Make Your Success in Toastmaster Evaluation Contests Simple: Use 3 S's: Part 1

The operative word in that title is "SIMPLE". As in uncomplicated.

Success in Evaluation Contests is not "EASY". As in effortless.

If you're going to compete you may want to get familiar with 3 S's: Study, Structure and Simulation.

In this post we'll take a look at the first BIG "S"..........

1. STUDY

You'll go up against other Toastmasters so you'll need to know A LOT about about speaking and speech evaluations. Here are 3 smaller s's to help you along in your STUDIES:

a. sites

Yes, Toastmasters information on delivering evaluations is outstanding. Study all that information and then........

Study some more!

Search for the phrase "Toastmaster Evaluation Contest" on the Internet and discover preparation treasure.

Two of my favorite gems are:

• This series about evaluations on Six Minutes Blog and.....
• An article by an evaluation contest champion from New Zealand

Internalizing and using the content from these two sources will give you a decided edge over your competition.

b. speakers

If you visit Toastmasters International you'll find a list of previous World Champions of Public Speaking.

A number of these speakers have their own websites and offer educational material that will give the knowledge you get in Toastmasters an additional boost.

Another resource I found invaluable is Rory Vaden's 57 Points to a World Championship Speech, which is part of his 6 CD set entitled "The Audience is NOT in their Underwear".

Be sure to invest in your contest success!

c. speeches

Study as many as you can before contest time. Not just in Toastmasters meetings. Check out YouTube. If possible, watch contest speeches too.

• Does your Club, Area, Division or District have a videographer?
• Do you have access to recordings of speeches at some of or each of these levels?
• How about videos of previous Evaluation Contests?

Learn from speeches displaying all levels of skill. Also, be sure to watch speeches delivered by Toastmasters from various countries.

Studying high level contest speeches makes it easier to formulate recommendations for test speakers. Studying speakers from various countries ensures you won't be thrown off if your test speaker has an accent you're not accustomed to. And studying previous Evaluation Contests helps you find ways to stand out with your analysis and delivery.

Well, that wraps up this first post!

Come back to Silver Spring Toastmasters Blog soon where you'll learn how to "Make Success in Evaluation Contests Simple" with the second BIG "S":

SPEECH!

Club 1314, we made a great contest happen!

Thanks again to EVERYONE who made our Silver Spring Toastmasters Club International Speech and Evaluation Contest last Wednesday evening a resounding success.

• We put into play all the practices and protocols proven to make for a fair, valid, and exciting Toastmasters competition. Thanks again, Fiona Morrissey, for stepping up to the role of Contest Chair and preparing thoroughly for it. Thanks again, Merlyn Kettering, for stepping in to provide coaching and assistance, and Una Mae Kettering, our Division Governor and club member, for your leadership in acting as our Chief Judge.

• We had great participation . . . bold participation! We had just about everyone in the room playing one role or another, including new member Assegid Habtewold as Timer and new member Barbara Sahli as Sergeant at Arms. We had Five Evaluation contestants--Desiree Payne, Maxine Blanks, Marcia Snyder, Renee Davis, and Ignatius Cobb--each of whom was competing in this contest for the first time, if I'm not mistaken (and Ignatius, stepping up to the Club 1314 lectern for the very first time in any capacity!) We had Four International Speech contestants--Renee Davis, Drew Kolody, Andy Jacobs, and Shirley Jarvis--all of them also throwing their hats into this ring for the first time. Hats off to all of you!

• We had a terrific test speaker for our Evaluation contest. Thank you again, Pamela Copeland, Area 61 Area Governor, for giving us your time, treating us to an informative and enjoyable speech, and being a wonderful meeting guest.

• And, yes, we had two excellent competitions . . . and we have our winners! CONGRATULATIONS to our Club 1314 Evaluation Contest winner: MAXINE BLANKS! CONGRATULATIONS to our Club 1314 International Speech Contest winner: SHIRLEY JARVIS! And CONGRATULATIONS to our runner-up in BOTH categories: RENEE DAVIS!

Again, thanks to everyone who made this contest meeting the great learning and growth experience a Toastmasters contest is meant to be.

Please mark your calendars, everybody, for Sunday, March 11th, 2 til 5 p.m.. Come out to support our contestants in the AREA 62 CONTEST taking place at Takoma Park Presbyterian Church!