IEA 2025 Conference

The conference will take place on Friday, October 3rd from 8:30-5 at the Ball State Off-Campus Center at 8626 E. 116th St. Suite 300 in Fishers, Indiana.  Register at: https://www.indianaevaluation.org/event-6310530. Registration will close on October 1st, 2025.

Conference Theme Shifting Ground: Evaluation in an era of challenges and possibilities 

In a time of cuts to grants and subsequent evaluation programs that are leading some professionals within the field to seek new outlets for their skillsets, as well as a time when there are newly emerging and ever-evolving technology tools (not the least of which being AI) that can make our evaluative work more efficient and effective, but often come along with a host of new ethical considerations, this conference seeks to meet evaluators where they are and help them find ways to keep moving forward in this field.

Conference Sessions

The conference will include a selection of concurrent sessions covering a range of evaluation best practices, approaches to communicating findings, data collection and metrics, data visualization, stakeholder engagement strategies, and quantitative and qualitative methodologies. More information about our conference line up will be coming soon. The Call for Proposals is now closed.  If you have questions, please contact us at IndianaEvaluation@gmail.com. 

SCHEDULE
9:00 AM	Registration Opens + Coffee & Networking
9:30-9:35	Brief Welcoming Remarks
9:35-10:30	Evaluating Fundraising Effectiveness in Uncertain Times Lauren Bickham, MPA
10:35-11:30	Evaluating the Intersections: Equity and Responsiveness in Logic Model Development  Emely Medina-Rodriguez
11:35-12:30	Centering Humans in Evaluation: Benefitting participants while meeting program needs Aaron W. Kates and Kelly Minas
12:30-1:00	Lunch
1:00-2:00	Keynote: Unplanned Wisdom  Sara McInerney Hauck (Shafer Leadership Academy)
2:05-3:00	Trauma Informed Evaluation: Reducing Fear in Working with Traumatized Populations Aaron W. Kates, PhD
3:05-4:00	Evaluating Open-Ended Questions with LLMs Dr. Jeff Barbee
4:05-5:00	A Helping Hand Through the Data Maze: How to Create Data Placemats for Your Stakeholders Karen Breece
5:00-6:00	Post-Event Reception & Networking

We are excited to present the following sessions as part of this year's conference:

Keynote: Unplanned Wisdom

Sara McInerney Hauck—a TEDx speaker, author, and communications consultant—is a Shafer Leadership Academy Facilitator, where she inspires audiences to face fear and embrace authenticity. In Unplanned Wisdom, she shares how unplanned life detours can reshape our perspectives and empower us to respond with resilience. With humor, storytelling, and practical tools, Sara equips participants to reframe challenges, navigate uncertainty, and lean into authenticity in both life and work.

Centering Humans in Evaluation: Benefitting participants while meeting program needs

Presenters: Kelly Minas & Aaron W. Kates

Humans have complex lives that are heavily influenced by intangible and subjective experiences (e.g., love, trust, hope).  These ‘squishy’ factors are deliberately framed out of traditional evaluations in the service of objectivity – but at what cost? Does objectivity require objectifying the people we serve? This workshop will show how a new evaluation lens, “Human Centered Evaluation” centers the full human experience. Participants will be introduced to quantitative and qualitative methods that can simultaneously contribute to program and evaluation goals.  

A Helping Hand Through the Data Maze: How to Create Data Placemats for Your Stakeholders

Presenter: Karen Breece

Data placemats are a facilitation technique that gets stakeholders of varying skills involved in analyzing data. In this workshop, Karen Breece will share successes and lessons learned from using data placemats across multiple contexts at the National Center for Families Learning to increase familiarity with data both at the beginning and end of projects. Then it’s your turn! She will walk you through how to build your own either with your own data or with a sample dataset. 

Evaluating Open-Ended Questions with LLMs

Presenter: Dr. Jeff Barbee

Open-ended questions on surveys allow participants to provide in-depth responses. These items require resources, such as time, to read and analyze. With the rise of Large Language Models (LLM) and their awesome power to quickly summarize content, evaluators may be tempted to utilize these tools to analyze these data. Our study compared the findings of two articles with openly available data to two different LLMs (ChatGPT and Copilot). We also developed recommendations for using LLMs to code OEQs. 

Evaluating the Intersections: Equity and Responsiveness in Logic Model Development 

Presenter: Emely Medina-Rodriguez

A logic model for a Black Christian LGBTQA+ community organization was developed using participatory and democratic evaluation methods that emphasized shared ownership, cultural responsiveness, and critical reflection. Through Ripple Effect Mapping, Root Cause Analysis, and collective timeline building, organizational leaders and staff collaboratively explored their impact, examined systemic challenges, and shared history. Thus, fostering a sense of empowerment, joy, and affirmation. By grounding evaluation in culturally responsive and community-led practices, the sessions reinforced the organization's identity and vision.

Trauma Informed Evaluation: Reducing Fear in Working with Traumatized Populations

Presenter: Aaron W. Kates

Discourse around trauma in evaluation is often fear-based and negatively framed. How can we avoid retraumatizing? Whom should I exclude from my study, as involvement may be painful for them? While valid, these questions trap us in a cycle of fear and avoidance, much like the very symptoms of PTSD.

Evaluating Fundraising Effectiveness in Uncertain Times

Presenter:  Lauren Bickham, MPA

This interactive workshop explores evaluation methods for nonprofit organizations facing unpredictable government funding. Participants will learn practical tools for assessing financial resilience, measuring diversified revenue stream effectiveness, and evaluating strategic fundraising approaches during uncertain times. Using real-world scenarios and data-driven decision-making models, attendees will develop actionable evaluation frameworks to measure organizational sustainability initiatives, demonstrate impact to stakeholders, and build evidence-based cases for diversified funding strategies that withstand changing political and economic landscapes.

Registration

Please click this link to register: https://www.indianaevaluation.org/event-6310530