How to Evaluator the RDG Way

1. What is the Evaluator?

The goal of the evaluator is to provide the prepared speakers with specific, actionable feedback they can use to improve their next speech. Once you have given two or three speeches of your own, you should be ready to evaluate the performance of a fellow Toastmaster (this will vary from person to person as well as club to club). To give an effective evaluation you will need to prepare diligently, listen carefully, analyze quickly, and evaluate constructively.

Being an evaluator offers tremendous opportunities to develop your observation, critical thinking, and speaking skills. It can be a tough role to fill, but with some guidance, can be considerably easier.

2. Before, During, and After the Meeting

As with other roles, we'll cover how to prepare, execute, and follow up on your role.

2.1. Before the Meeting

Contact the speaker you are scheduled to evaluate ahead of time. You will want to discuss speech objectives and any special points the speaker may want you to watch for. Remind the speaker to bring their manual or evaluation forms so that you may write your comments and they can get credit for their work.

If the speaker is working in the Pathways system, they should be able to send you their evaluation materials ahead of time for you to get familiar with it. 

If the Toastmaster has set a theme, you can think about how to use it to theme your evaluation ahead of time.

If you plan to use one or more of the worksheets found in the resources section, be sure to print those out.

2.2. During the Meeting

Bring pen & paper to the meeting. Sit in a place that makes it easy to see the speaker you are assigned to.

Make sure the speaker gives you their manual or evaluation forms before the meeting starts. 

Consider using the CODE model for organizing your evaluation points. You can either use the worksheet in the resources section, or simply use a blank sheet of paper. For the latter option, on the top margin, include the title and some project details. Split the paper into large quadrants (four even spaces) with a segment reserved at the bottom 1/4th of the page. Label the top left section "Content", the top right section "Organization", the bottom left section "Delivery", and the bottom right section "Effectiveness/Everything Else". As the speaker progresses, make notes about aspects that stand out in the relevant sections (see below for some suggestions). Be sure to watch for both strengths and weaknesses.

You will not have time to talk about all the points that occur to you. You will want to consider the project objectives and speaker's objectives first and foremost. Make plus and minus marks next to the comments you have in your CODE quadrants; take the most relevant of these and circle them. In the lower reserved section, come up with 2-3 points per side (left side positive, right side negative) based on what you circled; pick out the most positive item you found and save that for the very bottom. 

When the General Evaluator calls you, transfer control, pause, then deliver your evaluation. A "template" you can use is the Good-Better-Best formula: Open, and give a brief executive summary of the speech objectives, followed by a concise roadmap of what you’ll review, then move into the good points, what needed improvement (what could be better), and close on the item the speaker did best. If there is a meeting theme, you can adapt your evaluation to fit it (e.g. if the theme is "The Olympics", the good points could be "Top Highlights", improvements could be "False Starts", and the best thing could be the "Gold Medal Moment"). 

For good points, make brief statements about why you thought they enhanced the speech (e.g. "Your eye contact was relaxed and focused; it gave me the impression you were comfortable and in command on stage"). For improvements, you may want to make brief statements about what you saw, how it impacted the speech, and possible ideas for improvement (e.g. "I noticed that you sometimes look up when you get unsure about where you're going to go in your speech. This can be slightly distracting. You may want to try simplifying your speech to make it easier to remember."). For the best item, make sure you explain why you thought it was the best aspect. 

To be sure you complete your evaluation in time, default to two positives, two negatives, and the best; if you have a small positive or negative that can be stated in under 10-15 seconds, you may include it, but keep it toward the end of that respective section so it can be dropped if you notice time is running out.

CODE Evaluation Sample Aspects to Watch For

Content

• Appropriate for the intended audience?
  
• Interesting to intended audience?
  
• Was any material not needed or could something be added to bolster the speech?
  
• Did the speaker focus on themselves or relate to the audience?
  
• Did the supporting material have logical and emotional appeal?
  
• If visual aids were used, what about their relevance, salience, and quality? If no visual aids, would some help?

Organization

• Was the speech easy to follow, flowing in a natural order?
• How were the transitions?
  
• Were the objectives clearly stated?
  
• Did you ever feel lost during the speech?

Delivery

• Evaluate vocal quality: Pitch, tone, rate, volume.
  
• Were there sufficient pauses? 
  
• Was the body language appropriate?
  
• Was there appropriate use of the stage?
  
• If visual aids were used, were they used smoothly, with no technical issues?
  
• What about eye contact? 
  

Effectiveness

• Did the speaker open and close in compelling ways? 
  
• Did you feel compelled to listen?
  
• Did you feel motivated to know more or take action because of the speech?
  
• Were the speaker’s objectives met?
  
• If the speaker was trying to motivate the audience to take action, do you feel they have the ability and knowledge to do so? 
  

2.3. After the Meeting

It's almost guaranteed that you won't have enough time to talk about all the strengths and weaknesses you noticed in the speech. If the speaker is available, try to briefly meet with them to discuss the evaluation and the remaining points you have. 

Make sure you give them their manual or evaluation sheets, or complete their online evaluation (Pathways).

3. Suggestions

• Be supportive! Phrase your statements as opinions instead of judgments. This can be done by personalizing your suggestions (“I thought” or “I felt”). When you cover the speaker’s weaknesses, try to suggest solutions if time permits.
  
• Consult with the speaker to find out if there is anything in particular they want you to look for. This can help you tailor your evaluation to their needs.
  
• Don’t rehash the speech in detail. The time limit for evaluations expires very quickly. Choose only two key strengths and perhaps two major areas for improvement.
  
• Be sure to consider the speaker’s personality and experience in your review. Never reprimand the speaker.
  
• If you've seen this speaker before, you may want to consider noting improvements from their previous speeches over time, as well as habits they may have.
• Don’t be too easy on more seasoned speakers and ensure that the less experienced speakers get constructive criticism. Adjust your evaluation based on their experience and the pre-speech conversation you have.
  

4. Evaluator Q&As

The speaker I've been assigned to is really advanced. What do I do?

Follow the suggestions in this lesson. If the advanced speaker seems to make no mistakes no matter how hard you scrutinize them, it's not necessarily that you're a bad evaluator; it's just that you may need more experience. Sometimes the issues to be found are less with mechanics and more with effectiveness. You may want to step back and consider how the speech impacted you.

The speaker said things I don't agree with. What do I do?

Step back and take a breath. Remind yourself that evaluating the speech isn't endorsing or agreeing with the content. Remember that your task isn't to debate with the speaker. Content can be evaluated according to its logic and the evidence for it, but stay away from providing counter-points (e.g. "Jack argued that homelessness is caused by Democrats, but if you look at the HUD reports of 2018 you'll see it was really the Republicans"). If you want to present the counter-arguments, consider doing a speech that addresses them.

I'm trying to find something "wrong" in the speech but they killed it. What do I do?

Sometimes this just happens, and you can't find anything wrong. In that case, you may want to comment in your improvement section that "the only thing I found wrong is that you weren't able to have more speaking time" or something according to those lines.

I can't find anything good about the speech I just heard. What now?

Take a breath or two and try to look at the basics to find some positives. For newer speakers, this may just be mustering up the courage to be in front of the club.

5. Video