Teacher’s VOICE

Assessment for Public Speaking

What is it?
 15 min presentation by student speaker
 10 min Q & A
 30 min concluding speech by Facilitators
 10 min Discussion/ further Q&A

A sample assessment by Facilitator is shown below:

Bhakta Gopal on the topic `Krishna's Rasa Dance: Can we imitate?'

Criteria Marks Positive points Suggestion for improvement:

1) Introduction 6 - CLEAR English
2) Flow 6 - NO Nervousness, smile.
3) Coverage 7 - Hasty beginning
- Thorough prep
4) Non-Deviation - Introduction can be more emphatic
7 - Neatly dressed and tilaked
From Parampara - Flow abrupt, introduce concept
- VERSE ki jaya! Make them
5) Humility 7 more systematically
recite though.
6) Facing Audience 8 - Don't look into notes too often
- What can money do in
7) Maintaining - Talk more about Krishna than only
8 expanding ur senses ability
Interest of audience condemning bogus imitators
to enjoy.
8) Precision 7 - You said, "it is not necessary to be
- ‘Contemplation of death is
9) Conclusion 7 moral because devotee is
beginning of philosophy.’
10) Q & A 7 transcendental " - it is a
Nice point.
wrong statement.
- Timings followed properly.
- Too close to mike - should be little
Ended on time
Total 70% away
- amazingstory narrations.
- very lively presentation

After the lecture presentation there is a 10 min open Q/A session where the audience is allowed to ask any question
connected to the topic of the presentation of the student speaker. Just as a scooter or any instrument is tested for the
worst conditions, similarly the speaker is tested for his understanding of the subject. This may leave some of the
questions unanswered or partially answered. Some sample questions from students which were unanswered by the
student speaker on the topic:
 What was the need of Krishna to have rasa dance to create controversies?
 Why do paramahamsa devotees meditate on rasa dance?
 If Krishna can dance with 16000 girls, being a part-and-parcel living entity can I not dance with 16 girls?
 Lord Krishna is God & should set an example how to behave. Can He act immorally?
Facilitator gives the concluding presentation for half an hour to one hour that answers all the questions which the
student speaker was unable to completely answer. He also gives a deeper understanding of the Krishna consciousness
philosophy on the topic of discussion.

Assessment Criteria:
Every student speaker is judged on the following 10 points for his lecture presentation:

1. Introduction
One must address the audience, thank them for attending the program, give a brief idea of what one is going to speak
about, and begin with a thought provoking / humorous / interest generating / attention catching -- incident /
information / sloka / quote.
2. Flow
Student speaker must have good English, clear pronunciation and diction, framing of the sentences should be without
grammatical mistakes, sentences should flow with confidence without hesitation.
Less marks should be given for half sentences, stammering etc.
3. Coverage
The most important themes under a topic must be covered
E.g. For a topic "Miseries of the material world" - one must speak about the 4 - fold miseries of birth, old age, disease
and death and also speak about 3 miseries - adhiyatmika, adhibhautika and adhidaivika miseries.
Must cover all the topics in the lecture presentation.
E.g. For a topic " Three modes of material nature " one should not just talk about the mode of goodness for most of the
lecture. Equal time must be given to all the modes of nature and conclusion must explain how the come out of the three
modes by surrendering to Krishna.
4. Non Deviation From Parampara
Examples and stories told to convey philosophical points should be repeated from parampara. Student speaker must use
construction of words as Srila Prabhupada has used in his writing. For example "Supreme Personality of Godhead",
"devotional service" etc.
 Doubtful and controversial points must be left out of the presentation.
 Unnecessary and provocative examples and statements should be avoided. E.g. "man never went to the moon", or
"fall of the jiva from the spiritual world controversy!"
 Self made stories or examples,
 Non conventional vulgar presentation (for e.g. to present the information like cutting of testicles of goat in Yayati's
story),
 Hurting the personal sentiments of one or more people (criticizing women to be less intelligent and justifying,
`Prabhupada said it'),
 Creating a tense situation by criticizing other religions or paramparas openly,
 Attacking personalities instead of defeating their bogus philosophies
- All these will lead to reduction of marks for this criteria.
5. Humility Thread
Natural humility of the speaker should be an underlying thread throughout the lecture. The lecture should be presented
in a persuasive manner to enable the people to take to Krishna consciousness more seriouly. The speaker should not
give the presentation with a view of impressing the audience by dramatic speaking, using jargon, quoting stray unknown
cooked examples or stories. The speaker should not lose temper by fanatical and passionate presentation in the name of
bold preaching (especially during Q & A). The speaker should inspire the audience by a genuine presentation springing
from the heart, in simple words for everyone to understand. There must be firmness in presentation - should not be too
watered down with false humility! One can make a strong philosophical point and should keep a few moments of silence
to let the audience digest the point we make. Proper modulation can help convey a point.
6. Facing Audience
Sometimes it is seen that the speaker
 keeps his eyes closed
 keeps his sight focussed on the ceiling as if there were no one present before him
 keeps looking at his notes every minute for reference
 looks at one student in the audience and preaches him only
 looks down and occasionally raises the head for a few seconds
 keeps a too serious face or a face which looks that he is about to cry
Any of these approaches in presentation easily puts off the audience and they go to sleep, look at their watch or start
moving out. The speaker should make audience feel that the lecture is meant for them and the topic is a very important
one for their lives. To make this happen, the speaker should:
 Be enthusiastic about the topic
 Address the audience by having eye contact
 look around the audience to make everyone feel the speaker is addressing them
 show expressions and use modulations to powerfully convey the message.
The expressions or gestures should be natural and not artificial. There should also be some interaction with the audience
- speaker may ask them some question and wait for the answer or answer himself.
7. Maintaining Interest Of Audience
The lecture should not be too dry with hard philosophical points difficult to digest. Especially in this age, when people
are dull to spiritual life, speaking a complicated word jugglery will only put them to sleep. The purpose of the
presentation is to help the audience understand and apply it in their day to day life. This is possible only if the speaker
has understood the subject properly and puts it in his own simple words to explain a point; otherwise cramming
philosophical notes and repeating like a parrot with no understanding will neither help the audience understand nor
help the preacher to purify himself.
Lecture should be rich with examples, stories and analogies taken from Srila Prabhupada's books, appropriately quoted
according to the level of the audience. Quoting incidences from Srila Prabhupada's pastimes, quoting slokas and telling
their word for word or line by line meanings and numbered analogies/examples (e.g., 3 modes, or 4 miseries, or 6 ways
to develop loving exchanges between devotees etc.) also help to maintain the interest of the audience. The examples
should be lively, easy-to-picturise in mind and easy-to-relate for the audience.
8. Precision
Speaker must properly stick to the philosophical point he wants to convey strongly and not beat around the bush. Lack
of precision can happen when the speaker:
 Goes on a tangential off-track direction talking on some other topic
 For example, one may be asked to speak on `brahmana vs. Kripana' and the speaker may start talking about
`Varnasrama dharma' in great length; actually he was supposed to speak about the importance of human life and
define brahmana/kripana based on that.
 Catches hold of a irrelevant but sensitive topic and creates agitation in audience
For example, one may be asked to speak on `Four defects' and one may catch up a unnecessary controversial
example like `Moon landing'; the audience forget the topic and start hotly arguing whether man went to moon or
not. The essence is lost and the speaker has dragged the audience to a useless argumentative zone.
 Gives lot of information, but forgets the important points which should not be missed
For example, one may be asked to speak on `Miseries of material world'; the speaker may speak about the suffering of
Ethiopians, Bomb blasts, Local and global fights and the current news. If he forgets to talk on Birth, Old age, Disease and
Death as well as on Three fold miseries, then he gets only half the marks for coverage. One should always keep sastra in
mind even while giving examples from day-to-day life.

There should be one main theme and one/two sub-themes and continuity should be maintained while moving from one
theme to another.
9. Conclusion
Generally, the audience remembers the last point or the example made before the presentation ends. So the conclusion
should be a punching point which can be remembered and carried by the audience home. It can also be a brief summary
of the presentation made to remind people of what should they carry with them. In any case, the speaker has to give
some beneficial message to people to not only hear, but to apply in their day-to-day life. The conclusion could include -
inspiring the audience to increase their chanting, associating, reading sastras etc.

10. Questions And Answers

The answers should be brief and to the point, to avoid boredom. Too long exhaustive answers bore the audience
(especially youth). The misconceptions of audience should be dispelled through powerful examples of Srila Prabhupada.
The speaker should give sufficient audience to the questions before replying, to increase the confidence of the
questioner. The answers should be mature and not in anyway ridicule the questioner directly / indirectly.