Our theme for 2025 is “Engaging Community, Sharing Leadership." Shared leadership approaches create an environment where communities can grow, learn, and innovate to improve outcomes. This approach can be challenging to introduce to stable environments versus volatile or complex environments, but if done successfully, evaluators can empower communities with the tools to thrive as they walk into the future.
Learn more about the 2025 theme.
Submit Proposal
We are looking for a dynamic variety of presentations to meet the diverse needs of the AEA members. Presentation types include panel discussions, expert lectures, roundtables, skill-building workshops, and more.
The AEA conference includes a wide range of topics - from evaluation results to new theories, to practical skill-building for day-to-day practice. Audiences consist of evaluators, evaluation managers, and other stakeholders. To reach that broad audience, strong content should (1) match the title and proposal printed in the program, and (2) follow an action-oriented structure. Structure your content so that it prioritizes the information most relevant for AEA audiences and provides suggested time allotments.
We encourage you to think creatively about your presentations, design, and format. Please choose the presentation type that best fits your material and utilizes your content in the greatest way. Skill-building workshops, panel discussions, demonstrations, and expert lectures continue to be the most popular session types at the annual conference.
Professional Development (PD) Workshops are great learning opportunities that provide attendees with in-depth lessons, group activities, and real-world case studies. These full-day and half-day workshops take place prior to the conference and allow a limited number of attendees in order to replicate a classroom environment. PD workshop submissions are reviewed by the Professional Development Working Group and selected presenters receive a small stipend for their efforts.
We encourage you to consider the 2025 theme and think creatively when submitting your workshop proposal.
Professional Development workshop submissions will be reviewed by multiple workshop reviewers. The criteria used for review are the following – Viability (content maps to suggested learning from members and participant surveys), Relevance (aligns with AEA’s professional competencies, values and AEA current events/issues), Trainer (prior experience presenting with AEA, displayed experience teaching for other organizations, demonstrable positive feedback from previous workshop execution) and Instructional Engagement (proposed submission maps to adult learning principles, promotes in class interactivity with the course material).
New this year: AEA is organizing sessions via a new system for 2024, categorized by streams rather than Topical Interest Group (TIG). All session proposals must be relevant to one or more of these topics to be considered for the 2024 program. This change was made to streamline education and provide more relevant content for attendees. You will have the opportunity to select a TIG during the selection process following selection one of the below streams. Each AEA TIG and their leadership will still individually manage the review of submitted session proposals. See the TIGs included in each stream by toggling the selections below:
See the full list of associated TIG leaders here.
We want your proposal to connect to the AEA Guiding Principles and the AEA Evaluator Competencies. The Guiding Principles reflect the core values of AEA and are intended as a guide to th ence professional ethical conduct of evaluators. Keep these principles in mind when developing your proposals. When submitting your proposal, you will be asked to choose one or two principles that are related to your topic or proposal. Learn more about the AEA Guiding Principles.
DEADLINE: Proposal Submissions must be received by 11:59 PM ET on Friday, March 7, 2025.
You must create a new account to submit a proposal. This site is not associate with your AEA account.