Toastmasters 101: Recent Episodes
Kim Krajci
Jenilee Taylor’s TED Talk link JenileeTaylor.com Welcome back to Toastmasters 101. We kick off this season with an interview with Jenilee Taylor, DTM, about her experience stepping into the red circle on the TEDx stage. Kim (00:01): Do you want to get on the Ted stage? The Ted platform has a huge audience in person. And … Continue reading "Getting On the TED Stage: A Toastmaster’s Story"
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What do you do at the end of your speech? When judging speech contests, it’s a recognized phenomenon that the first and last speakers are the ones that get the most brain space in the judge’s mind. It’s the same with our speeches. People remember the opening and the conclusion. We hope they will remember … Continue reading "The End of Your Speech"
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Have you ever walked into a situation where “pandemonium” and “disorganization” and “Who’s running this mess?” crosses your mind? (I hope it wasn’t a Toastmasters meeting.) You know there’s a leadership problem when you find yourself in this place. People aren’t doing the work, or it’s unclear what they’re supposed to do. Fortunately, in Toastmasters, … Continue reading "How Toastmasters Clubs Work"
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Why You Should Look at Toastmasters Debate Clubs We’ve all been there. That discussion that you want to have, that we need to have. Whether it’s politics, society norms, or the intrinsic value of moosetracks ice cream – you want to discuss it. You want to explore it with friends, family, or the person in … Continue reading "Toastmasters Debate"
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Great Toastmasters Speech Evaluations don’t happen by accident. How do you get them and how do you keep them? Toastmasters speech evaluations are the key tool to improving your public speaking. I just came across a speech evaluation that I have a picture of on my phone. I don’t know why I had it. It … Continue reading "Great Toastmasters Speech Evaluations: How to Get and Keep Them"
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Does the Level 4 Create a Podcast intimidate you? Did you ever get a two-fer? Like being in college and writing the same paper for 2 classes. Or discovering that you have a vacation day and being given an extension because the office is closed. I hear people say they don’t have any ideas about … Continue reading "Toastmasters Level 4 Project: Create a Podcast"
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Giving a speech is an art. That’s my firm belief. It’s art like singing or dancing – it’s the creation of a moment that has an impact on those who present and those who partake. When we’re faced with the most important speech we have to give – we need to have that same grace … Continue reading "The Most Important Speech You Have to Give"
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Should you say “thank you, Toastmasters” at the end of your speech? We are celebrating Thanksgiving here in the United States this week. It’s a time to think about the things we’re grateful for and express our gratitude to those who have blessed us. I am extremely grateful to many Toastmasters I have met over … Continue reading "Thanks Giving in Toastmasters “Thank You, Toastmasters”"
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Let’s take a look at the Toastmasters Path final project: Reflect on Your Path. Reflect on Your Toastmasters Path Have you ever cleaned out a garage or storage shed and had the great sense of completion that one gigantic task is done? It’s so satisfying when you close the door and you know that it’s … Continue reading "Reflecting on Your Path: Toastmasters Finale"
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Sometime in the next few months, your Toastmasters club is going to hold a contest. For new members, a Toastmasters speech contest sounds maybe a bit… childish? unnecessarily competitive? waste of time? I suspect that you’ve never seen a Toastmasters speech contest. On today’s podcast, let’s take a look at one of the biggest events … Continue reading "Toastmasters Speech Contest: Are You In?"
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I’ve mentioned my friend Terry in previous episodes. Terry owns a painting company here in Ohio. Because of his successful business, he was asked to give a 45-minute break-out professional presentation session at an international conference about how he built his business. If you were in his shoes, what would you have done? Many people … Continue reading "A Professional Presentation at Toastmasters?"
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Get ready for your area director visits now. Toastmasters International is a worldwide organization. We are seeing massive growth outside of the United States, where Toastmasters is based. Do you ever wonder how they manage over 300 thousand members and thousands of clubs? Do they know what’s happening in the clubs? How do they know … Continue reading "Area Director Visits"
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What does your online meeting agenda look like to a guest of your club? What? You don’t have one? Can you imagine trying to cut down a tree with a power saw – without starting it up? Absolutely ludicrous idea, isn’t it? The power tool is designed to be used to solve a problem quickly … Continue reading "Your Online Meeting Agenda: The Power Tool You Need"
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What’s a general evaluator? What do they do? Why should you take on the role? As I was chatting with my protege Joy today about tomorrow’s meeting, she told me that it took her 3 weeks to figure out how to spell our club’s name. Yeah, Cuyahoga is not the easiest word to spell or … Continue reading "The General Evaluator Creates Great Meetings"
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Peole leave Toastmasters clubs for many reasons. What reasons do we have for them to come back to Toastmasters? In today’s podcast, we have interviewed past District 10 Governor Deonna More Taylor. She’s a 7.5 time DTM (Distinguished Toastmaster Award) with the next one just one project away from completion. Deonna More Taylor, DTM x … Continue reading "Come Back to Toastmasters"
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How do you customize your Toastmasters experience? “At least, they didn’t have to amputate my foot.” That’s how my conversation with Joy, my Toastmasters protege, started yesterday. “What?” I must have screeched into her ear. “I think it might make a good speech at the Toastmasters meeting,” she continued. Ya think? Joy is a gifted … Continue reading "Customize Your Toastmasters Path"
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How do you show your audience what you want them to see? How do you add images that support the vision of your speech? The Nature of Communication Like dance, like acting, public speaking is a movement of ideas from the artist to the audience. I believe that public speaking is an art. It comes … Continue reading "Adding Images and Vision to Your Speeches"
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How an introduction visit to a different Toastmasters meeting changed my club meeting participation forever. Two shocking changes improved our Toastmasters meetings – you can do these too! Do you get emails with this kind of subject line? Do you see ads with phrases like “You won’t believe what happened next!” Yep, me too. In … Continue reading "Your Speech Introduction: Sell Your Speech First"
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What are your goals this year in Toastmasters? Have you given that much thought? What if you decide to think big and go for a Triple Crown? What’s a Triple Crown, you ask? Today on Toastmasters 101, let’s discuss your work and what you can do to win three awards in this Toastmasters year. Do … Continue reading "Toastmasters Triple Crown and Smedley Awards"
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The fear of public speaking is an insidious thing. It grabs us when we have time to prepare our presentation, and its hold is just as strong when we don’t have time to prepare. But so much of our communication is impromptu speaking – how do we cope with our fear of public speaking when … Continue reading "Table Topics: Overcome Your Fear of Public Speaking"
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Let’s talk about dealing with your body’s reactions to your fear of public speaking Our bodies are supposed to do what we want them to do, right? So why do we get the shakes, feel our knees go weak, or get nauseated as we approach the podium to give a speech? My friend Joy said … Continue reading "2 Keys to Overcome Your Fear of Public Speaking"
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Last week, we talked about overcoming your fear of public speaking. This week is part 2 – your voice. Overcoming your fear when you think everyone can hear your fear in your voice? This is the battle we face. It’s very hard to talk about fear. I spent hours writing this podcast and feeling really … Continue reading "Overcome Your Fear of Public Speaking: Your Voice"
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What’s your biggest challenge in public speaking? Is it overcoming your fear of public speaking? Do you struggle to tell your stories? Does the stage fright scare you off? Are filler words filling up your speeches? Maybe you’re lost with no idea what to give a speech about? At one point or another, we all … Continue reading "Overcome Fear of Public Speaking with Toastmasters"
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If you’ve been in Toastmasters very long, you’ve probably seen the Toastmasters speech project that went wrong. So wrong. Cringe-worthy bad. The speech that makes you look at the cobweb in the corner of the room and try to avoid eye-contact with the speaker. Yeah, that speech. Here’s a small consolation: we’ve all done it. … Continue reading "Toastmasters Speech Project FAIL"
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Are you a new Toastmasters club officer? Have you heard about the club success plan meeting? I got a message on Linked In last week from Roy Monarch, a Toastmaster from the Word Doctors club in Texas. He asked, “Do you have a plan what we could model as we work on our first DCP … Continue reading "Club Success Plan Meeting"
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We’ve got a new member or two in our Toastmasters club. They’re working through the Toastmasters education program Pathways and selected their paths. As they get ready to give their ice breaker speeches, I’ve been asked for advice. What do you tell someone who’s getting ready to give their first speech in Toastmasters? Today, we’ll … Continue reading "New Toastmasters and Ice Breaker Speeches"
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Let’s talk about the Distinguished Club Program (DCP) and the new Toastmasters International Club Recognition Awards. How do you know that a club is serving its members well? Toastmasters International created a metric to help determine the strengths of a local club. We call it the Distinguished Club Program or DCP, because we Toastmasters love … Continue reading "Distinguished Club Program and New Club Awards"
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Does your club have a guest packet for guests to help them decide to join? What persuaded you to join Toastmasters? Everyone has their own reasons. We could boil it down to a statistic: 98% of members joined because they want to learn public speaking. So all our guest packets should only address that, right? … Continue reading "Guest Packets for Your Toastmasters Clubs"
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After spending time on Pathways, taking the quizzes, reading the material, I created a presentation and practiced, so I’m ready for my online Toastmasters meetings, right? Not yet. There are a couple of extra steps that we need to take now that we’re having online Toastmasters meetings that were easier in person. Today on the … Continue reading "Get Ready for Online Toastmasters Meetings"
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Evaluating online speeches: how do we Toastmasters do it? Getting a new computer. For some people it’s exciting. It’s wonderful. A clean slate with speed and power. Maybe now I can fill out evaluations on my computer and send them back to people? Moving to a new computer for me isn’t really traumatic, but it … Continue reading "Evaluating Online Speeches in Toastmasters"
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Do you want to be a Toastmasters Area Director? Our District 10 annual meeting is this Saturday morning. While we’re there, we’ll be electing our district leaders for the year – affectionately called the Trio – District Director, Program Quality Director, and Club Growth Director. Then the division directors are elected – in District 10, … Continue reading "Toastmasters Area Director: Is this your future?"
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I find myself doing less and less in front of the computer right now. Maybe I don’t have the mental space? Maybe I’m too stressed? Whatever it is, I’m struggling with the idea of spending a day online for the upcoming Toastmasters District Conference. Why should I? Why should you? INTRO Are you interested in building … Continue reading "Attend Your Toastmasters District Conference"
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To visit other Toastmasters clubs around the world is now as simple as logging on. Can I visit other Toastmasters clubs? Have you ever wanted to travel the world? Explore exotic locales and meet the people who live there? Or visit the great cities of the world to broaden your understanding? I always wanted to … Continue reading "Visit Other Toastmasters Clubs Today"
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What does leadership in adversity look like? What do leaders in adverse situations do? This week was the most important religious holiday of my year. What’s normally a day of celebration and feasting with my extended church family was instead kept at home, in front of a screen. No candles, no shouts, no procession. But … Continue reading "Leadership in Adversity in Toastmasters"
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What are the benefits of Toastmasters during a pandemic? Do you think there are any benefits of Toastmasters membership right now? In the middle of a crisis, the one skill that everyone is looking at is communication. Here in the US, we’ve got a choir of voices telling us what’s going on, what we need … Continue reading "Top 3 Benefits of Toastmasters Right Now"
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If half of communication skills is listening skills, how do you learn those in Toastmasters? Last week, I got three invitations to online meetings scheduled at exactly the same time. I chose to attend one of the – Progressive Messengers – a corporate club in northeast Ohio – for one reason: I didn’t get a … Continue reading "Listening Skills in Toastmasters"
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Today’s podcast is about your High Performance Leadership Project in a Pandemic – what to do when you are stuck. TI Extends the Deadlines Toastmasters International made a huge announcement last week right in the middle of my recording last week’s podcast. The big news? An extension has been made for those who are currently … Continue reading "Your High Performance Leadership Project in a Pandemic"
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Mastering Online Meetings Toastmasters are facing a lot of challenges right now. As we make the transition to mastering online meetings, we get to Learn how to manage a meeting platform Present projects with a remote audience Plan out our path for us to achieve our goals. Yeah, that’s not much, right? What’s even more … Continue reading "Mastering Online Meetings"
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In the face of all the advice to stay home, how do we Toastmasters meet? Let’s talk about moving my Toastmasters meeting online. Let’s talk about moving all Toastmasters meetings online! “When managing during a crisis first make sure that your people and the organization you are managing are going to be safe, then look … Continue reading "Moving My Toastmasters Meeting Online"
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Today’s podcast title is Speech Topics and Titles where we’re going to talk about topics and titles for speeches. It gets a bit meta in here sometimes. What’s your problem? I’m baking bread and I have a math problem. Let’s be a bit honest here. I always have a math problem. The only thing I’m … Continue reading "Speech Topics and Titles: Your Problem with Speeches"
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Education Sessions at Toastmasters conferences, education days and officer training events: do you want to take the bigger stage and speak to a larger Toastmasters audience? Education Sessions – Step Up and Step Out The districts are announcing their Annual Conferences right about now, and maybe you’ve seen some calls for presenters. Does that intimidate … Continue reading "Education Sessions: The Big Stages at Toastmasters Events"
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What Order Should You Follow in Toastmasters Pathways? “What good is skipping a step on a ladder?” Toastmasters Pathways were built to be done in order, right? I saw this ladder analogy on the Official Toastmasters International Members Facebook Group this morning about a member who has completed their level 5 project – but had … Continue reading "Working Toastmasters Pathways"
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Today’s episode is about contest speeches and ice breaker speeches. According to Toastmasters International, I’ve given more than 8 Ice Breaker speeches. According to the evaluations on my desk, I’ve given my contest speech 8 times in preparation for this week’s area contest. I see a connection, and it’s not in how many times I’ve … Continue reading "Contest Speeches and Ice Breakers"
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Where will you find a Toastmaster? Get new members in your club with membership contests. I went to a story-telling conference last week and discovered that one of the other attendees is a Toastmaster. ( Hi, Alan!) Then I met another gentleman who has been in Toastmasters in the past. You never know where you’ll … Continue reading "Membership Contests"
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Oh, not another meeting. It’s that time of year when we in the northern hemisphere know that spring is coming – months from now. We want to sink down into a warm blanket and sip something soothing and not leave until that groundhog’s prediction no longer matters. But there’s a Toastmasters meeting. Why should we go … Continue reading "Toastmasters Meetings: Why you should go"
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How to run Toastmasters Open Houses Why do we have Toastmasters Open Houses? Do you know what kind of turnover you can expect in a Toastmasters club in one year? I actually did the math and you know what? Toastmasters International is probably right. INTRO Welcome to Toastmasters – where in about an hour a … Continue reading "Toastmasters Open Houses to Recruit New Members"
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Making Your Pathways Work For You If you’ve been listening to the past year’s podcasts of Toastmasters 101, you’ve heard me say that I want a good storytelling path. Sadly, it’s not in development as far as I know. When I last asked, I was told that no new paths are being worked on now. … Continue reading "Building a Storytelling Path"
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Youth Leadership Program by Toastmasters – Is it time for you to take Toastmasters out of your club? There are about a zillion good reasons to become a Toastmaster. Everyone has their own reason to join. But at some point, after you’ve witnessed what our training has done for yourself and for others, do you ever … Continue reading "Youth Leadership Program: Take Toastmasters out of the club"
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What are your Toastmasters goals? In the past month, I have 3 evaluators mention my posture. As a 60 year old woman, that’s a lot of notice. So I decide I need to do something about this. What does my posture have to do with Toastmasters goals and the end of the calendar year? I … Continue reading "Toastmasters Goals: Why did you join Toastmasters?"
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How to Create a Speech in One Hour? Impossible? Not at all. I gave 3 speeches in 20 hours last week. I’d mention the clubs by name, but that’s not ideal because – they had empty slots to let me speak. That’s not a good thing. The reason I heard for a meeting that had … Continue reading "How to Create a Speech in One Hour"
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Can you go too fast in Toastmasters? Pathways Accelerator Workshop New Intro: Are you willing to commit an hour a week to improve your personal life and your career? Welcome to Toastmasters – where in about an hour a week, we can teach you public speaking and leadership skills. You will change your life as … Continue reading "Pathways Accelerator Workshop: Too Fast in Toastmasters?"
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Toastmasters Club Officer Roles There are 7 elected club officer roles in every club. Let’s take a look at each role: the responsibilities and the reasons why you may want to consider this for your future. Sergeant At Arms (SAA) The Sergeant at Arms is an old term for a member of an organization who … Continue reading "Club Officer Roles"
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I joined Toastmasters because my boss told me to. How many people joined Toastmasters at the recommendation of their bosses? (Thank you, bosses!) They understand that you can make Toastmasters work for you at work. When we look at Level 4 and Level 5, we see some opportunities for you to streamline your Toastmasters progress … Continue reading "Level 5: Lessons Learned Elective Project"
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Maybe it’s because of who I follow on social media that I’ve gotten dozens of emails and social media ads that say “The best place to reach your customers is on the stage where they’ve come to hear you speak.” So you want to prepare to speak professionally. That makes good sense. Instead of spamming … Continue reading "Prepare to Speak Professionally: Level 5 Elective"
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If you’re a new member of Toastmasters, you might not understand the organization of the program. How the parts make the whole, as it were. But you probably have heard about the Toastmaster district events where the entire district has been invited, either for education, or for awards, or for both. Every fall, we host … Continue reading "Toastmasters District Events Outside Your District"
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Toastmaster of the Day looks like the most intimidating job at a Toastmasters meeting as it’s the role of the one running the meeting. Trying to be an agent for order in a swirl of chaos – like a teacher in a swarm of students who are running for the door at the end of … Continue reading "3 Tips for the New Toastmaster of the Day"
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I’ve seen some discussion online about petitioning Toastmasters International to create a single starter level with a number of projects that don’t have to be repeated. A number of advanced Toastmasters have contributed their ideas, including me. My idea is the the Leadership Style Quiz and the Communication Style Quiz ought to be included in … Continue reading "The Value of the Leadership Style Quiz"
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Level 4 Electives are exactly the same across all the paths with three exceptions. Those electives were turned into the required projects for those particular paths. Level 4 Electives Looking at this list Create a Podcast Building a Social Media Presence Managing a Difficult Audience Write a Compelling Blog Manage Online Meetings Question-and-Answer Session Public … Continue reading "Level 4 Electives"
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It’s time to choose a pathway. Pathways choices seem more complex this time around. Decisions in Pathways Choices There’s been a bit of grousing in Toastmasters land these days. As the days of the Competent Communicator wane, I see a lot of people mourning a loss that maybe they didn’t expect. Since I’m still working … Continue reading "Pathways Choices: Resources to Help"
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I listened to an ice breaker this week from a man who just chose his next pathway. His speech explained why he selected this path instead of repeating the speech he did with his first ice breaker. Is repeating speeches bad in Toastmasters? Intro Why do people complain about repeating speeches and speech projects? Are … Continue reading "Repeating Speeches"
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Toastmasters Contest Chief Judge Do you love paperwork? Then the role of chief judge is yours. Because there is a boatload of paperwork that the chief judge has to manage. I guess they called this organizer the Chief Judge because she is – wait for it – in charge of the judging and the judges. … Continue reading "Chief Judge and the High Performance Leadership Project"
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Toastmasters Contest Organization requires three people. Ever been to a circus? Back in the long lost days of traveling circuses, there would be huge tents with three staging areas called rings and each would have an act going at the same time. The smart the circus company used one tent to cover everyone, but no … Continue reading "Toastmasters Contest Organization: Chair and Contest Master"
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Ever heard of the World Champion of Public Speaking? Toastmasters contests recognize one speaker a year as the best. It starts at the club level and goes all the way up to the International Speech Contest held annually at the International Toastmasters convention. Toastmasters Contests The speech contests are a long-time component of Toastmasters program. … Continue reading "Let the Toastmasters Contests Begin: Contestants"
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This week, I took a risk and went to an exercise class that was advertised to be a low-impact workout. I have issues with my feet, ankles, and knees, so a lot of jumping or running is not an option for me. This class is probably a lot of fun for someone who didn’t have … Continue reading "Level 1 and Level 4: Taking Risks"
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Breaking News – 40 minutes too late Just about 40 minutes after I released last week’s podcast episode, Toastmasters President Daniel Rex’s report to the International Convention was posted on Facebook – including some big news about Pathways. New Pathways news. My thanks to Julie Kertesz and her blog Pathways Experience for posting the video. So, … Continue reading "New Pathways News"
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Toastmasters catch-phrase is “Where Leaders Are Made.” How do we do that? If you’re in one of public speaking pathways, maybe you don’t expect leadership tasks in your track. If you’re in one of the leadership pathways, you may be wondering just when you’re going to get some actual leadership training. I’ll let you into … Continue reading "Club Meeting Roles – Introduction to Leadership"
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How seriously do you take your role as evaluator? How often do you think about Evaluation Page Three? Recently, we had what’s called a round robin evaluation session for an advanced Toastmaster. Everyone has a chance to add a comment to the evaluation, which takes a lot of time, which is why we don’t use … Continue reading "Evaluation Page Three Pledge"
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Starting the Second Pathway Before Ending the First Should you finish your first pathway before you start your second pathway? I know there are people out there who wouldn’t consider their second pathway before finishing their first. I respect your choice. Because – it is your choice. You can work the Toastmaster education program in … Continue reading "Your Second Pathway: Start Over or Start Again?"
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When a prospective member comes through the door and puts their money down at the end of their first meeting, two thoughts come to my mind. First, this is a kindred spirit, because that’s what I did, and second, their boss sent them. Come on – we all have seen the members who are here … Continue reading "Career Building Speech Projects Level 3"
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Have you ever watched a TED Talk? Or an Ignite speech? or a PechaKucha 0r a Pecha Kucha or a Pikachu – ok, that last one wasn’t the right pronunciation at all, but every time I talk to people about it, I hear this, I figure I should acknowledge it. All of these presentations include visual … Continue reading "Visual Aids for Your Speech Presentation: Level 3 Electives"
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When is a speech project in Toastmasters not a speech project? When the speech projects asks more of you. Three speech projects in Level 3 aren’t simple, and will take more time for you to complete. It’s one of the frustrating things about the limited access to the speech project descriptions – you can’t know … Continue reading "Level 3 Not Your Average Speech Projects"
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Speech Skills Build Your Speech Style Once you know the basics: how to use descriptive language storytelling vocal variety body language then it’s time to start building your speech skills into stronger, more effective speeches. These three speech projects in Level 3 help you do that by challenging you to channel your style. What’s Your … Continue reading "Level 3: Building Your Speech Skills and Style"
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Level 3 has 2 components, and the biggest part of the project assignments are the essential Speech Skills electives in a level titled Increasing Knowledge. Essential Speech Skills – finally! Toastmasters’ reputation was built on public speaking skills. That’s why many of us long-timers have struggled with Pathways. Learning speech skills isn’t postponed till after … Continue reading "Level 3: Essential Speech Skills"
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When you think of the relationships in your life, you’ll probably think about parents, siblings, maybe teachers or bosses that had a positive impact in your life. There might also be people who had a negative impact – bullies or the mean old guy who lived down the street who shook his cane at you … Continue reading "Level 2 Introduction to Toastmasters Mentoring"
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You don’t have to do the level projects in Pathways in order. You can choose your sequence based on your interest and preferences. But everyone’s Level 2 includes some required speech projects where the specialization of each pathway begins. Some of the projects share the same required project. Connect With Your Audience and Active Listening … Continue reading "The Required Projects in Level 2"
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Have you ever taken an online test and gotten an answer you never expected? Toastmasters Pathways Communication Styles Quiz Project might surprise you. I once took one of those quizzes and deliberately answered the wrong answer on every question, but the “results” and I say that loosely were that I had answered every question perfectly, … Continue reading "Level 2 Communication Style Quiz Project"
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Do you like taking online quizzes? Pathways thinks we must all love them since they give us so many to take. The Leadership quiz or Communications quiz always shows up in Level 2 of Pathways. This project is fairly simple: take the quiz, give a speech. This causes a lot of concern – if everyone … Continue reading "Level 2 Leadership Quiz"
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Are you ready to research and organize your speech? Good, because that’s the last project in Level 1. Pathways provides you with a couple of PDFs to help you organize your material and your speech. They outline 7 different types of speeches. They explain that speeches have 3 distinct parts – the introduction, the body, … Continue reading "Level 1: Research and Organize Your Speech"
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Impromptu Evaluation Speaking Since we communicate in the moment, often with no opportunity to plan our speech, you see why it’s critical to build those impromptu speaking skills. It’s not just about meeting that rock star, or getting a chance to pitch the perfect idea in an elevator to the investor or your dreams. It’s … Continue reading "Evaluation Evaluations"
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Impromptu speaking – aka Table Topics. It’s a key component of Toastmasters – we have Table Topics contests! Why? What’s the deal? Did you ever have that conversation where you were the most clever, smartest – and wettest, because you were in the shower at the time? You know – when you talked to that … Continue reading "Toastmasters Table Topics"
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Being a toastmaster means more than giving speeches and the occasional evaluation. These meetings don’t happen by themselves, you know. Club meeting roles are important. Club Meeting Roles If you’ve attended a meeting, you know there’s a Toastmaster of the day – a ringleader or MC who manages part or all of the meeting. There’s … Continue reading "Tracking Your Club Meeting Roles"
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We call them hip pocket speeches. When we get to a meeting and there’s a slot for a speaker – we’ll grab it to give a hip pocket speech. But we need an evaluation form to give to our evaluator. What do we use? The Generic Evaluation Form. Generic evaluation forms are your friends Hip … Continue reading "Pathways Generic Evaluation Forms"
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I’ve said for a while that the evaluations you receive and give at a Toastmasters meeting are Toastmasters’ secret sauce. Immediate feedback has always been recognized as the best way to learn. That reinforcement of your good skills and a look at what could be done to improve make you better faster than everything else. … Continue reading "Pathways Evaluations"
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Ever been lost? Completely without your bearings? That uncomfortable moment when nothing looks like you think it should? Based on what I’m hearing from a lot of Toastmasters, that’s how they feel about Project 2. Project 2 is complicated. For Advanced Toastmasters, we’re confused. For new Toastmasters, we’re confused. Why is it so confusing? Project … Continue reading "What’s Up with Level 1, Project 2?"
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Every project has several steps. You’ll start with a pretest to determine where you stand. The tests in particular need to be full screen. So make sure you open the pop-up window all the way – some of the test instructions won’t show up in the small window. Pathways pretests aren’t programmed the same way as … Continue reading "Don’t Forget Your Post-Test"
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Level 1 sounds… basic. Like boot camp. Where you start. Level 1 Confusion This is your first introduction to the education program and to be honest, I found it very confusing at the start. I didn’t understand how the projects worked and was often struggling with them. At the rollout of Pathways, nobody had any … Continue reading "Ice Breaker: Everyone’s Level 1, Project 1"
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You can find the list of the new Pathways options on the Toastmasters.org website. They are usually listed in alphabetical order: Dynamic Leadership Effective Coaching Engaging Humor Innovative Planning Leadership Development Motivational Strategies Persuasive Influence Presentation Mastery Strategic Relationships Team Collaborations Visionary Communication There are two basic level pathways: for public speaking, we’ve got Presentation … Continue reading "11 Pathways to Choose"
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Did you take the assessment yet? For some people, the assessment was simply a confirmation of what they want: they came in already knowing where they want to go. But what if the assessment didn’t give you the answer you expected? If you’re not sure or confused by the recommendations from the Assessment, you may … Continue reading "Pathways Catalog and Reference Guide"
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In the last podcast, I talked about the Pathways assessment. I mentioned you’re not stuck with their recommendations if you don’t like the results of your assessment. There are plenty of reasons not to like the choices they offer you. A 25 question assessment is only so good. It doesn’t read your mind or know … Continue reading "Don’t Like the Results of Your Assessment?"
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Welcome to Toastmasters. We’ve been a world leader in public speaking training for nearly 100 years. But as you develop your public speaking skills, you’re going to need something else – leadership training. If you’re a communicator, you’re going to be seen as a leader. Toastmasters has been revamping our education program to increase leadership training … Continue reading "The Assessment: How to Pick Your Pathway"
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After the Competent Communicator manual is done, what's next in Toastmasters? Why should you stay? Are you done? We've got a lot more to offer you.
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The Inspirational Speech, the last of the speech projects in the Competent Communicator manual, challenges you to pull together everything you’ve learned so far. Speech organization, presentation skills and the tricks of rhetoric to gain your audience’s attention and confidence all go together into a final speech project. This speech assignment suggests several techniques to … Continue reading "Go Big and Inspire Your Audience! Project 10"
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Persuasion is the art of convincing people to do what you think it best and making them like the idea. How do you do it without sounding like a huckster?
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Engaging the Senses What's the point of visual aids? I think that it's about engaging more of your audience's senses than just hearing you speak.
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How Your Audience Perceives You Research your audience before you get up to speak. I think most audiences can be classified as friendly, uninformed, or antagonistic. A Toastmasters meeting should be friendly and open to listening to your presentation. This kind of audience is the best kind for trying out new material and getting evaluations … Continue reading "Research Your Credibility"
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Vocal Variety may be the easiest way to judge a public speaker – and the hardest skill to develop well. It’s all too easy to get overly dramatic with voices. We end up sounding like cartoon characters. Creating subtle characters using our voices demonstrates mastery of public speaking, which is why we have to struggle … Continue reading "Is Mona Lisa Smiling? The Power of Vocal Variety"
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The fifth project in the Competent Communicator Manual focuses on body language. What exactly is body language? In general, it’s the non-verbal messages from a speaker to the audience, including deliberate gestures and facial movements, and involuntary and spontaneous actions. Studies have shown that body language has great credibility with the audience than the words of the … Continue reading "Dive into Body Language: Project 5"
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Your Audience Sets the Tone of Your Speech It’s a mistake to think that you alone as the speaker decide what you get to say and how you’re going to say it. Communication only happens when there are a speaker and an audience. You have to consider them first, even before your message. The audience … Continue reading "Find Your Audience: The Sweet Spot"
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What’s your Speech Purpose? There are 4 main reasons to give a speech: to inform to inspire to entertain to call to action. By knowing your speech purpose, you’ll be able to limit your topic and exclude material that’s not specific to your speech. Often, this will help you decide what to include and … Continue reading "Project 3: What's Your Purpose?"
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When you have to write a speech, it pays to organize your writing backwards. Consider your goal first and write the conclusion, then the rest of the speech.
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The first speech you'll give in Toastmasters in the Ice Breaker, a speech about yourself. What do you want us to know about you?
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Human usually learn to talk by the age of 3, so why do we also learn a fear of public speaking? If this describes you, then maybe Toastmasters is for you.
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