Club Role - Speech Evaluator

The Toastmasters formal setting provides members with the speaking opportunities and support to enhance their individual speaking. With this in mind the evaluator both introduces the speaker and provides feedback to the speaker following the "commend recommend commend" principle.

The Evaluator should consult with the speaker up to seven days prior to the meeting to get the speech title, speech number, timing and objectives. Please do this by phone or in person. Unless it is by mutual agreement, emailing the speaker to get the details is too impersonal and tends to not be well received.

The evaluator should obtain a copy of the assignment chapter when the speech is from an advanced manual that the evaluator has not completed.

The time and title are passed on to the Chairman to include in agenda by Monday evening at the latest.

Look through the speaker's manual on the day to pick up on any common factors from prior evaluations. These could be basis for comments or points to look for. Read the evaluation criteria for this speech.

When introducing the speaker provide some background and outline the assignment and any personal objectives. The title is introduced followed by the name and the individual welcomed up. Hold your ground wait for them to come to you on the stage and then leave with a warm hand shake. Ensure that your introduction does not pre-empt the speech.

Sit back listen and concentrate on the speech, but try to avoid being too absorbed to observe how it is being presented against the objectives. Identify the good points, the great points and areas to enhance. Remember the evaluation is your opinion of this speech in the context that it is given. Make sure you are evaluating the delivery and any technical features of the speech, such as structure and the way the content is presented. Do NOT evaluate the actual content. The evaluation is not your opportunity to disagree or otherwise with the speech's message.

If, at the end of the speech you feel that the speaker has not met the speech objectives, you will need to be very careful how you handle the evaluation. Click here for some useful tips.

During the oral evaluation select a small number of specific areas (both commendations and recommendations) to mention that that you feel will be of the most value for the whole audience to hear. Give examples of how any recommendations could be implemented.

After the evaluation, or after the meeting, fill in the speaker's manual and then after the meeting discuss the evaluation and written comments in more detail with the speaker. While the oral evaluation should be open and honest, this private evaluation is the best place to make any more sensitive comments and to discuss the speech in more detail.

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