Have you ever given advice that wasn’t well received? If that’s the case and you had attended this week’s meeting you defiantly got some great advice on this topic. Toastmaster Ian and workshop leader Jay spoke on this subject and hosted a workshop dedicated to “Constructive and Destructive Evaluations.”
Toastmaster Ian kicked off the meeting with a speech describing the importance of giving and receiving evaluations. The key take away being, done correctly evaluations are extremely useful. As Ian underscored, how else would we know where we need to improve? Next up Jay shared with us seven excellent keys to giving a constructive evaluation. They are as follows: be sincere; critique specifically to the person’s speaking shill level; consider the project objectives; listen carefully; personalize your language (example: “I feel…” rather than “you should…”); give positive reinforcements by recognizing the speaker’s strengths; and last but not least, always give a fully developed suggestion for improvement with an example. Also, he explained the no-fail Toastmasters International sandwich technique for evaluations: start off by saying something positive, what you liked about the speech, then follow this with a helpful suggestion for improvement, and the finish on a positive note by commenting on what the speaker did very well.
To test our evaluation skills, Mark presented his ice breaker speech to the group. Speaking on his passion for sports and how this relates to his current government job and his interest in political and social justice Mark did a great job presenting. Evaluating Mark was our advanced evaluator Ram, a DTM, and evaluating Jay’s workshop was another experienced evaluator John K. Both gave model examples of helpful, encouraging evaluations following the sandwich technique.
Congratulations to Mark who performed his very first speech, and to Andrew, who took on the role as general evaluator for the first time at Liberty Village Toastmasters Club. Combined with the great insights provided by Ian and Jay, I’m sure we’ll all be better evaluators the next time we’re called on. Well done, everyone!
– Rose
The Liberty Village Toastmasters Group is one of Toronto’s premier public-speaking groups. Join us as a guest at our next meeting! Guests are always welcome and no appointment is necessary.
