We have all felt the specific dread that comes with looking at the meeting agenda.

You see your name listed as an Evaluator. Then, you look at the Speaker you are assigned to evaluate.

It is the club veteran. The Distinguished Toastmaster. The person who speaks for a living.

You panic. You think, “Who am I to judge them? They are better than me.”

You watch their speech. It is flawless. Their vocal variety is on point. Their gestures are crisp. They didn’t say a single “Umm.” You look down at your evaluation sheet, and it is empty.

So, you get up on stage and deliver a “Whitewash.” You spend three minutes saying, “You were great, I loved it, I have no suggestions, keep it up!”

This is a waste of time. It wastes the speaker’s time, and it wastes the audience’s time.

Here is the secret: There is no such thing as a perfect speech.

Just like there is no such thing as “perfect code.” There is only code that hasn’t been optimized yet.

When you are tasked to evaluate a perfect speech, you need to stop acting like a mechanic looking for a broken part. You need to start acting like a performance engineer looking for an upgrade.

Here are three ways to find “growth points” for the speaker who seems to have it all.

1. Move from “Bug Fixing” to “Feature Requests”

For a new speaker, your job is to fix bugs. They forgot eye contact (Bug). They went over time (Bug). They spoke too softly (Bug).

But for a veteran speaker, the software is bug-free. If you keep looking for mistakes, you will come up empty.

Instead, look for Feature Requests.

Don’t tell them what they did wrong. Challenge them to try something different. This is often called “The Stretch Goal.”

  • The Challenge: “Your delivery was incredibly polished. But next time, I want to see if you can deliver this same speech without the PowerPoint slides. Can you hold our attention with just your voice?”
  • The Challenge: “You are very comfortable in the ‘Inspirational’ tone. Next time, I challenge you to try a speech that is purely ‘Data-Driven’ and analytical to stretch your range.”

You aren’t saying their speech was bad. You are saying, “You have mastered Level 1. Here is how you get to Level 2.”

2. Deconstruct the Source Code for the Audience

Sometimes, the evaluation isn’t actually for the speaker. It’s for the room.

If the speaker truly crushed it, use your time to explain why it worked. This is the “Source Code Reveal.”

Most of the audience knows the speech was good, but they don’t know the technical reason why. They just “felt” it.

Your job is to reverse-engineer the magic.

  • Instead of: “You had great pauses.”
  • Say: “Did everyone notice how he paused for exactly four seconds after the joke? That silence forced us to laugh. That is a technique called ‘The Comedic Gap,’ and it was executed perfectly.”

By doing this, you turn a compliment into a masterclass for the newer members. You validate the veteran while teaching the rookies.

3. Stress Test the Hardware (Micro-Delivery)

When the content is perfect, look at the hardware.

Veteran speakers often get comfortable. When they get comfortable, they develop “micro-tells”—tiny physical habits that aren’t mistakes, but are distractions.

Because their speech is so good, nobody ever points these out. You can be the one who finally does.

Zoom in on the details:

  • The Eye Sweep: Are they actually looking at people, or just scanning the room like a security camera?
  • The Anchor: Are they rocking back on their heels slightly?
  • The Reset: do they clasp their hands in the exact same position after every sentence?

These are the “1% optimizations.” Pointing them out shows you were paying extreme attention.

💡 Pro Tip: Check the Time Stamp

Here is a common trait of “perfect” speakers: They love to talk.

Because they are confident, they often ignore the Red Light. They think, “I’m killing this, surely they want to hear the end of my story.”

Do not let them get away with it. Even if a speech is Broadway-quality, if it goes 30 seconds overtime, it is a failure in the context of a meeting.

Use a precision tool to catch them.

Open the Free Speech Timer to track their exact duration →

The “High-Fidelity” Mindset

Evaluating a pro is intimidating, but it is also an opportunity.

It forces you to sharpen your own listening skills. You have to look past the surface level and analyze the structure, the psychology, and the nuance of the performance.

Don’t let them off the hook with a generic “Good job.”

Dig deeper. Find the glitch. Optimize the system.

Need a tool to track your evaluations?

We created a scorecard specifically designed to help you find feedback even for the toughest speakers.

Download the “Critical Sandwich” Scorecard

Disclaimer: This guide is a personal resource created by Jel Salamanca. It is not an official publication of, nor is it affiliated with or endorsed by, Toastmasters International.