General Evaluator

Role Objective

Provide the meeting and specific participants with an evaluation of the conduct of the meeting and the performance of roles that have not otherwise been evaluated.

The object of any evaluation in Toastmasters is to provide constructive identification of areas of a meeting that would benefit from added attention and areas that can be regarded as strengths. The General Evaluation (GE) provides a wider view than a Speech Evaluators ambit allows and should assist members generally and evaluators especially to develop their skills.

Description of Role

Observe the meeting, taking necessary notes and at the end of the meeting deliver a review/evaluation of proceedings and the preceding evaluations .

Preparation

This role is normally only given to senior members but first time GE's should review this members guide to assignments generally and the role of evaluators specifically before the meeting.

Some thought as to the Roster/Agenda prior to the meeting should permit anticipation of areas that would reward detailed attention. Confer with the Leadership Evaluator - you are not required to evaluate the presentations that the Leadership Evaluator will evaluate.

Timing

Usually 7 or 8 minutes, reduced by the time allotted to the Leadership Evaluator (see below). Often GE's have difficulty delivering all they wish to present within this time.

Procedure

The GE should be seen as a teacher-by-example. His or her guidance of the Speech Evaluators and fair summation of the meeting will have a great influence on members' attitudes. The GE should point with enthusiasm to the good in the meeting and show by example and helpful suggestions how weak areas could be improved.

Do not forget to explain your role to guests if this was not included when the Chair introduced you.

While it isn't always practical to rigidly use the CRC approach, a fair weighting of Commendations to Recommendations should be used to try and ensure remarks are both positive and objective.

The GE is not required to evaluate the Table Topic speakers or the main Speakers. It may be necessary to make some reference to these presentations to draw attention to evaluation omissions or illustrate points but speakers should feel that they are being evaluated twice. For this reason the GE must form some view on each presentation in order to give feedback on each relevant evaluation.

The GE is not required to evaluate any of the roles being evaluated by the Leadership Evaluator.

A GE should be mindful of all aspects of the meeting from the Hospitality function, room layout, visibility of the club banner to the specific execution of each role in the meeting. Create and use a check list if it will help, certainly ensure from the agenda that you have not skipped past anything obvious or important. However, you must prioritize and be prepared to discard comments as more important items come to light. It is very easy to get bogged down on trivia and omit the important.

Carefully read the requirements for all the other duties. You are, after all, looking for all the things others didn't do, as well as what they did that needs improving.

Some inexperienced GE's let themselves down by not keeping clear notes and then fumbling and stumbling when they come to deliver. If you can escape linear thinking constraints, consider using a mind map. You may find use of a hiliter helpful. Certainly, uncluttered notes will help you keep on track during your delivery.

Watch your timing - you are being asked to review an hour and a quarter's material in 8 minutes or less and it is very easy to run over time. This is not a good look, especially if you have recommended to earlier presenters that they watch this. If you are in doubt, reverse the order and evaluate the evaluators first, (because evaluation strength is critical to member growth) and then do the rest. In short, do the important things first and then the rest, to ensure you don't run out of time to deal with essentials properly.

Ideally, your presentation should take the form of a speech in its own right, complete with a beginning, middle and end, the end best being in the form of a positive summary.

Key points

• You need to overview the important aspects of the meeting. Distill your experienced observation of everything, down to the really important.

• Use CRC, be fair, positive while being objective, practical and helpful.

• Be disciplined and set an example of clear delivery from clear notes, within the time allotted.

Desirable Outcome

A meeting which has benefited from your encouragement and insights and can use these for individual personal growth at future meeings.