The Social Impact Analyst Association (SIAA) Annual Conference, Talking Data: Measurement with a message, is being held in Toronto on November 3-4, in partnership with Social Asset Measurements and Charity Intelligence Canada. The conference is targeted at professionals working in the field of social impact analysis, and will include workshops, interactive activities, networking, and plenary sessions. Topics will include data needs, focusing on impact, the impact report, and reporting standards.

One of the plenary sessions, What evaluation has to say on serving the needs of decision makers, will be presented by CES President Benoît Gauthier. From Benoît’s plenary abstract: "Utilization is a long-standing preoccupation of evaluators – the community that I represent. The seminal work by Michael Quinn Patton, Utilization-Focussed Evaluation, dates back to 1978, soon to be 40 years ago. Four decades of research on evaluation focussed on utilization have led to a number of firm observations."

Check out the conference program. You can still register for the conference.