The trademark of any Toastmasters meeting is that each speech is formally evaluated by another member of the club. The scheduled evaluator typically has only 10 minutes or so to prepare an effective evaluation that is, in fact, a mini-speech lasting 1-3 minutes.
Here are several tips to help your evaluations be more fluent and inspiring:
- Contact your assigned speaker prior to the meeting so that you can get a feel for the objectives of the speech.
- Review the manual requirements for the speech so that you're evaluation is accurate to the speaker's objectives.
- Adopt the philosophy that every speech can be improved no matter how good it is or how talented the speaker might appear. Challenge yourself to come up with at least one suggestion.
- Plan to present at least 3-5 positive comments for every suggestion for improvement.
- Limit improvement areas to three or less.
- Use a few examples from the speech in your evaluation but don't attempt to recap the entire speech. You only have 1-3 minutes.
- Unless the speaker really screws up, suggest "a few ways to make a good speech even better" rather than using negative words such as "criticism" or "where you missed-the-boat."
- Use the Toastmasters manuals as a guide but don't use the manual itself during your evaluation. Write your comments on a separate sheet of paper to use in your evaluation.
- Try summarizing with a recap of the suggestions, then the positives, then end with a humorous statement to end your evaluation with a chuckle.
Evaluations give you an exciting opportunity to help shape the future skill level of a speaker. Do not approach your role as an evaluator lightly.
At the same time, your assigned speaker is expecting you to provide some suggestions. Don't let him or her down. Provide helpful suggestions in a way that is supportive and encouraging.
Comments from Members:
"An effective speech has an opening that grabs attention as it states the topic and a conclusion that repeats and leaves something memorable with the audience. Noting what the speaker did and giving suggestions on how to make more impact can improve even those good speeches."
Carol Carder
Roadrunners Toastmasters
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Give Better Evaluations