Canadian Evaluation Society - Ontario Chapter

Eval Café: Evaluation Trivia
2026-01-07 12:00 - 13:00 UTC
To start the new year, let’s have a bit of fun together. Join us for some trivia about evaluation and your peers!

Evaluation Cafe Ontario online events are an opportunity for us to network and learn from our colleagues across the province. Anyone can join whether from Ontario or not, but presenters/facilitators will always be from Ontario.

We have a continuous open call for topics, activities, discussions, etc. Whatever you want to share, do, discussion with peers from across Ontario, you let us know, and we make it happen.

To RSVP, join the CES Ontario Groups.io group and RSVP online.

February 2026 e-Essential Skills Series
2026-02-23 08:00 - 2026-05-03 17:00 UTC | Online
Join us for a ten-week facilitated course on the foundations of evaluation.

The Canadian Evaluation Society’s on-line ten-week course offers participants with a basic understanding of the main models and practices of evaluation. No prior knowledge of evaluation or social science research methods is required to participate. Participants will gain:

Basic knowledge and skills,
Appreciation for essential elements of evaluation,
Capacity to apply acquired knowledge and skills, and
Development as an evaluation professional.

The Essential Skills Series is ten self-paced learning modules that cover everything from basics like the objectives of evaluations, all the way through to practical skills such as budgeting and workplan development. The discussion forum encourages knowledge transfer/sharing among participants and instructor, instructor reviewed assignments to guide learners and real-time Zoom learning at the start and conclusion of the course.
Learning Objectives:

Describe the role of evaluation in the program lifecycle;
Explain common evaluation terms, functions, and approaches;
List the steps in planning and conducting an evaluation;
Describe how common social science data collection methods are used in evaluations;
Describe the value and use of project management concepts in evaluations;
Outline ways to support the use of evaluation findings and produce actionable evaluation reports; and
Recognize evaluation standards and ethical principles and identify their role in the professionalization of evaluation in Canada.

Learners will be expected to:

Complete one module per week independent of the facilitator;
Participate regularly in discussion forums with participants and the instructor;
Complete seven assignments to submit to facilitator for review/feedback

About the Facilitator
Tina Sahay has worked in the area of Program Evaluation and Performance Measurement for more than 25 years, supporting governments at the national, provincial and municipal levels in Canada as well as the not-for-profit sector. Tina operates a consulting firm in Toronto and works on client projects in all areas of her specialty of community and public health. She works extensively with vulnerable populations including newcomers, youth and those at-risk for mental health and substance use disorders. Tina also provides training to professionals on various aspects of program evaluation. She is an instructor for the Canadian Evaluation Society and has designed and conducted training programs for Toronto Public Health, Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, MOHLTC, Hastings Prince Edward Public Health and York University.
Tina holds a Masters degree in Health Science from the University of Toronto and is a certified Quality Improvement Specialist. Tina is also a credentialed evaluator with the Canadian Evaluation Society.

The Art and Science of Producing Effective Infographics
2026-02-24 13:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | Online
The interactive and multi-modal workshop focuses on infographics – artistic or graphic presentation of data to communicate insights.

Data visualization as a hot topic in the evaluation world, especially in knowledge transfer activities. This fast-paced webinar will focus on a specific type of data visualization, namely infographics – artistic or graphic presentation of data to communicate insights. We will briefly orient infographics in the realm of data visualization, illustrating some different types of infographics. Then our focus will shift to the science of why we should use infographics in our communication suite to our various audiences (clients and funders). We then venture into design theory, calling on the works of data visualization experts Bernard Marr, Stephanie Evergreen, and Garr Reynolds. The bulk of the time will be aimed at specific design elements of graphics, colour, font, and layout, which help us tell the story of our most important element: the data. We will then put these elements together with examples, and then look at resources and tools for infographic production. If time permits, the session will conclude with a short question period.
Learning objectives:
By the end of the Workshop, the participant will be able to:

Compare the different types of infographics and situate them in the greater web of data visualization
Understand the basic tenets of design theory and how the brain process and information
Identify and appraise the design elements of effective infographics
Locate and use various resources and tools for effective infographic production

In addition, this workshop aims to strengthen capacities in line with the following Competencies for Canadian Evaluation Practice:
2.8 Identify data sources
2.13 Assesses trustworthiness of data
2.16 Reports evaluation findings and results
3.5 Serves the information needs of intended users
4.6 Reports on progress and results
5.1 Uses written communication skills and technologies
About the Faciliator:
A. Sidiq (Sid) Ali, is an expert in education programs, focusing on assessment program development, management and evaluation. He has over 20 years’ experience as an evaluator. Sid combines his skills in psychometrics and evaluation to foster his professional interests in program evaluation capacity-building in the private sector, program development in licensure and certification contexts, as well as in effective data analytics and visualization. Since founding his consulting practice (www.rae-consult.com), he has worked with profession regulators and governing bodies in accounting and financial management, healthcare, law and international sanctions, as well as with the learning and development units of two of the big five Canadian banks. He began his better data visualization journey in 2008, focusing on effective presentation strategies for PowerPoint. He now blogs and speaks about data visualization, and has been an invited guest blogger on Stephanie Evergreen’s effective data visualization blog. He has produced infographics for official CES communications, has conducted a CES national webinar on infographics and has facilitated workshops on infographics for CES-ON and CES-MB. Sid is a Credentialed Evaluator, earned his M.Ed. and Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in Educational Measurement and Evaluation, and was a two-term Director for CES-ON.
