Facilitation:Evaluation

Overview

This section discusses how to assess the success of the event, providing a sample evaluation form and suggestion for maintaining momentum and collaboration after the conclusion of the event.

Evaluations

An important component of a successful event is soliciting participant feedback. Aspiration events are an ongoing experiment in how to effectively expose nonprofits and NGOs to technology and inspire them to explore further. Realizing such goals requires a “customer-focused” model where feedback is used to inform planning and design of future events.

Closing circle is usually an appropriate place to hand out evaluation forms. It is recommended this be done before or after the circle, so that people are not filling them out while others are talking and closure is being established. After the closing circle is an intuitive time for evaluations, but the down side of waiting is that participants may be inclined to hurry their responses or unable to finish before they must leave. An alternative is to allot 10 or 15 minutes before closing circle for evaluations; this also helps participants to focus their thoughts before final go-rounds and comments.

A sample Evaluation Form is provided as a separate document.