Speech Evaluation Workshop
Goal
All participants give feedback for 1-2 speakers according to 9 evaluation roles such as eye contact, talking speed, structure etc. That way, everybody is rehearsing their skills:
- Speakers learn a lot about their own presentation.
- Evaluators train their ability to observe and to relay their observations briefly.
- The meeting facilitator trains to coordinate a group with many participants.
Because it follows a very rigid script, this workshop is suitable for facilitators with little experience.
Duration
45-90 minutes
Preparations
You need to prepare two things in advance:
- find 1-2 speakers who will give a 5-15-minute speech.
- draw 9 cards for the 9 evaluation roles. You may of course print the picture and cut it.
Agenda
The workshop consists of the following steps:
| # | step | time |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | welcome participants | 1-2' |
| 2. | explain the agenda | 2-3' |
| 3. | randomly assign evaluation roles using the cards | 3' |
| 4. | announce speaker and hand over | 2' |
| 5. | prepared speech | 5-15' |
| 6. | call evaluators (1-2' each) | 6-20' |
| 7. | BREAK | 10' |
| 8. | repeat steps 3.-6. for the second speech | 20-40' |
| 9. | Adjournment | 3' |
Hints
- ideally the speaker has similar experience as the participants, so that some suggestions for improvement can be found.
- take care that the speaking times are followed rigorously.
- if you are not that experienced as a facilitator, have someone signal the time to you as well.
- if there are less participants than roles, leave some of them out. Serving multiple roles is not beneficial, because the evaluators won't focus that well.
Hints for the Evaluation Roles
Here are a few hints for the evaluators. You might provide these e.g. on the back sides of the cards.
Voice
- was the speech easy to understand?
- did the pitch vary during the speech?
- how did the speaking melody match the content?
Eye contact
- did the speaker build eye contact?
- were all people in the room looked at?
- was eye contact with you volatile or unpleasantly intense?
Structure
- was there a discernible opening and closing?
- how many sub-parts did the main part consist of?
- how were transitions between parts made apparent?
Wording
- was the speech correct from a grammatical point of view?
- what examples can you give for successful choice of words?
- in which moments could the vocabulary be improved?
Timing
- did the speech stick to the time frame?
- how long were the parts of the speech in comparison?
- did you find examples for precise timing?
Body language
- what gestures did you observe during the speech?
- how well did they fit to the speech?
- how did the speaker utilize the available space?
Talking speed
- did the talking speed fit to the speech?
- did the talking speed vary?
- how were pauses used?
Rhetoric devices
- how would you describe the style of the speech?
- which remarkable points did you notice?
- did you note any rhetoric devices?
Tension
- where in the speech were you surprised?
- did the speech build up to a climax?
- which moments did you find particularly engaging?