Article: The most important part of the speech isn't the speaking style or the charisma of the speaker, it's the content of what is said. Giving a speech is hard because it has all the challenges of writing an essay, with the added difficulty of having to make it easy to listen to out loud. The most important thing to focus on in your evaluation is the content of the speech. If it's a persuasive speech, or an argument speech, the content will likely include a lot of research, real-world examples, and main points. In an informal speech, the content will likely involve anecdotes, stories, and jokes. When you're evaluating, keep in mind the following questions and answer them as a way of giving feedback: What was the main argument of the speech? Was the content clear and well-articulated? Was the argument supported with research? Good examples? Was the content made clear to the audience? Did the speaker prove their point? In order to make the content of a speech clear and easy to digest, it needs to be organized well. Formal or informal, public speaking needs to be easy to listen to. If the speech jumps around or moves from point to point like a tennis match, it might need to be reorganized. To help you evaluate the organization of the speech, keep in mind the following questions to generate feedback for the speaker: Was the supporting argument logically structured? Was the speech easy to follow? Difficult? Why? Do the speaker's points flow logically from one to the next? What could be included to clear up the speech for you? If the content of the speech refers to what is spoken, the style refers to how it is spoken. A good speech should match the style to the content: it's unlikely a serious paper about dolphin populations would involve "getting to know the audience" games or audience participation. Whether or not a speaker chooses to use jokes, how much the speaker engages with the audience, and other personal elements to the speech will all play into the style. How a speech is written will affect the style, but also how it is performed. Are the jokes told like they are jokes? Is research presented accurately and clearly? Keep in mind the following questions: How would you describe the style of the speech and the speaker? Did the style of the speech work for the content, or against it? Why? How convincing was the speaker? How was the timing of the speech? Was it easy to follow? The tone of the speech refers to the overall impact of the content and the style. A tone might be light, or serious, or playful, and there's no right or wrong tone for any content. It might be appropriate to tell light stories and jokes at a eulogy, or it might be disastrous. It might be appropriate to tell a heartwarming story about your boss at his retirement, but maybe not if it's a drunken roast. The tone needs to match the speech itself and the occasion. Who is the audience for the speech? What are their expectations of the speech and the speaker? How would you describe the tone of the speech? Did it match the content? How? If not, how might the tone be improved? How well will the tone match the audience for the speech?

What is a summary?
Evaluate the content of the speech. Evaluate the organization of the speech. Evaluate the style of the speech. Evaluate the tone of the speech.