My knees are shaking.  A bead of sweat meanders its way between the ridges of my back.  My nails are much shorter than they were 47 minutes ago.

Looking around the packed courtroom, I see lots of faces, but all I can think about is myself.  The pounding of my heart is threatening to burst forth from it’s fragile cage.

I am on the verge of performing a speech evaluation.  Not just any evaluation.  This evaluation is of someone I have just met.  In front of people I don’t know.  This is the Area 94 Evaluation Contest, and I am next.

There is one more major challenge facing me.  I mean major!!  This speaker that I am about to evaluate is good.  Very good.  He won the Toastmasters World Champion of Public Speaking on his first attempt!  All I have won is a single club evaluation contest.

Staring out at the sea of faces, I start my evaluation:

My task today is to evaluate Randy Harvey, the 2004 World Champion of Public Speaking.  I guess that makes me a World Champion Evaluator!

The instant laughter curbing my anxiety, affording me the freedom to relax.  I survived the evaluation.  I did more than survive though, I also won that evaluation contest.  More than winning, I started on the long winding path of improving my evaluation skills.

I hope this blog proves useful in guiding you down this long winding path.  The journey is challenging, the scenery is breathtaking, and the personal growth you will experience – priceless.