An important component of toastmaster’s leadership component is evaluations. The commonly cited method to accomplish this is the commend-recommend-comment (CRC) method. Now when we have time to prepare feedback it may be quite straightforward to construct useful points of development, however when an evaluation is to be given in a short time after the speech, it may be difficult to construct an effective evaluation.

The truth is effect evaluations are difficult; if not the most difficult speech you could present at toastmasters.

Here are some notes from recent evaluation workshop from toastmasters

Why?

Speaker (and Audience)

First and foremost, evaluations are important for a speaker and also for everyone in the audience. For the speaker in particular, evaluations offer:

  • Confidence
  • Competence

We gain confidence through commendations, and competence through recommendations. It is important to remember that commendations and recommendations are based on the evaluators opinion, and are subjective. They are not objective information, and it is entirely possible for an evaluator to misunderstand the objective of your speech or language.

On Recommendations

Often we consider recommendations to be something negative. This mindset needs to be avoided, and we should strive to remove any negative association to recommendations. The easiest method to do this, is to provide specific alternative approaches when providing recommendations.

Structuring Recommendations

When evaluating speeches from the competent communicator you should always identify the speech objective. You should also be specific; provide examples of what you observed and the impact of an action. By doing this you will avoid a laundry list of points.

A simple structure could be:

  1. 2 commendations
  2. 2 recommendations
  3. 1 commendations

Generally any more points, and you will either not have enough time, or you’ll simply be reading a list. So it is important to pull out the most important and relevant points from your observations.

Language Tips

  • Use third person: “David described”; this is to ensure that you are addressing the whole audience, not just the speaker.
  • No sweeping statements or meaningless cliches: “That was a great speech, I look forward to hearing more from you in the future”, but rather only use specific language and examples which contribute to learning and understanding.
  • Always provide recommendations!