Last week I attended the Minnesota Evaluation Studies Institute (MESI) Evaluation around the world and in your backyard: Strategies, Tips, & Techniques 2008 Conference. This was the first time I was able to attend the entire conference and learn more about evaluation from the best in the field. Speakers included well respected practitioners such as Michael Q. Patton, Ross Conner, Jennifer Greene and Richard Krueger, to name a few.

I was particularly struck by lessons from Professor Ross Conner’s opening presentation on Evaluation Around the World. He spoke to us about several countries around the world and how they used and valued evaluation. For example: Africa felt evaluation could “bring the sun in on what was happening in their country.” In the Middle East evaluation was used in a context of supporting diversity and inclusiveness. For Romania, the field of evaluation was aimed at accountability and transparency.

Another lecturer of note was Michael Quinn Patton, former president of the American Evaluation Association. In his response to Ross Conner’s talk he reflected on the use of evaluation as “a form of discourse and deliberation in democracy.” He noted the secrecy that has crept into our society and how evaluation can be a “fundamental means of connecting to a free flow of information.”

There was a great international mix of people attending the event with a large contingent from Norway. What was most inspiring about the sessions was the theme of a global, multi-cultural approach in how evaluations are formed. A lot of our conversation turned to ethics and how information is used with regard to a civil society.

Minnesota is well-known for its strength in the advancement of evaluation as an important organizational tool. Thank you to MESI for helping evaluators stay current and responsible in their practice by hosting informative conferences like this.