Evaluate to Motivate
By Jim Griffin DTM

Fall 2003

There are three myths about Toastmaster evaluations that I would like to dispel from the get go:

1. The speaker is more advanced than I am; I cannot possibly evaluate him/her.

2. My job as an evaluator is to tell the speaker what he/she did right and what he/she did wrong.

3. The Sandwich technique of evaluation instructs us to first say what is good about the speech, then give the bad, and conclude with the good.

All three of these myths come from misguided assumptions about the role of the speech evaluator. The above myths may be debunked with the following realignment of our assumptions and motivation for evaluating:

1. Evaluation is about giving the speaker feedback in regards to the effectiveness of his/her speech. By being a member of the audience and hearing the speech, you are uniquely qualified to provide such feedback from your point of view.

2. As an evaluator, your job is to provide feedback as to what worked well and suggestions for improving the effectiveness of the speech. You are not casting judgment on the speaker; you are presenting ideas.

3. If you approach your evaluation from the viewpoint that parts of the speech were good and parts were bad, your evaluation is more likely to have a demoralizing effect. If, instead, you think in terms of what was good and what could make it even better, your evaluation will have an uplifting effect. (The outline below includes a better interpretation of the Sandwich technique of evaluation.)

To work on improving your skills at evaluating, its helpful to think in terms of the Toastmaster motto: Better Listening, Better Thinking, Better Speaking.
The following outline follows these three skill sets.

I. Better Listening

A. Listening to the Language
Hear the words and the grammar, the descriptive phrases and pictures being painted. Listen for alliteration, similes, metaphors, and vivid, specific details that bring images to life.

B. Listening for the Message
Listen between the lines to the intentions of the speaker. Identify the meaning of the message.

C. Listening to your Reactions
Listen to your own physical, mental, and emotional reactions.
Parts of the speech that elicit a response from you are significant make notes what it was about the speech that elicited your reaction. Be aware that your reactions are in part due to your own biases and perspectives.

II. Better Thinking

After the speech is given, you need to organize your notes and observations into a mini-speech. Following are some suggestions for structuring your evaluation:

A. The Evaluators Motto:
1. This is what I saw.
2. This is what I heard.
3. This is how I felt.

B. The Sandwich Technique:
1. What I liked most.
2. How you might improve.
3. List the speakers strengths.

C. The Contest Approach:
1. Content.
2. Organization.
3. Delivery.

D. Follow the Speaker:
1. Evaluate the Introduction.
2. Evaluate the Body.
3. Evaluate the Conclusion.

E. The Objectives Method:
1. Speech Objective #1.
2. Speech Objective #2.
3. Speech Objective #3.
 

III. Better Speaking

A. Frame of Mind
1. Try to like the speech.
2. Try to like the speaker.
3. Be excited by what you've heard.
4. Be a tutor rather than a teacher.

B. Deliver as a Speech
1. Attention Getter. Know your opening line well; speak confidently and upbeat.
2. Tell em what you're going to tell em; Tell em; Tell em what you've told em.
3. Make suggestions for improvement; if you don't have a specific suggestion for improving as aspect of the speech, then don't bring it up.
4. Wield authority by supporting your statements with specific examples from the speech.

C. Use Proper Speaking Protocol
1. Acknowledge your introducer, the audience, and then the speaker by name.
2. Speak primarily to the speaker you are evaluating; use 1st and 2nd person.
3. Thank the speaker, not the audience.

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