The General Evaluation

I think the job of General Evaluator is the toughest job at a Toastmasters meeting. It includes a wide variety of tasks, all of which need to take place in a short amount of time. Let’s look at the list:

1. Serve as master of ceremonies for the evaluation portion of the meeting
2. Listen to and build notes on every speech at the meeting to create a frame of reference for reviewing the evaluations to come.
3. Listen to and evaluate every evaluation
4. Make note of everything that happened at the meeting worthy of comment, and
5. Make note of everything that didn’t happen at the meeting and should have.

The above list is only the highlights, and it deals only with things done at the meeting. Some clubs expect the general evaluator to recruit the evaluation team.

As is often the case, planning and preparation can make this job easier: Let’s take a look at three areas that may be of help – how to take notes, what to comment on, and connecting the speech with the evaluation.

How to take notes

I like to take notes on the back of a printed meeting agenda. That way, the agenda itself gives me a who’s who at the meeting, a summary of what to expect in the speeches, and some sense of how much time I have left relative to evaluation points to cover. If there is no written agenda, that becomes a discussion point and I scratch one together based on available information.
The face of the written agenda also gives me a place to put notes for the Toastmaster, the Table Topics Master, and other supporting assistant’s roles. By reading and following the agenda, I use the agenda itself to make sure I do all the things I need to.

On the back side, I draw a vertical line down the middle of the page. The column on the left I use for points I’d want to present to speakers if I were evaluating. During the speeches, I try to list the couple most significant points on each speech. Using horizontal lines, I create a box for each speaker on the left and a box for the corresponding evaluator on the right. I put the name of each speaker and evaluator in the corner of appropriate boxes so I can be sure to remember which evaluator was assigned to any giiven speaker.

As evaluators give their evaluations, I cross off notes I made on the speaker that the evaluator covered, and add notes on points the evaluator raised that I hadn’t. I use the right side of the page for notes on the evaluation itself. What did I like about the way the evaluator did the evaluation. What suggestion can I make to help the evaluator do a better job next time. Given the available time, one or two notes are plenty.

What to comment on

Evaluators evaluate the speaker. The General Evaluator evaluates everyone else, especially the evaluators. As always, the focus is on praise, encouragement, and positive suggestions. I generally present my thoughts in the order they were presented during the meeting.

Most of what you’re evaluating is the performance of the evaluators. To do that, I find it helpful to have a general idea of what I would have commented on. That’s why I take evaluation notes during the speeches. If the evaluator covers a point, I don’t need to repeat it so that comes off my list
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One point I particularly try to praise is if an evaluator comments on something I overlooked and should have caught. This provides positive reinforcement to the evaluator and reminds the whole club that an evaluation is one person’s perception.

Connecting the speech with the Evaluation

I don’t have the time, and there’s usually no need, to evaluate each speech. That’s what the evaluator’s job is. Still, there are two occasions where I want to talk about the speech itself, and I have a specific strategy for doing so on those occasions.

The first occasion arises when the evaluator didn’t address a point I considered important. This may be because he didn’t see it, didn’t agree, or didn’t have time. There’s no way to know. Even so, I can suggest to the evaluator that he might have wanted to comment on this item done wellin a speech or make that suggestion. This has to be phrased so it doesn’t sound like a criticism of the evaluator, but it does provide both the speaker and the evaluator with a point to grow on.

The second case occurs rarely and shouldn’t happen at all. Once in a great while, an evaluator gives an evaluation that is overly critical or even harsh. This is a disaster, for several reasons:

1. Unless the speaker has a thick skin, the club could lose a member. The trust relationship of a supportive environment has been violated.
2. Others in the club may pick up on this and wonder just how safe they’ll be when they give their next speech.
3. The evaluator needs some critical reeducation on how to give evaluations. Even if the speaker and the club are strong enough to recognize a harsh evaluation for what it is, their comfort with that particular evaluator may be compromised.
4. Guests, if any, are going to pick this up and go somewhere else.

If this happens, the General Evaluator’s first job is damage control. Provide support for the speaker so everyone knows the evaluator’s opinion isn’t unanimous and that the support network is essentially intact. This must happen during the meeting, you don’t want guesets leaving with the negative feeling. Don’t phrase this as a criticism of the evaluator – this can cause as much damage as the flawed evaluation. If you get into an argument over how to evaluate a speech, everyone loses.

After the meeting, it’s somebody’s job to privately talk with the evaluator. This may e the general evaluator, the VP of Education, the evaluator’s mentor, or a trusted senior member of the club. Focus on what should be done and why what was done was a problem. The goal is improvement for next time.

Conclusion

General evaluation is a vital but difficult role at any meeting. A good general evaluation provides everyone points to grow on and energizes everyone at the meeting. Although the job is difficult, it can be made easier by using a methodical approach to taking notes, by recognizing what deserves comment, and by limiting evaluation to areas not mentioned by others. It is an exercise in listening, organizing, and speaking all at the same time.