Speech Evaluations are the cornerstone of Toastmasters.

It is through these evaluations that speakers learn areas in their speaking styles that need attention. Other club members also learn from the observations of evaluators. A top evaluator will give his opinion of the speaker in such a manner that the speaker is left feeling good about him, or her, self. Speech evaluations are the personal opinion of the evaluator. For every person in the room observing a speech, there will be a different observation, and a different opinion of how the speech went and how it can be improved. A good evaluator will show compassion to a speaker without sugar-coating the presentation of the work. A favourable evaluation of a shoddy speech will not help the speaker improve. If there are problems, they need to be pointed out...GENTLY. Praise goes a long way. Gentle direction given to the speaker goes even further. The method I prefer to use is the ‘GLOVE’ method. The Sandwich technique, which begins with a positive observation, offers suggestions, then closes on a positive note is most often used by evaluators. The evaluator looks at the speech as a whole and generally chooses several things to praise and several areas he, or she, feels needs some work. With this method there are often several areas that do not get mentioned. With the ‘GLOVE’ method, the whole presentation is dealt with. Using the anachronism ‘GLOVE’, all areas are dealt with. Each letter helps to kick-start the evaluators thought process regarding different parts of the evaluation. They stand for: