Page 9 - 2017.May Voices

to advance your communication and Hobbies? What do you do for fun?
leadership skills over the years? Dave and I live in a retirement community
Nothing I am doing now would have been in Vancouver, WA, in a cottage on the premises of
possible without Toastmasters and the safe an independent senior community. It’s perfect for
environment I experienced while I was working us, since it has a little space where I can garden
on “getting over myself”. I now identify as without knocking myself out.
a professional speaker, author, professional We are still learning something every
storyteller, business coach and most recently an year. This year we are going to be exploring
Uber driver. northeastern Oregon in July, visiting the Wallowa
Wilderness area around Joseph, Lostine and that
What do you look for when evaluating part of the state.
a speech? As far as favorite foods go, I can’t think of
Evaluating a speech during a club meeting anything I would not eat, but my favorites are
and evaluating in a contest setting are vastly whatever just came into season.
different. In a club meeting, depending upon the I love to read and write. I enjoy my clarinet
skill level and experience of the speaker, one or which was one of those new somethings years
two practical suggestions that can be applied to ago. I like to sing, too. My personal new learning
the next project feels about right. Overwhelming for this year is knitting. I’m really excited about
someone with a laundry list of suggestions is not that. Life is fun and if it isn’t, my mom would say
effective. In a contest setting, in which 30% of the I’m not doing it right.
possible points are based on recommendations,
I do offer more.

How do you decide what elements to
include in your evaluation?
There is a big difference between observa-
tions and recommendations. Merely pointing
out to someone that they tended to meander, for
example, is not a recommendation and would
be worth 0 points on a judging form. Following
up the observation with a recommendation and
perhaps even modeling more effective use of
the space is better, worth some points, and more
helpful to the speaker.

Could you give our readers one or two
tips about competing in an evaluation
contest?
I think the most important element of any
evaluation, whether it is at a club meeting or
in a contest, is affirming what the speaker does Don’t forget to
well. Appreciation for a job well done, along with
something practical for the speaker to add to their elect 2017-2018
personal tool box, and some remarks about the club officers and
ways in which you were impacted by the speech
are added bonuses. I like to comment on the update your officers
speaker’s use of language, pointing out great list with Toastmasters
imagery, vocabulary, and moments of humor International by June 30,
as well as some emotional tugs, depending on
the content. 2017

Tell us about Alexis – favorite foods?

VOLUME 3 ISSUE 11 MAY, 2017 9