I delivered this presentation on effective evaluation at Goizueta Toastmasters, an upcoming club at Goizueta Business School. (Emory University)

1. Evaluate to
Motivate
Amit Bhatnagar (ALB, ACB)
Credits:
Deepak Menon, Ritu Arora, Poonam Jain
(All DTMs, District 82)

2. Purpose of evaluation
 Providing immediate feedback
 Offering methods for improvement
 Building and maintaining self-esteem

3. Before the speech
 Know the project objectives
 Talk with the speaker about:
• Manual objectives
• Any additional concerns
 Show that you are interested

4. During the speech
 Take notes, but stay focused
 Use project objectives and evaluation-
sheet to guide yourself
 Additional things to always focus on:
body-language, voice-modulation,
pauses, etc.

5. Evaluation delivery
 It’s a mini-speech too!
 Sandwich approach
• Commend
• Recommend
• Commend
 Don’t try to cover
everything
 Do NOT evaluate in Q/A
format as per the
evaluation sheet

6. General guidelines
 Address the person directly
 Use “I”, not “we”; remember your
evaluation is what you felt
 Evaluate the speech, not the speaker
 Be specific, quote examples!
 Remember the project objectives and
speaker’s concerns

7. Commend!
 The speaker is his worst critic; Be his
positive advocate
 Address what the speaker did right
 Cover the project objectives
 Compliment speaker if he addressed the
concerns expressed before the speech
 Make a special note where speaker
exceeded project objectives

8. Recommend!
 Address what could have been done better
 Understand how it is different from “what the
speaker did wrong”
 Don’t just point out areas of improvements.
Suggest “How”
 Avoid judgment-phrases: “You should..”, “Good
speakers don’t..” “Always..”, “Never..”
 Always remember the project objectives
 Point out areas of improvement from higher
projects, only if current project objectives are
met perfectly

9. Commend!!
 Keep one positive comment for the end
OR
 Re-mention the strongest point
 Preferably, a general comment beyond
the project objectives
 End on a positive note

10. Things to remember
 Some speakers say: “I don’t want the
positive stuff”. They are lying!
 No whitewash!
 Personalize the evaluation, but…
 .. evaluation not a time to tell your story

11. What about Ahs and
Grammar issues?
 Better left to Ah-counter and
Grammarian
 If excessive, make a mention and then,
move on to other points
 Okay to point out the positive aspects
(Vivid language, right pauses etc.)

12. A note to the speaker
 Don’t defend; your evaluator is evaluating
what he heard, not what you meant
 Talk to evaluator after the meeting for details
 Talk to other people for better opinion
 The evaluator is not your traditional teacher;
he is learning too!
 This may be just one person’s opinion

13. Variations
 Commend-Recommend-Summarize
 Third person delivery
 Panel evaluation
 Video-evaluation
 “Stop the speaker” evaluation

14. Evaluate to
Motivate
Any questions?