2 Contests: Speaking & Evaluation
You might think the core focus of Toastmasters would be speaking, and you’d be right, but a big part of Toastmasters centres around evaluation too.
On Monday night, we had two contests, testing the club’s skills in both speaking and evaluation.
Evaluation is important as this is how we improve. If you’re making mistakes, as a speaker you’re very often unaware of them. However, you do need to be told gently - public speaking is scary enough without having every fault dissected and analysed in front of the whole group. Considerate evaluation is an art.
In the evaluation contest, there was a single speech. Each evaluator made 5 minutes’ notes before their notebooks were taken away. Then, they were all taken to a side room, and asked to come out and give each their evaluation in turn (so they couldn’t hear their competitors’ comments).
For the speaking contest, speakers each delivered their chosen topics, with several judges for each speaker. On a normal evening, each speaker has a single evaluator - for the contest, the judges evaluate all speeches against set criteria. These points are added up, and the speaker with the best overall score wins.
Sheila gave a particularly memorable performance, based around “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. I half expected her to tell us how to gear up to be more successful in business, but instead she told us to focus on the really important thing, making time for our friends and family. It was powerful stuff.
This is one of the things I like most about Toastmasters - you never know what the speakers will say. Or how it will affect you.
