Tagged: Toastmasters | Six Minutes

Aug 15th, 2008

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The Olympics of Oratory: World Championship of Public Speaking

One of these 10 people will be crowned the new World Champion of Public Speaking on August 16th, 2008 at the Toastmasters International convention in Calgary, Alberta.

Update (August 16): LaShunda Rundles is the 2008 World Champion of Public Speaking. K. Loghandran placed 2nd, and Katherine Morrison placed 3rd.

Each year, over 230,000 members in over 11,000 clubs in 92 countries around the world have the opportunity to participate in this contest where competitors deliver 7-minute speeches judged on core message, speech development, language, and delivery techniques.

The club contest is the first of six stages which culminate in the World Championship of Public Speaking contest. The 10 speakers left standing have each out-spoken and out-inspired fellow competitors at five previous contests. [Back in May, I bowed out in the quarter-finals.]

Here are the 2008 finalists for the World Championship of Public Speaking. As you can plainly see, there is no single “speaker mold”: they bridge four countries, both genders, numerous ages, and diverse backgrounds.

Speechwriting

May 26th, 2008

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Toastmasters Speech 3: Get to the Point

Toastmasters Speech 3: Get to the Point Have you ever been to a painfully bad seminar with audience members murmuring to each other…?

“What was that about?“
“He was all over the place today.“
“What was her point?“

These are symptoms of a speech that had no clear objective and was not focused on achieving that objective.

The third Toastmasters speech project stresses the importance of clearly identifying your target objective, and then maintaining precise focus to achieve it. This article of the Toastmasters Speech Series examines the primary goals of this project, provides tips and techniques, and links to numerous sample speeches.

May 15th, 2008

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Lessons I Learned from Toastmasters Speech Contests

Toastmasters Evaluation Contest Champion - District 21

Speech contests are your fastest route to your greatest improvement.
David Brooks, 1990 World Champion of Public Speaking

This past weekend, I won the Toastmasters District 21 Speech Evaluation Contest and placed third in the District 21 International Speech Contest.

The accolades are very nice, but they are fleeting in nature. On the other hand, the breadth and depth of lessons learned during these speech contests are long-lasting.

This article highlights just a few of these valuable lessons which apply to all speakers, whether novice or professional.

Apr 29th, 2008

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Toastmasters Speech 2: Organize Your Speech

When you speak, does your audience get it?

If your audience doesn’t grasp your message (even though your topic is one you know they are interested in), you need to rethink the way you present it. You need to organize your ideas to promote understanding.

The second Toastmasters speech project addresses organizing your speech. This article of the Toastmasters Speech Series examines the primary goals of this project, provides tips and techniques, and links to numerous sample speeches.

Apr 24th, 2008

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Toastmasters Speech 1: The Ice Breaker

Toastmasters Speech 1: The Ice Breaker Ice breaker (or Icebreaker) is a term which describes an activity which reduces tension and anxiety in a group.

Thus, it is fitting that the first Toastmaster speech project is titled The Ice Breaker.

This article of the Toastmasters Speech Series examines the primary goals of this project, provides tips and techniques, and links to numerous sample speeches.

Apr 24th, 2008

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Toastmasters Speech Series: Your Guide to the First 10 Speeches

Toastmasters Speeches Guide This is the first article of the Toastmasters Speech Series — a collection of articles which examines the fundamentals of public speaking.

For Toastmasters and non-Toastmasters alike, these articles show how you can graduate from speaking fear to inspiring your audience.

The format for the series will be one article for each of the ten speeches which comprise the introductory Toastmasters manual — the Competent Communicator Manual.

Mar 18th, 2008

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Speech Preparation #10: Prepare to Win a Toastmasters Speech Contest

Toastmasters Speech Contest Trophy

Imagine yourself speaking at the World Championship of Public Speaking. You’ve written a speech from your heart, and you deliver the best performance of your life. When the winner is announced, it’s you!

Possible? Yes.
You can win.

That which separates those who win from those who do not win is not lifetime speaking experience nor contest experience. Not gestures. Not vocal variety. Not rhetorical devices. Not overall delivery skills.

The most critical discriminator between those who win and those who do not is preparation.

Jan 25th, 2008

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Speech Analysis #5: Toastmasters Evaluation Contests

First Place Ribbon

Many of the techniques described in this series of articles were honed during several years of attending and competing in Toastmasters Evaluation Contests. In both 2006 and 2007, I reached the District 21 finals, taking 2nd place in 2007. [Update: I won the District 21 Evaluation Contest in 2008.]

This article, the fifth in the Speech Analysis Series, inspects Toastmasters evaluation contests from several angles:

How does the contest work?
Why should you attend?
Why should you be a test speaker?
Why should you compete?
How can you win?

Jan 24th, 2008

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Speech Analysis #4: Evaluation Forms, Tools, and Resources

Previous articles in this Speech Analysis Series covered how to study and critique a speech, how to approach the task of evaluation, and how to use the modified sandwich technique.

This article provides a speech evaluation form and explains how it supports you in studying and evaluating speeches.

Dec 29th, 2007

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5 Habits to Achieve your Public Speaking New Year’s Resolution

Champagne Glasses Wouldn’t it be wonderful if simply making a New Year’s resolution guaranteed success? Lose weight. Pay off debt. Quit smoking. Easy, right? No, not really.

Most resolutions fail because they are wishes, not goals. Often, the best way to achieve a long-term goal is to focus on the supporting habits. For example:

Resolution	Supporting Habits
Lose weight	improve nutrition, drink water, exercise regularly, get consistent sleep
Pay off debt	use cash instead of credit, supplement your income, “pay yourself first”
Quit smoking	use “the patch”, chew gum, reduce stress, find a buddy

By focusing on the supporting habits (and keeping the end goal in mind, of course), we put ourselves in an excellent position to succeed. The same strategy applies to all other New Year’s resolutions, including another popular one: becoming a better public speaker.

Dec 17th, 2007

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12 Days of Public Speaking Christmas

Ornament Earlier this month, I was the master of ceremonies for a corporate holiday party. Rather than randomly selecting tables to take their turn at the buffet, I asked for twelve volunteers (maximum one per table). Each of them sang one of the Twelve Days (a version customized for the company), and thus earned their table an early visit to the buffet. It worked out even better than I had hoped.

Inspired by the success of that activity, I offer you the Twelve Days of Public Speaking Christmas.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, the presentation gave to me:

Dec 6th, 2007

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Video Critique: J.A. Gamache (Toastmasters, 2007)

J.A. Gamache - Being a Mr. G. J.A. Gamache demonstrates how to complement strong writing with powerful body language in a speech titled “Being a Mr. G.” that took first place in the 2007 Region VI Toastmasters speech contest.