Comments for Is This Thing On? SpeakerRate Helps Speakers Get Honest Feedback

Is This Thing On? SpeakerRate Helps Speakers Get Honest Feedback

2009-02-19T07:00:00Z

The tech event season is beginning to heat up. If you're a speaker, you know that standing in front of a crowd isn't half as hard as getting critical feedback on your talks. People who disliked it will generally remain silent or opt for a snarky tweet or two. Those close to you will tell you "You did great!" no matter how poorly you performed. Getting the feedback you need to improve can be the most difficult part of the whole process. Until now. Meet SpeakerRate.

]]> SpeakerRate is designed to help you promote the talks you're giving - and get that critical feedback you're seeking. Simply register for an account, complete your profile, and start loading up your upcoming talks. You'll be given the option to add other speakers, a link to your slides, and the event page corresponding to your talk. You can even anchor the talk to a larger event if you're speaking at a conference.

For those providing feedback, the app is just as easy. All they have to do is follow the link the speaker provides at the end of the talk (hint, hint) or visit SpeakerRate and search by speaker or event. Each talk has two ratings: Delivery and Content. Dragging sliders allows the respondent to rate the talk on a scale of 0 to 5, with 5 being the best. There's also a text area for providing specific feedback on the talk.

Even though the application only recently launched, it's already filled with some interesting content. Current event Webstock 2009, which is being held in Wellington, NZ, until February 20, had a number of talks loaded into the system.

With multiple talks from the same event, users also gain access to an aggregate event rating. This is helpful for attendees or potential attendees to get a reading on conferences. And it helps speakers determine how they measured up against their peers. Webstock must be going well, because it's sitting at 4.07 overall, currently.

Upside? The app is easy to use and it boasts a very pleasant UI. Every turn brings some thoughtful AJAX elements that bring the app to life. The sliders, for example, provide context for the numerical ratings - on "Delivery," 0 is "Just awful" while 5 is "Awesome presenter!"

Downside? One thing that was bit strange occurs immediately following registration. When you return to the site to validate your account, you're immediately hit with a page pushing you to add SpeakerRate to your LinkedIn profile. Given that we hadn't even tried the product yet, we felt they were moving a little fast. So we skipped it. Our profile continued to admonish us for having skipped the step. A little guilt goes a long way.

All in all, we're big fans of facilitating honest feedback, so we really liked the focus and intent of SpeakerRate. Even the slightly spammy LinkedIn element didn't turn us off - because it seemed to be coming from the right place.

If you're interested in getting some honest feedback on your next speaking gig, you might want to give SpeakerRate a shot.

Comment from Goodmars on 2009-02-18

2009-02-19T07:09:07Z

Hmmm, I think this is fantastic. If they could add a video component, this could be gold for interview practice.
http://tr.im/gk8j

Comment from Brian Wynne Williams on 2009-02-19

2009-02-19T11:14:09Z

Rick - thanks for the write-up. I'm glad you like UI details and see the value on the overall concept.

A quick note about the LinkedIn request -- it's not at all meant to be spammy. Quite the contrary, the goal was to tie SpeakerRate profiles (and feedback) to an outside profile that users already value, thereby reducing the risk of non-constructive feedback poisoning the community. Once you've verified that connection (between SpeakerRate and LinkedIn) you can simply remove any mention of SpeakerRate from your LinkedIn profile permanently.

We've been getting some good suggestions about how to simplify / improve that process and the way it's explained, so stay tuned for some updates. Your reaction to it certainly helps make it clear that our approach needs to be updated. Any other suggestions from you or other readers is more than welcome (there's a link on the site to Get Satisfaction).

Thanks again!

Brian Williams / SpeakerRate Team

Comment from Jeff Hurt on 2009-02-19

2009-02-19T13:49:37Z

Interesting & I can see how this is beneficial when the event planner does not provide an evaluation. I always provide an evaluation for my attendees to rate each speaker in 9 categories so that the speaker has concrete info on how to improve. As a meeting & event planner, I'm finding my audience is becoming more critical and blunt about speakers, especially those that don't do well, don't meet their expectations and waste their time. I've hired thousands of speakers in my job and seen even more speaker marketing videos. Content and delivery are most important things for a speaker, with delivery being the most important item a speaker should improve. I've seen speakers with great content and the worst delivery skills bore an audience and fail. Just because someone is an expert in their field doesn't make them a good speaker. I've seen speakers with great delivery and poor content succeed. Speakers, get coaching on good presenter skills (not Toastmasters!) but coaching/classes on presenting with good adult education/learning tips.

Comment from Nicholas Tolson on 2009-02-19

2009-02-19T14:22:42Z

This is definitely a useful and slick app.

It took me a second to figure out, but I love the idea behind using LinkedIn as authenticity verification system. The fact that you can just take the link out again means that you could theoretically have a fake LinkedIn account you use for such things, but it's definitely a step in the right direction in the fight against anonymity and hopefully gets others thinking along the same lines. IMO, OpenID and all those other methods are too techy to ever get widespread adoption. While this may seem a bit clunky, it's a relatively simple process from the user side, which is what it's all about.