District 80 Evaluation Contest 2010

Winning the District 80 Evaluation Contest in 2010 was a dream come true for me. When the contest chair announced my name, I could not believe my ears! Tears sprang to my eyes. And I am grateful to my club members Elaine, Benjamin, Nik and Ida who came to support me.

This was the evaluation speech that helped me win the champion trophy at the District 80 Evaluation Contest last year.  Kindly transcribed by Gerald Ong.

Contest Chair, fellow toastmasters, ladies and gentlemen, a very good afternoon to all of you, especially to my dear friend here, Amelia.

The wonder of Toastmasters is that it can transform you from a mediocre speaker into a mesmerizing presenter and I have seen that transformation in Amelia. And this afternoon, her presentation is worthy of an A grade, which her name also starts with A. I am going to use the 3 As to expound on her strengths.

The First A is an appropriate topic.Your topic is about the pursuit of perfection and it is relevant to all of us. In toastmasters here, we are here to pursue perfection as well as communication and leadership
skills.

The second A is anecdotes. You were able to use anecdotes effectively and you drew them from your personal life, involving your son and daughter as well from your work life.

And the third A is for animated. You were very animated as a speaker. You were able to use vocal variety, as well as appropriate gestures. You also used the stage area very effectively. So those are the 3 As that helped you score an A for your performance today.

But how can you go from being an A grade performer to become an A* grade performer? This is where I am going to share 3Ps, which will turn you into a more poised and polished speaker.

The 1st P (you are supposed to take notes now) is to plan pointers in your speech content. For me, I am a very logical person. I like it to be numbered like 1,2,3 or in acronyms ABC, or all As or all Ps. That's my style. I found it a little hard to follow your speech. I would have preferred you to plan some pointers. For example, by telling us that to pursue perfection, there are 3 ways that you can do it. Like number 1 from your personal life, number 2 in your work life, and number 3 on a global scale. You go through these 3 points. On the first point, these are what we can take note of. On the second point, these are what we can take note of and so on. I felt if you had done that, it would help the audience follow your points more logically.

The Second P is to polish your language. There was a few pronunciation as well as grammatical errors in your presentation. You were able to polish that up, that will make you come across as a more poised and polished speaker. For example, you asked 'Is there a such thing called perfect?' when you should have said, “Is there such a thing called Perfection?” This is some of the little things that you may want to tune up.

And the third P is to plan a memorable conclusion, because the audience remembers best what they hear last. So if you want the audience here to follow your advice and to keep improving, keep innovating and keep pursuing perfection then you have to bring that message across strongly to them. And I would suggest in your conclusion, stand still and bring across that message in a loud and powerful voice, instead of pacing, which you were doing at the last part.

In conclusion, Amelia, 3As that helped score A, appropriate Topic, anecdotes and you were animated as a speaker – and finally worked on the 3Ps: plan pointers, polish up your language, plan a memorable conclusion. With that, you will become a very powerful speaker.

Back to you, Contest Chair.

Katong TMC Evaluation Contest 2010

Joyce, thank you for sharing the beautiful melody of your speech about cherishing our loved ones.
Tonight I would like to share with you 3 commendations and 3 recommendations.

Firstly, I would like to share about your strengths as a speaker using the 3 Ses.

The 1st S is for smooth delivery of our speech.  You were fluent and confident as a speaker and able to overcome any nervousness you may have felt.

The 2nd S is for sincerity. You shared with us heartfelt emotions in your speech and even admitted at one point that you were too busy for your grandmother.  Your honesty and sincerity as a speaker has certainly moved us.

The 3rd S is for stories. You used stories in your speech to effectively bring across your message, that we should learn to cherish our loved ones before it is too late. I especially liked how you used two different stories to show contrast between your friend's and your own attitude.

How could you have improved on the speech? Allow me to show with your 3 areas of improvement using the 3Es.

The 1st E is for expression.  You appeared rather serious and sombre most of the time.  Perhaps you could lighten up and be more expressive.  Vary your facial expressions to show impatience or sadness or disappointment to reinforce your storytelling.

The 2nd E is for energy.  The energy of your speech was a bit low, how can we lift up the energy level? Use vocal variety and dramatic gestures where appropriate to create more energy in your speech.

The 3rd E is for effective use of grammar.  There were a few mistakes in your presentation (forgot to note down the examples...) so do make an effort to rehearse more so that these can be avoided. Correct grammar will help you to appear more credible as a speaker.

In conclusion, continue to use the 3Ses smooth delivery, sincerity and stories to mesmerize your audience. Work on the 3Es expression, energy and effective use of grammar, and you will be able to become a more poised and proficient speaker.

Evaluation of Leena's P1 speech

Leena, you lead such a colourful life and you've certainly been to places! We are indeed very glad that Katong TMC is now one of the threads in the tapestry of your life.

I shall share with you the three strong points you already have as a speaker, using the letter S.

The first S is for structure. Your speech was well-structured with a clear opening, body and conclusion.
There were 3 main points in your speech and you indicated them clearly by using linking words such as 'the first thread is..', 'another thread is..' and 'the last thread'..

The second S is sense of humour.  You made us laugh when sharing about your role as a mother, how 'the pay is non-existent, the benefits are scarce and the hours are long' and on another occasion when you shared an anecdote about using the trump card against your husband.  You are able to weave humour into your speech and use it naturally.

The third S is for sensational use of language.  You are a polished speaker and you used a beautiful analogy comparing your life to tapestry.  Your theme was consistent with the use of words and phrases like 'the threads are vibrant', 'woven together', 'unfinished tapestry' and 'continues to weave'.

There are two areas for improvement I would like to suggest, using the acronym CD.

Firstly, C for create impact in  your introduction.  You started with a whole long list of activities such as 'riding in a jeep', 'hiking', 'biking' and 'trekking'. You can create impact by using dramatic gestures and vocal variety when talking about each of the activity.

Secondly, D is for dress to impress.  The toastmasters platform is a formal one and we advise speakers to dress formally.  Our audience form their first impression of us within the first few seconds they see us and dressing to impress as a speaker is as important as delivering a well-prepared speech.

In conclusion, you have many strengths as a speaker and they include structure, sense of humour and sensational use of language. Learn to create impact in your introductions and dress to impress and you will be on your way to becoming a sensational speaker.