Round Robin Evaluation

Was I happy to see Toastmaster Jenny Chen and Simon Hsieh at MOFA's meeting featuring two round robin evaluations for Toastmaster Weiling Chen and Erik Lahdekorpi Thursday noon, October 17th. Like all competition events, from spelling bees to baseball, sportsmanship isn't just reserved for athletes on the field. The sportsmanship is a tradition in sports and competition that players handle both victory and defeat with grace, style, and dignity. Jenny and Simon's demonstrated the spirit of sportsmanship with encore congratulations to Weiling and Erik, two winners at the Area H1 humorous speech contest and valuable recommendations to compete at Division H humorous speech contest at Tatung University Sunday afternoon, October 27th.

It was the first time for me to attend a round robin evaluation, given the fact that I had been a Toastmaster for 27 years. According to the club meetings and meeting roles at Toastmasters International, some advanced clubs have a Round Robin evaluation for the speakers. In addition to the designated evaluator giving an evaluation recorded in the member's manual, the other members around the room are asked for additional comments on the presentation.

Division H Governor Lawrence was the Round Robin Master. He assigned 5 evaluators for each humorous contest speaker. Each evaluator was given 1 minutes and 30 seconds to give kisses and kicks. Toastmaster Jenny Chen, Simon Hsieh, Pierre Chen were in my group to give dos and don'ts to Erik Lahdekorpi, the champion at Area H1 humorous speech contest. It was stimulating to learn more what a good speech is. It was exciting to experience the energy and enthusiasm from the floor, how how members help members grow in the field of public speaking!

Are speakers born or made? In Toastmasters, speakers are made in a positive and supportive environment. Good speakers have a pocket of speeches handy. Good speakers seize the stage to excel. Not only does it take time for speakers to give birth to good speeches, but they also need acquire the skills to involve the audience to convey the messages successfully.

A speech contest is only the starting point for speakers. We need to reflect upon the thoughts what we could have done better when the memories were still fresh. At the same time, we need to move forward to work on the next speech contest. A winning speaking is made by preparation, preparation and preparation, nothing else but full preparation!

As a senior member of Grand, I am happy to have diligent and enthusiastic members in search of excellence in our club. As Area H1 Governor, I am happy to see the support among Toastmasters clubs in Area H1.