Winning An Evaluation Speech Contest
Winning An Evaluation Speech Contest
I stuck to the guidelines and delivered within the allotted time.
Recently, I joined my Toastmasters Club’s Evaluation Contest. We had a ‘surprise’ test speaker (no one knew who was going to be the speaker until announced) and all evaluators would listen to him speak before being placed in a ‘holding room’ on the Zoom meeting.
After the speech, we were given five minutes to organize our evaluation. In our past contest which was a physical meeting at a venue, the evaluators were given 5 minutes to organize our feedback on a piece of paper.
By prior balloting, the first speaker would enter the room to deliver his presentation while the rest of the evaluators had their written notes kept away until the next speaker is called.
The advantage of the last speaker is that he or she has time to mull over what he wants to say but has no chance of listening to how the rest evaluate before him. The first speaker has the challenge of performing almost off the cuff without the leeway to go over his points that other speakers would have.
Anyway, it was a test of one’s mettle and spontaneity.
Every evaluator was given up to a maximum of three minutes, during which the flashed green…
