People join Toastmasters to improve their speaking and leadership skills and the only way they can achieve that is by receiving feedback or an evaluation on their progress. When you are asked to evaluate a speaker you will be required to give a spoken evaluation and a written evaluation which can be uploaded to BaseCamp.
When evaluating a speaker your aim is to help the speaker to be less self-conscious and a better speaker. They should feel encouraged and motivated to give their best and where recommendations are given they should be realistic and in line with the speakers level of skill.
Before the meeting
Talk to the speaker to familiarize yourself with the objectives of the project they are completing from their Pathway. Ask them if they want you to pay particular attention to any specific aspect of the speech.
Please make sure you have a pen and paper to make notes for your spoken evaluation. You should ideally use the Evaluation Guide for the speaker’s specific project, which you can download directly from BaseCamp.
During the meeting
Before the speaker begins, the TME (Toastmaster of the Evening) will ask you to give a brief introduction regarding the speaker, the project they are completing and the objectives of the project. As you are setting the stage, the introduction should be positive and awaken the enthusiasm of the audience so that they look forward to the speech. When evaluators introduce a speaker, they should always confirm the time permitted for the project being undertaken and the title of the speech. The Speaker should then be welcomed to the stage with a hearty round of applause.
You are allocated 1 minute for convey this information to the audience
During the speech make notes relating to the objectives they have achieved, the positive points, areas that may be improved and provide suggestions that will assist them grow
A general Toastmaster rule in evaluating is to, commend, commend, recommend and commend. The following table may guide you
EVALUATE
E – Engaged
V – Vocal Variety
A – Appeal to the audience
L – Did you learn anything?
U – Did you understand what the speaker said
A – Awareness of the space around him/her
T – Tone (was the speaker easy to listen to)
E – Entertaining
When you are asked to give your spoken evaluation always end on a positive note so that the speaker feels encouraged.
You are allocated 3 minutes for your spoken evaluation
At the end of the meeting
Ask the speaker whether they have any immediate questions about your spoken evaluation, and confirm you will be following up with written feedback within the next few days. For the written feedback, you should ideally follow the Evaluation Guide for their specific project, which you can download directly from BaseCamp, but any format which works well for you both is fine.
The evaluator’s role helps members to gain greater organizational skills, to listen, to practice critical thinking, feedback and motivation
Please ensure that you complete the your first pathways level when you undertake this role and record the role against your profile in BaseCamp
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