Guidelines for Evaluations

1. For this assignment you are to choose one speech to evaluate from the National Forensics Association Final round of Informative speaking: NFA final round

2. The evaluation must be one and a half pages typed and double-spaced.

3. You may choose to evaluate 3-5 of the following categories listed below.

Categories:

1. Organization: transition, depth, and time
2. Main points: made sense ; supported central idea
3. Ethics and Audience Analysis
4. Supporting Material/Evidence
5. Visual Aids
6. Dynamics: extemporaneous; enthusiastic
7. Vocal and Verbal Qualities: rate; volume; inflection; language and grammar
8. Body and Facial Qualities: gestures; posture; eye contact
9. Introductions and conclusions

Sample Evaluation

Jordan’s speech about martial arts was too long and too general. The first problem was the organization.

After the explanation of the history of martial arts, Jordan began to explain the important contributors of karate.

There was too much information, and the main points did not get sufficient explanations. If Jordan would have

chosen a few specific main points, the speech would have been stronger.

Although the assignment was not a process speech, Jordan spent a portion of the speech explaining how to

perform martial arts. Jordan explained too many complicated moves; there was no way to grasp all the

information. In addition, the speech was two minutes over the time. The extra information did nothing to add

clarity. In fact, the extra time was overwhelming, since Jordan spent the two minutes leaping in the air. It seemed

that Jordan was more interested in showing off her skills, rather than explaining the topic.

To expand on this point, Jordan needed to conduct a better audience analysis. No one in the class knew

anything about martial arts, so the weak explanations and difficult moves bored the class. Perhaps if she

explained techniques that novices could perform, we would investigate the opportunity to take classes.

In terms of body, facial, and vocal qualities, Jordan really made use of her space. Because she was so

enthusiastic about her topic, she was very animated and natural in her facial expressions and gestures. Jordan

seemed to smile at appropriate times, and used changes in pitch to emphasize the significance and interest of

her topic. Even with all of her extensive physical activity, she managed to maintain eye contact with the

audience. In the future, with better organization and planning, Jordan can become a stronger speaker.