How can you be sure that your attendee evaluations hit the truth mark for you and your speaker - especially since even the best evaluation forms are far from perfect? Here are some inherent challenges:

• ratings are based on a wide range of personal reactions, dependent on individual perspectives, motivations, and even moods
• evaluators tend to compromise in favor of brevity 
• subtle variations in language can have serious effects on the pattern of response
• evaluations ask participants to make value judgments about other people's work, which shifts the responsibility for learning to the presenters.

Here is how to make your evaluation form the most effective tool possible to measure the success of a presentation. (Special thanks to SpeakerNetNews.com for sharing ideas provided by their subscribers.)

1. Focus on how the participant was impacted by the presentation. Ask the following:

• What did you like best about the program?
• What one thing you will do differently after attending this program?
• What will you tell others about this program?
• Would you attend another program by this presenter?
• What was the best "keeper" you learned today?
• What would you like to learn more about?
• What did you like least about this presentation?
• What will you say when the first person asks you about this presentation?
• What one thing did you learn today that you wish you'd known when you started your business/job?
• What one thing did you learn today that everyone in your organization needs to know?

2. Label numeric rankings. Numeric scales provide you with more consistent measurements, but you should use concrete words, such as (for a 5-point scale): Excellent, Above Average, Average, Below Average, and Poor, advises speaker Alan S. Koch.

3. Ask open-ended questions. Encourage your attendees to give you written comments in addition to numerical scores. You can ask "Why?" after you ask a question, or simply provide blank lines at the end of the form. "I'm amazed at the interesting input I get from the last item on my evaluation, 'Please make one more comment,'" says presentation skills coach Melissa Lewis, MS.

4. Get permission to use the comments as testimonials for future marketing materials. If they check yes, ask them to provide their name and an e-mail address or phone number.

5. Bribe them. "I encourage people to complete the evals by offering a prize drawn from the completed forms," says customer service expert Becky McCrary.

6. Make your speaker smile. Your evaluation form can also be a tool to help speakers generate referrals and repeat business. Many speakers offer free e-zines and love to have their audience members sign up for them. Your attendees get additional education and your speakers get more exposure.

7. Ask the participants to rate themselves. Speaker and author Leslie Charles, CSP, asks participants to answer this item: "'I would rate my level of involvement as ...' and they must choose the number (10-1) and then respond to the word 'because ...' just as they did for me," he says.

8. Keep it short and simple. Stick to one page and make sure the writing is clear and concise.