Hi, my name is Elena Pinzon O’Quinn, and I am the National Learning and Evaluation Director at LIFT, an economic mobility nonprofit. Back in December 2021, I shared my tips for building a culture of data for decision making in nonprofits, which covered simple and efficient ways to share data. But getting data into stakeholders’ hands is just one piece of the puzzle in continuous improvement and learning. With efficient client data management systems and real-time dashboards, program teams often have near-constant access to data. At LIFT, we have had a strong track record of using data in strategic and long-term planning but struggled with how to use data on a more regular basis to understand program performance and integrate timely data-informed program improvements.

Hello! I’m Jeff Kosovich and I am a senior evaluator at the Center for Creative Leadership. One of the challenges of producing technical reports and surveys meant for people without your expertise is avoiding unnecessary complexity and jargon. I’m currently testing the effectiveness of tools like Chat GPT as a time-saving method of making surveys and reports more accessible.

Liz DiLuzio here with the honor of wrapping up this fascinating week of posts about Indianapolis. Did you know that the conference is just six weeks away? Here are some tips for you as you prepare:

Planning Your Trip

If you haven’t booked your flight or hotel yet, now’s the time to do so. The Marriott will sell out so, if you’d like to stay in the conference’s designated hotel, now is the time to make your arrangements.

Welcome to the last post of Local Arrangements Working Group Week on AEA365. I am Robert Hoke, an Indianapolis- based independent consultant, an AEA Conference attendee since 2001, and a member of this year’s Local Arrangement Working Group. 

For this post, we decided to crowd-source the material by asking the members of the LAWG and others from the Indiana Evaluation Association to share with us their favorite places and things in Indy that they always recommend to their out-of-town visitors. 

Feel free to contact us at indianaevaluation@gmail.com if you have questions about activities or places in Indianapolis.

Hello, my name is Jennifer Borland. I am the Director of Research Programs at Rockman et al Cooperative, a research and evaluation firm that specializes in the evaluation of educational programs and media in formal and informal settings. I’ve been working as an evaluator for more than 25 years and I am also proud to say that I was born, raised, and currently work in the great state of Indiana!  

I grew up in Indianapolis, lived in Indianapolis, and worked in Indianapolis for many years. I probably drove past the Walker Theater 1,000 times. I kind of knew it meant something important about history, Black history in particular, but I never stopped to learn. In my defense, the Internet wasn’t a thing yet.

I’m Kyle Hannon from Filibuster Press—a community development and book publishing consultancy based in Bloomington, Indiana.

Greetings from Indianapolis! I am Karen Breece, an internal evaluator for Conner Prairie Museum in Fishers, Indiana. You may be like me in that every time you go to a new city you want to see a local museum (or maybe that’s a me thing). While you’re visiting our wonderful Indy attractions like The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, Newfields, or Conner Prairie, you may wonder how these places measure their impact. Museums are for learning, but are people actually LEARNING when they go to these places? One fun fact is that all of the attractions I named have full-time internal evaluators. It’s up to us to show that museums make a difference, and we have a few unique tools up our sleeves to do so.

Hi! I’m Susan Foutz, Director of Research and Evaluation at Indiana’s most visited cultural organization, The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. Founded in 1925, we are proud to as our role as a community anchor and tourist attraction. I’m sure you know that Indianapolis is home sports teams and world-class sporting events, from the Colts, Pacers, and Fever, to Big Ten conference events, and the Indy 500. As a mid-sized city and state capital, Indianapolis also has a lot to offer in terms of arts and culture. Here’s a round-up of fall exhibits at local museums, organized by their distance from the conference location at the JW Marriott.

I am Robert Hoke, an Indianapolis- based independent consultant, an AEA Conference attendee since 2001, and a member of this year’s Local Arrangement Working Group.  The LAWG and the Indiana Evaluation Association look forward to welcoming all of you to Indianapolis in October. To kick off this week of posts, we acknowledge that the conference’s location is the ancestral territory of the Miami, Potawatomi, and Shawnee people.

This week’s posts will provide information about things to do in Indianapolis, a little history, and some insights into evaluation work in Indiana.