aes18 International Evaluation Conference

Rebecca Denniss (First Person Consulting), Matthew Healey (First Person Consulting), Liz Smith (Litmus / AES), Amy Gullickson (University of Melbourne, Centre for Program Evaluation), Nerida Buckley (Sustainability Victoria), Sally Hartmanis (Deloitte Access Economics)

The beauty of evaluation as a discipline and a professional practice is that it involves diverse skills, capabilities, mindsets and approaches that can be applied across diverse contexts, cultures, landscapes and sectors. While this presents opportunities, it can also be overwhelming.

New and emerging evaluators often get told what they need and what they should be doing - so, instead, we're asking them for their perspective. For this panel session, we have brought together a collection of movers and shakers with a range of experiences, including: - a young up-start who started up his own evaluation firm - new and emerging evaluators from the government and non-government sectors - an evaluation educator who challenges and inspires evaluators across all stages of their careers - an experienced evaluator and senior AES member who describes herself as a 'disrupter'.

If you are a new or emerging evaluator, this is your chance to ask questions, seek mentoring and advice, share experiences and, most importantly, tell us what you need to transform your career.
If you're an experienced evaluator, it's your chance to meet some of the region's brightest new evaluators—and talk to them about all the things you wish you'd known in the early stages of your career!

Facilitated by new and emerging evaluators for new and emerging evaluators, this panel session will involve discussion about: - capabilities, mindsets, approaches and skills - learning from failures and f**k ups - mentoring and support - professional pathways

After hearing a bit about the stories of each of the panellists, the majority of this session will be dedicated to questions and answers, and facilitated audience discussion.