Public Speaking: Tips for Giving Effective Speech Evaluations

Most of us remember at least one experience from our school days when nervous and tongue-tied, we stood before the rest of the class and attempted to give a book report or speak about a current event.

You may remember being in kindergarten, giving your first speech. SHOW and TELL! And you loved it; you looked forward to it and enjoyed sharing your doll or new race car with the class.

What happened between kindergarten and high school? What changed?

Our self image weakened possibly as a result of criticism by our immature peers. We became self-consciousness and worried about what others thought of us. Out attitude, confidence and beliefs about ourselves changed.

As a kindergartener we thought everyone loved us and wanted us to do well. Guess what? THEY STILL DO! Everyone wants you to succeed!

Why give a speech evaluation?

Most people want to improve their self-esteem and get over being afraid of expressing their true personality. Evaluators have the power to influence, but they should see themselves as the catalyst for positive change. When giving an effective training presentation, interview or public speech anyone can benefit from constructive criticism.

Sometimes a speaker is just too close to the forest to see the trees. Evaluators can offer a new perspective and help us recognize and solve any difficulties that may have been encountered during our presentation.

Here are some tips for giving an effective speech evaluation that will benefit the speaker.

1. Ask for permission to offer some suggestions: Unsolicited advice is rarely wanted or well-accepted. By asking the speaker for permission, you have given the speaker a chance to say no. Do this privately so as not to embarrass or put someone on the spot. Put yourself in the speaker’s place. He or she has spent hours, days or weeks preparing the speech and has just bared his or her soul to an audience of strangers. The speaker may be anxious about what you have to say.

2. Provide helpful feedback: A supportive commentary should reinforce positive speaking behaviors and build self-esteem. Begin by telling the speaker what you liked about the presentation and what he or she did well. Do your best to encourage the speaker to participate again.

3. Be honest but tactful: Never “white wash” a critique or tell the speaker something that isn’t true. Being insincere doesn’t help anyone improve. Does that mean that you should be cruel in your assessment? Absolutely not! Always take into consideration how it might feel to be on the receiving end of your critique. Remind the speaker that you are giving your opinion! It is an opinion and only that. Use words such as:

* I believe * My reaction was * It may be that * I suggest that * What I saw/heard/felt/noticed

If the speaker you are evaluating continuously paced back and forth during the speech and you thought it was annoying, find a tactful and encouraging way to suggest it. Here is an example:

“John, I feel that your overall presentation was excellent, but I want to offer my opinion about what could be improved. I noticed that you moved a lot during your speech. It is common for people to pace back and forth when nervous, but I believe you want to appear confident. I suggest that you decrease any activity that is not an intentional part of your gesturing. Your material is so good; I would hate to see it compromised. I’m sure with some practice you can remember to limit any movement that may be distracting for your listeners.”

Make sure to avoid negative words such as:

* You should have

* You failed to

* You didn’t do this correctly

4. Evaluate speaking and delivery skills, not the person’s character or the speech content: The main purpose for giving a critique is to support, help and encourage the speaker. Avoid throwing their speech back at them! If they said something that rubbed your fur the wrong way or challenged your beliefs, just LET IT GO! There is no need to challenge the speaker’s position or re-present their content to your liking. Instead, look for aspects such as organization, use of voice, body language/gestures, props, flow of ideas or use of the presentation space.

The job of the evaluator is to provide the speaker with information that can be used to adjust and fine-tune speaking performance. Keep your comments positive, constructive, and informative, and always end on an upbeat note. Soon, you will have people asking you to give them your critique because they know you have their best interest in mind and will offer them useful suggestions for improvement.

Yvonne Perry is a freelance writer and the owner of Write On! Creative Writing Services based in Nashville, Tennessee. Yvonne uses her public speaking skills through Writers in the Sky, her weekly podcast about the craft and business of writing. Be sure to subscribe to the RSS podcast feed and her free monthly newsletter about writing, networking, publishing and marketing when you visit Writers in the Sky for more information about her writing services, books, writing classes and blog.

Turning Your Written Speech Into A Successful, Effective Presentation

It is one thing to write a speech. It is, however, a completely different thing to present that speech as a successful presentation. We have all experienced how boring it can be to sit through a presentation where someone simply reads what they have written, whether they are reading from a script or from PowerPoint slides.
It really is difficult to maximise the impact of your presentation if you read it or recite a written piece. Reciting makes it very difficult to sound sincere and it questions your confidence with your subject. It also dampens your personality. Another disadvantage is that if you have a blank you will have difficulty remembering what comes next. It also makes customizing to your audience and the specific event very difficult. So in finding that compromise between spoken and written, you will need to develop a way of remembering your material and presenting it in the best way to create an impact.
As you created the presentation, you chose the main sections and the best order for them. Remember that decision, the logic and power of it and it will be the basic framework of your memory. If there are key words or phrases that are vital you can write them on your notes or highlight them in your visuals.
If you are using notes, try to use paper or card that does not rustle. If you know the size of the podium/lectern, you can choose the size of your notes. If not, you may be able to use A4 sheets on a clipboard. Be aware that your audience may see its back. Prepare the transition of your notes – either the sheets of paper or the visuals.
One of the main reasons that reading from a script is often less than successful is that spoken language is very different from the written. Writing tends to use far longer, more convoluted sentences, which often use voices that we would not use in speech. Try reading out the sentence you just read and see how awkward it sounds when it is spoken.
As always, to connect successfully with an audience, we need to speak to them in their language – the language they expect to hear spoken.
So if you need to write your presentation first, take the time to read it out loud. Then say those same ideas as if you were telling someone face to face. You cannot miss the difference and success lies in a compromise between the two.
If you absolutely have to have a written draft, then re-write using what you said aloud. Make sure, though, that you can make eye contact.
Practice is vital. One of the reasons is that you get a chance to feel the speech. If it feels boring or awkward or out of balance when you say it to yourself, or the cat, or the mirror, then you will need to change it. If you are presenting a written speech, then write in the changes. If you practice, you can also visualise not only yourself and your presentation, but also the audience and their reaction. Visualise how they will react to each thing – each word, each idea, each presentation technique, and you will get a better feel for how to organise your material, the language to use and the presentation techniques to use.
You will also develop the performance energy that you will use at the actual presentation. Energy is vital to presentation success. So you will need to create your material to support your energy, and how you want the speech to feel. If necessary, annotate your notes to give you reminders about the energy, the tricks and performance techniques you will use.
Each time you put these techniques into action, you will hone your compromise – find better ways to make it work. And when you have the best compromise – for you - between reading or reciting a written speech and presenting “off the cuff”, you will have a very effective presentation.

Bronwyn Ritchie has 20 years' experience speaking to audiences and training in public speaking - from individuals too nervous to say their own names in front of an audience, to community groups and corporate executives. You can get her free tips, articles, resources and quotations for your public speaking and presentations in a fortnightly ezine - subscribe to Pivotal Public

Why a Good Vocabulary is Essential for Effective Presentations

What made Shakespeare the greatest writer in English literature? His stories were good, for sure - but a lot of them were simply re-workings of historical events or legends. His rhythm and rhyme were good, too - but everyone else was doing the same. What made Shakespeare great, and what can make you great too, was the size of his...

Vocabulary! It is believed that the average person is able to recognise between 10 and 15 thousand words. Shakespeare used 35,000 words in his plays and sonnets, thus making him the ultimate communicator in history.

What are the benefits you can derive from improving your vocabulary?

1 Greater understanding means being better informed. So it's easy to read comic books but a bit more tricky reading "the Times". Want the edge on your colleagues or competitors? You must be at ease with your language, and have a good understanding. it can be embarrassing and even destructive to find yourself in a situation where everyone is using a word that you don't know. Knowledge is power!

2 Add spice to your public speaking. Using the same words over and over gets boring. Having a large vocabulary will always keep your audience keen. Be careful though, using long words just to impress will always have the opposite effect, people will switch off if they think you are being pompous.

3. Get your message across more effectively. Many people believe that the word 'synonym' means 'another word for the same thing'. This is not true. If two words meant exactly the same thing, we wouldn't need them. Synonyms are similar words, but not the same. Having a good range of synonyms can add not only richness to your speech, but also make you communicate more effectively. The nuances that you create in your choice of vocabulary will hit the nail on the head as far as your listeners are concerned. They will go away knowing exactly what the message was, not just some vague idea.

The best way to improve your vocabulary is get a thesaurus and start adding words to your active vocabulary. Using mind maps is great way to organise your ideas: write a word in the middle of blank sheet of paper and use colors and images to build associations. If you've never used mind maps before, now's the time to get started. You can see some examples at my site.

Jonathan Lewis teaches English as a foreign language in the south of France. He offers lots of practical advice about learning languages on his site. You can also read his insights into the English language at his learning English blog

Guidelines For The Use Of Visual Aid For Effective Presentation

The main function of any presentation is to communicate effectively and efficiently the information with the audience. In order to make this function effective, the speakers making presentations have to rely on visual aids such as charts, slides, pictures etc. Visual aid is like icing on the cake, which can make your presentation more interesting and interactive.

Following guidelines can help you to make use of visual aid properly, so that you can achieve the purpose of your presentation.

Single type of visual aid is not suitable for all purposes or presentation. You should have flexible attitude towards type of visual aid used for presentation. As there is large range of visual aids available for presentation, you should select the type of visual aid according to the need or purpose of presentation.

Visual aid should be placed in such a way that it can be easily visible to the entire audience, and the speaker while moving or speaking cannot obstruct the view of visual aid.

Visual aids should be used to emphasize the most vital points of the presentation or to convey the key part of the message.

You should explain your slide or chart, if there is any possibility that the audience may not immediately understand it.

The slide should carry only essential information and it should be fitted well into the presentation.

Pointer should be used to draw the attention of audience to the numbers or charts.

Proper emphasis should be given to the visual aid and you should point to your visual aid with bodily actions and with words.

The speaker should look more at the audience than at the visual aid.

The power point slide or visual aid should not be kept on for too long.

Illustrations and graphs make visual aid more appealing. Use pictures, drawings and color on visual aid to make it more exciting, because “A picture is worth a thousand words”. However, illustrations and graphics should support your presentation and it should match the content of your presentation.

The content on a slide should be kept limited with only important points. Avoid too much text on your slide and it should not be crowded with text and graphics.

If you are launching a new product, use the product itself or the replica of the product as visual aid.

Creative writing or business writing software with text enrichment tool can be used for writing the content of your presentation and visual aid. For more information on business writing software for presentations, please visit http://www.truevalue4money.com/businesswriting.html website.

Author is a freelance writer. For details on softwares to enrich your business writing or creative writing, please visit Business writing software or English writing software website