The Art of Effective Evaluation

by Sharon DawsonJune 10, 2015 @SharonADawsonlinkedin.com/in/sharonadawson

Goals

• Learn how an evaluation is structured

• Watch examples of real Toastmaster evaluations

• Learn what phrasing to use

• Learn the sandwich approach

• Practice evaluating an Icebreaker Speech

10 Behaviors of Effective Evaluator

• Show that you care

• Suit your evaluation to the speaker

• Learn the speaker’s objectives

• Listen actively

• Personalize your language

10 Behaviors of Effective Evaluator

• Give positive reinforcement

• Help the speaker become motivated

• Evaluate the behavior – not the person

• Nourish self-esteem

• Show the speaker how to improve

https://youtu.be/usDaF4K5pGE

An Evaluation Is Not

• About you (the evaluator)

• A chance for you to ramble on about an unrelated topic

• A chance for you to comment on another speaker

• Harsh

• The Grammar Police

An Evaluation Is Not

• One size fits all

• Only gushing praise

• Your (the evaluator) chance to use gimmicks, inane techniques

• Gushing over how pretty/handsome the speaker is

Structure of an Evaluation

• Outline project goals

• Strengths

• Suggestions for improvement

• Summarize

Tell me something I haven’t heard

• Don’t summarize what the speaker said

• Don’t include a lot of quotes from their speech

• Focus on how they said it and how it made you react

How would you like to hear

• “I couldn’t hear you Carol from the back of the room, so I don’t know if you met your speech objectives. But thanks for speaking today I look forward to your next speech.”

• “Don't pace back and forth so much Jennifer, it is distracting to the audience.”

• “You didn’t convince me, so you failed this Persuasive Speech David.”

How would you like to hear

• “I had a hard time hearing you in the back of the room, so perhaps you could speak a little louder next time Carol.”

• “I was a little distracted by your pacing Jennifer.”

• “The goal of your speech was to persuade us, but I didn’t feel persuaded to accept your viewpoint David.”

Phrasing: Avoid “You” “Should” “Must” “Don’t”

• BAD: “You must let your hands relax when you speak."

• GOOD: “I’ve found over time and with practice that I was able to release my hands and let some natural gestures flow.”

• BAD: “Don't walk in front of the PowerPoint projector.”

• GOOD: “It’s helpful to stand to the righthand side of the projector so you can still see the slides and gesture to them but not block the presentation.”

Phrasing: Include “I” “My” “Me” statements

• "I felt that my reaction would have been stronger if you had included a picture of your dog."

• "It seemed to me that you would have accomplished your purpose more easily had you limited your talk to three points.“

• “It appeared to me…”

• “A technique I have found useful is…”

https://youtu.be/2MgMJVcloXQ

Sandwich Evaluation

VS

Sandwich Evaluation

• Positive

• Suggestion for improvement

• Positive

• Suggestion for improvement

• Positive

Sandwich Evaluation Structure

• Introduce speech objectives

• Comments that are a mix of positive and suggestions for improvement

• Comments that are a mix of positive and suggestions for improvement

• Summary of 3 positives and 2 suggestions

Sandwich Evaluation in Practice

• “I loved your clear speaking voice Ellen, and would enjoy some vocal variety added in the future. I could easily hear you from the back of the room.”

• “You've improved from your last speech John by hardly using your notes. Perhaps the next time you could set your notes down on the lectern instead of holding them in your hand. I noticed you made eye contact with each person in the room even with your occasional glances at your notes.”

Sandwich Evaluation in Practice

• “Deb, your quote from Maya Angelou gave me chills. I felt a little more time to let the impact of that message sink in before you moved to your next point would have allowed us to reflect on it a bit more. I commend how you repeated that quote in your call to action at the end.”

Make Your Own Sandwich

Before the Evaluation

• What are speaker's personal goals for the speech

• Be aware of level of speaker (new member, halfway through CC, ACB, etc.)

• Read project

• Read evaluator’s guide for project

Out of their control

• Avoid giving feedback on things over which the speaker has no control.

• If the speaker cannot do anything about a deficiency, don’t give negative feedback

• If it’s a logistical issue like with the room layout, mention to Sergeant At Arms but not during verbal evaluation to speaker

https://youtu.be/CZTIrSxgqVM

Summary

• Positive Reinforcement

• Evaluation is a mini-speech

• On topic with speaker’s objectives

• Make the speaker want to come back to the club and speak again