I wonder whether an iPad could be a useful tool for evaluating speeches. As I wonder this, I also am considering what my fellow competitors would feel about the use of an iPad in the evaluation contest. There’s no rules against it.
Maybe time to start thinking about creating that app???
Posted under evaluations
This post was written by john on May 11, 2010
The recent series of evaluation and speech contests have got me thinking of what is most important, style? or substance?
An evaluation that delivers much needed feedback to a speaker delivered in a poor style will not likely win a contest, and most likely will alienate the speaker. The advice will be ignored.
On the other hand a vacuous evaluation delivered with poise and panache will give you a fantastic chance of winning a contest, but will be of little benefit to the speaker.
Clearly, style AND substance would be preferred. It is quite a challenge to deliver an effective evaluation with style, but it is possible. This should win any contest, but sometimes does not. Why?
I believe that you need to have style and substance that are congruent with each other. Your presentation style needs to match the content. If you suggest having bigger gestures, your gestures should be bigger, but not uncomfortably so. In other words, if you wouldn’t take your own advice, why are you giving it?
Now, there’s an argument for needing to give advice to internalize it ourselves. I have done this and it is a great mechanism for personal improvement. Just don’t expect to win higher level contests if you don’t talk the talk yourself.
Posted under evaluations
This post was written by john on May 4, 2010
Yet another thought provoking post by Seth Godin. This time the post refers to using price as a competetive advantage. It was the closing line that hit me though…
The scalable, profitable strategy is to change the game, not to become the most average.
If you want to become the best speaker you can be, you need to stop doing what everyone else does. A New Year is fast approaching. Use 2010 as an opportunity to redefine yourself. Here are some ideas:
You left your comfort zone when you joined Toastmasters. You regained it by being a member for a year or two. Now is the time to push the envelope again. Join me, and have fun!
Posted under Toastmasters
This post was written by john on December 30, 2009
Today is the final day of our interview with Rich Hopkins.
Question: How has Toastmasters and more specifically evaluations helped you with being a professional speech coach?
It has made me an active listener, taught me to critique on the fly, and exposed me to a large diversity of both speaking styles and audience needs. The broader one’s experience, the greater help they can be as a coach.
Question: What skills does a speech coach need to possess and why?
A coach must be able to discern what is inside the speaker, and be able to coach them to bring what’s inside out to an audience in the way the audience needs to hear, it, as opposed to how the speaker wants to say it. Coaching is a balancing act of ego and efficiency , listening and communicating, guiding and inspiring. Coaching is sales – your client must want to buy what you’re saying. Once you know how they like to buy, you can sell them all the way to the highest stages.
About Rich Hopkins
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.
Posted under Interview
This post was written by john on May 1, 2009
Today is Day 4 of our interview with Rich Hopkins.
Question: How would a Toastmaster improve their evaluation skills?
About Rich Hopkins
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.
Related Posts
Posted under Interview
This post was written by john on April 30, 2009
Today is Day 3 of our interview with Rich Hopkins.
Question: What is the difference between a good evaluation and a great evaluation?
A good evaluation covers basics, follows the manual, and encourages the speaker. This is the least any evaluation should do.
A great evaluation shows, not just tells, a speaker what they can improve on the next time, and gives the speaker enthusiasm to speak again. It also reinforces what they are doing well, leaving them more open to the constructive criticism provided. I often demonstrate to the speaker how I would have used my voice differently, or show them on the same stage where their gestures and body movements could have strengthened their speech.
About Rich Hopkins
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.
Related Posts
Posted under Interview
This post was written by john on April 29, 2009
Today is Day 2 of our interview with Rich Hopkins.
Question: Were you comfortable evaluating when you first joined Toastmasters?
I was comfortable, but not necessarily effective.
Several years of drama experience in college, watching the directors, dealing with rehearsals, gave me a keen eye for performance technique. In addition, the graphic design program I was in required regular presentations and evaluations in the classroom on a weekly basis.
It was when I went beyond critiquing technical aspects, and towards helping speakers find more of themselves through technique, that my evaluations had more impact. If speakers must care about their audience, evaluators must care about their speakers.
Question: What helped you become comfortable as an evaluator?
Becoming a comfortable evaluator is similar to becoming a comfortable speaker. Know your audience – ask your speaker what they need from you beyond the manual guidelines. What are they trying to accomplish.
Stage time – evaluate often, and enter the contests. Even just attending evaluation contests, one gets the opportunity to see top-notch evaluators, and witness the different styles and approaches of each on the same speech.
Accepting that I couldn’t say EVERYTHING in an evaluation. Write more in the manuals, and talk with your speaker afterwards if need be.
About Rich Hopkins
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.
Related Posts
Posted under Interview
This post was written by john on April 28, 2009
Today is Day 1 of our interview with Rich Hopkins.
Question: How would you describe evaluations to someone who has never been to a Toastmaster meeting?
An evaluation is an opportunity to hear an individual give you their opinion of your speech delivery in a direct, yet supportive manner. The absence of back and forth discussion provides the evaluator an opportunity to fully express several thoughts in a short amount of time. The goal for the evaluator is to single out items to praise and reinforce, as well as identify areas of improvement based on the experience level of the speaker.
For the speaker being evaluated, it is an opportunity to practice discernment. Determining which advice is sound vs. which advice may not apply is a valuable life tool, as well as speaking skill. In the end, it is the speakers job to do what they wish with feedback given.
For others in the room, it becomes an exercise in listening – and applying someone else’s evaluation to their own speaking. A great opportunity to learn from other mis-steps and magnificence.
About Rich Hopkins
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.
Related Posts
Who learns from a Toastmaster speech?
Posted under Interview
This post was written by john on April 27, 2009
I just read the latest article from Darren LaCroix, the 2001 World Champion of Public Speaking. The article hit home for me so much that I am immediately blogging about it.
The article talks about intent and is relevant to the Toastmasters contest season that is underway. Don’t pass this by if you are not competing though. The advice is useful in many more areas.
The essence of the article is that no matter how well prepared your speech is, it is the intent you have while delivering your speech that determines the connection you make with your audience. If this is a contest, then it can affect the outcome. If it is a paid speech, it can affect your business. If it is a company meeting where you are suggesting an idea or an interview question, it can affect your career.
I recently came second in the speech contest with a speech that was one of the best I ever gave at club. At the club level my intent was to give the best speech I could and also convey the strong emotion I feel about the situation with my Dad. When I gave it at Area, I was trying to repeat that performance. In trying to repeat a performance, I stumbled. Instead, I would have been best served having the same intent. This is easier said than done of course. In the speech contest, you give the same speech multiple times. The Curse of Knowledge from your previous performances affect your next performance.
I thought I addressed this issue somewhat. The previous year at the District level I over prepared my speech. I didn’t place and that gave me a real kick in the teeth. I decided that I needed to practice less, and let the speech be real. Unfortunately, purely practicing less was not the problem. You guessed it, it was my intent.
I also came second in the evaluation contest. This surprised me. I pride myself on giving great evaluations. I went into this Area contest with the intent to do enough to win. My focus was on the next level, not on delivering the best possible evaluation I could.
Your intent also comes across loud and clear to other audiences. When you interview for a job, is your intent to impress? Could it be that intending to be genuine and sincere would serve you best?
Having the best intent is not easy. In contests, the goal for many is to win. How can you put that aside? Darren has a suggestion for this. He chose his winning speech topic based on a question from Mark Brown. The question was:
Pick a child from your life. If you were going to die tomorrow, what’s the one lesson you have learned from your life that you would pass on to that child to help them through their life?
This is not something you can do in a few minutes. It may take you days or weeks. Once you have it though, it is gold. Now, when you give the speech, imagine the child is in the third row and give the speech to them with all of the conviction you can muster.
Now THAT is great advice. Good luck!
Posted under Toastmasters
This post was written by john on April 9, 2009
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
This post was written by john on March 31, 2009
