Evaluations

Evaluations

Evaluations are necessary to show us how well we perform in our presentations and how well our meeting is going. They complete the lesson in effective communications. The evaluations are feedback in the communication process, just as speeches are the messages in the same process.

The Toastmaster of the Day introduces the General Evaluator who then takes over the meeting. The GE first introduces evaluators for each of the speakers. After their evaluations are given, the grammarian and the Ah's counter are given. The GE then evaluates the meeting as a whole.

You will receive an evaluation for every speech you give. It consists of the positive elements of your speech, any areas of improvement, and a thoughtful comclusion. You need to know what were strengths as well as weaknesses of your presentation in order to know what areas you need to improve. It is important that your evaluations be honest, otherwise you would now know where you need to improve your speech. Please don't be afraid to know what went wrong with your speech. Yes, it is hard to accept criticism. But, as it is said elsewhere here, we are all friends and we all went through the same thing. Nobody likes to be told what to do or how to improve. But if you want to get better at speaking in public and improve your chances of promotion and likewise, then please learn it here from here and with us--your friends. Please hear what we have to say. What is said at a Toastmasters meeting stays at that meeting. However, if you wish to talk about it after the meeting, which we encourage, to get more details on your presentation please do so privately with your evaluator. We do not want any feelings hurt.

Sometimes you may be called to evaluate a speech. It is not hard to do. Just get with the speaker and use his or her speech manual to form your evaluation. In the manual you are asked to rate the presentation along certain guidelines, depending on the objective of the speech. Make comments in the speech manual as the speaker delivers his or her presentation. When you give your evaluation, we suggest that you present the speakers strengths, weaknesses, and a closing thought in that order, using your written comments as a guide. If you are not provided with a manual to evaluate someone's speech, we suggest you rate it according to content, organization, and delivery.

After speech evaluations are given, the grammarian gives his or her evaluation. You will hear how everyone upheld or broke any rules of grammar. Perhaps a wrong tense was used for a verb. The subject and predicate choices may have been mismatched. Or, a wrong word was used. The grammarian also states how many times the "Word of the Day" was used.
Evaluations are timed with the green light coming on at two minutes, the amber lighto on at 2 minutes 30 seconds, and the red light on at three minutes. As with Table Topics and speeches, timing during contests becomes more crucial.

After all the evaluations are given, we vote for the best evaluation using the ballots provided. These ballots are then given to the Ballot Counter for tabulation.

The Timer then states how long each evaluation lasted. He or she may state the time of each presentation or simply state if each evaluator "qualified," meaning to fall within time limits imposed by the International Evaluation Contest rules. The Timer may also give actual times of the evaluations. If you took part, please notice if and how your evaluation fell within the time limits. If it just made minimum time, consider how you could add another supporting fact or example to lengthen your evaluation. If you had the red light come on, then cut something out to shorten your speech. Don't forget to leave in an area of improvement for the speaker (more than one speaker if needed or desired for the Grammarian). If you were told you did not qualify or if you noticed on your own that your evaluation fell below minimum or over maximum time, then you may need to rework how you would present your evaluation next time. Working with the time limits gives you good practice should you decide to participate in the contest.

The General Evaluator then returns the control of the meeting to the Toastmaster of the Day.