How to General Evaluator the RDG Way

1. What is the General Evaluator?

Once you have performed all of the other duties involved in a club meeting and presented at least three speeches, you will be ready to serve as General Evaluator. The General Evaluator is responsible for evaluating all aspects of the meeting, but especially for commenting on the performance of the evaluators. This is a very important role and helps keep the club healthy and strong.

Like the evaluator role, the GE will develop your observation, critical thinking, and speaking skills.

2. Before, During, & After the Meeting

This section will help you prepare and execute the role of GE.

2.1. Before the Meeting

As GE, you should be familiar with each of the meeting duties, preferably by having done them yourself. This will help you with the ins and outs of each role and give you a better understanding of how to provide good feedback. Barring that, research the guides available here and other resources to prepare yourself. 

Ensure that you understand the requirements for each speech to be given. This will help you when evaluating the evaluators.

Consult with the Toastmaster for any special considerations they may have prior to the meeting; as with evaluator and speaker, the Toastmaster may be wanting to improve aspects of their meeting skills they want you to watch for.

Some clubs will have you introduce the WAG, timer, and other role holders as part of your team. If this is the case, make sure you are familiar with how to pronounce their names and what role they have.

Some clubs will have you give introductions for the evaluators, as well as have you prepare one for the Toastmaster. Make sure you secure these ahead of time.

If the Toastmaster has a theme for the meeting, you can theme your segment around that theme, as with other roles.

2.2. During the Meeting

Sit in a position where you can easily observe the entire meeting. Prepare to take notes on both the positive and negative aspects of the meeting.

One framework for organizing your report and your notes is the TEECO format:

• Timely – Did we respect everyone’s time?
  
• Did the meeting start on time? Will the meeting end on time? 
• Have the meeting segments progressed on time?
• Have we been mindful of time when in control of the meeting?
• Entertaining – Was the meeting worth coming to?
• Was a theme used? How effective was it?
• What specific parts of the meeting were enjoyable? How can more of these moments be created next time?
• Educational – What did we learn from this meeting?
• Provide feedback for the evaluators
• Were speeches done according to manuals?
• Who completed a task in their CL manual?
• Challenging – What motivated us to grow?
• Was the word of the day appropriate to the theme and skill level of the club?
• Were table topics appropriate to the skill level of the club?
• Were members assigned roles appropriate to their skill level?
• Organized – Was the meeting well planned and setup?
• Was the room ready ahead of time? (evaluation forms, seating, lighting, ribbons, etc.)
• Was the agenda completed, with roles assigned appropriate to the levels of skill in the audience? Was it printed for everyone?
• Were introductions provided to the Toastmaster?

Monitor the speakers’ as if you were an evaluator. Compare your notes against what your evaluators deliver. Some guidelines for what to watch for include:

• Did the evaluator point out the objectives (or at least, give an executive summary of them) for the project? Did they comment on how these were met?
  
• Did the evaluator point out what was good about the speech that everyone can benefit from? (i.e. what were the positive examples of the speech?)
  
• Did the evaluator point out some areas for improvement in a tactful way? Were the suggestions to improve specific and actionable?
  
• Was the logic behind the evaluator’s observations presented clearly? (e.g. “I noticed your eye contact was good because you delivered an entire thought while focused on a single audience member.”)
  
• Did the evaluator take care to “pad” their statements with phrases such as “I feel” or “I think” when appropriate?
  
• What did the evaluator end with? Was it something positive, or something negative?
  
• Did the evaluator structure the evaluation in an easy to follow way?
  
• Did the evaluator refrain from making the evaluation a rebuttal or a response to the content presented? For example, if the speaker gave a speech about supporting issue X, did the evaluator spend time speaking against issue X?
  
• Did the evaluator keep themselves within time?
  
• Did the evaluator tailor their evaluation to the theme of the meeting?
  

Some other things to watch for include:

• Recognition of and first impressions for guests
  
• Introductions/transfer of Meeting Control

When it's time for the Toastmaster to begin the evaluation portion of the meeting, transfer control and begin your segment. Introduce the first evaluator, then take back control once they finish. Repeat for the other evaluators, if applicable. After the evaluators are finished, ask for a timers report. If your club votes for a best evaluator and there were two or more evaluators, conduct that vote (as well as any other voting that needs to be done). Provide your report on the meeting and the evaluators, then turn control back over to the Toastmaster once you're finished.

Again, be sure to point out the good things as well as those needing improvement. Keep your remarks limited to 3-5 minutes, not including calling for WAG and timer reports.

2.3. After the Meeting

If your feedback for the meeting is not recorded in an after meeting report or put on Easy Speak, the improvements you suggest are going to go to waste, and the club will not improve as much. Consider providing your remarks to the VPE and Secretary; the former to place into meeting notes and the latter to include in an after meeting report.

3. Suggestions

• Use a checklist or make notes of the different areas you will be discussing during the evaluation.
  
• Try to evaluate the meeting in order of the agenda instead of jumping around.
  
• Don’t spend time evaluating the speakers; that’s what your evaluators are for. Focus on evaluating your evaluators. If there was something vitally important they missed in their evaluations, then you may comment on the speakers.