World Champion Evaluator evaluating like a champion

Question 10: What do you listen for when you are the evaluator?

Evaluations help develop good listening skills.  It follows then that there should be something to listen for when you are evaluating a speech.  Well, it is true to the extent that you listen for everything!

Many people don’t conciously notice ums and ahs until they have attended a Toastmaster meeting.  From that day on, each um and ah that is uttered jars our brains.  There is no going back to our previous state of ignorance.  The grammarian and the ah-counter both focus our attention to help us develop that particular listening skill.

There’s a lot more than ums and ahs though.  There’s pauses, volume, storytelling, emotion, active voice, and countless other things you can listen for.

So, what do I pick?  Well, I subconciously listen for all of them.  As my experience and knowledge increases, I add more things I can listen for.  Pay attention to every evaluator in your club.  What is the grammarian pointing out?  Maybe they pointed out lip smacks, or use of the word “so.”  Did you hear them?  Most people don’t.  Make a note to next time listen out for them.  Especially useful is to note things other people point out for you.  Maybe you use the word “thing” a lot.  Well, make a note to check for that next time you are grammarian.  That way you bring attention to your own use of the word as well as helping others.

The bottom line is that I open my ears and listen.  What comes in is through years of experience and an open mind.

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Question 9: How do you develop good listening skills?

By keeping your mouth closed!

There are a number of ways you can develop listening skills related to speech evaluations.  The first and foremost way is to join Toastmasters and start doing speech evaluations.  Let’s assume though that you are already a member of Toastmasters.  How can you further develop your evaluation skills?

The best way is to do speech evaluations – when you are not that speakers evaluator.  Why pass up opportunities to evaluate?  You actually get more feedback this way.  If you have no role, then you need to be evaluating all of the speakers.  Then, once you have done that, evaluate each of the assigned evaluators.  Finally, evaluate the general evaluator too!  Don’t just sit there twiddling your thumbs!!!  For a 3-speaker meeting that is 7 extra roles you just took care of.  For 6 of these roles you can compare what you wrote against what the assigned evaluator said.

If you do have a role, then I suggest the same thing.  Doing two roles such as grammarian and evaluator will seem hard to begin with, but as you do it more, you will develop your listening muscles to the point where you can do it with ease.  Your listening skills improve and as a result, your evaluation skills improve too.

You can also evaluate other speeches.  There are plenty on YouTube.  There are also many available from Toastmasters on DVD.  Finally, you can evaluate speeches on TV – both formal speeches and also from regular TV shows.

Take all the opportunities available to you to really develop one of the best skills available to you.

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Question 8: What if someone is just REALLY awful? How in the WORLD do you give a good evaluation?

This used to be a fear of mine.  How to be honest without hurting someones feelings.  It seems like a real conundrum… until you remember that the evaluation is not about you as the evaluator.  The evaluation is about the speaker.  You are delivering them a gift.  The gift of feedback that they can use to improve.

With this in mind, the best way to give a good evaluation is to think about the evaluation from the speakers point of view.  What feedback do they need to improve?

In the case of a novice speaker that is “REALLY awful,” applauding their willingness to step out in front of an audience may be all they need to develop some confidence to do it again.  Maybe you could go on for ages about their vocal variety, gestures, movement, etc.  None of this will help this novice speaker.  They need a lot of praise and 1 single area for improvement related to an area of praise.  As an example, you could praise how the speaker became visibly more comfortable when talking about their pets.  Then suggest that they tell some stories about their pets for their next speech to build on that confidence.

In the case of an experienced speaker that is “REALLY awful,” you have more leeway to address the problem.  Focus on statements from your point of view using “I” language, such as “I would have liked to see you use those big gestures I saw in your contest speech.” or “I love how confident and spontaneous your table topics have become.  I would like to see you take that raw ability and apply it to your prepared speeches.”  Don’t forget to follow these suggestions up with concrete examples illustrating how they can achieve these goals.

Remember that the primary intent of the evaluation is to help the speaker.

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Question 7: What is your check-list for listening to a speech and preparing an evaluation?

I actually don’t have a formal check-list for listening to a speech or for preparing an evaluation.  I start with a blank piece of paper and start writing as the speech unfolds.

I know that some people prepare the piece of paper before the speech begins.  Some people split it vertically into 2 sections, 1 for strengths and 1 for weaknesses.  Others split horizontally into 3 sections, 1 for beginning, 1 for body, and 1 for conclusion.  I also know that some people split the piece of paper into areas of a speech that they are going to look at such as vocal variety, gestures, etc.

I think that using a prepared format or a check-list can be very helpful for beginning evaluators.  It has the advantage of providing a framework.  It unfortunately has the disadvantage of boxing the evaluator in.  I would be worried that I miss something by focusing less on the speech and more on my logistics.  It really comes down to whether the evaluation is more about you as the evaluator or the speaker.

If you do use a format or a check-list, vary it so you don’t get comfortable with it.  Step out of your boundaries and you will grow.

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Question 6: What is whitewashing and how can it be avoided?

I previously talked about whitewashing here.  The definition from Dictionary.com:

anything, as deceptive words or actions, used to cover up or gloss over faults, errors, or wrongdoings, or absolve a wrongdoer from blame.

As I have pointed out previously, there really is no such thing as a perfect speech.  If we assume that to be true, then an evaluation that doesn’t suggest improvement is a whitewash.

I have noticed an increase in whitewash evaluations.  Typically it is a result of a Toastmaster giving an evaluation to a more experienced Toastmaster.  It can be daunting to evaluate someone very good at speaking.  But, by not giving honest areas for improvement, you are short changing the speaker.

One way to avoid whitewashing is to ask the speaker ahead of time for areas to concentrate on in the evaluation.  We are our own toughest critics, so this may give areas where the speaker is weak.  Another question to ask is what the speakers goals are for the speech and address whether they met those goals.  Often speakers will meet some but not all goals, so again this is an area that can be fruitful.

The bottom line though is that you need to treat evaluations as a gift to the speaker.  They really want to know how to improve.  It is one of the main reasons that Toastmasters is so useful.

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Question 5: What are the pitfalls to avoid?

For speech evaluations, you need to avoid offending the speaker and the audience.

One of the simplest ways to avoid offending people is to use “I” language rather than “You” language.  This shifts the onus onto yourself rather than the speaker.  The speaker can choose to address the problem but it is not a specific failing on their part.  Describe how you felt and what you thought from your perspective.

For contests, the biggest pitfall is to not have a strong conclusion.  Often evaluations come down to how good the conclusion was especially at the higher levels (Division and District).

Finally, become familiar with the judging criteria.  Many contestants don’t read the judging criteria, but a lot of judges do.  Ignore the criteria at your peril.

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Question 4: Is there a single preferred format for an evaluation as judged in an evaluation contest?

This question comes down to whether judges prefer a particular format.  I have found very little consistency with judges until you get to District level.  Even at District, you really cannot trust that the judges will vote a particular way.

My suggestion is to go with what you feel most comfortable with.  This suggestion unfortunately doesn’t do much to answer the question at hand.  I can though make some general suggestions.

1. A simple sandwich technique is likely not sufficient at the District level.  You will need to incorporate more layers.
2. If you go last and there are 5 or more contestants, you will need to go the extra mile either with humor, delivery, or something else to distinguish yourself from the preceding evaluators.
3. I personally suggest avoidance of acronyms.  They don’t help the audience and are really just a way for the evaluator to remember the areas to address.  You could use an acronym, but don’t tell anyone.  An exception is when the model speaker uses an acronym and you can complement what they did by doing it yourself.
4. I recommend that the evaluation should be a speech unto itself.
5. Finally, the evaluation should have a clear beginning, body and conclusion.  As in regular speeches it is important to nail the beginning and conclusion.  Often the conclusion is left lacking in an evaluation.

Don’t forget to read the judging criteria.  Also, for more information on evaluation contests visit these two sites:

Six Minutes Blog

Secrets of a National Evaluation Champion

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Question 3: What is the most helpful advice you have received regarding how to do an evaluation?

The most helpful advice I have received regarding how to do evaluations was for the Toastmasters evaluation contests.  The advice was to incorporate some aspect of the model speech in the evaluation.

As an example, one speech I evaluated was based on various works of English literature.  The speech was good, but the gestures were distracting.  The speaker used the same two gestures throughout the speech.  I started off my evaluation by giving it a title, “A Tale of Two Gestures.”  How many evaluations have a title?  It captured the audiences attention.  My evaluation revolved around that theme, expanding on the gestures and giving concrete examples of other gestures that may be more appropriate.

In one contest, the model speaker captured the audiences attention with a very emotional speech.  At one point he said “you could have heard a pin drop in a field of grass.”  I started out my evaluation with a slightly modified version of the speaker’s powerful line with the same dramatic pause.  I showed rather than told and in the process captured the attention of the audience for the remainder of my evaluation.

Informative speeches can work well if the speaker makes three points.  Often you can repurpose those three points in your evaluation.  Recently I evaluated a speech where one of the points was to practice mindfulness.  I used that point to illustrate how the speaker could use pauses to slow down her speech rate and appear to be more present.

I believe that incorporating parts of the model speech works well because it shows that the evaluator has not only listened to the speech, but also internalized it.

Don’t wait for a speech contest to try this out.  Practice in your club.  It will take a while to develop this skill.  Don’t expect it to work every time although it does get easier the more you do it.  When you can do this consistently, notice how your evaluations and speaking in general have improved.

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Question 2: Is there such a thing as a perfect speech?

The simple answer to this is “no.”  It gets harder to say this when you talk about speeches in the upper levels of the Toastmasters International Speech Contest.  These speeches are harder to evaluate, especially the winners.

One of my favorite Toastmaster contest speeches available on You Tube was from last year’s International Speech Contest.  Robert MacKenzie’s winning speech at Region II.  Watch the video.

Robert’s speech is a masterpiece, yet there are a number of things that could be improved.  I have posted my evaluation of this speech here.

The last piece of evidence that there is no such thing as a perfect speech is to simply ask the speaker if there was anything that could have been improved in their speech.  We are our toughest critics, and sometimes you have to dig deep when faced with evaluating a great speech.  The last thing an accomplished speaker wants to hear is “I could find nothing to improve in your speech.”

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Question 1: What is the most important consideration in providing an evaluation?

The single important consideration for an evaluation is the speaker.  Your evaluation is in response to a speech.  Many people will learn from your evaluation including yourself, but they are all secondary to the speaker.

You can actually relieve some of your anxiety of giving an evaluation when you fully understand that the evaluation is not about yourself.  You are giving a gift to the speaker.  True feedback is rare, and Toastmasters creates a safe environment to give it.  If you have any doubt, remember how you feel when you get great feedback.

Next time you give an evaluation, think of yourself as purely the delivery mechanism for the awesome gift you are presenting.  What is the most awesome gift that this speaker can receive right now?

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