How Your Uplifting Words Can Inspire Speech Improvement
Think about the last time you received a speech evaluation.
Did you walk away feeling uplifted? Inspired? Motivated?
Or did you feel dejected? disheartened? discouraged?
Now think about the last time youย presentedย an evaluation. Did the speaker walk away feeling elevated, or let down?
Effective evaluating, like anything else, is a learned skill. It’s a process. Once you masterย it, the quality of your evaluations will improve.
You’ll inspire speakers to betterย their skills. As an added bonus,ย yourย speaking will become better.
Why? Because you’ll be reinforcing ideas thatย enhanceย your speech writing and speaking.ย You can elevate others and yourself through effective evaluations.
How Can You Give Impactfulย Evaluations?
To improve your evaluations, answer the question โWhy do we give evaluations?โ
Some obvious answers are:
‘To help others become better speakers.โ
‘Show them how to break bad habits.โ
‘To point out where they aren’t making sense.’
These are good reasons. There is another answer that is just as important. The main reason we give evaluationsย is toย persuade themย to get back up and speak, as soon as possible.
How One Story Helped Me Understand
I came to this conclusion inย 2007. I had just watched a speaker namedย Eileen James. As I prepared my evaluation, I considered several suggestions to help herย improve. But, I didnโt want to focus on the negative.
There was something about her story that had a strong emotional impact on me.ย It wasย the key point of her main story. Eileenย told us about aย confrontation she had with a gang.ย They wereย about to attack a young Muslim man in the days following 9/11. Her recounting of that incident wasย compelling andย riveting. You could’ve heard a pin drop in the auditorium.
I focused on that part of her speech in my evaluation.
Why?
She needed to be aware that she’d made a strong emotional connection with the audience. As powerful as her story was, I didnโt think Eileen knew the impact she had on the audience.ย My evaluation had to convey that to her.
Herย presentation connected because she had put us โin the moment.’ You felt as if you were there with her, facing down that gang. Eileen expressed the strength she gained from standing up to do the right thing. It would’ve been much easier to walk away. We could feel her fear as she stood up to the gang.
The message of facing that fear and doing what was right touched each of us in the audience.
The Impact of Positive Evaluations
After thatย event, Eileen told me how much she appreciated the words of support. She said “Iย want to give this speech again because of allย the positive feedback I got today.”
She hadnโt realized the impact of her message. Positive reinforcementย inspired her to get back up and speak. It also made her more open to listen to the suggestions on how she could improve.ย It was so effectiveย thatย soon after, she presented a workshop about how to connect with young people.
It was a joy to be a part ofย her revelation.ย It confirmed that there is a main reasonย reason we give evaluations:
Toย encourage others to get back up and speak.
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Michaelโs mission is to help leaders, managers and sales professionals communicate with more confidence, impact, and influence. This passion is born from his own communication difficulties early in his career.
Fortunately, he discovered that public speaking is like riding a bike, swimming or driving a car - itโs a learnable skill. Once he discovered this โsecretโ he became a voracious student of the craft. He took courses, studied some of the worldโs best speakers and storytellers and continues to study presentation and business storytelling skills.
He is hired by companies and organizations, leaders, managers and sales professionals, and TEDx speakers to help them become more confident, impactful and influential communicators.
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