Canadian Evaluation Society - Ontario Chapter

Evaluation Cafe Toronto Meet and Greet
2023-07-06 17:30 - 19:30 UTC | The Duke of York, 39 Prince Arthur Avenue, Toronto, Ontario
Evaluation Cafe Toronto is bringing together evaluators in the area to meet up! We’ll be meeting on Thursday July 6th at Duke of York after work for drinks. Hope you can join to get to know other evaluators, build connections, and have fun.
Hope to see you there!
For information about the venue please visit: https://dukepubs.ca/duke-of-york/

CES Ontario Virtual Conference: Building Better Evaluation: Increasing Diversity and Promoting Inclusion
2023-10-26 09:30 - 17:00 | Online
***Register now!***

Announcing the CES-ON 2023 Virtual Conference: Building Better Evaluation – Increasing and Promoting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Do you want to:

Better understand how to integrate and promote diversity, equity and inclusion within evaluation practices?
Influence Ontario’s evaluation eco-systems?
Develop lasting connections to evaluators, networks, and organizations?
Connect with and learn from Ontario evaluation leaders?
Earn professional development hours to maintain Credentialed Evaluator status?

Then, save the date for CES-Ontario’s 2023 virtual one-day conference on October 26, 2023.
The conference’s theme is Building Better Evaluation – Increasing and Promoting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Sessions will inform and connect participants to efforts to build better evaluation within and beyond Ontario. The conference will include:

A presentation and discussion on evaluation ethics to start and frame the event.
A panel on the state of evaluation today, exploring trends, concerns, and opportunities for change across a diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-oppression framework from the perspectives of many different stakeholders with Ontario.
Opportunities to learn about and connect with Evaluation Communities of Practice across different sectors.
Interactive workshops on methods and approaches to evaluation hosted by leading practitioners from across Ontario.
Peer to peer learning to facilitate reflection, collaboration, and engagement with evaluators.
Social events to rejuvenate you both personally and professionally.

A key objective of this event is to facilitate networking, peer to peer learning and to generate meaningful conversations and collaboration across communities of practice in several evaluation domains. We are working hard to ensure every part of the conference will be engaging and stimulating. Sessions will be highly interactive, with lots of small group reflection, discussion, and application.
CES members will be able register for the entire conference for just $150, and non-members will be able to register for $175.
CES Ontario supports CES National’s commitment to the Truth and Reconciliation process and is pleased to offer complimentary registration to Indigenous evaluators. Please connect with our conference team to register.

Eval Café: Film to Enhance Impact
2023-11-29 12:00 - 13:00 | Online
Gary Hayes will share a story of health impact in Indigenous communities in Alberta through digital storytelling and his doctoral research that examined how strategic impact campaigns can be respectfully co-created to affect change. There will be time to discuss how we can use film to enhance the impact of our evaluations/reports.
Gary Hayes is an impact practitioner, filmmaker, and adventure enthusiast. Drawing on his documentary television production experiences, he partners with clients to co-create digital stories with accompanying impact campaigns. Through respectful engagement, Hayes develops and co-designs initiatives that produce digital stories that have measurable impact goals. Hayes works with passionate social ambassadors, communities, organizations, and government to strategically distribute and engage with audiences to co-create impact.
Presented by EvalCafé Toronto with the support of CES Ontario. Members and non-members are welcome to attend. Visit the LinkedIn Event Page for more information

Evaluation Café Meet-Up
2024-04-29 17:30 - 19:30 | Imperial Pub, 54 Dundas Street East, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
About
The next Evaluation Café meetup is coming soon in Toronto!
🌟 Our next Evaluation Café meetup is brewing up something special! Join us for an evening where numbers meet narratives, and charts mingle with chats. 📊💬
🗓 When: Monday, April 29th, 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM
📍 Where: The Imperial Pub (54 Dundas St E)
🍻 Sponsored by: Canadian Evaluation Society – Ontario Chapter (CES-ON) (Yes, they’re the cool folks making this happen!)
🤔 Wondering what to expect? This is a casual gathering of evaluation enthusiasts, from seasoned pros to curious newcomers, all sharing insights over pints and pub grub. Whether you’re looking to network, nibble, or just nerd out over data, there’s a seat at the table with your name on it!
👉 Bring your best evaluation questions, your funniest data disaster stories, and your appetite – both for knowledge and for pub fare.
🥂 RSVP now and let us know you’re coming!🍻
#EvaluationCafe #CESOntario #TorontoEvents #Networking #EvaluationCommunity

2024 CES Ontario Annual General Meeting and Learning Event
2024-06-19 11:00 - 13:00
CES – Ontario is pleased to announce that the chapter’s Annual General Meeting will be held online on June 19, 2024 from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM.
Why Attend the AGM?
The AGM is a great opportunity to:
– Learn more about recent chapter activities;
– Elect new board members and approve any bylaw changes;
– Participate in the annual Learning Event.
Event Agenda:

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM: AGM presentation, including progress on our strategic goals and upcoming chapter events

12:00 PM – 1:00PM: Learning Event: Communities of Practice and Evaluation

We will distribute the Annual General Meeting package, including a full agenda, Annual Report, and audited financial statements, to all CES Ontario members and event attendees prior to the event.
Learning Event: Communities of Practice and Evaluation
Join us at our fireside chat on communities of practice and evaluation! We have invited five organizations to speak about how they manage evaluation communities of practice and share information regarding different CoPs. This engaging panel aims to facilitate a discussion on lessons learned, impact and operations of CoPs and to enable CES Ontario members to get a broader understanding of the opportunities to connect, network and engage with a wide range of evaluators and CoPs in Ontario and beyond.
Participating Communities of Practice
• The Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation (JCSEE)
• Evaluation Café Ontario (EvalCafé)
• Independent Consulting Community of Interest (CES ICCI)
• Ontario Public Service Performance Measurement and Evaluation CoP (PM&E OPS)
• Ontario Public Health Evaluation Network (OPHEN)

Eval Café: Developmental Evaluation and Theory of Change
2024-11-27 12:00 - 13:00 | Online
From the Eval Café description:
Our next online evaluation cafe will feature small group discussions on Developmental Evaluation and Theory of Change.

Agenda:

10 minutes: log-on and intro
30-40 minutes: split into two groups, one for Developmental Evaluation (DE) DE and one for Theory of Change (TOC).

The DE discussion will be lead by Scott Christian (CE) a Senior Evaluator at LogicalOutcomes was 1 of 11 evaluators involved in last year’s Team Primary Care: Training for Transformation initiative which included (possibly) the largest scale developmental evaluation to date. He’s applied a developmental evaluation toolkit in a variety of other contexts too. This discussion will focus on practical insights that Scott and his colleagues have identified for effective developmental evaluations.”
The TOC discussion will be lead by Elizabeth (Lizzy) Sweitzer, who is a Monitoring and Evaluation Subject Matter Expert, working as a management consultant in the energy and sustainability field. Lizzy hosts meetups for evaluators with CES-ON and host professional development workshops for evaluators. The discussion will focus on how to make TOC’s useful after initial development.

Last 10-20 minutes come back to the large group and share key learnings.

Join online: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86026011026?pwd=[REDACTED]
Interested in learning more about Eval Café and joining our Groups.io online forum? Email EvaluationCafeOntario+subscribe@groups.io to subscribe to our listserv!

2025 CES-ON AGM and Learning Event
2025-06-17 11:00 - 13:00 | Online
CES – Ontario is pleased to announce that the chapter’s Annual General Meeting will be held online on June 17, 2025 from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM.
Why Attend the AGM?
The AGM is a great opportunity to:
– Learn more about recent chapter activities;
– Elect new board members and approve any bylaw changes;
– Participate in the annual Learning Event.
Event Agenda:

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM: AGM presentation, including progress on our strategic goals and upcoming chapter events

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM: Learning Event: IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility) in Artificial Intelligence with Jane Whynot

We will distribute the Annual General Meeting package, including a full agenda, Annual Report, and audited financial statements, to all CES members and event attendees prior to the event.
About the Learning Event: IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility) in Artificial Intelligence.
The potential of AI to drive progress is significant, however, the current landscape often reflects deep-seated biases and inequities that can perpetuate discrimination. Without a concerted effort to prioritize diversity and inclusion, AI systems may inadvertently reinforce existing societal disparities, ultimately leading to mistrust and harm. Recognizing these challenges is essential for fostering meaningful change and ensuring that AI serves as a tool for equity rather than a source of division. This presentation discusses the historical context from an IDEA perspective, pinpoints where biases/discrimination can be disrupted by evaluators, and provides examples of what evaluators can do.
About the Speaker:
Jane Whynot, MEd, PhD is a Partner at Goss Gilroy Management Consultants Inc (GGI), Jane has almost 30 years of experience in evaluation and performance measurement. Jane conducts work in all sectors, from employment to small business, from science to culture. Jane has a Masters of Assessment and Evaluation (University of Melbourne) and a Doctorate in Philosophy exploring how GBA Plus is integrated in the federal government evaluation function (University of Ottawa). She is an associate editor at the Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation and holds adjunct status at Carleton University. Jane is committed to lifelong learning, is a seasoned keynote and routinely presents at international evaluation conferences including AEA, CES, and PPX symposia. She has designed and delivered training on evaluation, performance measurement, GBA Plus, the integration of GBA Plus in evaluation, and qualitative methods in evaluation over her career.

CES Ontario Virtual Conference: Politics, Progress and Possibility
2025-10-21 09:00 - 15:30
Join us for a conference on the theme of Politics, Progress and Possibility! Network, learn, and grow with evaluators like you!
The Canadian Evaluation Society Ontario Chapter (CES Ontario) is pleased to invite evaluation practitioners, researchers, academics, emerging evaluators, and students to join us for CES Ontario’s 2025 Virtual Conference.
Evaluation is a constantly changing field of practice, informed by new and emerging technologies, approaches, and political pressures. We will survey these topic areas, explore their interplays and connections, and discuss how to integrate them into our work.
Topic Areas:

New and next approaches to program evaluation: new evaluation processes, frameworks, and models, alternative funding models, and decolonized evaluation approaches
Technology: how AI (and other tools!) are changing evaluation, and considerations of utility and equity
Political considerations: evaluation politics in Ontario, Canadian, and international contexts, as well as managing projects and stakeholders

Conference participants will:

Gain a deeper understanding of current trends, innovations, opportunities, and challenges for enhancing and integrating approaches in evaluation.
Gain important evaluation skills to address current and future trends.
Enhance connections with other evaluators, networks, and organizations.
Contribute to discussions about the importance of evaluative thinking and evaluation practice in the areas of new approaches, technology, and politics.

Visit our Virtual Conference website for session descriptions, speaker bios, and more!
