World Champion Evaluator evaluating like a champion

After competing in my club evaluation contest last week, a veteran Toastmaster made a very interesting comment to me.  I look up to this Toastmaster a lot.  I have learned a lot about evaluations from him.

He told me that he really liked the organization of my evaluation, especially because I wasn’t obvious about it.  I didn’t say something like “There are three areas I would like to discuss today, area 1, area 2, area 3.”  Many evaluators will say practically the same thing because it is typical to use groups of three.  It can be repetitive and boring.

I didn’t use this technique last week.  It wasn’t a conscious decision although I have noticed that I do it less in contests.

Why is being less obvious about the organization better?

I believe being less obvious about the organization is better because you reduce the mechanics of an evaluation.  The mechanics get in the way of being genuine and sincere with your gift to the speaker.  I have mentioned before that I dislike acronyms in evaluations.  Often the acronym gets in the way of the evaluation.

There are various techniques that can make your evaluations easier to deliver.  Remember though that the goal of an evaluation is not to make it easier for you, but to deliver the best possible feedback to the speaker.

Posted under Toastmasters

If you speak in public, you have an incredible opportunity right now.  Toastmasters is having their annual evaluation contest.  Each contest needs a “model speaker.”  This speaker will be evaluated by as many as 10 Toastmasters (depending on the level of competition).

The benefits to the model speaker are:

• An opportunity to try something new with your speech.
• An opportunity to give a speech in front of a new audience.
• Feedback on the speech from people experienced in giving speech evaluations.
• Feedback from multiple people on the same speech.
• A chance to network with a new crowd.

Getting feedback from multiple evaluators is crucial.  If there is a recurring theme of improvement in the evalautions, then it is likely an area of your speech that needs some attention.  In addition to areas for improvement, you will get feedback on areas that you are effective in.

If you are a professional speaker earning thousands of dollars for every speech you do, you may shrug this off as having limited value.  Where’s the harm?  At a minimum it is a chance to get in front of a new audience that may result in speaking opportunities down the road.

What’s the benefit to Toastmasters?  Having new and different speakers for the contests stretches the skills of the evaluators.  It is too easy to settle into a rut.  If you are organizing a Toastmasters contest this Spring, reach out to the local community and give a non-Toastmaster a chance to shine.

Posted under Toastmasters

With Toastmasters International Speech Contest in full swing I wanted to share some advice I received from Lance Miller (World Champion in 2005) last year.

I was talking to Lance about my 2008 District speech entry.  The title was “Spread Your Wings.”  Lance asked me what my message was.  I told him that the message was to… spread your wings.  He immediately told me that it is generally not a good idea to have your message be part of your title.

It’s tempting to use your message as your title, but it unfortunately detracts from your message.  There’s no element of surprise or mystery.  You put your audience on the defensive and the judges may find your speech  predictable.

Try to use a creative title based on an aspect of your speech.  It can be difficult coming up with a great title.  I posted some of my thoughts on a speech title for a Region winning speech.

Posted under Public Speaking

If you spend more than 2 minutes talking to a Toastmaster about Toastmasters, no doubt the subject of ums and ahs will come up.  They seem to suggest that no communication can be had if you use either of these words (and some of their cousins like so, but, and, etc.).

I think it is about time we stop this intense focus on these disfluencies.  There is so much more to communication than the utterance of a few ums here and there.  Sure, if a speaker has more than 10 for a 5-minute speech, then their evaluator can let them know, but do we really need a Grammarian to keep track of everyones?  (Many clubs combine Grammarian and Ah Counter)  The Grammarian can concentrate on real grammar, the use of metaphors, similes, alliteration, etc.

I have found that when speakers become comfortable speaking in front of an audience that most of their disfluencies go away.  Shouldn’t the focus then be on building confidence rather than reducing verbal utterances?  Just because a speaker has no ums or ahs does not make them engaging, compelling, or interesting.

There are a number of ways to build confidence:

• Stage time
• Positive feedback
• Mentoring
• Skill building
• Pushing past our fears

Start a revolution in your Toastmasters club.  Remove the focus on ums and ahs, and instead start building on the road to confidence.

Next week at your Toastmasters meeting start a “grammarian focus of the month.”  Here’s 6

• Power Words
• Alliteration
• Metaphors
• Similes
• Active tense
• Internal Rhyming

Leave a comment to let me know how it goes.

Posted under Toastmasters

An excellent article that asks whether you are criticising or evaluating.

The information here is practical for the upcoming Toastmasters Evaluation Contest too.

Posted under Toastmasters

Question 13: How do you go about being spot on in finding one key area to focus on for improvement?

This is an interesting question as I don’t know that I am necessarily spot on in the areas I focus on.

Experience plays its part although I think that confidence plays a big part too.  When you suggestion areas for improvement with confidence, that confidence is passed on to the speaker and the audience.  When you make suggestions without confidence, you can make the best suggestions in the world, but the speaker will likely ignore them.

I also don’t usually suggest just one area for improvement.  As my skill improves, I make more and more suggestions for improvement in such a way that they don’t even come across as such.  We learn the simple sandwich technique early on, 2 pieces of bread surrounding 1 layer of meat.  The true power comes from multi-level sandwiches where there are many more thinner pieces of bread with meat layers that are not so obvious.

So, don’t worry too much about finding the one key area.  Make suggestions you are comfortable with.  Do it with confidence.

Posted under Toastmasters

Excellent article here:

http://www.lifebeyondcode.com/2009/03/01/skip-scan-stop-save-andor-spread/

Seth Godin commented on the post and added Spam.

When you read a blog, email, or a tweet, how do you evaluate it?  How does it end up as something that stops you?  You need to start taking notice when this happens and save it.

Why?

So you can build a file of effective communications.  Then, go back and review them and see if you can use the techniques that made this communication so effective in your own communications.

Why not create an electronic filing system where you have 6 folders, one each for skip, scan, stop, save, spread, and spam?  Then each time you come across a communication that really stands out in one of those categories, file it for later.

When your communications are remarkable then they will spread.  See what makes them remarkable.

Evaluation means paying attention.

Posted under General

Question 12: There are often so many comments that could be offered during an evaluation, how do you select the comments to share during the oral evaluation?

It is definitely a good problem to have when you have more material than you can share for the oral evaluation.  The reason it is a good problem is that you get to pick and choose what to include.  Picking and choosing will help you formulate a more cohesive evaluation.

As an example, assume the speaker could improve in the following ways:

• Slow down rate of speech
• Add more pauses
• Maintain eye contact longer
• Tell more personal stories
• Stop clasping hands
• Move around more
• Have their conclusion tie into their beginning
• Use the rule of three more

In general, I would recommend an evaluator focus on just 3 areas.  These 3 areas could be all vocal variety, all physical related, all structure related.  The choice is simpler if the speech objectives intersect with some areas for improvement.  If they don’t, or you are performing an evaluation for a contest, then see if you can pick areas for improvement that tie in with the speech.  For instance, if the speech is about social networking, you could talk about how to build a connection with your audience through longer eye contact, slower rate of speech, and less clasping of hands.

Build your repertoire of areas speakers can improve so that you have choices when it comes to delivering your evaluations.

Posted under Toastmasters

Question 11: What did you do to improve your ability to give kind, yet meaningful evaluations?

To improve my ability to give kind, yet meaningful evaluations, I pay attention to every evaluation I hear.  How did they structure their evaluation?  How did they phrase the feedback?  How meaningful was the evaluation?

When you really look at other evaluators in a critical way, you start to notice patterns.  Great evaluators use “I” statements instead of “you” statements.  Great evaluators also don’t appear to be self-concious when giving areas for improvement.  The feedback comes from a place of confidence.  Finally, great evaluators are doing the evaluation for the speaker rather than to show-off how great an evaluator they are.

Pay attention to each and every evaluator.  Attend other club meetings to get variation.  Districts often have evaluation workshops where you can learn a lot and also ask questions.  Attend evaluation contests and see if you can determine why some participants placed and others didn’t.

Posted under Toastmasters