Toastmasters 101

Can Toastmasters help you get onto a TED or TEDx stage? Jenilee Taylor's story about her experience getting on the TEDx Youngstown stage shows what anyone who wants to step onto the red circle needs to know.

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 our call to action.  This is why it is critical to put effort into the end of your speech. This is my worst skill.  I struggle over conclusions.  Despite my insistence on this podcast to write your ending first, I still fail to nail the landing more than I succeed. Today on the podcast, we’ll talk about the end of a speech:  how to build to a great conclusion – as soon as you know what that is. INTRO Are you looking for a way to change the world?  To make an impact on the people and situations around you?  Then you need public speaking and leadership skills.  That means you need Toastmasters.  Every week, you can spend an hour learning the techniques and finding your voice and have fun while you do it.  This is Toastmasters 101 and I’m your host, Kim Krajci. The End of My Speech:  Crash and Burn? Last week, I gave a speech from the Visionary Communications path from Level 5:  Develop Your Vision. The irony dripped from this speech.  The purpose of that project is to develop a vision and long-term goals to achieve a specific change in your life or your business or organization. I have issues with this idea.  Frankly, I think we spend a lot of time spinning our wheels talking about vision statements and mission statements and goal setting – and wear ourselves out, drowning whatever motivation we had in the swamp of building expectations and plans.  Ok, so that’s my take.  I know that I’m not in agreement with the rest of the world, but hey, I do me. If you have a problem with a speech project, it’s hard to do it.  And this is why this project sat on my to-do list for so long.  It’s been 5 months since I finished all the other projects for this path. Irony in My Speech And frankly, although I say I don’t like visions, missions, and goals, essentially, that was what the whole “create a storytelling path” was.  As I said, lots of irony here. I created a presentation to go along with my speech – I had the perfect graphics, including pictures of the references I used to put this path together. But when I started the presentation – all of the graphics disappeared.  They were there before and they’re back – but for the 10 minutes of this presentation, they were not to be seen.  Which means I skipped to slide 4 where my text was visible. That noise you hear?  That’s me banging my head on my desktop.  I didn’t want to take time to reboot or reload, so I went with it.  I had the notes under the black slides, so I did the best I could to remember what the images were supposed to prompt me to talk about. Then we got to the end of the speech.  Another blank slide. The End of My Speech Slide Deck is Blank! I took a deep breath and completely forgot what it was that I wanted to say as a conclusion to this speech.  I’m sure that it was something witty about the irony of giving a speech about how I fail to appreciate the power of developing visions and missions and goals when that was I had just spent the last year doing. Instead, I said something else about how we need to take the Toastmasters Pathways projects and make them work for us, regardless of the project’s goals.  I’ve got 3 Distinguished Toastmasters awards, including one in Pathways.  No other path interested me, but storytelling does, so creating a path that meets my needs and challenges me is a lot more important than filling the letter of the law. Then I remember we have a guest:  Marta.  Marta is brand-new to Toastmasters and is preparing her first ice breaker speech and here I am, telling her to ignore it if it doesn’t work for her. Oops. I thought I was droning on and I was a bit worried.  But I wrapped it up, finally, and waited for Mo, my evaluator, to nail me on rambling on my conclusion. Evaluation at the end of the speech? Instead, I got compliments on it. My take-aways from this: I’m not sure if I’m supposed to take away that if I feel like I’m rambling at the end of the speech that I am doing better. I have learned my lesson that I need to check a third time to be sure my presentation is going to play properly before the meeting starts. The call to action needs to be specific, personal to the members of the audience (not general) and put some persuasion – logos, pathos, and ethos – into it. With all this in mind, let’s take a look at your conclusions. Your call to action must be crafted, not thrown on at the end of your speech. I have said many times that you need to know where you’re going in a speech to make sure you get there.  That’s why you start at the end, and after you write the rest of the speech, you come back and refine it. Let’s get specific:  use the persuasive techniques at the end of your speech in that call to action to move your audience into action.  Appeal to their character, whether it’s their competitive spirit or their inner call to excellence.  Lay out the rationale for why this action needs to be done and when.  Capture their hearts with emotional benefits of doing what you ask. It works.  But you work to do it.  I don’t believe this trio comes naturally to most people.  We have to think about it. Consice or rambling at the end of your speech? That’s why I felt like I was rambling.  I didn’t have it as concise as I normally do.  I spelled out my call to action in my appeal to my audience’s self-interest.  I downplayed the structure of the path in exchange for their goals and reason for joining Toastmasters.  I said that this method of using the Pathways program will be the best way for them to grow.  I offered to help. Ethos.  Logos.  Pathos.  Accidentally, I hit all three. Often, I put those in the middle of my speech, not at the end. Put the middle in the middle. In scriptwriting, it’s called laying the track or laying the pipe.  It’s prepping the audience before the ending that what ultimately happens is reasonable, fair, and appeals to us emotionally.  We want the villain to fail, we want the hero to succeed. You have to know what that ending is first.  By identifying your call to action, your middle is built to support that. In my speech, I spent some time talking about the way that I changed up the elective in Level 5 for this path to be more about storytelling.  There were several project choices in Level 5, but none that I felt truly fit in with storytelling. So I merged “Ethical Leadership” and “Moderate a Panel Discussion” into a story slam.  Story slams are contests between storytellers.  Our club had its January open house turned into a story slam.  Each story told by the speaker was about an ethical question they faced in their lives. The members loved this meeting.  We had a few guests – we need better marketing – but every time it comes up in conversation, the people who attended say how much they enjoyed it. I could have ended the speech with that.  “We had fun, let’s do it again sometime.” Nope.  That belongs in the middle of the speech because it lays the pipe for the final conclusion:  change the path to suit your needs.  Call it foreshadowing.  Call it warming up the audience for the big finale.  Call it whatever you want, but put it in the middle. Sum It Up? Should the end of your speech just sum it all up? The school of thought of “Tell them what you’re going to tell them, Tell them what you’re telling them, and tell them what you told them” means that in your conclusion, you’re telling your audience the same thing three times. Do you like being told the same thing three times? I don’t love that. Then there’s the summation. How is this not repetition? It’s not a repeat if, at the end of your speech,  you help your audience draw conclusions that lead into the call to action. For example: We’ve examined the need for better dandelion breeding and our commitment to developing this undervalued plant as a food source.  You may never have considered what you do to dandelions and how it has an impact on your lawn.  Now is the time to reconsider your use of pesticides as a way to control these valuable plants – not weeds – to improve your gardens.  The next time you look at a dandelion, remember the good that this singular plant has and instead of ripping it out of the ground, give it a little loving pat and an encouraging word.  Let that yellow flower bloom and grow! End your speech with actions that result from the information you gave in the middle of your speech. End of Your Speech Podcast Ending? I’m at the end of my podcast now.  I guess I should say something really insightful and witty, right? Don’t signal to your audience that you’re about to wrap up.  They’ll figure it out.  That’s why “in conclusion” isn’t worth the breath to say it.  Just get to your final words – which is why although my podcast show notes almost always say “Wrap it up, Kim” I never say that. When you end your speech with a challenge, with an emotional kick that motivates people to action, you’ve nailed your conclusion. That doesn’t happen by accident.  I encourage you to write your conclusion first, then the body, and then the intro, but don’t forget to come back around to make sure you’ve got the right conclusion to your speech.  You may need to edit and make changes to bring it home with strength and verve.  It’s worth the effort and time to make your speech as powerful as you need it to be.   Wrap it up, Kim Toastmasters 101 is a podcast production of Toastmasters District 10 Our music is from incompetech.filmmusic.io When you write your speech, how do you do it?  I’d love to know if you agree with me or if you start at the beginning?  Let me know by going to the Toastmasters 101 podcast Facebook page and answering my poll.  The link is in the show notes, or you can search Facebook for Toastmasters 101 PODCAST.  There’s a Toastma

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"

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 front of you at the ice cream stand.  You want a debate – an honest-to-goodness discussion with facts, explanations of why these facts are important and the impact of the topic on the world – ok, your ice cream choice.  You want a debate. Debate often has a bad smell to it.  In the US, we have these abominations called “presidential debates” which are nothing more than people slinging sound bites at each other for the media.  Then we have the current “social media” debate, which appears to focus on insults and accusations. Whatever happened to civil discussions?  Have we lost the ability to have them? Today on Toastmasters 101, we’re going to talk about an increasing need for the ability to communicate with discussions where people don’t agree, and a terrific rise in the Toastmasters grassroots community to discover the power of debate. INTRO Do you want to find your voice and change the world?  Then Toastmasters is for you.  In one hour a week, we can teach you how to develop your public speaking skills and your leadership skills to have an impact on the world.  This is Toastmasters 101, and I’m your host, Kim Krajci. Debate vs. Discussion Let’s start out by saying:  moosetracks is a flavor of ice cream in our area.  I have no idea if you’re familiar with it.  Locally, it has fudge swirled into vanilla ice cream with peanut butter and chocolate candies mixed in.  For me, that’s one too many ingredients.  I don’t disapprove of people eating it, I’m just kinda… not sure why people like it. It’s not a very debatable topic.  Discuss, yes, and certainly we can agree to disagree. People can disagree.  Will disagree.  It’s the nature of human nature and free will.  People can disagree about almost everything, not just about taste.  I may believe a certain policy will achieve a goal.  That doesn’t mean I get to assume that the person who disagrees with that policy I prefer is a person who is evil or bad or doesn’t deserve respect. Let’s define our terms.  (That’s a debate joke – you’ll get it in a minute) I like the Heritage Dictionary’s definition:   Consideration of a subject by a group; an earnest conversation.  I think that a discussion allows each participant to free-range around a topic:  to look at the topic from several perspectives and to concede the other’s points as we come to an agreement.  That doesn’t mean that a discussion is going to end on agreements. I want to make it clear:  I don’t see disagreement as a bad thing.  I see it as a human thing.  It’s how we treat each other in the discussions that can make a disagreement offensive or hurtful.  I believe that people of good will can look at a topic and have few or no points of agreement and both be good people who want a good solution for a problem. Debating Holes in the Ground For example, last week my son and daughter-in-law were removing the deck from the back of their home that they just purchased last fall.  As we dug out the supporting posts and concrete foundation block, we left 30 big holes in the ground.  One person wanted to go get fill dirt right away to protect people from breaking legs or ankles by stepping in them.  Another person pointed out that they intend to build a patio and they’ll have to remove significant amounts of dirt, so buying dirt seems unnecessary.  I personally liked the idea of throwing buckets over the holes for now – they’ll be very visible.  Another suggestion was to put sticks with flags on them to help people know where the dangers lie. Were any of us wrong?  No, none of us were.  Our discussion ended with a decision that the homeowners were happy with – they dug up dirt from where they’ll be laying the patio and filled the holes the next day. Debate is something different from a discussion.  According to  the American Heritage Dictionary.com, debate means To engage in argument by discussing opposing points. To engage in a formal discussion or argument. Debate can have a negative connotation to it.  I get that, because in a true, formal debate, each side must defend their stand absolutely without any concession to the other side.  It can look acrimonious.  It can look defensive and ugly.  A debate can be vicious and attacking.  It can look personal and soul-crushing. It can also be an incredibly valuable tool to help us understand critical issues. We need to take technical look at a debate. First of all, it’s a formal engagement. I don’t think we often have true debates randomly.  We may have arguments, but a debate isn’t usually the thing we see on the street.  I’ll agree that sometimes, there are spontaneous debates in situations, but the word can be abused.  Like presidential debates.  Those aren’t debates.  Those are posturing for the media events. Debates start by making clear what the topic is – and what it isn’t.  That’s why definitions are so important.  Making sure that it’s clear what the debate is about establishes the parameters of the debate and keeps it on point.  If you’re talking about filing holes, you’re not talking about dinner, or about the nature of the universe.  It keeps you focused and on topic. Second, A debate is focused on a resolution. A question.  A choice.  It’s persuasive speaking, using logic and facts as the primary material.  This isn’t to say that emotion and character aren’t parts of the discussion, especially on fraught topics that generate ill-will or fear. The point of focus in a debate is that resolution.  There will be two sides.  One side is called the affirmative.  The other is the negative.  Some debates call it pro and con.  Potato, potato.  But there are two sides. AFF and NEG A discussion can have multiple perspectives presented.  In debate, the affirmative always agrees with the resolution.  The other side takes an opposing view. For example, the backyard holes.  If the resolution is:  “The holes in the backyard require Mom to go to the store and buy fill dirt” then that’s what the AFF has to defend – all parts of it, including Mom going to buy dirt. Neg, on the other hand, has the world to draw on to fight against the resolution.  Neg can contend that Dad should go.  They can contend that nothing should be done.  They can contend that filling the holes with pizza is better. That is the key difference between a debate and a discussion.  In one, you’re locked into specific roles and you never concede an inch to your opponent.  In the other, as a less formal and hopefully good-natured way, you can change your mind. It’s this difference that gives debate a bad name.  That… and bad debaters. When we enter a debate, we have to be able to explain why our position is the best one.  When a debate doesn’t do that, it can devolve into name-calling, questioning the ethics of another speaker, or cheating.  Then debate looks ugly and unproductive. Which is horrible, because, done right, Debates are fun. I have a copy of a handbook about Debate from Toastmasters that I bought years ago.  I was working as a debate coach and purchased it thinking I would learn a lot about debate from it.  Unfortunately, it didn’t help me very much because it was too general and I was working in a very specific category of high school debate.  But I always wanted to see more Toastmasters debate because sometimes, very rarely, I’d see a table topics challenge that was a debate. The very first Toastmasters meeting I attended, the table topics leader pulled out a tomato and challenged the volunteers to debate whether a tomato is a fruit or a vegetable. This is not the type of debate I was used to, but I was up for the challenge. This is the other common type of debate:  one thing versus another.  For example:  cars vs. bikes.  Houses vs. apartments.  Mountains vs. beaches.  Socialism vs. capitalism. Not a very clear resolution, but often it can be structured into one:  Tomatoes are a fruit. And that’s where the debate begins. Toastmasters Debate Clubs Maybe 5 years ago, a club in District 10 decided to try debates.  I attended and thought it was great.  The club… didn’t.  The debates took time away from them completing speeches toward their education awards.  The debates were scrapped. A couple of years ago, I heard about a club in the middle east that focused on debate.   I wanted to attend! Then the pandemic hit and every club moved to online meetings.  And I found out that there are Toastmasters who are doing debates.  I didn’t know about them because we didn’t have any way to find them and attend. With everything now online, I found out about a start-up club in Texas, USA, that wants to focus on debate. Then they told me about two clubs in New York City that have an annual debate between the clubs.  And two more on the western coast of the United States. It looks like debate clubs are springing up all over the place!  And I can attend them! Why should you check out a debate club? Right now, it’s hard to have a civil discussion because we’re in a volatile position right now.  Communication skills are critical.  If you want to change the world, you have to be able to communicate your vision. At its core, that’s what Toastmasters is about.  Communication skills.  Learning how to debate – essentially, how to defend your point effectively. That people are starting Toastmasters clubs that focus on debate – that’s a clear indication that I’m not the only one who sees that being able to debate effectively and persuasively is important. That we want to have conversations that don’t become shouting matches where there is no communication. Where the end goal isn’t to grind your opponent into the ground, but to understand them and help them understand you. I hear there’s a path being submitted to Toastmaster

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How do you decide to use images and presentation software for your presentation? What's the deciding factor?

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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"