World Champion Evaluator » evaluation

Toastmaster Role Evaluation Sheet

john — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 16:20:11 +0000

Consider using this evaluation sheet to provide feedback to the Toastmaster during your meetings. Typically the Toastmaster only will get feedback from the General Evaluator. Clubs that utilize this form can provide feedback to the Toastmaster. I like that there is a mixture of information provided. Give it a go, and feel free to comment on your experience.

The Art of Effective Evaluation

john — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 00:42:15 +0000

Have you given the Toastmasters module entitled “The Art of Effective Evaluation?”. If so, please let me know your thoughts in the comments. I am planning to give it in January and am looking for your experiences with it.

Some things to look for…

john — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 23:07:10 +0000

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:

Humor.
Show, don’t tell.
Use of metaphors and similes.
Dialogue.
Being specific with details.
Using more than one sense.
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!

An interview with Rich Hopkins

john — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 05:37:02 +0000

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.

Evaluations that are not Evaluations

john — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 04:11:48 +0000

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.

Ice Breaker Evaluation

john — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 20:46:10 +0000

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.

Contest Evaluations

admin — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 06:38:32 +0000

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.

Skip, scan, stop, save, and/or spread

john — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 18:04:25 +0000

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.

Q12: 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?

john — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 06:13:59 +0000

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.

Q10: What do you listen for when you are the evaluator?

john — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 05:24:25 +0000

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.