The Art of Effective Evaluation Completed

Last night I presented the Toastmaster Art of Effective Evaluation program at my advanced club.  The club is based on evaluations, so it was the perfect event for a membership drive meeting.  Thanks in large part to Eric, we had 17 people in attendance.

The presentation went very well.  I only had an hour to present the material which is intended for 2.5 hours.  I removed the club evaluation as we had visitors from other clubs as well as visitors that have never experienced Toastmasters before.

I read through the Coordinator Guide a few times and took some notes.  When I presented the program, I did it from the participant guide, following the same material everyone else was using.

I had plenty of participants guides, but decided to only bring some of them.  In hindsight, I really could have brought them all.  Turns out I had exactly the right number.  Lesson learned.

I made the program interactive.  I would call on people in the audience for examples from their experience.  I let everyone know that they had 45 seconds to 1 minute 15 seconds for their comments.  This stopped anyone running away with the meeting.

I was a facilitator in the meeting.  As much as possible, I asked other people to provide examples from their experience.  I concentrated on filling in gaps, and tying it all together.  I had not realized ahead of time that this would be a facilitation exercise.  I don’t fell skilled at facilitation, so I was pleased when it went well.

Lastly, I focused on my audience.  What did they need?  I asked up front, and took notes, so I hopefully addressed most of their requests.

A satisfying experience I would recommend, and even do it again.