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    Listening: the Art of Speech Evaluation
    Listening: the Art of Speech Evaluation
    Listening: the Art of Speech Evaluation
    Ebook107 pages2 hours

    Listening: the Art of Speech Evaluation

    By Val Adolph

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    About this ebook

    This book is for Toastmasters who are asked to evaluate the speeches of others. In readable style and in short chapters it begins by looking at the principles underlying helpful and supportive speech evaluations. Written by a Distinguished Toastmaster, much of the book offers suggestions to help evaluators through some of the trickier evaluations as well as evaluation contests.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherVal Adolph
    Release dateJul 8, 2012
    ISBN9780968674727
    Listening: the Art of Speech Evaluation
    Author

    Val Adolph

    Valerie Fletcher Adolph has earned the Distinguished Toastmaster designation and has presented on narrative topics at Toastmaster conferences and for the Federation of BC Writers. She has produced works in a wide range of genres but her first love is story. Her understanding of narrative strategy and her keen insight into human character draws her readers effortlessly into a narrative experience. Valerie’s writing has appeared in peer-reviewed academic journals, as columns in weekly newspapers, magazines and in her blogs (which are read in 81 countries). Her work has been broadcast on CBC radio and featured in anthologies including, “Chicken Soup for the Soul.” She has also published books about volunteering, leadership and about story building for Toastmasters International members. Her working life encompasses teaching in England (where she was born and educated) and in Canada. She has worked with developmentally challenged people and with older ESL students. She was a finalist in the contests of the 2007, 2009, 2010 Surrey International Writers Conference and winner of the Story Dynamics ‘Personal Story’ award in 2006. This book about speech evaluation comes from eight years experience as a sought-after evaluator and as winner of her Division evaluation contest.

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      Book preview

      Listening - Val Adolph

      Listening

      The Art of Speech Evaluation

      Valerie Fletcher Adolph

      -

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright 2012 Valerie Fletcher Adolph

      No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher, except for brief passages quoted by a reviewer in a magazine or newspaper.

      Table of Contents

      INTRODUCTION

      ABOUT EVALUATIONS

      What is a Toastmaster Evaluation

      Ten Secrets of a Strong Evaluation

      A Quick Look at Methods and Systems of Evaluating

      My Own Evaluation Method

      Not just Me - The Interactive Evaluation

      THE EVALUATOR AND THE SPEAKER

      Your First Evaluation

      I’m Scared of Evaluating

      I’m not Experienced Enough

      Mine isn’t a very good speech

      Knowing the Speaker

      A Last Minute Evaluation

      I strongly disagree

      Using Afterwards

      ABOUT THE EVALUATION

      Listening

      Listening 2 - The Difficult Evaluation

      Listening 3 Active Listening

      What is the Audience Telling You?

      Positives

      Your speech was wonderful!

      The Perfect Speech

      How Many Tips Should I Give?

      Bald Tips

      Whitewashing

      Evaluating a Poor Speaker

      STRUCTURE

      The Message

      Understanding the Objective of the Speech

      The Theme

      Transitions

      Did it Build?

      CONTENT

      Looking at the Organization

      Finding Unity in the Speech

      Evaluating a Motivational or Inspirational Speech

      Evaluating an Inspirational Speech

      Evaluating a Powerpoint Speech

      Evaluating a Story

      Evaluating an Unusual Speech

      Evaluating a Humorous Speech

      Too Much Information

      Spilled Guts

      PRESENTATION

      Movement

      Gestures

      Gestures 2

      Voice

      LAST THOUGHTS

      The Evaluation Contest

      10 Reminders about Evaluating

      My Favorite Evaluators

      INTRODUCTION

      My favorite role in a Toastmaster meeting (other than speaker) is evaluator. It always surprises me when I hear people say that they try to avoid the role of evaluator. I’ve asked why they avoid the role and I get some version of:

      - It’s too hard

      - I might say the wrong thing

      - I don’t know what to say

      If this has been you — anxious and uncertain about the role of evaluator - this book is for you. Read on to discover skills you already have. You’ll build on these and learn new skills. You’ll find insights and ideas from many different sources. And you’ll find confidence.

      You too can give great evaluations!

      You can give a 360° evaluation - vivid, multi-dimensional.

      What makes me think I can help you along this journey?

      - I’ve been a member of Toastmasters International for almost eight years

      - I am a Distinguished Toastmaster

      - I’m an award-winning writer, published in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom

      - For my High Performance Leadership project I produced the ‘Story Solver’ book and blog

      - I’ve been Toastmaster of the Year in my club three times

      - I’ve won my Division Evaluation contest (and we have a strong Division)

      - And, oh, yes! I love doing evaluations. I evaluate speeches every chance I get.

      Why do I enjoy them?

      - It makes me really listen to the speech. I get the full value of it; my mind cannot be wondering off elsewhere

      - A strong evaluation is a great gift to the speaker, giving them confidence in their strengths and ideas for growth. I like giving gifts.

      - Analyzing speeches often helps me to analyze other forms of communication. When I hear political speeches or sales pitches I can better understand their meaning and message (or lack thereof).

      - Evaluating speeches helps me to improve my own speeches. It’s hard to say to another speaker Perhaps if you made stronger gestures… if I, as a speaker, stand rigid at the podium.

      - People respect a strong evaluator. If you’d like to gain respect within your club you’ll find that learning to give helpful evaluations is a ticket to earning that respect.

      You’ll find this book is a series of short chapters each focusing on a different aspect of evaluations. I’m including input from many sources, most especially from individual Toastmasters who have asked questions and given insights and advice.

      We’ll start with a short chapter defining ‘Evaluation’ as we use the term in a Toastmaster meeting.

      ABOUT EVALUATIONS

      What is a Toastmaster Evaluation?

      Evaluations are the strength of Toastmasters. Usually an evaluation is one Toastmaster taking the responsibility of standing up and offering opinions on what was strong about a speech and making one or two suggestions for improvement. It is one person’s opinion, generated with all the wisdom, kindness and experience that the evaluator can offer.

      An evaluation usually starts with the words It is my privilege/honor to evaluate… Then you add the usual greeting to Mr/Madam Toastmaster, fellow Toastmasters, welcome guests."

      You’ll find variations from time to time — an evaluator asking the audience for their input, or a round robin evaluation where everyone in the audience is given the opportunity to comment and make suggestions.

      Most often, though, you’ll find one speaker matched with one evaluator. To help the evaluator Toastmasters has produced a small booklet about evaluations. Also, the speaker usually is working on a specific project from a Toastmaster manual.

      This manual gives you, the evaluator, areas to evaluate specifically for that project. These have been carefully selected for their relevance so use them as a guide, especially if the speaker is using the Competent Communicator manual.

      The evaluation helps to build the speaker’s confidence by pointing out strengths that the speaker may not have known they had. Some of these strengths may seem obvious — this speaker has a strong voice - but still the speaker, especially a new speaker, appreciates your noticing it.

      Some strengths are less obvious. Did you notice how this speaker pauses after he has made a main point? A new speaker may not even have realized he was doing this. Wow! He is better at this speaking thing than he realized. He is doubly proud and the audience has heard a valuable pointer to incorporate in their own speeches.

      The evaluation also offers suggestions for improvement. Not just

      You were standing still all the time.

      But the same point made in the form of a suggestion of how to do it better.

      Perhaps next time you could move away from the podium.

      An evaluation is NOT a recap of the speech. It is NOT an opportunity to show how much better you are than the speaker was.

      The suggestion for improvement is NOT a form of cruelty. It is a gold nugget of insight that will help the person

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