Backwards Evaluation

It was backwards meeting time at one of my Toastmaster meetings today.  This means that the evaluators go before the assigned speaker.

How on earth can this work?

Well, there are a number of ways it can work:

1. The evaluator can just focus on themselves and laugh about how hard backwards meetings are
2. The evaluator can challenge the speaker to say a certain word or phrase
3. The evaluator can challenge the speaker to do a particular gesture
4. The evaluator can give the speaker a twist to their speech (using the title of the speech from the agenda)
5. The evaluator can work with the speaker beforehand and setup an impromptu speech focusing on one of the speakers weaknesses

There’s many more ways a backwards evaluator can be effective for their assigned speaker.  In some ways, they can be more effective if they spend the time to really get to know what the speaker needs before they speak.