By Andra Beatty, ACS-ALB, Area Director

 

Have you ever been given a deadline that pushed you toward achieving your goals at warp speed? I have or at least that is how  this last year has felt to me. So many things to do. So many things accomplished and just a few more to do and my journey will be finished.

Club officer, club member mentor, Area Director and TLI Toastmasters
Leadership Institute Sessions Chair. It has been a whirlwind of meetings, reports and watching our clubs progress and grow. One at a time.
Greeting and Meeting many new friends along the way.
So many challenges accepted and completed on time.
During this service journey I learned so much about the different leadership styles of myself and others.
I learned that I try harder and work better with servant leaders and not with an autocratic style of ruling.
Servant leaders are like the Super Amazing Super Hero Tammy K that I did my HPL High Performance Leadership project with.
Kind, Helpful, Hard worker and always encouraging.
We love that about our Toastmaster brothers and sisters.
It has been a long journey and I have learned so much about others and myself.
Thank you Toastmasters for giving me the great
opportunity to learn all I can and be all I can be.

For my recent Successful Communication Series I choose Speech Evaluations.
I leave you with the Top 10 Best Behaviors of an Effective Evaluator,

10 Behaviors of an Effective Evaluator

1. Listen carefully to the speech opening. Write down first impressions.
2. Suit your evaluation to the speaker skills and Celebrate their accomplishment
3. Personalize your Language to Give positive reinforcement
4. Build a Motivational climate and Nourish self-esteem
5. Show the speaker how to improve with a positive suggestion.
6. Assess the speech structure and outline.     Opening Body Conclusion
7. Did you want to hear more or did you feel lost during parts of the speech
8. Was there anything that obviously stood out to Commend or Recommend
9. Assess vocal variety, how is the speaker using their voice? Is it easy to listen to? Are the pitch, rate, volume, tone and rhythm of their voice appropriate.
10. Pay Attention and Actively Listen – take notes.   Listen to the Sentences; are they Well-constructed and Fluent? Listen to the Words; does the speaker use language that is easy to understand? Listen to the Content; is the speaker making appropriate use of description, imagery, examples, reasoning and logic, or humor to get their message across clearly? Did the Speech end Strong.