Two days ago, I was invited by Singapore Poly Toastmasters to conduct a 20 minutes workshop on “How To Evaluate”. Decided to transfer my teaching notes here so that more people can learn and master the art of evaluation.

One of the greatest advantage of joining a Toastmasters club is the opportunity for more experienced speakers to give you constructive feedback on what you have done well and what could be done better. They help you identify your blindspots, which when remedied, will make you a lot better as a speaker in the shortest amount of time.

Here’s an important area to take note when you evaluate a speaker.

Essence of Evaluation Lies in “Educating” and “Exciting”

There are three levels to educating a speaker. The first level is identifying the speaker’s strengths and weaknesses. Most evaluators have no problem with that. However, what separates a so-so evaluator from a kick-ass evaluator lies in his ability to go deeper into his evaluation. Here’s when the next level comes in. A good evaluator not only points out the speaker’s strength and weakness. He elaborates by explaining how it is a strength or weakness.

If it is a strength (say sincerity), you got to explain how was sincerity a strength in his speech. For example:

Your sincerity builds credibility which works to your advantage. We feel that we can trust you and hence, we were willing to listen to what you have to say, and even be persuaded to do what you suggested…

You can even go further by explaining how that strength was manifested.

I believe your sincerity came through very strongly because you did not speak with the intention of impressing us. Instead you speak with the intention of helping us overcome this problem. The use of a personal anecdote also hints your sincerity and willingness to open up to us…

In my opinion, I think it is very important to explain HOW the strength was manifested because it allows the speaker to recreate that strength in his future speeches. You got to understand that sometimes the speaker is unaware of how he engages his audience. By letting him know how he did it, he gains control and will be able to manifest that particular strength again in his next speech. Now, won’t that be useful for the speaker?

Want to add more value to the speaker? Try going even deeper by explaining how the speaker can leverage his strength to either further impact the audience or downplay his weakness. For example,

I notice that you were extremely nervous right from the start and only began to warm up in the middle of your speech where you share with us your personal story. You were so engrossed in sharing how you came through the accident that your nervousness simply evaporated. Perhaps you want to start off with another personal story, one that allow you to open up to the audience. This way, you will not be too focused on your nervousness. Instead, you will focus on connecting with the audience!

The same goes with weaknesses of a speaker. Identifying them is level one evaluation. The next logical step is to explain how that was a weakness in the context of the speech the speaker gave. For example,

Your aimless pacing distracts the audience a lot… so much so that I got lost halfway through your speech.

Or

Your apology right at the start discounted you as a credible speaker. It makes us feel that you are not well prepared and instead of concentrating on your message, we were worried for you.

Identifying and explaining why that was a weakness is not enough. It is like telling the person he is stupid without offering suggestions on how he can get smarter. It’s like giving empty advises! Instead, a competent evaluator makes the extra effort to suggest TANGIBLE steps that the speaker can take to realistically overcome his or her weakness. Many a times, we hear evaluators give unhelpful theoretical solutions which only makes the speaker more frustrated. For example,

You have too many pause fillers in your speech. In your next speech, you need to watch that and reduce it.

It’s apparent that you are nervous and have stage fright. The next time you give your speech, simply be yourself. That will make you less nervous…

Speaker: HUH??!!

This, unfortunately, is where the experience of the speaker comes in. For example, in the case of reducing pause fillers, just telling him to be aware is not enough. You got to share with him workable steps that he can take to be aware. Read Urm..Uh…You Know..hmm…oh yeah..pause(uh)fillers. Or in the case of overcoming stage fright, being yourself is too vague! Instead, you may want to find out what is the source of his or her nervousness. Could it be the lack of preparation, lack of experience or even conversations he had in his head?
Each cause has its own solution. Don’t fall into the trap of treating every problem as a nail when you hold a hammer.

Phew… what I have just shared with you is ONE half of a good evaluation - Educating!

How about exciting the speaker?

There’s no point giving a fantastic review of the speaker’s performance that makes him demoralized. One way of exciting the speaker is to come from the intention of forwarding the speaker. Be sure to acknowledge what he has done well and remind him about the purpose of joining the Toastmasters. That’s right - it is to GROW! So tell him that your suggestions come from the intention of helping him improve. Be sure to make your evaluation SPEAKER-centric. Personalized it for him!

One way of ensuring you to personalize the evaluation is to first get to know the speaker! It is good practice to meet up with the speaker before the meeting and have a chat. Find out what the speaker wants you to look out for. Take a look at the past evaluations to get a sense of where he or she is in terms of speaking standards. Most importantly, be his friend and let him know that you are here to help him improve. With all that being set up, the speaker will no longer feel intimidated and he will take all your suggestions with a pinch of salt.

If you want to excite your speaker, make sure you offer him certainty. Certainty in the form of tangible steps that he can take to improve. Nothing frustrates a speaker more than not knowing what to do next after receiving the heartbreaking evaluation of how he sucks. Also refrain from whitewashing the speaker, over-complimenting him. No matter how good the speaker is, there is always some area that he can improve. Again, talking to him beforehand helps.

Evaluators are - in my opinion - the weakest link to the Toastmasters club. So what if the speakers are enthusiastic and courageous in doing their projects. You still need effective and sharp evaluators who can offer constructive feedback that can help forward the speaker in the right direction. So how do you become a powerful evaluator?

Simple. Volunteer to evaluate at your club meetings. Offer to evaluate at your club meetings. And if you are game, I suggest you evaluate every speaker that come your way. If you preside in a meeting, do silent evaluation for all the speakers. When you are in a business meeting, evaluate whoever that is up there. Write down three things he did well and three things he did poorly or can be improved. Find out HOW he manage to do well and offer workable steps that he can take to improve.

If you keep doing that on a day to day basis, you are going to be a superstar evaluator, one who will be highly coveted everywhere. Remember this, as you shine the lights unto others, you automatically light up your way too. The more you evaluate, the better you become as a speaker!

Cheers,
Eric Feng
Your Public Speaking Coach

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