EVALUATOR
Constructive criticism paves the road to perfection.
People join Toastmasters to improve their speaking and leadership skills, and these skills are improved with the help of evaluations. Members complete projects in their manuals and your role is to evaluate their work. Provide both verbal and written evaluations for Speakers using the guide in their own manual.
By providing reinforcement for their strengths and gently offering useful advice, you motivate members to work hard and improve. When you show the way to improvement, you’ve opened the door to strengthening their ability. Preparing and presenting evaluations is also an opportunity for you to practice your listening, critical thinking, feedback and motivational skills. And when the time comes to receive feedback, you’ll have a better understanding of the process.
PRIOR TO THE MEETING
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Days before the meeting, review the Effective Evaluation manual.
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Talk with the Speaker you’ve been assigned to evaluate and find out which manual project they will present. Review the project goals and what the Speaker hopes to achieve. Evaluation requires careful preparation if the Speaker is to benefit. Therefore, study the project objectives as well as the evaluation guide in the manual. Remember, the purpose of evaluation is to help people develop their speaking or leadership skills in various situations.
BEFORE THE MEETING
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When you arrive at the meeting, speak briefly with the General Evaluator to confirm the evaluation session format.
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Talk to the Speaker askigend to you and retrieve their manual. Ask one last time if he or she has any specific goals in mind.
DURING THE MEETING
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Record your impressions in the Speaker's own manual, along with your answers to the evaluation questions. Be as objective as possible. Remember that good evaluations may give new life to discouraged members and poor evaluations may dishearten members who tried their best. Always provide specific methods for improving and present them in a positive manner.
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Make sure you follow the agenda projected on the screen, and come up to the hot seat well before the Toastmaster introduces you. Once you are called by the Toastmaster stand and come to the front to present your evaluation. Though you may have written lengthy responses to manual evaluation questions, try to be as brief as possible. Don’t read the questions on the manual. Your verbal evaluation time is limited. Don’t try to cover too much in your talk; two or three points is plenty.
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Begin and end your evaluation with a note of encouragement or praise. Commend a successful speech and describe specifically how it was successful. Don’t allow the Speaker to remain unaware of a valuable asset such as a smile or a sense of humor or an extraordinary remark. Likewise, don’t permit the Speaker to remain ignorant of a serious fault: if it is personal, write it but don’t mention it aloud.
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Give the Speaker deserved praise and tactful suggestions in the manner you would like to receive them.
AFTER THE MEETING
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Return the manual to the Speaker.
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Add another word of encouragement and answer any questions the Speaker may have. By giving feedback, you are personally contributing to your fellow members’ improvement.