Hi, my name is Heidi Gegax and I am a Minneapolis-based independent evaluator.  In my business, I focus on clients who work with youth in out-of-school time programs.  Most of the work I do is solo, which leaves me craving professional development without the cost and time needed for conferences or workshops.

Rad Resource: Create a Consultants Collaborative

I wanted meaningful interactions with other independent evaluators.  As I talked to another consultant, I asked her if she wanted to get together occasionally to talk shop and share professional insights.  She told me of a collaborative she belonged to years ago.  It was a group of women qualitative evaluators, and they called themselves “Quality Women Who Don’t Count”.  Since I wanted to network with evaluators and youth development practitioners as well as men, I decided that name would not be too inclusive, but I did want to start a collaborative.  She and I shared our list of contacts, and invitations were emailed to a small group, inviting all to a centrally located coffee shop for the Twin Cities Consultants Collaborative.  All were interested and we began our first meeting by introducing ourselves and talking about our areas of expertise.

After a few sessions of talking about what we needed professionally from such a group, we created a list of topics and each member selected session(s) to arrange a guest speaker or to lead us through the discussion. Those meetings included social networking, establishing your business as an LLC, legal contracts and work/life balance.  When we looked at the topics we had chosen, the focus fell into the following topics:

• The business of independent consulting
• Professional development
• Tools of the trade

What is really cool about this group is that we have enough variety in our areas of expertise that we complement each other well.  Many of us have submitted proposals together.  Expanding our network has taught us many things about the business of consulting as well as provided an outlet for professional development.  The group started as consultants around youth development, but we are currently expanding this network to include other areas such as marketing and web development.   This will enhance everyone’s experience and round out some professional needs as well as satisfy our need for “critical mass”.

I have come to depend on this network of fabulous individuals who challenge and support me, enlighten my work, and make me feel a little less lonely in the world.

This contribution is from the aea365 Daily Tips blog, by and for evaluators, from the American Evaluation Association. Please consider contributing – send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org.

consultants collaborative, Networking

My name is Stewart Lee and I am a graduate student at Mississippi State University, as well as an independent evaluation consultant. Lately, I’ve been working with other independent consultants as well as small business owners who feel the need for web sites/blogs/and social networking sites associated with their business.

The advent of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and the like have generated a divide in public opinion and it’s not always age related. I know many AARP members who are on Facebook daily and several 20 somethings who have never been on Facebook. Why would evaluators use social networking sites regardless of age or desire for virtual social interaction? There are several reasons I can come up with off the top of my head.

1. Hot Tip: Social networking has some of the best FREE advertising and marketing. I had the privilege to attend Dr. Gail Barrington’s course on independent consulting at AEA 2009, where word of mouth marketing was hailed. Social networking is almost pure word of mouth.
2. Hot Tip: While it’s easy to see how social networking helps those with evaluation businesses, academia benefits are there too. Social network sites can provide opportunities from encouraging participation in or a form of reminders for a survey, to collaboration with geographically distant colleagues or even to gather opinions or to conduct a field trial.
3. Hot Tip: Education is (or at least should be) an important part of our duties as evaluators. The better informed and educated about the evaluation process stakeholders are, the easier our jobs are. Social networking sites offer an easy, free, and often fun way to disseminate knowledge about evaluation and the evaluation process. In addition, the setting gives the perception of peers teaching peers which literature shows is an extremely effective method of teaching.

On one of my blogs, I often post about evaluation or statistics and present ideas in a thought-provoking or educative manner. These blog posts then get fed to several social networking sites where many people see the information and respond in an inquisitive manner.

Rad Resource: Finally, perhaps the coolest reason evaluators should get at least marginally involved in social networks is that there is a wealth of data to be had within them. Earlier this month, Sitaram Asur and Bernardo Huberman released Predicting the Future With Social Media on Kevin Kelly’s web site. This is just one of the latest examples of how researchers are using social networking sites as a pipeline to 100’s, 1000’s, or even millions of opinions. This study highlights, as one commenter noted, the idea of Surowiecki’s rules of a wise crowd. Tapping into this kind of resource could greatly enhance an evaluation if not be a primary source of data for it.

This contribution is from the aea365 Daily Tips blog, by and for evaluators, from the American Evaluation Association. Please consider contributing – send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org.

blogging, facebook, Linkedin, Networking, social media, twitter

My name is Susan Kistler. I am the Executive Director for the American Evaluation Association and I contribute each Saturday’s post to the aea365 blog. This week, I had the pleasure of speaking with two wonderful women via a conference call to assist them with preparing a proposal for the Evaluation 2010 Conference (heads up – proposal deadline is March 16!). Three months ago, Terry Uyecki had noted as part of a discussion on AEA’s LinkedIn Group that she used graphic facilitation when conducting community needs assessments. Jara Dean-Coffey’s February 12 aea365 blog post focused on visual facilitation and graphic recorders. Although I have never had the pleasure of meeting either of these women, quick emails to each confirmed their common interests and willingness to collaborate.

Why do I relate this tale? Because this week, I am going to focus on Network Weaving. Beth Kanter defines network weaving as “Bringing people or groups together to do activities that create more impact than if they were doing them alone.” For me, it is one of the most satisfying parts of my job – helping people to build the connections that nurture their professional networks and the field, create a community of practice, and better society (I like to dream big).

Hot Tip: Take the initiative to close those triangles! An open triangle relationship – essentially a V – exists when someone knows two people who don’t know one another but have a common interest or reason for collaboration (think Dean-Coffey and Uyecki). Take the steps needed to reach out and ‘close the triangle’ by introducing the two. Ideally, one can then strengthen the new leg of the triangle and foster the relationship through such actions as being present at a meeting, pointing out mutual knowledge/needs/benefits, and serving as a resource or liaison as described in this Network Weaving 101 article.

Rad Resource: What kind of Network Weaver Are You? June Holley, possibly the godmother of network weaving, has developed a Network Weaver Checklist. Reading through it periodically helps me to think about ways in which I could strengthen the networks in which I am involved.

Rad Resource: Piqued your interest? Consider following the networkweaving blog at http://networkweaver.blogspot.com/.

To bring this full circle – or at least to highlight an intriguing coincidence – in 2009 June Holley (godmother to network weaving) facilitated a rural economic development summit using a graphic recorder (commonality between Dean-Coffey and Uyecki). The resulting images may be found here.

This contribution is from the aea365 Daily Tips blog, by and for evaluators, from the American Evaluation Association. Please consider contributing – send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org.

Networking

My name is Susan Kistler and I am the Executive Director of the American Evaluation Association (AEA). It is my pleasure to contribute each Saturday’s post to the aea365 blog.

Are you seeking work in the field of evaluation? Draw upon AEA resources, networks, and colleagues to identify leads.

Hot Tip: Find an Evaluator: Create a website that identifies your services, skills, and provides examples of your work. There are many low-cost/no-cost site builder options out there. Once you have a site, if you are an AEA member, sign on to the AEA website and submit a listing to the Find an Evaluator directory at http://bit.ly/findanevaluator.

Cool Trick: Browse for Ideas: Browse the Find an Evaluator listings to identify examples of great ways that your professional colleagues are promoting their business and sharing their expertise.

Rad Resources: AEA Career Center: Search the Job and RFP listings on AEA’s Online Career Center, the largest repository of job listings of interest to evaluators. http://bit.ly/evalopportunities.

Hot Tip: Sign up for Email Notifications of New Job Listings: Sign up to receive an emailed notice, once each day for which there are new listings, of the new additions added to the AEA Job Bank. http://bit.ly/evaljobfeed. (Free and available to members and nonmembers)

Hot Tip: Post Your Resume: Post your resume in the AEA Online Career Center, in particular if you are seeking full-time employment.

Hot Tip: Join AEA’s LinkedIn Group: Join AEA’s LinkedIn Group  in order to build your professional network and to check out the ‘jobs’ tab on the AEA LinkedIn site. Although we encourage cross-posting of jobs, because they are self-submitted, occasionally opportunities appear on the LinkedIn page that are not in the Online Career Center. Also, on LinkedIn, you are more likely to have a clearly identified person with whom you can correspond and ask questions. http://bit.ly/evallinkedin.

Hot Tip: Network, Network, Network: Join your AEA Local Affiliate if there is one in your area, participate in their activities, and reach out for informational interviews. Build your network and let your colleagues know of your interests and skills. Some affiliates post positions on their websites as well. http://bit.ly/aeaaffiliates.

This contribution is from the aea365 Daily Tips blog, by and for evaluators, from the American Evaluation Association. Please consider contributing – send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org.

AEA resources, Jobs, Linkedin, Networking