Title: The Business of Evaluation: Entering the World of Consulting

Date and time: Thursday 20 July & Thursday 27 July 2023, 9.30am to 12.30pm AEST (registration from 9.15am) Registrants are to attend both sessions. (full day workshop - 2 sessions)

Venue: Via Zoom. Details will be emailed to registrants just prior to the workshop start time

Facilitator: Matt Healey

Register online by: Wednesday 19 July 2023. Spaces limited to 25 participants

Fees (GST inclusive): Members $295, Organisational member staff $415, Non-members $485, Student member $140, Student non-member $226. Students must send proof of their full-time student status to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Purpose of Workshop

Evaluation as a field of practice can be extremely rewarding and, at times, challenging. Entering the competitive landscape of consulting can be an intimidating proposition, and knowing where to start or even ‘how’ to think about evaluation as a business is not always obvious. This workshop directly addresses this gap in a way that is reflective, practical and fun!

Workshop Content

This workshop provides a practical, hands-on and safe space for those who are considering, or are already undertaking, consulting as a fee-for-service business. The aim is to equip you with the knowledge and techniques that can be used to help launch your own business. The facilitator will share their own experiences establishing and running an evaluation business, including what they wished they knew, and involve a series of exercises and activities that are centred around the principles of:

• Value

• Strengths

• Networks

The workshop will be delivered virtually over two half-day sessions. This first session focusses on ‘you’ as an evaluator, and will identify your key capabilities and ‘offerings’ and how you communicate these strengths to potential clients. Session 2 translates the outcomes of Session 1 into the practical elements of running a business – including how to find opportunities and develop responses to tenders.

Throughout both sessions there will be opportunities to network with other participants on an individual and small-group basis, and plenty of time for questions. All activities are focused on you, and will be completed in a virtual Workbook (i.e. in Google Slides) to ensure the content is highly interactive, but also something that you can keep post-workshop.

Note, in addition to activities within the workshop there will also be an activity to complete in-between the two workshops.

Workshop Outcomes

By the end of this workshop, you will be able to:

• articulate your value proposition: what you can offer prospective clients and how this translates to a business strategy

• identify your strengths and develop a marketing strategy

• develop your approach to networking, and managing an evaluation team or collaboration

• understand how to develop a pipeline for project opportunities

• develop responses to tenders and project opportunities

Ultimately, the focus of this workshop is on ensuring a practical experience that provides you with more than just ‘what the facilitator thinks’, but will provide tools, mindsets and foster a collegial space in which participants support each other in their career and business aspirations.

PL competencies

This workshop aligns with competencies in the AES Evaluator’s Professional Learning Competency Framework. The identified domains are:
• Domain 1 – Evaluative attitude and professional practice
• Domain 3 – Culture, stakeholders and context
• Domain 5 – Project management
• Domain 6 – Interpersonal skills

Who should attend?

Anyone interested in establishing themselves as an evaluation consultant.

Workshop start times

• VIC, QLD, NSW, ACT, TAS: 9.30am

• SA, NT: 9.00am

• WA: 7.30am

• New Zealand: 11.30am

• For other time zones please go to https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html

About the facilitator

Matt Healey is a Consultant and Co-Founder at First Person Consulting (FPC). Since 2014, Matt has worked on research, evaluation and design projects that span health, social and environmental content areas with clients of all types. Matt’s passion is the exploration of different approaches and tools used in other industries, and how they might be applied in evaluation and design contexts. His latest interest is all things ‘systems’ and what this means for addressing the sorts of needs and problems that we tackle.

Matt has used SNA and other systems methods in a range of projects. This includes partnership mapping and evaluation in public health, exploring barriers and enablers to the repair of household electrical equipment for the circular economy, and design opportunities to improve student physical activity in secondary schools.

Matt has a reputation as an enthusiastic and adaptable consultant and facilitator, known for consistently producing and providing products and services that are both engaging and useful. Matt has delivered both in- person and online training in a range of contexts, including a 50-person evaluation capability building program for the Victorian State Government.