Sample Speaker Evaluation Form

Start By Asking the Right Audience Questions

Apr 7, 2009

The speaker evaluation form is an effective way to ensure that audiences are able to communicate their needs to speakers.

Because international trade requires presentations to many different cultures, speakers must learn to quickly adapt to distinct audience needs. But how does one gauge the success or failure of speaking to audiences with up to thousands of participants? One of the most economical ways to gather audience feedback is to design, publish and distribute speaker evaluation forms for meetings, conferences and presentations. Evaluation results can be provided to speakers and stored for future presentations by specific topic or audience location.

Below is an example of how to design an effective speaker evaluation form, complete with suggested template wording.

Make the Speaker Evaluation Form Attractive

Speaker evaluation forms should be functional and therefore are typically printed on 8 ½” by 11” plain bond paper. Multi-colored typefaces, logos, photos and glossy paper are usually frowned upon since a busy form will confuse and discourage participation. But selecting a light yellow, blue or gray for the paper stock can distinguish the speaker evaluation form from other handout materials, make the content more legible, and entice the audience to answer the questions.

The form should have at least one half inch page margins that maximize white space and improve readability. Across the top of the page should be a one-inch high banner that identifies the conference or meeting name in large letters, with the dates and main location in smaller type. A graphic of peoples’ faces that spans the remaining two-thirds of the banner will give the illusion that the participants are sharing in a casual conversation about the speakers they’ve just heard.

The centered title SPEAKER EVALUATION FORM should be placed immediately under the graphic banner. Under that title should be an explanation as to why participants should fill out the form, like the following sample wording: “Your feedback is very important to help us plan the next year’s American Imports Summit. Please help us maintain the highest level of expert speakers by completing this session evaluation."

Session Identification Questions on Form

The speaker evaluation form can ask the audience to fill in the underlined blank spaces for the session’s date and time. More organized conferences will establish distinct tracks specific to meeting rooms where a set of speeches are given.

For example, a set of different speakers may give Canadian Exports track sessions in the same room but at different times. This enables conference organizers to use one sign that reads Canadian Exports outside that room rather than changing the sign for individual speaker topics. Similarly, two other tracks like American Service Imports and Emerging Issues can run concurrently in their specific rooms. Names for those tracks can be pre-printed on the Speaker Evaluation Form, so that participants can simply circle the track they attended. The identification section should also have a session title space where the audience can write in the speaker’s topic.

Speaker Evaluation

An effective evaluation form will then have a section that starts with a space to write in the speaker’s name. A line of four checkboxes beside four possible scores (Excellent, Very Good, Good and Fair) is presented to the right of the following criteria.

Effectiveness of Session Objectives

This section of the form starts with a revealing short-answer question like “After participating in this session, I’m able to …” Following that are questions with No or Yes checkboxes as seen in the three samples below:

Questions for Speaker Planning

About three blank lines can be provided for a question like “Is there any topic discussed in this session which you’d like to learn about even further.” Finally, about four blank lines are provided for Additional Comments. A note can be added about additional room is provided on the back of the form. It is very important to include a Thank You on the form to recognize the participant’s time and effort in providing valuable feedback.

Avoid Asking for Participant Contact Information

Where registration for specific sessions isn’t required, sometimes event organizers included a section on the back of the speaker evaluation form to record the participant’s name, company, address, phone and email. This may enable organizers to track who attended which sessions, but unfortunately can inhibit audience members with concerns about the confidentiality and privacy of their opinions.

The copyright of the article Sample Speaker Evaluation Form in International Trade is owned by Daniel Workman. Permission to republish Sample Speaker Evaluation Form in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.