Do toastmasters really help in making official presentations effective?

A young toastmaster working for a software/IT firm asked "Do you think the skills gained in Toastmasters help when we make technical presentations at work?". 

Well, the fundamentals are the same. Irrespective of the 'content' of your presentation, you need to connect with your audience by making eye contact, you should use proper hand gestures & vocal variety to gain/retain audience attention. Even when preparing technical slides, you should make them easier to read and have just 2 or 3 main points per slide. You should always look at your audience and shouldn't show your back. Your presentation should always have a strong introduction & conclusion.

These simple tips that we learn in toastmasters help us irrespective of whether we make a technical or non-technical presentation. The effectiveness of your technical presentation increases by many fold when you incorporate all the skills that you gain in toastmasters. So, the next time you make a technical presentation at work, do not forget to incorporate your "Toastmasters" learning.  

Also read:

Managing nervousness before/during speech
Small things make perfection, but perfection isn't a small thing
Do you Sharpen the Saw?
 

How to stop being nervous before/during the speech?

Do you feel nervous when you are in the stage? It is perfectly normal to be nervous before delivering a speech, no matter how many times you have spoken before.  There are some simple tips to avoid being nervous during your speech:

• show up early and get to know the people/speaking environment better. Familiarity of people/environment helps you to minimize your nervousness.
• check whether your props (including projector, computers) are working fine before the meeting. This will avoid unwanted last minute frustrations.
• take a few deep breaths and exhale slowly, before your speech. This relaxes your body, helping your blood pressure to lower and your mind to clear. This will enable free flow of words when you start to speak.
• have your opening memorized and it will help to break the ice and get you rolling

If you make mistakes during your speech, because of nervousness, don't stop speaking and don't apologize. Remember that the audience wants you to succeed. They will feel your pain too, and they will understand what you are going through.

Also read:

Small things make perfection, but perfection isn't a small thing
Do you Sharpen the Saw?
How to effectively write/memorize your speech script? 

Do you have an Elevator Pitch Handy?

Do you have an elevator pitch to introduce yourself?  You get to meet a lot of new people at work, social gathering and in your day to day life. How many of them can remember you, your name, your background etc.,? For example, you accidentally get to meet your company CEO in the elevator and you have to introduce yourself in a few seconds (i.e., before the elevator reaches the top floor). Your introduction should be in such a way that your CEO remembers you forever. Your introduction has to be very appealing and different from the standard "I'm Thomas and I work for XYZ group". How would you frame your introduction, differently? Think about it. Have an Elevator pitch handy so that people can easily remember you. The following website gives you enough tips about coming up with an elevator pitch.

http://theclosetentrepreneur.com/elevator-pitch-101-intro-to-writing-a-30-second-elevator-pitch

Also read:

Managing nervousness before/during speech
Do you have an Elevator Pitch Handy?
Small things make perfection, but perfection isn't a small thing

Small things make perfection, but perfection isn't a small thing

How many of you have written pages & pages of essays during your school or college tests? How many of you take time to organize the essay under proper sub headings & underline the important points?

Well, it took a while for me to understand these simple things. I spent hours and hours writing essays during the tests but didn't spend another 5 or 10 minutes to underline the important points. The result is - I didn't get the grade that I deserved. A teacher or professor evaluates 100s of papers a day. Most of the teachers don't have time to read each and every line from the essays. All they look for is perfect presentation. It just takes an additional 5 or 10 minutes to provide a good presentation. When I mastered this art, I became the class topper.

Since then, I started to strongly believe "Small things make perfection but perfection is not a small thing".

Let me give you an example from my work place. I've seen several colleagues spending hours and hours in the office to complete their deliverables. They even work over the weekends. However, they won't spend another 5 - 10 minutes in sending their status reports or giving a status update to their boss. How would the boss know that you had spent extra hours if you hadn't projected it yourself? Sending a status report is a small thing, but it creates a significant effect on your performance.

How many of you have experience preparing soups? You would've added several ingredients to make your soup delicious. What if you miss to add a pinch of salt at the end? The soup won't be tasty.

Look at our contest speakers/winners - they pay attention to the exceptionally small details which differentiate their performance from others. If you want to be a successful speaker - find out the small things that prevent you from climbing the ladder of success. It may be things like repeated use of filler words, staring at the roof, keeping the hands clasped or keeping a hand in the pocket. Seek feedback from fellow toastmasters and mentors, who’ll make your journey to success shorter and faster.

Let us keep this in mind "Small things make perfection but perfection is not a small thing". Let us try to add "the pinch of salt" that brings perfection to everything we do in our life.


Published in SpeakOut November 2010

Also read:

Managing nervousness before/during speech 

How to effectively write/memorize your speech script?

Do you Sharpen the Saw?

Do you sharpen the saw?

When we were small, we were told "Study hard up to your 12th grade. Once you get into your college, you can start to relax". We completed our 12th grade. But then, folks said "Study well for another 3 or 4 years. Once you complete your college and go to work, you can start to relax". Here we are. We completed our studies and even got into a job. But, we can't relax yet. We are constantly expected to learn/gain new skills in various product/technology areas. No matter which industry we are in, the need to continuously update our knowledge doesn't end. This is true even at Toastmasters. No matter how much proficient we are, we have something to learn in Toastmasters.

Toastmasters provides us an excellent platform to sharpen our communication and leadership skills. Toastmasters provides us myriad opportunities to "sharpen the saw" during club meetings, training events, and during contests. By actively participating in Toastmasters, we are not JUST LEARNING or picking up new skills, but we are INVESTING in ourselves.

What happens to a wood cutter who continues to chop trees without sharpening the saw? Either the saw will break or the wood cutter will get tired soon. The wood cutter will soon reach a point where he cannot cut any more trees. Constantly learning new skills at toastmasters, helps us to stay ahead of the curve. We couldn't find a better place to sharpen our communication/leadership skills than at Toastmasters.

It is time for us to sharpen the saw …

Published in SpeakOut August 2010 Edition

Also read:

Managing nervousness before/during speech
Do you have an Elevator Pitch Handy?
Small things make perfection, but perfection isn't a small thing

Participate, Practice & Perform

The mantra behind toastmastering is "Participate, Practice and Perform". By actively participating in club meetings and other toastmaster events, we can NOT only learn from our mistakes, but also from others'. Speaking is analogous to swimming. Excellence in swimming is achieved by jumping into the water and not by watching from shore.  Similarly, reading books about communication or watching others talk isn't suffice to improve our communication skills. We need to constantly practice and perform to improve our speaking skills. 

Also read: 

Chennai Toastmasters - A BIG Thanks to YOU
3Rs of a Successful Toastmaster

Distinguished toastmasters achieve success, by years of continued hard work and commitment.  I read a story about Socrates recently, which was an eye opener. A young man asked Socrates the secret of success. Socrates told the young man to meet him near the river the next morning. They met. Socrates asked the young man to walk with him into the river. When the water got up to their neck, Socrates took the young man by surprise and swiftly ducked him into the water. 

The boy struggled to get out but Socrates was strong and kept him there until the boy started turning blue. Socrates pulled the boy’s head out of the water and the first thing the young man did was to gasp and take a deep breath of air.

Socrates asked him, "what did you want the most when you were there?" The boy replied, "Air". Socrates said, "That is the secret of success! When you want success as badly as you wanted the air, then you will get it! There is no other secret". Isn't this true for Toastmasters also? We need to have the burning desire to excel in communication and leadership. Burning desire to excel will translate to commitment and consistence which will in-turn guarantee success in Toastmasters.

Do you want to be a successful speaker/leader? Do you want to be a Distinguished Toastmaster? You should get started now, with your journey!! Participate, Practice and Perform …

(Also read: Chennai Toastmasters - A BIG Thanks to YOU)

Published in SpeakOut on July 2010

Toastmaster Tips - How to effectively write/memorize your speech script?

Do you find it difficult to memorize your speech script? Do you often forget a few important points or even an entire paragraph when you deliver the speech? If you cannot memorize your script (after hours of preparation), how will the audience remember it, after hearing the speech just once?

You don’t have to accuse yourself… You don’t have to think that you have a poor memory when compared to other speakers. It is easy to manage this problem by scripting your speech effectively. You can write your speech script in a way to easily memorize. How do you do that?

Here is a simple technique. A 5 – 7 minutes speech should focus on just one important message. You can have 2 or 3 key points to convey your message. Each of those key points can have a small story or an example that can stick in your mind (as well as the audience’s).  The more stories and examples you have in your speech, it is easier for you to memorize it.  Let us take academics for example. We tend to remember the stories that we read during our childhood days, even after several years… but we easily forget the physics or chemistry that we read during the same time.

It is easier to remember stories than just "text". You can still remember some of the stories told during your childhood days because of the way in which it was delivered to you. To the extent possible, include animations in your delivery (hand gestures, stage movements, vocal variety etc.,).

Try scripting your next speech with stories and examples. See the magic it does to you and to your audience.

Also read:

Managing nervousness before/during speech

Small things make perfection, but perfection isn't a small thing
Do you Sharpen the Saw?

Toastmaster Tips - Vocal Variety

Vocal variety enhances the delivery of your speech to a great extent. It is not just a matter of speaking out load so that your audience can hear, but it is about emphasizing key points. When preparing your speech script, mark or underline the key phrases/words that you need to deliver with high or low pitch. When you practice your speech, consciously introduce vocal variations. Make sure that the voice modulations are exaggerated during your practice sessions. When you go live, your voice modulation would get adjusted to adequate levels because of your nervousness, and/or room/audience size

Have you listened to great public speakers? You can watch videos of speeches from eminent people like Martin Luther King, Bill Clinton or Barack Obama in Youtube. It will help you to improve your delivery - especially your vocal variety. Do watch Martin Luther King's "I have a dream", if you get a chance.

Vocal Variety in your speech makes a lasting impact on the audience and helps them to remember your speech for a longer time.

Also read: Competent Communicator Project 6 - How to get the best rating in performance reviews? (Vocal Variety)

Toastmasters & Potluck - Commonalities

Toastmasters & Potluck have lots of commonalities.

"A potluck is a gathering of people where each person or group of people contributes a dish of food to be shared among the group". There are a number of benefits in organizing a potluck party:

• Instead of one person taking the burden of cooking/arranging food for all invitees, each invitee brings a dish to share with others
• Attendees get to taste a variety of dishes
• There is no single point of failure - even if one of the attendees forgets to bring a dish, it is hardly noticed (or it is easier to substitute)

In a  training program, a single tutor/trainer trains a bunch of people. However, in Toastmasters, each member gets to learn from others. Each member brings something to the table. You get to listen to a variety of speeches/speakers and you learn from each one of them. You learn not only from your mistakes, but also from others'. There is always variety in toastmasters which makes every meeting special.

Do you now agree that Toastmasters & Potluck have lots of commonalities?

Farming & Toastmastering - Similarities

Are you a hunter or a farmer? In my last 4 years with toastmasters, I have seen several guests entering the toastmasters meeting, wanting to improve their communication skills in just few weeks. Some of them, out of excessive enthusiasm, end up enrolling in a "costly" training program that "teaches" communication skills for a couple of days. However, they don't realize that "improving communication skills" is equivalent of "farming" than "hunting".

A hunter, wakes up one fine morning, takes his gun (or bow/arrows) and goes for hunting. If he is lucky, he may shoot an animal and bring home some food. If he is unlucky, he may starve for weeks together.

However, farming is different. Farming involves ploughing the land, sowing seeds, watering the field, removing weeds, adding fertilizer, and finally doing harvesting. Farming produces more food when compared to hunting. There is more predictability of results in farming, than hunting. Farming is more disciplined/organized way of generating food (when compared to hunting).

Similarly, toastmasters provides a structured program to improve communication skills. Toastmasters provides an opportunity to nourish & constantly re-enforce your communication skills.
 One of my toastmasters friends said, "You cannot be a seasoned speaker by just being a seasonal speaker". You should be constantly practicing in front of people to deliver speeches. That is the only way by which you can be a successful public speaker.

You cannot swallow a "magic pill" before going to bed and get up the next day morning as a "seasoned public speaker". The law of harvest applies even for sharpening your communication skills. It takes time. But, if you are constantly working on it, you'll be a professional soon. Start ploughing the field today, to reap the benefits tomorrow.