Live Speaker evaluation

Improving your public speaking skills is a core aim of this class. One way you will move toward this goal is by developing, practicing, and presenting three speeches during the semester. However, presenting speeches is not the only way to improve your public speaking skills. Watching other live speakers is an excellent way to gain insight into what to do and what not to do in terms of providing support for a speech, organizing it, and delivering the presentation.

The assignment, “Live Speaker Evaluation,” will allow you to critique a speaker in terms of his or her content, organization, and delivery. This lesson will help you to prepare for that assignment and remind you what you should be aware of when viewing the outside speaker presentation.

Before you begin, it is critical that you are actively listening to the speaker you are critiquing. When your thoughts wander, try to bring yourself back to focusing on the speaker. Be mindful of what is going on around you. Don’t just hear the speaker, but listen to the speaker.

While you are actively listening to the presentation, take note of the following:

Audience

The first aspect you are to assess for your own speech is the audience. You will do the same for the live speaker evaluation. Take note of theaudience attending the presentation by observing the demographics. Roughly how many people are present? What is the age range? Are most people of a certain profession?

Having this information will help you to assess whether or not the speaker was cognizant of his audience in relation to the type of speech that is presented. For instance, is the speaker using language that is understandable by the audience? Is it appropriate for the age range that is present?

Goal

The speaker should have a clear goal in mind. What is the aim of the presentation? Keep in mind the following:

    • Is the goal clear?
      • Do you know from the beginning what the aim of the speech is? The presenter should clearly communicate this information during the beginning of the speech. If not, the speech may lack focus and may become difficult to follow.
    • Is the purpose of this speech to inform, persuade, or entertain?
      • You should clearly be able to understand the purpose of the speech. Is the speaker informing you on a new policy at work or persuading you to enforce it? If you are attending a special occasion speech, is the purpose to honor certain individuals?
    • What’s the occasion?
      • Is this a special event at a company, such as an awards dinner? A weekly sermon? A donor’s banquet? Knowing the occasion will help you to assess whether or not the speaker has effectively crafted his speech around the type of event.

Content

The next aspect of the speech you should critique is the evidence. What content does the speaker provide that supports his message? Is it mainly from that person’s personal experience or are there outside sources used to bolster his points?

    • Credibility
      • Who is the speaker in relation to the event and why does that person have the credibility to speak about that topic?
      • Does the speaker discuss his background? Schooling? Expertise? Experience with the topic? Is it sufficient?
      • What type of evidence was presented?
        • Examples, testimony, statistics, quotes, visuals, etc.
          • Are they effective?
          • Were they explained well enough so that you understood their significance?

Organization

In addition to noting the type of evidence that was provided to support the speaker’s position, you should pay attention to how it was organized. Can you recall the main points? Did the speaker travel off topic often? Think about the following:

    • Pattern
      • How was the speech organized? Chronological? Topical? Problem-Solution? Did the pattern make sense and was it used successfully?
    • Transitions
      • Did the speaker make smooth connections between points? Did ideas flow logically?
    • Intro, Body, Conclusion
      • What type of attention getter was used and was it appropriate?
      • Was there a preview in the beginning and review at the end?

Delivery

This is one of the most important aspects of a speech. Although a speaker may have great content, if he does not deliver it well, the message and impact is often lost.

You can learn a lot by being mindful of others’ delivery styles. Pay close attention to the delivery of the speaker you choose to observe this semester. While listening and watching his or her presentation, take note of the following:

    • Eye contact
      • Does the speaker sustain eye contact with the audience?
      • Does the speaker scan the room?
    • Method of Delivery
      • Extemporaneous
      • Manuscript
      • Impromptu
      • Memorized
        • How does this choice impact the delivery of the message?
    • Nonverbal communication
      • Gestures
      • Hand movements
      • Movement across the stage
      • Facial expressions
      • Volume
      • Pitch
      • Enthusiasm
      • Inflection
    • What is distracting and what enhances the speech?
      • Dress
        • Is the speaker dressed appropriately for the occasion?
        • What is s/he wearing?

Overall, was the presentation effective or ineffective? Ask yourself these final questions:

    • Was the speaker’s goal achieved? How?
    • Were you and others interested throughout? What kept your interest or what distracted you?
    • How did the audience react to the overall presentation?
    • Was there time for questions at the end? Were there any questions? If so, how were they handled?
    • How could the presentation be improved?
    • What did you learn about the topic?
    • What did you learn about public speaking from watching this speaker?