Telling Your Evaluation Story in an Executive Summary

Abstract Information: Despite taking a massive amount of time to be prepared, writing an evaluation report usually is not the most challenging task of communicating results. Writing an executive summary is the most difficult part because it requires summarizing a work that might have taken months to be developed into a few pages. Executive summaries are expected to be presentable, comprehensive, and written in clear language because they are the most read part of the report. Evaluation commissioners and donors usually have limited time to read massive reports exceeding a hundred pages. Even smaller reports that generally don’t exceed 30 pages are challenging in terms of reading time, so having a well-written executive summary is highly important in communicating the significant findings of an evaluation without exhausting the time of the high-level management. In this capacity-building session, we will be demonstrating the main steps that should be followed to write a successful executive summary. This will include the main sections of an executive summary, the necessary sections to be summarized, how to select the major findings, how to link recommendations to your conclusions, and how to tell your evaluation story that took months to be developed in a few paragraphs or points. The presenters will use an active learning approach that will involve engaging the audience in interactive activities to help them retain the information presented during the session. After attending this presentation, participants will be able to write an effective executive summary that tells the story of their evaluation work.

Relevance Statement: Relevance and importance The executive summary presents the accounts of the evaluation story in an evaluation report. A critical function of an executive summary is to present the evaluation findings concisely and clearly. So, why is it so important for an executive summary to be concise and clear? For some audiences of an evaluation assignment, the executive summary might be the only part that will be read. These audiences may have different needs, expectations, priorities, or capacities to understand the information provided in an executive summary. The evaluator's role is to reconcile the different evaluation audiences' needs when presenting information in an executive summary; so the evaluation story gets communicated effectively and efficiently without ignoring the most important findings and conclusions. Failing to write a comprehensive executive summary jeopardizes the communication of the main findings, which implies the lack of action against any gaps and problems or the lack of recognition of substantial efforts. However, mastering the writing of an executive summary requires experience and following specific steps to maintain concise and comprehensive content simultaneously, which are skills possibly not well-mastered among new evaluators. Balancing between including critical information while maintaining word limits can be challenging. This presentation attempts to highlight the practical strategies for building executive summaries that reflect the evaluation effort exerted in an evaluation assignment. We will answer the following questions: What does an executive summary comprise of? What are the main parts of a report that should be summarized and presented? How to link recommendations to the conclusions in an executive summary? How do evaluators effectively present evaluative findings and conclusions in a comprehensive executive summary? How to use an active voice in articulating the summary? Value to the audience. Evaluation reports are usually long and have a significant amount of information. Finding the right balance between which information to be included versus the limited word count designated in the evaluation Terms of References is critical in writing an executive summary. After attending this presentation, the audience will acquire the following knowledge and skills,(i) the knowledge of the basic sections of an executive summary and any essential information that should be presented, (ii) tips and tricks for prioritizing report information that should be included, (iii) linking the conclusions to the findings, (iv) how to use a professional voice in your writing style. The evaluation story needs to be communicated efficiently, concisely, and clearly. The presenters will use interactive learning to encourage the audience to retain the information presented and avoid the lecture style. Implications for evaluation practice. Writing a comprehensive and concise executive summary is an important competency that an evaluation specialist should acquire. It aligns with the American Evaluation Association's competencies for effective communication for evaluation results. Telling the right story increases the value of the evaluation efforts and shows that the evaluation assignment was executed perfectly. Reference American Evaluation Association. (2018). AEA evaluator competencies.Retrieved from Chromeextension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.eval.org/Portals/0/Docs/AEA%20Evaluator%20Competencies.pdf