There is an excellent article in the January edition of Toastmaster magazine entitled “The Toastmaster Whisperer – the best evaluators know which comments should be shared privately”.
So it was that this late January meeting focussed to a significant extent on evaluation.
To reflect the multicultural nature of the club reference was made to the Year of the Rooster and each seat had a lucky red envelope on it.
Chairman Grant demonstrated that “brevity is the soul of wit” (but not to everyone). He deserves commendation for his laid-back manner, smoothly filling several roles at the last moment, together with those members who put their hands up, notably Ted, Phil, Michael and Theresa ensuring that the meeting did run smoothly.
Toastmaster Magda kicked off with intriguing slides of various members of the animal kingdom in order to engage the audience, before introducing guest presenter Andrew from the Orakei club. Andrew gave a valuable presentation on Evaluations. He used the image of an archer aiming at the bull’s eye while all the time being encouraged by his Coach/ Evaluator to hit the target to give an idea of the importance of the evaluator.
Andrew recommended using a framework where the crucial objectives of a speech are summarized on the left side beforehand, while commendations and recommendations are entered in the right hand columns during a speech.
Up stepped Anji with a demonstration inspirational speech titled “The Living Flame” which was both courageous and inspirational and which the members of the audience evaluated using the above framework.
Andrew then used feedback from the audience to put together an evaluation of Anji’s speech on the whiteboard. Finally in a brilliant formulation he requested the five people who had contributed the relevant sections to stand at the front embodying the end result. Thus we had the five parts of an effective evaluation:
1. the introduction
2. a commendation
3. a recommendation
4. a commendation
5. the summary
The meeting continued with prepared speeches – with the toastmaster listing the full objectives in advance.
Theresa’s objectives, in a speech titled “Another Addict”, related to using body language. She gave a humorous account about the perils of visible over-attachment to one’s cell-phone or iPhone.
Chris‘ objectives, in a speech titled “Rocks”, related to using the right words. He spoke about how, visually, rocks, pebbles and sand can represent one’s goals in life and then extended the metaphor to their use for weighting for problems – I don’t think he meant ‘waiting’, did he?
After a delicious spread and animated conversation we reconvened.
Hazel evaluated Theresa’s speech, noting Theresa’s need for the twelve step programme, and how tightly she held on to her iPhone, while commending her stance, posture and movement.
Phil gave a positive evaluation of Chris’ speech and did not give a recommendation.
Kevin the Second provided a detailed and insightful evaluation of Anji’s speech. He referred to Aristotle’s triangle of persuasion and perhaps he may be persuaded to give an educational presentation on that to us in the future.
Kevin the First evaluated the presentation on evaluation which included the evaluation of Anji’s speech which could have led to confusion but did not.
Fakir admirably commenced Table Topics with ‘a textbook introduction’ of its purpose for the benefit of the evening’s guests.
Joy told us about her favourite subject at school.
Obada, a guest, reflected on what he likes about Auckland and impressed everyone.
Vikram was torn about what his ultimate goal in life is.
Sam thought he could make use of a drone that he could fly around on.
Table topics was evaluated by Steve and Theresa with brief, insightful commendations and recommendations.
The business session highlighted the many upcoming events, may need shortening, and reminded us to:
PLEASE BRING YOUR LEADERSHIP MANUALS TO EVERY MEETING AND HAVE THEM SIGNED OFF!
Our guests for the evening gave positive observations of the meeting, specifically:
Obada said that he had certainly enjoyed the evening
Dave described the meeting as ‘educational’
Kay commented on the welcoming atmosphere.
and Ramsey stated that he WILL return.
Finally the grammarian, Ah-Counter and Timekeeper reported back on their findings before General Evaluator Jillian gave a thoughtful, encouraging, unflinching, constructive and comprehensive evaluation of everything that had not already been evaluated. Some of her suggestions and comments have been included at the appropriate places in this report.
Jillian employed what the Toastmaster magazine article recommended – tailoring the ‘public evaluation’ to the recipient’s level of experience, emotional safety and their standing within the club.
