Evaluating Presentation Skills

You will learn how to check your own presentation, not just listen to what other people say. You will use a simple checklist to look at your voice, your eyes, and your body. Then you will pick one goal to work on next time.

To evaluate means to look closely at something and decide how it went. After you give a presentation, you can stop and think about it yourself. You do not need to wait for someone else to tell you what to do. You can ask yourself questions like "Was my voice loud enough?" or "Did I look at my classmates?"

Checking your own work is a skill, just like reading or drawing. The more you practice it, the easier it gets.

A checklist is a list of small parts you can check one at a time. Here is a checklist with four parts you can use after any presentation.

You can go through this list right after you finish speaking. Put a mark next to each part. This helps you see exactly what you already do well.

Once you look at your checklist, you will probably see one part marked "Try Again." That part becomes your goal. A goal is one thing you choose to work on next time.

It is better to pick just one goal instead of five. If you try to fix everything at once, it is hard to remember it all. If you pick one goal, like "look at the audience more," you can really focus on it during your next presentation.

Zara gave a presentation about her pet turtle. After she finished, she used her checklist. She marked "Yes" for Loud Voice because her whole class could hear her. She marked "Yes" for Standing Still and "Yes" for Showing Pictures because she held her poster up the whole time.

But Zara marked "Try Again" for Eye Contact. She noticed she looked down at her notes almost the whole time. So Zara picked her goal: "Next time, I will look up at my classmates three times during my talk."

Zara did not need anyone to tell her this. She found it herself by checking her own checklist.

Evaluate: To look closely at something and decide how well it went.

Checklist: A list of small parts you check one at a time.

Goal: One thing you choose to work on to get better.

Eye Contact: Looking at the people you are speaking to.

Clarity: Speaking in a way that is easy for others to understand.

After your next presentation, try filling in your own checklist like the one above. Mark each part "Yes" or "Try Again." Then write down one goal for the next time you speak. You can even ask a family member to watch and check the same list, then compare your marks to theirs.

Related lessons

• Reflecting On Learning Presentation Skills