World Champion Evaluator evaluating like a champion

Dear Apple,

I love the 3G iPhone.  It is my favorite gadget, and easily the best phone I have owned.  The screen is gorgeous and the simplicity of multi-touch makes it difficult to use anyone else’s phone.

I do get frustrated though with the predictive typing, especially in SMS.  I would like the phone to understand that I want to misspell something rather than have it attempt to correct me every time.  A simple configuration area where I can add words and change suggestions would be perfect thank you.

The app store makes the phone more compelling each and every day.  I really do need to stop finding my position on google maps while I am trying to drive.

Keep up the good work,

John.

Posted under Letter

Feedback is the breakfast of champions.

- Ken Blanchard.

Posted under Quote

Picture a sandwich made entirely of meat.  Turkey on the outside, ham on the inside.  If that doesn’t sound enticing, picture instead a sandwich made entirely of bread.  Wheat on the outside, and rye on the inside.

Doesn’t sound appetizing?  Much better to have bread on the outside and filling on the inside.  Bread alone results in no flavor, while only filling assaults our senses.

Think of feedback as a sandwich.  Imagine the bread as your compliment and the filling as an area for improvement.  Package your feedback appropriately and you will make a snack that is fulfilling.  An evaluation consisting purely of compliments lacks substance.  An evaluation consisting only of areas for improvement will be distasteful.

Providing an area of improvement sandwiched by compliments helps the recipient digest the feedback.  Sure it is like sugar-coating and in an ideal world would be unnecessary.  We don’t live in an ideal world though, and if you would like someone to take heed of your suggestion, you need to package it accordingly.

A word of warning though.  Use of this technique can be obvious.  The recipient may see the constituent parts of the sandwich rather than the meal.  This could make them resent the feedback.

I love the pictures on your new website.  I had trouble navigating around the site.  Overall I thought the site was nice.

As you become more experienced, you can modify the sandwich.  Creating multi-level sandwiches will disguise your intent.

The pictures on your site are so expressive.  I especially liked the one of the boy and the dog.  I am not sure if the color photos captured the mood as well as the black and white photos.  I was able to navigate between sections ok although sometimes I got lost.  Once I was in a section I was fine.  Your writing really brought alive the information and made it a pleasure to visit.

This approach telegraphs your intent much less.  The multi-layered approach is more intricate, fostering more specific feedback.  You have to break apart your general feedback, forcing you to think more about what you are saying.  This really helps the recipient.

The only real rule with sandwich-based feedback is to begin and end on a positive note.  If you don’t do that you risk alienating the recipient.

Learn to sandwich your feedback and your input will taste much better.  A perfect combination to provide flavor and substance without assaulting the senses.

Posted under General

Question: What is the shortest word in the English language that contains the letters: abcdef?

Answer: feedback.

Maybe someone can use this little piece of trivia in an acronym!  See my previous post for my love of acronyms.

Posted under General

It takes no special talent to find an imperfection in another person.

- Lance Miller, 2005 World Champion of Public Speaking

Posted under Quote, Toastmasters

When you listen to someone, are you planning what you are about to say next?  Try giving people your undivided attention, you may learn a thing or two.  You already know what you have to say, so the only way you are going to learn from an interaction is if you take the time to listen. . If you would like practice in active listening, I recommend joining Toastmasters.  There are a number of roles that give you the opportunity to practice.  Speech Evaluator is one of the more involved roles, but Grammarian and Ah Counter also promote active listening.

Posted under Toastmasters

I recently posted evaluation advice from recently crowned World Champion of Public Speaking, LaShunda Rundles.  Her poignant advice is to listen to your heart.

In an interview for Six Minutes a few days ago, LaShunda said the following:

I believe that being able to expose yourself to a variety of settings for feedback assures the universal appeal of your message. Assemble a group of honest coaches who will tell you without the sugar coating what works. Don’t be so resolute that you cannot accept honest and reasonable criticisms.

This is excellent advice.  Seek out coaches.  Open your mind to accept honest feedback.

Posted under Toastmasters

Walking in to my local Starbucks store, I see the following:

A list of ideas in a Starbucks store

I think this is an excellent idea.  It shows that not only is Starbucks requesting feedback, but they are also listening to it.  Personally I like some of the ideas listed and am optimistic that some of them will be implemented.

I think it could be improved though.  They list a website, but no way to interact physically.  That is a missed opportunity I believe.  They could have a huge idea board in the store and give customers a vote each time they purchase a drink.  You would need to stop vote fixing I suppose, but this would give something tangible to the customer.

The website listed (MyStarbucksIdea.com) is interesting too, but is for the whole of Starbucks.  There are thousands of ideas.  I would like to see local sites where I can change my local Starbucks.  I don’t care what the average Starbucks person wants anywhere in the world.  I want to influence my local store(s) to be the way I want them to be.

Posted under General

I have seen an increase in evaluators using acronyms to provide structure for their points.  As an example, the acronym MOVE:

• Movement
• Organization
• Vocal variety
• Eye contact

The idea being that you can focus on movement throughout the evaluation, and tie all your points together with the acronym.

This may work if it fits perfectly with the speech, as this example does.  The problem arises when you plan to use an acronym before you have even seen the target speech.  The acronym is not likely to fit with the speech and will come across as a method for the evaluator to remember their points vs. helping the speaker or the audience.

Acronyms can also be a stumbling block.  If you have two of the same letter in the acronym, that will almost always causes confusion.  Another problem I have seen is where the evaluator used the letters out of order.  A luck would have it, spelling a completely different word!

I suggest that if you want to use an acronym to aid your memory, keep the acronym to yourself.  The audience will sense that you are more confident because you are providing a well structured evaluation.

Posted under Toastmasters

When was the last time you challenged yourself when you give a speech evaluation?

The evaluation contest is just 6 short months away.  Now is the time to treat all of your evaluations as if they are contest evaluations.  No more taking the lazy way out!

Here are seven ways you can challenge yourself when evaluating a speech:

1. Limit yourself to 5 minutes after the speech for writing your notes.
2. Leave your written notes behind when delivering the evaluation.
3. Don’t take any notes at all and make sure to quote specific details in your evaluation.
4. Focus on a single aspect of the speech, such as gestures, and talk about that for the entire evaluation.
5. Give your evaluation to the entire room rather than to the speaker.
6. Create a theme for your evaluation based on the content of the speech you are evaluating.
7. Create your evaluation as a story rather than as a typical informative speech.

You will find that your speech evaluating abilities will improve immensely each time you challenge yourself.

Posted under Toastmasters