On a beautiful Sunday like today, what would you normally do? Would you hang out in a cafe with your friends to catch up? Hang out at the beach? Rest at home, preparing yourself for Monday Blues? Or out shopping at Gurney Plaza? Well, some of us from Gurney Hydro Toastmasters Club chose to be present at the Evaluation Workshop together with many others.
One of our senior member of the club - Joanne Tan (ACG, ALB) was doing her sharing at the Speech Evaluation Workshop at Renesas together with Christopher (DTM), Shanker (DTM) and Muthu (DTM). Others that were present at the workshop were Jacques Rerolle, KC Loh, Sam Koay and Yeap Ai Li. They seized the moment to learn from few of the best evaluators in Division S.
I remembered a quote by Benjamin Franklin - "An investment in knowledge pays the best interest". Don't you agree with me?
Just to share some key highlights on suggested language on giving effective evaluation served as a good reminder to myself and I hope to you too. How do we say it?
- In my personal opinion...
- I would like to suggest to you...
- I think your next speech will have a stronger impact on me if you...
- A technique I found helpful is...
- I noticed a few areas of growth in your speech...
Another good reminder was the "Sandwich" approach in our evaluation.
We should always start the evaluation with some good points, sandwich with the points on areas of improvement and end with some more good points. It is important that evaluators MUST maintain speakers self-esteem at all times and make the speaker feel good.
Of course, we have to be sincere with our evaluation and do not white wash. We can always speak to the speaker later to share more areas of improvement if required.
Well, that's it for now. I'm feeling rather hungry looking at the picture above. I will have to look for supper.
See you all this Wednesday (15th Aug) at Gurney Hotel @ 8pm~
-AL
