Prize-winning Evaluation - how to do it

I (Angela Lansbury) am on the right with my two ribbons for Table topics and Evaluation. On the left is our warm and encouraging Toastmaster of the Evening, Mandy Carlin. 

I heard Lynn Cantor, last year's UK and Ireland Evaluation Prize Winner, speaking three times in workshops. The first time I admit I had trouble paying attention and sat at the back and what she said bored me, but the second time it sounded interesting, although I could not remember it, yet the third time, wow, either she had improved enormously or 'the penny had dropped' in my brain. Her vital messages got through about how to evaluate what you hear and see and write succinct one word reminder.
    The first time I tried to evaluate table topics I had trouble remembering who said what. To sum it up, you divide your page in half. Don't bother listing commend, recommend, commend. (Praise, suggest how to improve, praise.) Just put one or two good things on the left, one or two good things on the right.
   I started with the first name of the person called out as a heading. I ended comments on each person with a line across the page - otherwise you lose track of who your comment describes.
   I admit I wrote not in a proper book (Lynn recommended keeping a book just for all your evaluation.) I borrowed a pen and wrote on the back of the agenda. After reaching the end of the page I wrote up the side margin - then onto another page, marked 2. Yuk!
   In the break I remedied this. I copied all the comments onto one page neatly, with just a one word summary of each point.
   The page was headed TOPIC EVALUATIONS (date) by Angela. Keep/File.
(If I dropped the paper, it would be returned to me.)
the left column was headed by a tick. The right column was headed by a cross.
Once or twice I got the praise on the right or the recommend on the left. I drew circles and arrows to show where the comments should be.
When the timer gave the timings I was able to check I'd got the person's name in capitals and underlined, and circled. Then i wrote the topic in small letters circled beside the name.
First comment was sub-heading Eric - Age.
That enabled me to start confidently, "The first topic was Eric on age."
In the left hand box I wrote: smile laugh happy
In the right hand box I wrote: Pull up trousers.

   My comment was: Eric's topic was age. Most people are gloomy about age. He smiled from the start, looked happy, kept us happy, and laughed. He began happy, continued happy, and ended happy.
The only recommendation is about the moment when he pulled up his trousers. After that I was worried they were going to fall down! Great happy topic.

Prabha - Chocolates. (Life is a box of chocolates.)
Key words: Success.
Recommend - Touch Nose.
Recommend - Mid-way through the topic you thought and grasped your nose. No need. It won't fall off, I promise.
Book: Quick Quotations by Angela Lansbury. Lulu.com

Prize-winning speech Feb 27 2014

I won ribbons for both impromptu speech (table topic) and evaluation in one evening.

My table topic
Based on the quotation by Carnegie

"He who dies rich is a disgrace."

Dying rich? I should be so lucky! Would you prefer to die rich or die poor?

   This comment is a disgrace. We'd all like to die rich.

    I’m worry dying poor and not having enough money to leave my son. Or dying rich and leaving it all to the government. Inheritance tax. 

   That’s my problem. Why should I leave it all to complete strangers? If I don’t want to give any money to my own son, I certainly won’t want to give it to the government. or millions of strangers starving in Africa. 

   How far is my pittance going to go? Millions of them. What's the population of Britain? 56 million. How many in Africa. Next year there will be twice as many millions. Waste of money. 

   As for Carnegie, all very well for him to talk. He had millions. Carnegie Hall. If I had his millions, I might leave money for a hall - and call it Angela Hall. I'd build one in America, one in England, one in Africa - if I had millions of millions, every country in Africa. 

   But I need the money to leave to my son. He can’t make money, and it’s all my fault. I gave birth to him.

   I didn’t give birth to millions of strangers. My problem is having enough money, even tupenny ha’pence to leave my son. Dying rich. I should be so lucky.

(See next blog for my evaluation of my own topic and others' topics.)
I am the author of Quick Quotations For Successful Speeches.

Certificates For Speakers, Prize Winners, Thanks, Participants

Many clubs present certificates to participants or winners of competitions.
You can find certificate templates in your computer software programs.
A writer's group, training workshop, speaking competition, all have many occasions when certificates reward the speaker, workshop trainer, workshop participants, prize winners, and other competition entrants.

Advantages to your club:
You can print them off at the last minute. You can personalise them with the title of the speech. You can remind the speaker or participant of your venue or club. It's cheaper and quicker than rushing out to buy a thank-you card.

Advantages of certificates to recipients:
It reminds you which year you won a competition for a c.v.
It remind you of the venue.
It reminds you which poem or story won a competition. (Really handy if you've moved house or lost your old computer files.)
It cheers you up on a rainy day.
You remember who was president or secretary to write back and offer another course.
On your wall its a sign to other organisers or pupils that you are successful.

An A4 certificate is presented for major events. But a small A6 certificate is often equally useful. You can stick it between the pages of a book. It's small to pack when travelling. It uses less paper and printer ink. The frame is cheaper if the club presents it framed or the recipient buys a frame. It takes up less wall space when you have ten years' certificates to stick on the wall behind an office desk.

Some examples:

SPEAKING COMPETITION

POETRY COMPETITION

When looking for certificate templates on the internet some are listed as Award Certificates.

Pronunciation

In English our sentences have rhythm and lilt and tone. We speak loudly if we are enthusiastic, or angry. Each sentence has a rhythm. Two syllable words usually emphasise the first syllable. Good MORning. Paris. The French emphasise the second syllable. ParEE.
   The most common rhythms for sentences either iambic or trochee.  I am. Listen for a short word, then a long word.
    Trochee. it rhymes with HOCK - key. (I tried spelling the word in one go but predictive text insists on two words!) Stamping, hit the ball with the first syllable, is followed by a lighter second syllable.
    In English ending with your voice rising implies a question, uncertainty on the part of the speaker, and sometimes another sentence to follow. The technical term for this is up talking.
    Be careful when ending a speech with a question, or rising tone. The audience might fail to clap, waiting to see what you will say next in answer to your question.
   If you speak too fast you are likely to muddle up words or string them together. 

Punctuation in Presentations

   A presenter who spoke English as a second language had carefully researched English grammar for his/her* presentation on good grammar. The first error I noticed was the headline was wrong. His/her spelling was wrong. Grammar, when spelled correctly, has the letter 'a' twice.
     Each slide had a major error. As an expert in English, and English teacher, I was hailed as the expert to evaluate the evening. He/she had gone to such a lot of trouble, researching, then producing the slides.
Capital Letters
   Capital letters can be used for every word in a heading or sub-heading. In German nouns have capital letters. In English we restrict capital to names. On rare occasions a word can be both a name and a generic term. In that case you use the capital only when the word is used as a name. For example, 'When I saw my mother, I asked, "May I have an apple, Mother?" '
Full stops
    Full stops are used to indicate when the reader can stop for breath. A page with no full stops, just a series of sentences with commas between them, looks daunting. The unbroken text is exhausting to read aloud or silently.
    The listener would be totally confused.
    Full stops usually separate two sentences, expressing two separate ideas. Commas are used for a briefer pause, before a small phrase which expands or modifies the noun which the extra words qualify.
    I say his/her because this has happened more than once. I also don't want to create the embarrassment of somebody thinking, 'that must be me' or 'that must be him/her'.

I later frowned at a slide which contained the word yours's. Should I tell the speaker, if I were not the Language Evaluator. 

I previously saw a slide with a mistake by a German. I hesitated. Eventually I wrote him anote praising his great presentation. As an afterthough I mentioned how he had only one error in a long presentation, when others have two or three errors in only one sentence. I was very relieved when he wrote back a charming note thanking me for my help in pointing out his error so that with my help he could be one hundred percent perfect.

Please share your

Top Tips For Speakers' Meetings

1 Focus on your call to action.
Which of these is it? Join our club. Buy my book. Be confident. Trust me. Laugh. Cry. Think about this. Change your mind on this issue. Applaud the next speaker, give us the money, or come back to the next meeting? Help me. Call on me for help. A big, loud, long round of applause for that wonderful speaker and splendid speech.
2 The title of the meeting is your promise:
Christmas party. Summer Barbecue. AGM. Officer Training. Workshops with our Winners. Potluck Dinner. Welcome New Members Meeting. Open House - Free evening.
3 The title of the speech is your promise:
How to Write A Humorous Speech. My Funny Family. How to Conquer Your Fears and be Confident. Forget your fears. Life After Death. Life After Debt. Make Money with this Method. You can win.
4 A theme provides interest and variety.
All things Christmassy.  White Christmas party. Winter Wonderland. Summer Holiday Stories. Evening. Harvest festival. Travel Tales. Puppets, Parcels and Props in Presentations.
5 Have a spare speech.
Your speaker is sick or delayed. Weather has kept the speaker away. Your planned speech is not suitable for the audience/event and you need another.
6 If you are timer get attention and keep it.
Explain why timing is important. Have an anecdote or story about time. Keep attention by starting confidently.
7 Be heard at the back.
That's why experienced speakers check 'Can you hear me'.  In a huge meeting you can have a friend in the back row with a signal to tell you if sound is fading.
8 Repeat Success.
If you are successful, offer to come back with another similar session.
9 Be seen. If you are small, wear heels or a hat. or a dramatic colour or outfit.
10 Stay cheerful despite setbacks.
Don't apologise. Make a joke. Or thank the person who reminded you of an omission or suggested a new plan. Learn from mistakes.
11 Engage your friendly audience.
Look at them. Smile at them. Pay attention to the back as well as the front row. Look to both sides of the room. Move around. But don't page up and down like a caged animal. Don't talk to your feet, the ceiling, your book. Don't turn your back on the audience. If you leave or stop, tell them how soon you will be back. (e.g., when I come back with my visitor/hat I want you all to be silent.)
12 Ask the audience for rewards. Reward the audience.

Humorous Speeches

Angela with red wig and puppet. Selfie photo by Angela Lansbury.

How do you make your speech humorous?
1 Have a humorous subject.
2 Pick the story you tell which makes people laugh and use that as the opening or ending or both of a speech
3 Pick a joke and use that as the end of your speech. Take the theme and add other jokes on the same theme.
4 Write a serious speech. Make a pun in every sentence.
5 Pick an amusing prop such as a clown costume, man in apron, and build a humorous speech around it.
6 Pretend to be angry about something trivial. The disadvantages of toilet paper, pencils.
7 Debunk something serious. Why I hate funerals.
8 Be a humorous character - me the technology idiot.
9 Take an absorb premise and exaggerate it. There is a ghost in every chair.
10 Take a topical event from the news and imagine the problems. Woman has quadruplets. Conclusion, life is not as bad as you think.
A humorous speech is not the same as a comedy act. A comedy act is a distraction from your problems by making you laugh at a person who has a problem e.g.
a) bigger problems than yours - they are stuck in a sew, a stranded plane, locked in a toilet
b) a person who makes a mountain out of a molehill,
c) two characters who disagree.
A humorous speech should be on a serious subject, or practical subject, but use humour to make it enjoyable and keep the audience interested and sympathetic.
A humorous speech is not a series of one-liners on a series of random subjects.
Even if you do standup comedy, unless you do improv responding to the audience shouting subjects, you need a theme and a logical progression to help you remember.

Keep a list of what makes you laugh.
In Feb 2014, researching On This Day, I discovered that November 4th in Nepal is a day of religious observance when people worship themselves, oxen and cow dung. If I can relate this to the audience so much the better.
How many of you worship yourselves? How many of you worship oxen? How many of you worship cow dung. How many of you worship all three? How many of you are Nepalese? That explains it.