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.

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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.

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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.

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

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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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