General Evaluator
When you are the General Evaluator
The General Evaluator is the member who evaluates everything that takes place throughout the meeting. The General Evaluator role provides excellent practice in leadership skills such as critical thinking, planning, preparation, organization, time management, motivation, and team building.
The General Evaluator is responsible to the Toastmaster of the meeting. General Evaluators are responsible for the evaluation team, which consists of the timer, grammarian, Ah-Counter, speech evaluators, and Table Topics evaluator, if your club has one.
Traditionally, there is one evaluator for each prepared speech, but this isn’t essential. As members, you are free to set a procedure that is effective for your club. Each evaluation should be brief, yet complete.
At the conclusion of the evaluation section of the meeting, you return control to the Toastmaster
Prior to the Meeting
- Check with the Toastmaster to confirm the program for the meeting and any planned changes to the usual meeting format
- Communicate with all evaluators to confirm whom they will be evaluating and the evaluation format needed for that member. Encourage them to prepare for their roles by contacting the speakers to discuss any special evaluation requirements. When you communicate with evaluators, emphasize the importance of positive, supportive, and honest evaluations. Their goal as evaluators is to help fellow members develop their skills.
- Communicate with remaining members of the evaluation team to remind them of their assignments
- For the benefit of any guest at the meeting, prepare a brief talk on the purpose, techniques, and benefits of evaluation
Upon Arrival at the Meeting
- Ensure that the individual evaluators have the materials they need to complete an evaluation for the members who are speaking or fulfilling club leadership roles at the meeting. Ensure that evaluators understand the criteria for the speech and are comfortable fulfilling the role.
- Greet all evaluators. If one is absent, consult with the Vice President Education to arrange a substitute.
- Check with the grammarian for any word of the day
- Verify each speaker’s time and notify the timer.
- Sit near the back of the room for a better view of the meeting and participants
During the Meeting
- Take notes about everything that happens, including anything that doesn’t, but should. For example, check that the club’s property (trophies and banner) are properly displayed. Watch for unnecessary distractions that could have been avoided. Be aware of the time to evaluate if the meeting and each section of it began and ended on time.
- Evaluate each participant on the meeting program. Look for good examples of preparation, organization, delivery, enthusiasm, observation, and performance of duties. Although members who present a speech or fulfill a leadership project have evaluators assigned to them, you are free to add comments if you wish.
- Before Table Topics, you may be asked to stand and present your team’s means and methods of evaluation. Briefly describe the evaluation process.
- Identify the grammarian, Ah-Counter, and timer. Ask these members to briefly state the purpose of their roles.
- When prompted to conduct the evaluation section of the meeting, stand at the lectern and introduce each speech evaluator. Afterward, thank each for his or her efforts.
- Give your general evaluation based on the notes you took throughout the meeting. Phrase your evaluation to encourage and support club members while identifying areas for growth. As the general evaluator of the meeting, provide feedback on individual speech and leadership role evaluations. Be sure to note where evaluations followed the defined criteria and provided specific, meaningful feedback.