In evaluation, we often ask what changed, for whom, and whether the change justified the investment. Conferences ask us to invest money, time, and attention in the promise of connection. Registration, travel, sponsorships, and stages form a whole apparatus around bringing people together—a conference-industrial complex. After participating in a different kind of gathering last week, I found myself wondering what that apparatus produces once everyone goes home.
The gathering brought Minnesota evaluators and people whose work touches evaluation to Wilder Foundation for an unconference: an event where participants help create the agenda. Its theme was collective care. It used Open Space Technology, a method developed by Harrison Owen, in which people propose conversations they care about and take responsibility for convening them. The questions in the room become the program. That changes who gets to decide what is worth discussing and gives people a way to find one another through shared interests.
Open Space also invites participants to enter and leave discussions freely, choosing where they can learn or contribute. You can follow a question somewhere unexpected without feeling compelled to remain where you first landed. Owen calls people who move between discussions bumblebees, carrying ideas from one group to another. Butterflies spend time outside the sessions, making room for reflection and encounters nobody scheduled. Both contribute to the gathering, and you can choose to be either as your capacity and curiosity change throughout the day.
The setting supported that freedom and gave the theme a practical expression. Big windows brought natural light into the gathering room. There was a quiet room, a prayer room, food to keep people nourished, and different ways to interact. Collective care, the theme of the unconference, was something we could experience in how the gathering made room for our needs. That care may itself be part of the return: what is it worth to spend time somewhere you can participate without having to push past your own limits?
That question matters in a community still reeling from Operation Metro Surge, confronting xenophobia and hate, and living with the feeling that Minnesota has been targeted. War in Iran and economic insecurity add to what people carry into professional spaces. Among an engaged group committed to social good, I felt safety and excitement: the relief of finding people with whom some of that weight could be shared. There was something of the mutual support we might seek in group therapy—the chance to feel understood and less alone. Belonging was part of what the gathering gave me.
During the closing reflection, called the “harvest,” one participant stood up, they usually leave conferences depleted, they noted, but this time was different. That observation gave a name to something worth examining. In November, I’ll be attending another evaluation conference, the American Evaluation Association conference in Charlotte, NC. I always enjoy this conference and leave feeling energized but also exhausted. I recognize a similar feeling of finding my people there, and I wonder how we might design gatherings that sustain the energy those encounters create.
An examination of the social return on investment, or SROI, of conferences would be fascinating: the social value they create in relation to the full resources invested. That would mean following relationships, applied learning, and collaborations beyond the event, while also asking what being cared for made possible. Did people feel less isolated? Did they leave with renewed capacity, and did that feeling last? Which new ideas came to fruition, and what changed for the communities our work serves? We would also need to ask what would have happened anyway and whose experience we missed. Open Space deserves that scrutiny too. Six months later, I want to know what is still alive from the gathering, who has benefited, and whether we gave those possibilities enough room to grow.
Anthralytic is a strategy and evaluation studio helping mission-driven organizations understand their impact and make better decisions. We bring together evaluation, data, and thoughtful use of AI, with attention to the people affected and what changes for them.
