Ask any speaker where the maximum
learning happens, and you will get an unanimous answer – Evaluation.
Some call it speech analysis.
Others call it giving feedback? Yes, an evaluator does analyze a speech and
provide feedback, but I prefer to stick to the word Evaluation,
as it epitomizes the act of adding value to a speaker. An evaluator may get as
microscopic as possible, dissect the speech, provide an excellent analysis and
feedback on the speech, but if that doesn’t add value, it is not evaluation.
Every Evaluation Workshop talks about the nuances and techniques of
speech evaluation – compartmentalization, sandwich approach, the CRC model and
many others with fancy names. Whatever approach you follow, unless you keep in mind the following 3 points, an
evaluation may fail at adding value.
Every speaker is a work in progress:
I heard this from my mentor DTM
Nagaraja Rao at multiple instances. When you look at a building that is under
construction, with ugly scaffoldings, and construction material littered
everywhere, you don’t criticize its ugliness, because you know it is work in
progress. You rather look and imagine what it is going to look like on completion.
Also you don’t compare it with other buildings or constructions, because you
know each one is unique in its characteristics. The same is with a speaker.
Every speaker is a work in progress. Every speaker is different from every
other speaker.
Look at the potential the speaker
you are evaluating has, and suggest what he/she can do to climb the next step.
Every speaker has a good side:
We talk about “Areas of
Improvement” but what results is a list of things that the speaker DID NOT do.
You didn’t look at the left side of the audience. Your pacing was not
purposeful.
Think about the phrase Areas of Improvement. Whichever
dictionary I referred to, each of them defined improvement as making something
better.
- To bring into a more desirable or excellent condition
- To make something more useful, profitable, or valuable
- To increase the value of
- To make good use of
So Improvement happens on something good that is already there. It is absolutely impossible that a
speaker doesn’t have anything good. Look for it, highlight it. Let the speaker
know, and encourage him/her to work on it. Working on strengths is always more
effective than working on mistakes. Working on strengths gives the boost, the
confidence, the self-esteem that gradually helps get rid of the petty nuances
like forgetting to address the toastmaster of the day, forgetting to keep hands
unclasped, forgetting the speech in between.
Transformation – one step at a time:
The Pareto Principle or the 80x20
rule is applicable even for speech evaluations. There are 20% of things that a
speaker needs to do, to bring about an 80% improvement in his/her speech. Look
out for those 20% areas. Pick JUST ONE item from those 20%. Be specific, and
tell the speaker exactly what needs to be done to move towards the 80% improvement
in the next speech.
In conclusion, the purpose of a
speech evaluation is not an analysis or post-mortem of a speech by an expert,
but a sincere effort to add value to the speaker by someone who cares.
