World Champion Evaluator evaluating like a champion

At a recent public speaking seminar, I evaluated a number of short speeches.  There were a number of storytelling techniques I was looking for.  Here is the list I created from my evaluation:

1. Humor.
2. Show, don’t tell.
3. Use of metaphors and similes.
4. Dialogue.
5. Being specific with details.
6. Using more than one sense.
7. Using stories.

When you are creating your next speech, whether it is an elevator speech, a sales pitch, or a Toastmasters speech, incorporate one or more of the above techniques to make your speech come alive.

Of those techniques, I would say that the most neglected is dialogue.  Most speakers I have seen could do a better job of using dialogue to tell their story.  Give it a go!

Posted under Toastmasters

I recently had the pleasure to interview Rich Hopkins, a 2-time competitor in the World Championship of Public Speaking (WCPS), about evaluations.

In addition to finishing 3rd in the 2006 WCPS, Rich has been a 5 time District Evaluation Contest Finalist, winning 3 of those 5 times.  He has been a Toastmaster for over 10 years and has expanded significantly on Toastmaster evaluation theory as a professional speaker and presentations coach.

Visit Rich’s blog to see his current progress towards making it a 3rd time to the WCPS and also follow Rich on Twitter.

Starting Monday on this blog and continuing until Friday, Rich will answer  questions on evaluations including:

• How to describe evaluations to someone that has never been to a Toastmasters meeting.
• How to get more comfortable evaluating speakers.
• How to improve your evaluation skills.
• How evaluations relate to being a professional speech coach.

Posted under Interview

There is a very interesting conversation on ToastmastersPrime about evaluations.  The discussion centers around evaluations that center around the content of the model speech without giving any opinions.  I have experienced a number of situations where the evaluator effectively created a summary of the model speech.  Some evaluators even go as far as to repeat all of the humor of the model speech sometimes getting more laughs!

Check out ToastmastersPrime and join in on the conversation.

Posted under evaluations

Last week I evaluated an Ice Breaker speech.  It used to be that I hated to evaluate Ice Breakers.  I would always worry that there would be too many areas of improvement and not enough strengths.

I actually like evaluating Ice Breakers now.  I relish the fact that I get to see a speaker for the first time and give them their first Toastmasters evaluation.  I also challenge myself to really nail down the skills the speaker already has.  It can be hard to find at times, but no harder than finding areas of improvement for a fantastic speaker.

The Ice Breaker this Tuesday was very good.  Marv made excellent use of storytelling in his speech.  His major area of improvement being to remove the reliance on notes so that the storytelling can come alive with gestures and movement.

It used to be that I would be very cautious evaluating an Ice Breaker.  I didn’t want to scare them away.  I would deliver something close to a whitewash.  Possibly pointing out one superficial improvement.

Not any more.  My goal is to give the speaker constructive criticism just as I would an experienced speaker.

Posted under Toastmasters

Last night I competed in my Area Evaluation Contest.  I placed second, so will not go on to the next level.  Losing though always seems to be when I learn the most.  Last night I learned:

• I need to stop hedging my bets.  I am in 3 clubs.  I chose to represent a club that would result in my facing a known strong evaluator at Division rather than Area.  This is folly.  I need to have the confidence that I am going to win whenever I compete.  Going into a contest with the idea that you might get easier competition is setting yourself up for failure.
• My evaluation style is not the “typical” evaluation style.  I was told that the first place evaluator had a more traditional approach and that is why he won.  I have a hard time with this one, but I stick by my style and would rather be true to myself than trying to guess what each individual judge is looking for.

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 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.

Posted under Toastmasters

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.

Posted under Toastmasters

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.

Posted under Toastmasters