Evaluating for Presentation

The COPE model of evaluation focuses on four areas – content, organization, presentation, and extras. It encourages you to think about the evaluation the same way the speaker thinks about his speech. This article focuses on the third of those four areas – speech presentation skills.

What are Presentation Skills

Half the projects in the basic manual address presentation skills. Project four addresses gestures, facial expressions, and eye contact. Project five works on vocal variety. Project six focuses on language, eight on props, and nine on persuasion. While content and organization apply almost as well to a document as to a speech, presentation focuses on one speech given one time to one audience.

This is familiar ground for evaluation. We recognize nervousness by its impact on presentation skills. When we suggest more vocal variety, focusing on eye contact, or the use of a prop, we are making a suggestion based on the presentation. When we praise the use of language or the persuasiveness of an argument, we are describing presentation skills.

Overview

Presentation skills are important tools, fundamentals a speaker needs to learn so well that most will come on demand. History has many examples of people with brilliant ideas who lacked the presentation skills to meet their goals. In school, your best teachers knew their subject matter, knew their students, and knew how to present what they were teaching.

Highly proficient speakers evolve away from the “how” of presentation skills to “what”. Their concern is not whether a gesture would be appropriate at a particular point and how to do it, it is which of many gestures would best serve at any given point. This is very subjective, and therefore fair ground for your opinion as an evaluator.

An evaluation of presentation skills needs to take the speaker and situation into account. It’s important to ask what this particular speaker needs from this particular evaluation. Should your primary goal be praise and support? Should it be hints on overcoming a specific presentation flaw? Should it be ideas on how to improve the presentation? All are possible, and it’s up to the evaluator to make that call.

Praise Based on Presentation Skills

Praise is received best when it is most deserved. Look for specific things to comment on – avoid general statements. Which specific thing did you like? Why is it your favorite? How did you react to it? Did something specific surprise you or delight you?

Vocal variety and language are a middle ground between the written speech and the in-person presentation. They work even across a radio, or across a room where the audience isn’t paying attention. Did the speaker introduce different characters? Did each character have his or her own distinctive voice? Was that voice appropriate to the character and the context?

Gestures, facial expressions, and eye contact are all direct attempts to interact with the audience, or in some cases an attempt to not interact with the audience. To be really effective, they should be consistent with each other and the context of the speech. A speaker trying to express revulsion, for example, should have both gestures and facial expressions consistent with that emotion.

When offering praise for presentation skills, keep it specific and personal. Areas to consider include:

• You could identify individual characters the speaker was portraying by their voice or gestures.
• A specific piece of the speech used particularly effective language or was poetic as presented.
• Eye contact was effective and natural.
  

Suggestions Based on Presentation Skills

Generally, suggestions on presentation should focus on how to improve it. For beginners, this may be no more than trying to apply a specific skill in a specific context.

• You could have gotten my attention at that point with a whisper.
• A bigger prop would be easier for the audience to see.
• This specific word didn’t convey your message well, try that one.
  

More advanced speakers can also get specific suggestions.

• Was there a point where gestures and facial expressions weren’t consistent with the speech?
• If the voice was clear, was the pacing and emphasis of the phrasing optimal?
• Did a prop detract from the presentation? Would a prop add to it?
  

Remember that suggestions should focus on things a person could do something about. Saying that you couldn’t see a short speaker behind the lectern is a criticism and doesn’t help. Recommending that she gets out in front of the lectern or arranges for a stool behind it would be a constructive suggestion.

Conclusion

Presentation skills are a speaker’s tools of the trade. Content, organization and extras are like the broad picture in a painting. Presentation skills are the individual brush strokes and need to be consistent with each other, If a speaker gave a great speech, saying that isn’t going to help him or give you recognition as a good evaluator. Even if a speaker gave a flawless speech, you can suggest presentation skill alternatives.