aes26 International Evaluation Conference: Full Schedule

This is the draft aes26 program, subject to change. To register for workshops and the conference, go to: https://www.aes26.aes.asn.au/

4:30pm ACST

Managing the eight main enemies of evaluative thinking

Wednesday September 16, 2026 4:30pm - 5:30pm ACST

Rooms 3+4

Authors: Samantha Abbato
Learning objective: Participants will be able to identify and practise managing the eight major enemies of evaluative thinking in evaluation contexts.

Why this skill matters: Even experienced evaluators fall prey to thinking traps. Individual biases (including emotional reasoning, fast thinking, confirmation bias and overconfidence) undermine rigour. Group biases such as in-group favouritism and cascading effects distort collective judgement. Noise, both between evaluators and within a single evaluator at different times, creates inconsistency in decisions and recommendations. Together, these eight enemies threaten the quality of evaluations at every stage: from scoping and data synthesis to communicating findings.

This session equips participants with practical strategies to recognise and manage these threats for clearer, more defensible evaluative thinking.

How the skill will be taught: Using the Thinking-Bee Obstacles board game, participants work in small groups through evaluation-based scenarios that activate each of the eight thinking enemies. The game provides ego-safe, attention-directing play. Participants think through bee personas rather than as themselves, making it easier to surface and examine real thinking traps. A brief facilitator-led debrief anchors the game experience to participants’ own evaluation practice.

How participants will engage: Participants will play the Thinking-Bee Obstacles game in small groups of four to six, applying the eight enemies of thinking to realistic evaluation decisions.

The session closes with a structured reflection linking game insights to participants’ own work contexts.

Speakers

Samantha Abbato

Director, Visual Insights People

My twenty-plus years of evaluation experience are built on academic training in qualitative and quantitative disciplines, including mathematics, health science, epidemiology, biostatistics, and medical anthropology. I am passionate about effective communication and evaluation capacity-building... Read More →

Wednesday September 16, 2026 4:30pm - 5:30pm ACST
Rooms 3+4 Stokes Hill Rd, Darwin City NT, Australia

Traditional and new ways

Format Skill building
Audience Level Foundational, Intermediate
Industry Education and training, Arts and recreation services, Community and social services, Environment and climate change, Health and disability
ID 105

aes26 International Evaluation Conference

4:30pm ACST

Samantha Abbato

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