Audience: Tobacco control professionals working at the state or local level that need to increase their knowledge and skills in program evaluation so they can demonstrate accountability and results of their programs to their stakeholders.

Key Points: TTAC's Fundamentals of Evaluation: Developing an Evaluation Plan is an interactive workshop in which participants learn the core concepts of evaluation. The information and applied activities will help participants understand the importance of evaluating a program, what to expect from their evaluation efforts, and what is involved in program evaluation from planning to reporting results. Visual aids, group discussion, case studies, and practical activities will prepare participants to develop their own evaluation plan.

Learning Objectives: Participants in the workshop will have the opportunity to learn about: the basics of evaluation (what evaluation is, why it is important, and when evaluations should be planned and conducted), the process of evaluation (the different types of evaluation and the steps involved), data collection and analysis (what information can be obtained from evaluation, how it can be gathered effectively, and methods for assessing the data), and using evaluation results (making recommendations based on data, identifying and utilizing stakeholders, and presenting the results to an audience).

Benefits: Participants will increase their knowledge of the basics of program evaluation and develop the skills to create a comprehensive program evaluation plan using the “TTAC Evaluation Plan,” a tool created by the Tobacco Technical Assistance Consortium (TTAC).