It’s contest season in Toastmasters right now. Toastmasters clubs worldwide are holding 2 different contests, one of which – the International Speech Contest will end up with a single speaker from a Toastmasters club somewhere in the world being crowned 2009′s World Champion of Public Speaking.

On a District level only (a geographical area that can encompass a State, Country or more than one country) Toastmasters clubs will be running a second contest out of a choice of four:

• Table Topics Contest – impromptu speaking.
• Evaluation Contest – evaluating a speech.
• Humorous Speech Contest – delivering a speech that contains humor.
• Tall Tales Contest – delivering a speech that tells a tall tale.

In my District, we are running the Evaluation Contest.

I entered both of my club’s contests, not for competitive reasons but because we didn’t have too many entries – only two entrants for both the International Speech Contest and the Evaluation Contest.

Despite my intention being to fill out the numbers, on the night itself I was fired up by the fact that it was a contest and that each contestant was expected to put on a good show.

I had a lot of fun, particularly with my speech for the International Speech Contest. I really went for it! While I didn’t know what the judges scored each contestant’s speech, I felt that had I really wanted to win and had I done everything I could to learn and prepare for the contest beforehand, that I could have won it.

Even though I didn’t have a contest win, I grew from my participation in the event. It really is a whole different ball game to go from just speaking to speaking in a contest setting and wanting to meet the expectation of delivering something special.

For this reason I’d certainly recommend that if you are a member of Toastmasters or some other kind of educational organization where you are eligible to enter the contest – and usually avoid doing so, that you enter at the next available opportunity, no matter how new or how advanced a speaker you may be.

You will:

1. Grow from raising your game and pushing through your comfort zones to new levels
2. Demonstrate to your fellow members what they can become – especially if you are one of the newer members or least experienced. Inspiring people is a great way to help people challenge themselves to grow.
3. Improve your confidence. You entered the contest, you put yourself in a position where you will be judged, and you got through it.

All the above make you a winner, regardless of whether you are voted the winner of the contest. Doing so also adds quality to your club/organization. So it really is a win-win situation, but especially a win for you!

So, when will be the next opportunity for you to show what you’ve got???

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Post tags: Public Speaking, Toastmasters

New article:

Public Speaking Courses, Toastmasters, and Self Study Options for Developing Public Speaking Skills

This is just an article I wrote expressing my opinions on the benefits of attendance based public speaking courses, Toastmasters, and self study. Each has a part to play, but I believe where you are right now plays a role in determining which options are the most suitable at the cuurent point in time.

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Post tags: overcoming fear of public speaking courses, public speaking courses, Toastmasters

Well we’re almost there and being a public speaking blog, I wish to comment on the Barack Obama Inauguration Speech. I can only hope I do it justice in my commentary.

In the meantime, something I recently learnt was that his head speechwriter is a 27 year old guy called Jon Favreau. His age makes him the youngest speechwriter on record in the White House, yet another element of the now ubiquitous campaign term “change.”

It seems ironic that in a time of economic despair a leader with great oratory skills is elected. Is there a message in there somewhere? Perhaps. Certainly if we want to increase our value to our employers and clients, and compete better to get or keep our job or clients, we need to have the better public speaking skills and confidence.

Who better to learn from than another public speaking leader – World Champion of Public Speaking – Darren LaCroix who shares the secrets and know how of his rise to public speaking success. For $39.95 this could be the best investment in yourself you’ve ever made.

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Post tags: Barack Inauguration Speech, Barack Obama, Obama, Obama Inauguration Speech, Public Speaking

It’s so funny the way the universe works sometimes. I just mentioned in my last post about the importance of allowing your personality to shine through as part of the public speaking skill set. And in describing that I mentioned about how a great public speaker is also a great salesperson.

Now what’s funny is that I mentioned a bunch of self-help gurus in that last post, including John DeMartini. And then soon after I that I end up reading an interview with John DeMartini where he mentions 7 beliefs that are responsible for holding people back from fulfilling their potential.

And guess what, up to 5 out of those 7 will ring true for many a newcomer to public speaking, to those that have experience but still the nerves or public speaking anxiety persist. Here they are (I’ve emboldened the related 5):

1. There are seven primary fears that immobilize people and the first one is the fear of breaking the moral and ethics of some spiritual authority…The subordination to perceived spiritual authorities and the fear of breaking the rights and wrongs, or morals and ethics of that (perceived authority) stops people.
2. The second one is the fear of not being smart enough, not having a degree, not having the intelligence and not being imaginative enough.
   
3. The third one is the fear that you’re going to fail at it. I don’t want to start because I know I’m going to be a failure.
   
4. The fourth one is the idea that I won’t make money at it, it costs too much money or I’ll lose money doing it.
5. The fifth one is the fear of losing loved ones’ respect
   
6. The next one is the fear of somehow being rejected by the general audience, people in society. Are you crazy, what are you doing, this is stupid, and this is ridiculous.
   
7. Last thing is the fear of ill health, death or disease — you don’t have the body to do it, the looks, the height or strength to do it, the energy, and the vitality.

Source: American Chronicle

And on top of those 5, you could even add number 4 to the mix. That one being applicable where there is a desire to go on to become a professional public speaker for pay, but fear prevents you pursuing it. Because somehow you believe you are not good enough to be a paid public speaker. Or the market is too saturated. Or some other reason why you can never make it. Somehow you believe you are going to fail. But I digress.

So here’s another thing. Those 5 highlighted points were not being spoken about in relation to public speaking, they were spoken about in regards to life. So therefore, it’s perfectly understandable that you may be suffering from symptoms of fear of public speaking. Because guess what, you’re just like everybody else.

It’s just that where we can hide our fears as we blend in and out of our community on a day to day basis, public speaking brings those fears to the surface, because it puts you on the spot in front of others. A group of people gathered around, silent, paying their fullest attention to you waiting for you to speak. Public speaking panic attack time – until you start working on it.

And that’s the thing, you can choose to work on expanding your comfort zone. And if you can blatantly start tackling those 5 in the public speaking arena, then guess what? When you read those 7 things, did you find, in the context that they were being described bu John DeMartini, that any one or more of them rang true with regards to your life?

Well don’t you think that if you can work on overcoming those hurdles in the public speaking arena, that in the process you’ll have – if you were conscious and paying attention – gained not just skills that helped you with public speaking. But skills, knowledge and confidence ready to use to overcome some of the blocks in your life caused by any one or more of those 7?

And if you can do that, who knows what exciting opportunities the future might bring. Maybe you’ll make a positive and powerful impact on one person’s life, a group of people’s lives, your community’s, your town’s, your country’s, maybe even the world’s! Sound hard to believe?

Well, who could have imagined 4 years ago that Barack Obama would become the Democratic Candidate to run for election as President, let alone win the Election? And who would have thought that Sarah Palin, a “hockey mom” from a remote state would become the Republican candidate for vice-president?

Certainly in the case of the former, his public speaking skills were a solid asset in his quest to become the Democratic candidate and to go on and win the Election. And in the case of the latter, well being a self-styled “maverick” and how she’s handled her critics, “you betcha” she has a good handle on those 7! And that’s what lead to her being noticed and subsequently invited to become the Republican VP candidate.

So if those two unlikely candidates can achieve what they did, what might happen for you if you step up a level?

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Post tags: Anxiety, Barack Obama, John DeMartini, make speaking fun, Panic, Public Speaking, Sarah Palin, Symptoms, Toastmasters

In addition to what I spoke about in Symptoms of Fear of Public Speaking one of the most important factors in having a good stage presence is feeling comfortable, not just to deliver your public speech but also to allow your personality to shine through.

This is probably something that the beginning public speaker or the uncomfortable public speaker doesn’t want to hear. If people are not just seeing and hearing the public speaker delivering a speech, but are also seeing and hearing about who the public speaker is behind their speech, then we are opening ourselves up to being judged by the audience. If you have public speaking anxiety or a general fear of public speaking, this may rank as one of your primary nightmarish fears.

You could say public speaking has a lot in common with being a skilled salesman in this respect. In fact you could say the two are related. It’s not just what you say, but how you say it. And even if there isn’t a product or service to sell, you are still selling an idea, a belief, or information. And your personality certainly can play a very influential role in whether people buy you and what you’re selling.

Let’s say you are trying to persuade people to consider your point of view on an issue you feel is of significant public importance that perhaps hasn’t been in the spotlight, or which you feel needs to be addressed in a different manner to the way its currently being handled, you are a salesman in that capacity.

There might not be any money to take from people, but you are asking them to buy into whatever you’re putting to them in your speech or presentation. You are in sales and perhaps never realised it. Why do you think public speaking is a very lucrative career for some people? Because they can sell ideas and have those ideas bought right? And through their personality they can quickly warm the audience up to whatever it is that they are selling.

For many a seasoned public speaker or professional public speaker, they quickly go on to attract fans – people that feel they have been helped by the speaker or have benefited from a previous speech that they aspire to learn more from the public speaker or merely want to lend their support.

Have you heard of Tony Robbins, Les Brown, Brian Tracy, Jim Rohn, Bob Proctor, Joe Vitale, Dr John DeMartini? They are all personal development “gurus” and they are also highly influential great public speakers! Tony Robbins probably being the most widely known of the bunch.

Guess what? How many people do you think would buy their company’s products, services and courses if they weren’t going on stage to promote and sell those products, services and courses? A lot less than there are. Why? because at their seminars or events, their prospective clients are getting to meet them, and to see and feel what the speaker is about before deciding to buy.

It would be less effective if someone else was representing the company. And even worse still if the company didn’t even entertain public speaking, merely advertising through the media.

There’s also an extra significant and valuable benefit that is gained through public speaking marketing to an audience. Which sounds better: And that is through word of mouth recommendations from the people that were part of your audience. And if you weren’t presenting and marketing yourself, not only would you have less people speak about you, but they wouldn’t be able to recommend you as effectively either.

• Consider these two examples: “Hey, I went to this really excellent Boston Higgs’ seminar last night. He was amazing”
• “Hey, I went to this really excellent workshop last night. There were people from a company run by some guy called Boston Higgs, talking about this course that he runs? It was amazing”

The one where the person is mentioned as being the person present and running the seminar sounds better right?

So unless you’re doing some kind of speech where all you need to do in your role is demonstrate something, and somebody else will be handling the aspect of selling the product or service to the client, then as a public speaker you are also a salesperson. And a great salesperson has a great personality. A great salesperson leaves a transaction with the client feeling served rather than just a target for commission.

So to become a more effective public speaker, you’ll need to quickly get over the symptoms of fear of public speaking if you have any, but you also need to learn to become comfortable with letting your personality shine through when you’re speaking.

Yes, people are going to judge you. The saying that “first impressions count” didn’t become a popular saying merely because it sounds good. It became popular because people believe it to be true.

The good news is that your audience are not looking to judge you negatively – unless it’s known beforehand that you will be talking about a controversial issue perhaps, and even in that case it will be some members of the audience that may behave this way rather than the entire audience.

So, your public speaking personality or your public speaking persona is quite an important public speaking skill for you to develop. A successful public speaker is automatically a salesperson, but fortunately they are in sales from a position where they don’t have to get locked into a two way exchange, they simply have a ready made audience in front of them, listening to what they have to say.

The public speaker simply needs to persuade the audience within an allotted time to buy the idea, belief, information, product, or service that they are trying to sell. If the public speaker has a great personality, this process will be made all the easier and all the more successful.

So learn to let your personality shine through. Your audience will appreciate you having the self-confidence let your personality shine through. To be comfortable showing yourself on stage. And once you start to feel comfortable with being you on stage, you can then start to enjoy public speaking. One less thing to worry about and in its place you get much more leverage to deliver not just great speeches, but persuasive speeches too!

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Post tags: Brian Tracy, great speeches, Jim Rohn, Joe Vitale, John DeMartini, Les Brown, make speaking fun, Personality, Persuasive speeches, Public Speaking, Stage Presence, Tony Robbins

Shaking, sweating, stuttering, blushing, forgetting your words, worrying about forgetting your words, nervousness, involuntary gestures, quivering voice, dizziness, nausea, panic or anxiety attack, heart palpitations, dry mouth, freezing up, breathlessness. These are all the Symptoms of Fear of Public Speaking.

Fortunately for me I was never at the extreme end of that scale. Yeah sure I was nervous. In fact it was after hosting as well as being the keynote speaker during one of my earliest public speaking exposures to an audience that I decided I had to make learning the art of public speaking a priority.

It’s one thing to do public speaking in a business capacity where we have the material or knowledge of whatever we’re going to talk about as a kind of cushion. It’s quite another when we’re talking about issues that matter to us and affect those around us. Suddenly the spotlight is very intensely focussed on the speaker. And the speaker doesn’t want to look like a fraud.

Now it may be that some people find public speaking for business more difficult than public speaking for social and community issues. But for me I found business speaking easier, especially if I would be repeating the same thing to different audience.

An example of public speaking for business was when I presented the business opportunity of a network marketing company in order to promote and expand the business. I’d seen the formula of the presentation performed a number of times. It was something I could do. I soon did do it. And I soon learnt to enjoy doing it. It’s me talking about a business and a business model. No sweat.

But in public speaking for community or social issues, unless we are taking over from another speaker, we won’t have the opportunity to learn what to say. And this type of speaking is less mechanical and more personal. We have to reach out and try to connect with an audience on an interpersonal level. Unless you work the public speaking circuit, this probably isn’t going to come easy.

But I’m not talking about that kind of well experienced professional speaker. I’m talking about the person that has hardly ever, if ever, had to talk in front of an audience on a personal, social or community level where much of what they have to say is coming direct from their own beliefs, opinions and interpretations of whatever it is that they’re speaking about. Or the speaker that somehow has never managed to feel comfortable with public speaking.

In my early days of public speaking I had an intense fear of “Do they think I’m genuine?” “Do I look and sound good enough?” And at times those kind of thoughts did lead to me having a quiver in my voice.  But I didn’t let my fear of how I thought the audience may have been perceiving me  be greater than the fact I was delivering an important message for people. But I certainly couldn’t describe my experiences back then as fun!

So certainly one of the first things you need to start with when public speaking and you notice those symptoms of fear of public speaking coming up, is to work on your mindset. Stop yourself for a moment, and imagine the worst thing that can happen. Then imagine the best thing that could happen.

Here’s the good news, what is likely to happen will be somewhere between the two. Have faith in yourself. Make sure you know well enough what you’re going to talk about and make sure you arrive early leaving yourself time to prepare and take some deep calm, relaxing breaths before you speak, rather than having a panic or anxiety attacked because you arrived late.

So try to work on that mindset. Of course this may take a while to get the hang of. Learning a new skill isn’t always easy. That’s why we call it a skill – it’s something we have learned. Something we’ve gained knowledge about, and in the case of being a non or beginner public speaker engaging in some public speaking event or task, it’s something we also have to learn by doing. There’s a saying, often attributed to Les Brown that “You don’t have to be great to get started. But you do have to get started to be great.”

Of course, it helps if you have shortcuts and other means to support you on the way. Hence there are tools you can use like joining Toastmasters International where you can learn and practice in a supportive and encouraging environment. Or you can consult public speaking materials.

CDs and DVDs can be especially good as you can then hear and also in the case of DVDs see public speaking in action. You can get some great CDs and DVDs from Make Speaking Fun’s Public Speaking Media Store.

I also recommend The FAQ Book on Public Speaking to get up to speed on any number of things that you might not think of right now, but will pop into your mind before and after speeches now and in the future. If you want to become competent quicker, increase your knowledge by finding out some the greatest secrets. Get The FAQ Book on Public Speaking.

To your rapid elimination of the symptoms of fear of public speaking, and your increasing confidence at gaining public speaking success!

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Post tags: Anxiety, make speaking fun, Panic, Public Speaking, Symptoms, Toastmasters

Just a test post to check the setup of the new Make Speaking Fun podcast feed is okay. Also to test that the podcast audio is working okay.

Here’s the Podcast, enjoy!

….

YES! It works!

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I was supposed to deliver a speech at the last Toastmasters meeting, but due to the flu and house move of both the Toastmaster and President, as VPE I had to go into emergency mode and make the agenda work out. Part of that process included me stepping in as Toastmaster.

However, I am pleased to say, everything went great as far as what I thought of my performance was concerned, especially in contrast to all efforts to date.

It was my fifth time performing the role and the first time since the first time I performed the role of Toastmaster, that I finished performing my duties feeling a great sense of achievement. I did it to a very high standard – which was verified by the general evaluator for the evening and member feedback!

Now that was a great example of what good public speaking is all about. I had fun and unleashed a can of “see how easy this is” whoop ass! Not that being Toastmaster is easy – until you’ve done it enough times to know what you’re doing and to cope with the unexpected.

One of the preliminary things I did to set myself up for success is I paid attention to what happened last time and the feedback I received.

Another was I got all outstanding roles filled before the meeting and followed up with confirming attendance of people booked into roles as much as I could on the day. After the experience last time with several no-shows and people running late, I wanted to minimise any chance of surprise this time, even if people did confirm that they were coming online.

There was a slight problem over filling in the speaking slot I had vacated, as a member that hadn’t visited the club for a while hadn’t understood that his having booked in as reserve speaker meant he was good to go if a scheduled speaker dropped out, or was a no-show.

This almost threw a spanner in the works, and lead to a loss of speech (and subsequent evaluation) or the need for someone else to go in and give an impromptu speech to make up for the gap.

There were only two real problems at the event itself. Fortunately they were corrected before becoming a significant problem. The problems were our Acting President (who is supposed to open and close the meeting) arrived late AND he was carrying with him the copies of the meeting program that all members and guests should have before the meeting starts to be able to follow the meeting’s events.

Fortunately, I had a few copies myself, so at least the timekeeper and myself could function properly. Also fortunately, as I was about to start the meeting on time without him he arrived – with a pint of beer served fresh from the bar in hand! Can you believe it?

I quickly got the agendas from him and got them distributed. However, while this happened and the Acting President sorted himself out, the meeting ended up starting 8 minutes late.

That time unfortunately wasn’t to be recovered, but this was mainly down to people running over their allotted time in the second half of the meeting.

I did my best to quicken the pace in the first half of the meeting and we ended up running 4 minutes late. We were only running 2 minutes late at the start of the second half of the meeting, as I clawed back a further 2 minutes by shortening the break.

At the end of the meeting, we were over by about 15 minutes (I’d stopped timing once I realised we’d missed the finish time). Anyway, none of that was down to me and I did my best to stay on top of it.

And what of my performance? Well I took notice of all the main recommendations I’d received before, as well as few I’d made in my own mind and I was determined to give this a good shot and that I was going to cover everything I should in my role. And I did just that.

I will let the commendations received speak for my performance:

• took control of the meeting
• introduced everyone well
• let everyone know what was happening throughout the evening
• lively transitions
• very pleasant stage presence
• confident
• good eye contact
• great explanation of what my role was about and what I was going to do
• good use of humour
• engaged the audience
• good use of vocal variety
• to the point
• managed time well
• getting pretty slick at the job

And the recommendations:

• don’t sit at the back of the room as some of the lesser experienced members didn’t know how to pass back control of the speaking area very well, which made the process seem a bit awkward at times.
• more vocal variety needed (I just love it when two people say the same thing from opposite sides of the coin)

In the case of the former recommendation I had actually explained the process of transition between speakers, but obviously I hadn’t emphasised it strongly enough and/or needed to mention it again later in the meeting. I intend to try out different seating locations in future and regeardless of wherever I’m sitting, I will use stronger emphasis on the process of transition between speakers next time.

I’m very pleased with the feedback received; voluminous commendations and two minor recommendations!

Something I felt I could have done better was to relax more when not on stage. I found myself trying to make sure I knew who I was introducing next and how I was going to introduce them, to the extent I wasn’t properly listening to everything that was going on at times.

So relaxing, paying attention and trusting I will get everything right is the mission for next time. And I’ll take some concealed notes with me just in case I do forget and need them.

Right now, I’m extremely pleased that I achieved in one more attempt something that I thought would take about three more attempts.

I conquered the role of Toastmaster and showed everyone how much fun you can have with public speaking!

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Post tags: Evaluation, make speaking fun, Public Speaking, Toast Master, Toast masters, Toastmaster, Toastmasters

My experience of being Toastmaster (or the host) at my club’s Toastmaster meetings has always been interesting. I’ve now performed the role for the fourth time. Each time I felt slightly different:

• The first time was about getting through it.
• The second time was about doing it better than the first time.
• The third time was about trying to become comfortable.
• The fourth time felt a little like the third time because a number of challenges came up but I also felt more confident.

Interestingly, the first and second times, I don’t recall there being any external challenges. For the third (see Mr Toastmaster … (part 2)) and fourth times there were. Both included a last minute change of venue and both featured speakers that failed to show, including two late functionaries in the case of the fourth performance.

Initially I was a bit hard on myself for my performance as I felt there were things I could have done before the meeting and during the meeting’s break to smooth things out.

Sure there were, and I will be more prepared the next time I perform the Toastmaster role, because on the fourth performance I was paying attention to what didn’t work well. I also contrasted how I felt overall, what I felt went right, and what I felt didn’t go so well to the third time I performed the role of Toastmaster to put things into perspective.

One of the significant things I said as far as keeping things in perspective is concerned, was that I needed to do the role a few more times to increase my skill, confidence and ability at performing the role of Toastmaster. And by doing that I’ll also increase my skill at handling whatever occasional challenges crop up quickly and efficiently!

So what could I improve (a mix of my own feelings and comments from the audience and general evaluator)?

• Prepare a better introduction. I had prepared an intro that included some background information on Toastmasters. That background information should only have served as backup in case the President didn’t say it. The background was mentioned quite thoroughly that evening. So I had to improvise a little.
• Cover my main points even if the President has partially done so. Our President (on this occasion a stand-in) mentioned one of the three points I’d intended to cover – applause. Following this I decided I didn’t want to be redundant by mentioning applause again, or sound awkward by mentioning the other two points – handshake and voting slips, in isolation. Especially when handshake is connected to applause. But as the event went on the need for this quickly became apparant as our table topics master neither lead the applause or shook hands with each topic speaker. At that point it became awkwardly obvious to me that being redundant is fantastic if it achieves the desired result! And on top of that, I’m simply performing my role correctly by mentioning what I’m supposed to mention.
• I was a bit flummoxed by starting the meeting with our table topics master, GE, and two speakers absent. So I then had to immediately find stand ins for the first two. (The former two were running late and one of the speakers had got struck down with a cold.)
• Some extended voting periods during the speaker part of the evening while I sorted out the speaker and evaluator slots, including an improvised speech. This I could have comfortably dealt with during the preceding break and it would have kept the momentum going more strongly.

That was pretty much it, four things.

There was one more, which came about as a result of me taking a minute or two to add in some interesting facts about Toastmasters before closing the first half of the meeting, and to ask for some feedback on my performance as Toastmaster during the second half, on both occasions mentioning that we were running ahead of time.

We never usually request feedback for the Toastmaster, but I’m going to recommend we start doing so as space is provided for it on our ballot slips. It would also be helpful to the Toastmaster to get a general opinion on how the audience felt they performed.

So what was that last thing? Our General Evaluator quipped that I shouldn’t feel the need to fill in free time if we’re running ahead of schedule, as it’s eating into his “drinking time!” That was a laugh out loud moment for everyone, myself included. And then he made himself just as guilty by running over time too! I agreed with his point to an extent.

Where I disagree is that I wasn’t trying to fill up all the free time, but just to add a little interesting filler, which in no way would make up for the minutes freed up by a missing speech and the corresponding speech evaluation, and I believe these things were done within my allotted time anyway. What I would avoid doing next time is saying that we’re running ahead of time until I announce the break or before handing the meeting to the President to close. It sounds like a bonus to the audience that way!

So what were my commendations?

• Gave a strong welcome
• Good stage presence
• Kept energy going
• Fine tuned programme
• Good timekeeping
• Good links between introducing functionaries and speakers
• Remembered all names
• Introduced humour
• Appeared confident
• Strong clear voice

Some of those things were repeated by more than one person. These comments support my feelings that I am definitely getting the hang of this. And lately I’ve really begun to appreciate the fact that there is more to Toastmasters than delivering speeches.

I believe there’s a common perception that you join Toastmasters to develop your public speaking skills. I was guilty of this myself before I first visited a Toastmasters club to find out how things work. Sure there is that, but there’s a lot more than that to gain from the Toastmasters buffet!

Getting involved in the functionary roles is a great way to learn, to give back to your club and to inspire and encourage all those who will follow in your footsteps (and often even those who came before you)! If your profession is in a leadership or managerial role, this is a great way to practice and develop those skills.

Why not learn how to become a confident host? Why not learn how to do great warm ups? Why not learn how to give constructive feedback that helps someone perform to a higher standard, feel encouraged and supported all at the same time? Why not have the opportunity to practice developing your skills in these things as often as you like in a mutually supportive environment. Why not develop your public speaking, communication, leadership and managerial skills so that you can feel confident every time you have to speak or take on a role at a business, work, or social function? Why not join Toastmasters and learn how to do exactly that?

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© Make Speaking Fun, 2008. | Permalink | Leave a comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Evaluation, make speaking fun, Public Speaking, Toast Master, Toast masters, Toastmaster, Toastmasters

So, you’ve got to introduce an act or maybe even host an event, and you’ve got up to 15 minutes to warm up the audience, what do you do? Well, there are many ways to do a warm up. I’m going to discuss a recent warm up I did that was very successful.

I wrote in my previous entry Mr Contest Chair! about getting out of my comfort zone to chair the Humorous Speech Contest (which also ended up including the Table Topics Contest) for the Toastmasters clubs in my area. At this event I felt my public speaking skills were on top form.

I indicated I was surprised at all the commendations I received. I felt that I’d achieved what I’d set out to do and really enjoyed it. In other words I thought I gave a capable, average performance. After attending a more recent speech contest and paying close attention to how the contest chair did the warm-up, I gained some insight as to what I thought worked well with my style of chairing, earning me those commendations.

This is another of the benefits in Toastmasters, you can learn from simply observing each speaker’s speaking style.  Some tend to be serious, some tend to straight talk, some tend to smile a lot, some tend to field questions to the audience, some tend to joke, some tend to be very animated, and so on.

I said I had fun chairing the contests mentioned in my previous post. I understand now that all eyes definitely are on the chair, so the enthusiasm and excitement I was carrying with me must have shone straight through to the audience! After my introductory speech which I had used as an opportunity to deliver an all-encompassing recognition of all contestants and everyone else present that night as winners for what they would learn from the experience, I launched quickly into my warm up exercises.

My first exercise was apparently unconventional – I didn’t see any other area or division contest ask all representatives of each (competing) club present to stand and receive applause. To me this was important, it was a way of recognising everybody that had taken time out of their schedule to be at the contest to support their club’s contestant, or simply to be entertained and hopefully learn something new.

I also made sure everyone that didn’t belong to a competing club (but may or may not have been performing some other functionary role) received applause too. Albeit for only a brief period of time, it gave a face and recognition to each person in the audience that would otherwise have just been a silhouette.

I then gave everyone something to do with a single spoken word game where each person gets to contribute one word to whatever had been spoken by the speakers that spoke before them. Again, it gets everyone involved.

Finally, I did a what I like to call a “sound check” – testing out the audience’s applause. And this was were I got to use my voice and physicality to not only help ensure the reaction was what I wanted, but to also be with the audience rather than just telling them what I wanted to do.

Chair’s Call: In a slow, not too optimistic voice “How do we applaud at a cricket match?”
Audience’s Response: Polite, dispassionate clapping.

Chair’s Call: In a more moderated, slightly upbeat tone “How do we applaud to live music in a bar?”
Audience’s Response: Slightly louder and more appreciative clapping.

Chair’s Call: In a quicker paced, excited, enthusiastic and increasingly louder voice “And How Do We Applaud At A TOASTMASTERS MEETING?”
Audience’s Response: Booming applause with cheers and whoops!

Then I put my arms out in front of me at chest level, right palm over left, and then drew them both out towards their respective side of the body, signalling a cut/silence signal. I paused for everyone to stop applauding, and then quipped with each arm outstretched towards either side of the audience: “Save some of that energy!”

So in a nutshell what made for an effective and appreciated warm up boiled down to four simple ingredients:

• Make the audience feel appreciated
• Get everybody to do something, even better get everybody to recognise each other (together with the above point this encourages the audience to share responsibility for the event’s success)
• Be an enthusiastic chair (you are important and influence the mood for the evening)
• Ensure the warm-up for an event like this lasts a reasonable amount of time – about 10 minutes, give or take up to 5 minutes either side.

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