EVALUATIONS

Purpose is to encourage:a) the speaker to improveb) others in the audience to improve

BEFORE THE SPEECH

Look in the manual at the speech objectives and the evaluation section

Ask the speaker for any additional personal objectives

DURING THE SPEECH

Listen carefully

Use a simple method of note taking, recording key points

Bear in mind your job is not to retell the speech

As well as technical points, what do you feel?AFTER THE SPEECH

Select the points you want to include in your evaluation (you can discuss other points with the speaker personally)

Group the points into an easy to follow order and structure

Have an identifiable opening, body and conclusion

DURING THE EVALUATION

Make clear throughout it is your personal opinion (“I thought …”) not a collective opinion or impartial decree

Involve the whole audience (if you have difficulty doing this, refer to the speaker in the third person)

AFTER THE EVALUATION

Fill in the manual

Discuss with the speakerTOO SOFT?

To improve the speaker must do things differently – this means they need to change

They look to you to provide the information to enable them to change

Help them realise improvement is: a) possibleb) worthwhile

A whitewash is not appreciated as it comes across as false

Avoid praise that is too general – identify specific strengths

Give specific measures for improvement with methods and examples

If the only recommendations you can think of are trivial … mention them - or it may seem you are hiding worse

TOO HARD? Everyone dislikes naked criticism - not just you!

People acting defensively are unlikely to change

The speaker must do the changing and will only change if motivated

To motivate you need to: a) recognise

achievements,b) build self esteem, c) reduce fear

Resist the temptation to blunt each praiseworthy point with a qualification (e.g. “except that …”)

Direct recommendations to the speech: “I thought the speech …” (football analogy: play for the ball not the person)

A good evaluation makes the speaker look forward to doing their next speech