You hear about the sandwich method. Say something sweet, then salty, then sweet. Or, maybe sour instead of salty. But, never bitter.

That’s okay for beginners. When you want to raise your evaluations to the next level, you have to go beyond this simplicity.

My answer is the four R’s of evaluation: Recognize, Report, Recommend, Review.

Start your evaluation by Recognizing the good quality of the speech, or the boldness of the attempted presentation. Either be enthusiastic because it was a really good speech, or be sympathetic and encouraging if the speaker tried something a little beyond his or her ability at that point.

You can even be both enthusiastic and sympathetic, if you set your mind to it.

Then Report on what you saw and heard that you can commend. If the speech was well organized, report on that. If eye contact, or gestures, or vocal variety was strong, make that known.

If it was a story, or a speech to inform, or to persuade, nod to that form and say what it was. In this part of the evaluation you are simply reporting, to the credit of the speaker.

When you begin to make your Recommendation, just stick to one thing if you can. This is the takeaway or take-home part of the evaluation.

You can encourage working on a weakness, and give an example of how to work on it. Even better, in my opinion, is to recommend building a strength. If you see that the speaker has a definite strength, you can recommend pushing the envelope and making it a bigger strength.

Finally, as you close your evaluation make a quick Review of the main points. In a few words recap your evaluation. That gives more form and shape to what you said. If you can hit those first three R’s in a few sentences and express enthusiastic encouragement and interest in further speeches, that would be perfect.

Giving your evaluation this form goes beyond the sandwich into expert contest evaluator territory. Mastering this method, you can expect to win.