Reflections from the CESBC 2025 Conference

Roots & Rivers team member Adishi Gupta and ecosystem member Jess McKeown recently attended the Canadian Evaluation Society BC Chapter (CESBC) 2025 Conference in Vancouver.

In this collaborative blog post, they share reflections, learnings, and insights they gathered from the pre-conference workshop and the conference.

Pre-Conference Workshop

Stories as Pathways: A Day of Reflection, Relationship & Reimagination for Evaluators with Dr. Gladys Rowe 

What We Did

We spent the day exploring how art can open up new ways of knowing in evaluation through reflection, relationship-building, and storytelling.

Adishi (left) & Jess (right) posing with their collages.

• We opened with a storytelling prompt (“First… Then… Next… Now…”) that encouraged concise storytelling and surfaced rich personal evaluation journeys.

• We then moved into a collaging activity, a low-stakes entry point into art making as a group. It supported us to express through metaphors, symbolism and multiple interpretations.

  
  
  
  

  • Jess’ collage echoed many of her values as an evaluator, such as balance, and care for land and community. It included a path leading to windows of opportunity where many things can take flight. Two birds became an unexpected tribute to her grandparents and their steady encouragement.

  • Adishi’s collage served as a grounding piece anchoring her to what matters most in evaluation work, but is often overlooked. Some reminders included: ‘head up, heart open,’ ‘it’s not one-size-fits-all,’ and ‘we can do hard things.’

    
    

• In the next activity, we chose one word that defines our evaluation journey and created an object to represent it using clay. 

  
  

  • Jess created a braided bridge held together with the help of a neighbour, a reminder that evaluation can feel heavier than expected, but still doable with collaboration and connection.

  • Adishi created a heart enmeshing three different colours of clay to signify the importance of having the spaciousness to hold complexity and lead with care. 

    
    

• We closed the day by choosing from four different creative sensemaking stations including zine making, poetry, photo elicitation, embroidery/quilt making. It was fascinating to see how each art form brought out different emotions and connections for people.

What We Learned

• Group art making can be an enjoyable, low-barrier tool to safely invite vulnerability into a space to foster connection, collaboration and reflection.

• Arts-based methods can be harder to introduce in corporate or high-pressure settings, but many shared examples of this going well. Sharing evidence and clear examples helps increase comfort and buy-in.

• The process of art making shifts the tone of the space and supports deeper engagement. Curiosity and intuition open insights that other approaches centreing efficiency and intellect can miss.

• Critical reflexivity strengthens the work by challenging assumptions and surfacing what might otherwise go unexamined.

• The beauty of art is not only about the output, but also the journey. It is a method that holds complexity and emotion without needing immediate resolution.

  
  

Conference Insights & Takeaways

Reflections from the CESBC 2025 Conference: Unfolding the Evaluation Journey 

The day opened with an Elder-led welcome from Syex̱ wáliya Ann Whonnock, who grounded us in breath, connection to land, and the relationships we carry with our ancestors. It set a tone of presence and responsibility that carried through the rest of the conference.

From there, Dr. Gladys Rowe invited us to set our intentions for the day, with encouragement to take away commitments of (un)learning and things to dig deeper into even after the conference is over.

Dr. Rowe returned later for a powerful closing keynote about the different types of stories that shape our work (personal, contextual, structural and future), exemplified through her experiences on her evaluation journey. 

Throughout the day, the concurrent sessions and roundtables echoed similar threads, tying back to the theme of unfolding the evaluation journey.

Some key take-aways across sessions:

1. Trust and reciprocity deepen the work: When trust is real and reciprocity is visible, people share more openly and insights go deeper. Collaborative and relational approaches take time, but they create richer learning and stronger partnerships. Small, steady acts of care and follow-through build the foundation for meaningful use of results and lasting change.
   

2. Design choices signal our values: From survey pitfalls to culturally grounded methods, small choices send big messages. Tone, language, sequencing, and the questions we do and don’t ask shape whether participants feel respected, represented, or erased.
   

3. Stories carry what numbers can’t: Multiple sessions highlighted how different qualitative methods reveal nuance. Stories keep context intact, honour positionality, and surface the “glow moments” that move the needle. Funders agreed that these stories often land more powerfully than hard numbers alone.
   

4. Ethics is more than compliance: Conversations about the overlap between research, quality improvement, and evaluation underscored a shared message: ethics lives in intention, transparency, and care. Key non-negotiables included naming power dynamics, using plain language for consent, and being clear about how tools like GenAI are used.
   

5. Creativity bolsters practice: Several sessions reminded us of the value of embedding lightness and authenticity into evaluation. Bringing curiosity, arts-based approaches, and a touch of humour helps us reflect more honestly, challenge assumptions, and see new possibilities, opening space for richer understanding and more resilient practice.