Evaluation Tips from Toastmasters International with Additional Tips from Carolina Little

Keep Your Evaluations on Target

To many novice speakers, the word “evaluation” brings back painful memories. Images of brutal remarks from schoolteachers and smirks from fellow students can pull a potentially great speaker away from the lectern. Yet, give that speaker one experience with a helpful, positive and motivating evaluation…and you’ll see the speaker work, progress and grow to realize that potential. Effective evaluations benefit the speaker by:

• Providing immediate feedback. Supportive commentary and helpful suggestions can reinforce positive speaking behaviors and point toward areas that need work.
• Offering methods for improvement. It helps the speaker recognize and then solve any difficulties that may have been encountered during a presentation.
• Building and maintaining self-esteem. Learn how to play up your strong points and correct speaking flaws and you can’t help but feel better about yourself.

It stands to reason that the more effective we are in evaluating each other, the more each one of us will profit from the experience, whether we are delivering a speech, evaluating or sitting in the audience. How can you give a helpful and encouraging evaluation immediately after hearing a speech? There are several techniques available to help you master the art of evaluations.
First, it’s important to select your manner of delivering the evaluation. Though some evaluators use discussion as their process, the “tell and sell” approach is the most popular method of delivering evaluations in Toastmasters meetings, because it is the most efficient. This requires the evaluator to do all the talking while the speaker listens. An opinion is given in a few minutes, avoiding conversational digressions, and then the meeting continues. Not having to worry about carrying a conversation with the evaluator also frees the speaker to focus directly on the advice being offered. This method works best when the evaluator has more speaking experience than the speaker.
Once you’ve chosen the method you’ll be using, use these guidelines to help:

• Show that you’re interested. Focus on the speaker’s needs.
• Consider the speaker’s objectives. Contact the speaker in advance to discuss the manual objectives as well as the speaker’s personal goals and concerns.
• Personalize your language. Avoid using advice that starts with, “You…” Instead, focus on the word, “I…” So that you give your personal reactions, rather than attempting to speak for the entire audience.
• Evaluate the speech – not the person! Do not impose your values on someone else’s speech. Focus on helping the speaker communicate those thoughts in a more effective manner.
• Promote self-esteem. Encourage and inspire the speaker to participate again by offering honest and sincere praise along with criticisms.

Carolina Little added to the above:

• Do not summarize the speech, also known as, the book report summary
• Site specific portions of the speech to use as examples
• Site improvements since last speech- if applicable
• Ask an experienced Toastmaster to help you prepare for this role before you do it
• Use organzition in your notes to lead you through evaluation
• Use the full time allotted for your evaluation (3 minutes with 30 second grace)
• It is okay if you aren't perfect. This is a learning experience
• If you forget to say something, you can always tell or email the person later
• Be tactful BUT honest. No one can improve if you aren't honest
• Remember the sandwich method: start with something good, add in the middle something to work on, end with something good.

What I Did on My Lunch Break

by Carolina Little

Today, I visited the Audubon Engineering Toastmasters Club. As their club mentor, I felt very guilty for not attending a meeting for two months now (It may have been even longer than this). As with everything, my initial zeal for this responsibility began to wane as time went by and my own daily schedule became more hectic. Besides, I felt the last time I visited them, they had become a well-oiled machine, running efficiently and effectively.

However, when the last invitation came via email, I decided it was time to make time to attend another one of their meetings to see how they had progressed over the holidays and the New Year.  When I walked in, I realized like most clubs, theirs too had succumbed to low attendance. It happens to the best of clubs. All clubs start fast and furious, with an impressive audience. Then months later, the infatuation begins to die down like with most things we have seen before:  new exercise regimes, new projects, new relationships, and new philosophies.  However, most clubs (like ours) see members rotating in and out at each meeting and have at least 12 members in attendance. This is typical of the national clubs and that is encouraging.  Why is it encouraging? It is encouraging because people are still making time to work on themselves and help others around them do the same thing too. A meeting with zero attendance is the meeting we never want to see.

It is also encouraging because as I attended this last meeting, I noticed that the Audubon Toastmasters, while smaller in attendance, were bigger in message. They remain a strong and influential group. Their participation was enthusiastic and reflected the theme the Toastmaster had set; ENTHUSIASM.  While I was there I learned a lot of new tools that the Mudslingers can incorporate into our own meetings, in addition to learning self-improvement materials that the Toastmaster shared with the group regarding enthusiasm in the workplace.  

 First, I learned interactive works! The Toastmaster started off with a very interactive “tug-of-war” demonstration designed to show that Motivation won over Encouragement every time. I will explain that message later one day. Then, the Toastmaster incorporated a Power Point presentation to help transition the meeting a long. It was in this presentation that she shared tidbits of knowledge and statistics to prove her theme.  She also engaged the audience to read excerpts out loud, a creative way to have someone practice speaking in public.  However, all my learning did not come just from the Toastmaster, but from other role takers as well. I saw an effective way for the Table Topics Master to get people to step up to the task by speaking in front of a crowd: She (another she) starting counting down from 5 until someone volunteered to speak OR she chose someone from the group.  It was fun seeing people randomly picked to do impromptu speaking.

However, the thing I learned (again) was how much I gain from attending another club’s meeting. It is a different experience every time you listen, speak, or participate in front of a different audience, even if the audience is changed by only one new face. What you learn from other clubs depends on your ever-evolving skills as an evaluator and team member in Toastmasters. Besides being given a free lunch and a fresh experience, I was also given the opportunity today to meet other oilfield professionals. In one lunch break, I was able to network, learn, and fellowship. Not a bad way to spend a lunch break.

My message: Get out and visit other Toastmasters Clubs AND invite new faces to ours.

WELCOME COMPUTER APPLICATIONS! Thanks for joining our Toastmasters Club! We are so happy to have you as fellow Mudslingers.