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.

The 3 critical aspects of a speech evaluation are:

1. Connect with the speaker.
2. Connect with the audience.
3. Give one specific, actionable, and heartfelt piece of advice that will help both speaker and audience on their path.

Simplified of course, but critical.

Collection of 3 videos on evaluations from Toastmasters 24×7.  Some excellent information for beginning evaluators.

Five coffees, 3 blisters, and 1 replaced light bulb later and you now have your presentation ready.  All night was a small price to pay for the impact your slides are going to have on your soon to be new client.  And then the unthinkable happens…

“Technical issues” – the projector doesn’t want to play ball, you forgot the power cord, your laptop died, the file is corrupted, a blue screen, the mouse, anything that can go wrong… did!

What are you to do?  Well, you can blabber on about how your slides would have shown this or that and blame technology for your shortsightedness… or you can take control of your destiny and use the “Talking Pad”

Seth Godin’s latest post tells you what the Talking Pad is.

thick pen or marker and a legal pad

This can be your backup when the unthinkable happens.  BTW, it really isn’t unthinkable so much as it is ignored with the hope that it never happens.

BUT WAIT!!!!

If you can present a compelling presentation with a Talking Pad, why not do this in the first place?  Why depend at all on slides?  There’s not much that can go wrong with a thick pen (with a backup) and a legal pad – both of which are likely available for next to nothing anywhere.

BUT WAIT ONE MORE TIME!!!

Did you just let out a sigh of relief?  Don’t get too excited.  You will need to spend just as much time (hopefully not the night before) on preparing your Talking Pad presentation as you would for your slides.  More possibly because this will not feel comfortable unless you practice it.

I suggest that the next time you give a speech to use the Talking Pad.  Get comfortable with when you give your next Toastmasters meeting so that when it really matters you will be ready.

When you use the Talking Pad next, please let me know how it went and share what you learned from the experience.

Update:

Seth just did a follow up post on a Modern Talking Pad.  Kinda like a Mad-Libs version where you fill in the blanks with your client.

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.