCE EVALUATION REPORTING

 The written report is often the “main” output of your evaluation so it needs time and attention  Consider other alternatives to the written report:  Powerpoint summary  Summary tables/scorecards/flyers  Video or multimedia presentation  Ultimately the report’s usefulness will depend upon the promotional activities you undertake REPORTING – BEST PRACTICES

 Suggested structure for your report:  Table of contents / acknowledgements  Executive summary  Introduction  Evaluation methodology (short description)  About the conference and participants  Findings: objective 1, objective 2, objective 3, etc.  Conclusions  Recommendations  Annexes: methodology (detailed), survey used, persons interviewed, extra analysis by demographics, main documents consulted, etc. REPORTING – BEST PRACTICES

A Good Evaluation Report is…A Weak Evaluation Report is… Impartial Credible Balanced Clear and easy to understand Information rich Action oriented and crisp Focused on evidence that supports conclusions Repetitious Too long Unclear and unreadable Insufficiently action oriented Lacking hard data and relying on opinion Poorly structured and lacking focus on key findings Lacking comprehension of the local context Negative or vague in its findings

Telling – Showing - Telling  Use tables and graphs to explain complex data  Use quotes or mini-case studies of participants to highlight and reinforce points made  Highlight important points with boxes, different type sizes, and bold or italic type – but don’t overdo it!  Consider using a professional graphic designer to produce a more readable and attractive report  When writing up individual findings chapters, consider developing a “storyline” per chapter: REPORTING – CREATING THE REPORT

1.Telling: you make a point: “Conference participants found the workshops the most valuable format of the conference. ” 2. Showing: you illustrate your point with data: “Workshops were ranked the most preferred format by conference participants that responded to survey. The least preferred format was the “experience” (artistic installation).” “The workshops allowed interaction between participants and moderators” Academic participant 3. Telling: you explain what does this mean: “The workshops have the potential to play a greater role in future conferences.” REPORTING – CREATING THE REPORT

Conclusions: are they natural continuation of the findings – the “so what does it all mean?”  They cover the implications of the Findings, bring in the view of the evaluation team and indicate future possible avenues  They should be brief as possible but it should be noted that they may be the most read section of the report after the executive summary and recommendations  They are often a separate chapter but can be integrated per chapter with the Findings REPORTING – CONCLUSIONS

Recommendations: should be directly attributable to the Findings and Conclusions  They should be SMART and specific enough in order to assign responsibility  They should be relevant and realistic  Sometimes useful to link Conclusions directly to Recommendations, e.g.: REPORTING – RECOMMENDATIONS ConclusionsRecommendations Throughout the findings a positive aspect highlighted was the networking for participants although it was indicated that there were not enough opportunities to do so. Consider introducing more networking opportunities in future conferences.

Gives me ideas “LIFT gives me ideas to propose at work” commented Chris who works in the education sector in Switzerland and attended LIFT for the second time. After attending LIFT07, Chris took ideas from the conference and used them directly in his work. For example, after working on survey techniques in a workshop, he set up an online survey for audiences he works with. “This year I attend the blogging workshop. I’ve just set up a blog and I want to see how we can use such tools in the education environment where traditionally there has been little willingness to share”..” REPORTING – Mine case study

REPORTING – Summary sheet

REPORTING – Scorecard

REPORTING – Results table

REPORTING – Video report

REPORTING – Multimedia report