Spice up your speeches with "Quotes"

This is a collection of quotes from various sources :)

Quote Author When i say SORRY, It doesn't mean that i'm completely wrong and you are right,but it means that i value our relationship more than my EGO...! Anonymous If you do something and turns out pretty good, then should do something else wonderful, just don't dwell on it too long. Just figure out what's next" Steve Jobs In a day when you don’t come across any problems, you can be sure that you are traveling in a wrong path Swami Vivekananda Focus on the Small Hinges and the Big Doors Will Open Wide Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail Anonymous It is not titles that honor men, but men that honor titles Niccolo Macchiavelli Leadership Is Not About the Leader Anonymous Volunteers are not paid – not because they are worthless, but because they are priceless. Anonymous “It’s been said that a good leader inspires others with confidence in him while a great leader inspires others with confidence in themselves.” Anonymous You can't do good if you don't feel good. Plato The dream is not what you see in sleep… dream is which does not let you sleep Abdul Kalam You are the same today as you’ll be in five years except for two things; the books you read and the people you meet.” Charlie Tremendous Jones You can’t fire a volunteer Anonymous You will become as small as your controlling desire; as great as your dominant aspiration You don’t have to be great to start, but you’ve to start to be great Zig Ziglar You can achieve everything in life that you want, if you can help others achieve what they want Zig Ziglar The ignited minds of the youth is the most powerful resources on the earth, under the earth and above the earth Abdul Kalam Small things make perfection, but perfection isn’t a small thing Anonymous I refuse to lower my standards to accommodate those who refuse to raise theirs Steve Gamlin "Dont share Ur Top Secrets with any 1 because,if U Urself cant Keep Ur Secrets Don't Expect Somebody Else 2 Keep it" Adolf Hitler No one in this world is perfect, if you avoid people for their mistakes, you’ll be ALL Alone Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well. Voltaire The one who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the crowd. The one who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever been Albert Einstein Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail Ralph Waldo Emerson if you have one child, you are a parent. if you have two, you are a referee ! If egg is broken by force outside, life ends.  If egg is broken by the force inside, life begins Title is for a year, relationship lasts longer Saro Velrajan Title comes and goes, relationship stays forever Saro Velrajan Your trophy goes to the shelf, but the experience stays with you forever Saro Velrajan Small people use big words, big people use small words, servant leaders use the right words Saro Velrajan “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times !!” Bruce Lee Focus on your members and follow the numbers Saro Velrajan ‎'I' is the smallest word in the dictionary. Don't make it the biggest in your vocabulary! Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success… leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall Stephen Covey You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks Winston Churchill Most people don’t listen with the intent to understand, they listen with the intent to reply back Stephen Covey Change small, change often Difficulties in your life do not come to destroy you, but to help you realize your hidden potential and power. Let difficulties know that you too are DIFFICULT APJ Abdul Kalam If you judge people, you won’t have any time to love them Mother Teresa If you find this yet another place to work, you should find another place to work Anonymous Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds Albert Einstein Never play with the feelings of others, because you may win the game but the risk is that you’ll surely lose the person for a life time Shakespeare The world suffers a lot. Not because of the violence of bad people – but because of the silence of good people Napolean I am thankful to all those who said NO to me. It is because of them I did it myself Albert Einstein If friendship is your weakest point then you are the strongest person in the world Abraham Lincoln We must learn to live together as brothers as we will perish together as fools Martin Luther King The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong Mahatma Gandhi It is very easy to defeat someone, but it is very hard to win someone APJ Abdul Kalam If you buy things you do not need, soon you will have to sell things you need Warren Buffett Never depend upon single income, make investment to create a second source Warren Buffett Do not save what is left after spending , but spend what is left after saving Warren Buffett Never test the depth of river with both the feet Warren Buffett Do not put all your eggs in one basket Warren Buffett Honesty is very expensive gift. Do not expect it from cheap people Warren Buffett Successful people have all had to do things they didn’t feel like doing in order to get where they are. Rory Vaden You always get paid for how hard you work, but it’s not always right away. Rory Vaden Are we going to give up, or are we going to be the kind of people who stand up and do what it takes, even if we don’t feel like doing it? Rory Vaden When it comes to making commitments to other people, sometimes one of the hardest things to learn to say is no when we mean no. Rory Vaden We need to stop spending so much of our time trying to make the right decisions and instead start spending our time making decisions and then making them right. Rory Vaden The foundation of a disciplined life is integrity and doing what we say we’re going to do. Rory Vaden Procrastination is one of the most expensive invisible costs in business today. Rory Vaden In the absence of disciplined focus, we become strangely loyal to performing daily acts of trivia. Rory Vaden Success is more a matter of choice than of circumstance. Rory Vaden We always pay a price for success. We either pay it now or pay it later with interest Rory Vaden Success is never owned. It is only rented and the rent is due every day Rory Vaden Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them Shakespeare Never be proud for what position you hold, because after a game of chess the king and the soldiers go into the same box Anonymous What is success? When your signature turns into autograph. APJ Abdul Kalam A great marriage is not when the 'perfect couple' comes together. It is when an imperfect couple learns to enjoy their differences Dave Meurer The good news is I'm fast. The bad news is I'm walking alone If you want to do everything to everybody than trying to do something to somebody, you won't be able to do anything to anybody Anonymous The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug Mark Twain There is a difference between interest and commitment. When you are interested in doing something, you do it only when it is convenient. When you are commited to something, you accept no excuses only results. Kenneth Blanchard Contests are NOT meant to differentiate a bronze from a silver and a gold. Contests are meant to transform a golden ore into a golden ornament. Saro Velrajan The greatest leader is NOT necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things. Ronald Regan When you have the commitment, capability can be built. Commitment is much more important than capability Saro Velrajan Don’t just delegate a task to a super star, create a super star by delegating a task. Saro Velrajan Let us also remove the word "negative" from our dictionary… the digital photographers have already removed it from theirs. Saro Velrajan Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step Martin Luther King Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover Anonymous Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming 'WOW What a Ride!' Anonymous If you don't know where you're going, any road'll take you there Anonymous Every role in Toastmasters has a purpose. If you are not learning anything by doing a role, you are not doing your role right Saro Velrajan Judges should be like God. People should believe in them and trust them, but should not see them. Saro Velrajan If you have to pick the best contestant as winner, you'll have to first pick the best judges. Saro Velrajan Leadership is not hunted, it is harvested Saro Velrajan When you harvest leadership, people will hunt for you Saro Velrajan

For a categorized list of quotes, drop me an email or leave a comment here with your email id. I'll send you the XLS.

An interview with DTM Saro Velrajan (article from CSF July 2012 newsletter)

AN INTERVIEW CONDUCTED BY MY MENTEE TM PRIYADARSHINI FOR THE CHENNAI SPEAKERS FORUM JULY 2012 NEWSLETTER .... RIGHT AFTER THE COMPLETION OF MY DISTINGUISHED TOASTMASTER (DTM) JOURNEY !

1. WHAT IS THE SECRET BEHIND YOUR EVER CHARMING SMILE? 

I don’t worry about the PAST, I always plan for the FUTURE and I enjoy the PRESENT.  That could be one of the reasons for my happiness which gets exhibited as smile. When you are happy, you smile… When you smile, you are indirectly conditioning your brain to feel happy. I have been practicing this since my college days and this technique does work!

2. HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN A MEMBER OF TOASTMASTERS?

Since 2006

3. WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO JOIN TOASTMASTERS?

I finished my MBA in 2006. I realized that I can proudly say that I’m an MBA graduate, only when I can talk like a Chief Executive Officer (CEO). That was my inspiration to join toastmasters.

4. WHAT WAS YOUR INITIAL GOAL IN TOASTMASTERS?

I had the difficulty of expressing my thoughts in English. Though I studied in a English medium school, I never conversed with my friends in English. Even during college days, I never paid attention to develop my communication skills in English. So, I had the problem of always thinking in Tamil, translating that to English and expressing my thoughts. My goal was to get over that problem.

5. HOW DID YOU BECOME A DIVISION GOVERNOR? UR MEMORABLE MOMENTS IN MYSORE AT THE TIME OF ELECTIONS

I had just graduated as the President of CTM and not knowing what to do next. My mentor DTM Lalitha pulled me into mentoring Amazon Toastmasters club. That was the beginning of my leadership role outside the club. In Apr 2011, I was thrown into the ring for Division G Governor election – I hardly knew what the role demanded. I was a new face in the District stage. Thanks to the hard campaigning done by mentor DTM Lalitha and some of our Division G friends, I became the Division Governor.

The most memorable moment for me in Mysore was when I stood up from the floor and nobody proposed my name as the candidate for 20 seconds. If nobody had proposed my name in the next 10 seconds, I cannot nominate myself from the floor for elections. Thankfully, DTM Lalitha & TM Rajeev Nambiar proposed my name and I became eligible to contest in the election for Division Governor J I’ll never forget it.

6. WHAT WERE THE CHALLENGES YOU FACED WHEN YOU WERE THE GOVERNOR OF DIVISION G AND HOW DID YOU HANDLE TO OVERCOME?

The key challenge that I faced during the initial days of my governorship was… getting people to work for our division activities. Being a new person in the role, I had great difficulty in finding people to whom I can delegate. I realized that “leading by example” is the best way to inspire people to come and help you.  The things that Sandhiya & I did for the first OTP in July 2011 is still fresh in my memory…  I remember serving snacks, moving chairs from one hall to another, setting up projector/screen. On seeing that, many toastmasters voluntarily came and started helping. At the end of the OTP, I genuinely thanked all the fellow toastmasters who helped in whatever little way possible … in Facebook (using the “SPOT” recognition technique… presented in my Inverted Pyramid workshop). That did the magic J

7. YOUR MEMORABLE MOMENTS BEING A DIVISION GOVERNOR.

Honestly speaking… all the time that I spent with fellow toastmasters are very memorable. I had the unique opportunity to work with a large number of toastmasters from a diverse set of clubs. 

Most memorable moments for me are

·         Youth Leadership Program that we conducted in Anjuman

·         Eloquence 2011 & Rhetoric 2012

·         OTP 2011 & 2012

·         All the demo meetings that we did in various places

8. NOW THAT YOU HAVE ACHIEVED DISTINGUISHED TOASTMASTER DTM STATUS ,HOW DO YOU FEEL?

Happy! J  

9. WHAT WAS YOUR BEST MOMENTS IN TOASTMASTERS?

My best moments are when I see my mentees participate in a contest or when they reach an educational milestone. The amount of happiness that you get is unmatchable.

10. WHAT IS YOUR NEXT ROLE AND GOAL IN TOASTMASTERS?

I haven’t spent much time thinking about my next role in toastmasters.

My goal is to continue to help our members and clubs - by serving as a mentor/coach.

11. SAY FEW WORDS ABOUT YOUR MENTOR/S AND MENTEE/S. DO YOU LIKE TO BE A MENTOR OR A MENTEE?

Today, I think I have 50+ mentees. On an average I review two speech scripts a day J Though I’m a mentor… I get to learn continuously from my mentees. The more projects they do… the more I learn from them. I like to be a mentor of my mentees… they are simply the best! They help me to continuously improve myself.

12. A MESSAGE TO ALL TOASTMASTERS AND NEW TOASTMASTERS

You’ll get the fullest benefit of toastmasters program only when you follow 3Rs.

• Regular – Regularly attend meetings & regularly do projects
• Research – Read books, read newspapers, attend educational programs, attend contests and continuously learn new things by research
• Rehearse – Rehearse multiple times before you do any performance in toastmasters

13. WHAT DO YOU LIKE THE MOST ABOUT UR CLUB, CHENNAI SPEAKERS FORUM?

CSF is the 4^th toastmasters club that I’m part of. Here is the top 3 things that I like about my club:

·         A number of young toastmasters who are very creative

·         Club officers are very committed to continuously innovate and improve

·         Weekly class room sessions  (one of its kind!)

Attending CSF meetings is like drinking Boost. It gives you instant energy!

How to select a speech topic and write a speech script?

Speech Topics are EVERY WHERE!

How do I select a speech topic? How do I come up with a speech script?

If you are new to toastmasters, these are the questions that will linger in your mind. You may find it difficult to come up with a speech topic and to expand it into a full blown speech script. Don’t worry. It is very easy to select a topic and write a speech script. Speech Topics are EVERY WHERE…. This article is aimed at providing you some tips on coming up with speech topics and expanding them to speech scripts.


Also read: How to write attention grabbing speech introductions?

Sources for Speech Topics

“You are the same today as you’ll be in five years except for two things; the books you read and the people you meet.” says Charlie Jones a famous speaker. It is very true. 

There are two types of speech sources:

             1.  Personal Experience – Interests, Career, Family, & Education

             2.  Reference Material – Websites, Books, Magazines, Newspapers

Also read: How do you pick the right speech topic?

There are so many topics that you can pick from your personal life and from other sources. Here is a list of topics from which you can do a speech:

1.         Your most memorable events from

o          Life

o          Student life / Childhood

o          College life

o          Professional life

o          Married life

o          Raising a kid,  etc.,     

2.         Your thoughts about

o          country, people, economy, donations, education system,

o          foreign countries

o          going green, population control, traffic, social service, health care

o          shopping malls, advertisements

o          sports, etc., 

3.         Your favorite

o          Vacation

o          Movie / Drama / Actor / Comedian / Director

o          Restaurant / Food items

o          Book

o          Hobby

o          Sport / Athlete / Sports man/woman

o          Leader or author, etc.,           

4.         Your thoughts about

o          time management

o          team work

o          performance appraisals

o          conflicts

o          project management 

o          quality

o          new year resolutions

o          training, etc.,

5.         Your

o          Goals… ambitions… dreams…

o          Principles… belief…

o          Role model / mentor 

Also read: Time Management - I don't have time to write my next speech

6.         Your thoughts about

o          Computers,

o          mobile phones,

o          electronic gadgets

o          television

o          online banking

o          credit  / debit cards / ATMs, etc.,

7.         Something that you read from newspaper, magazines, Internet, books etc.,

8.         Something that you learned by attending conferences, seminars, workshops, training programs, special courses etc.,

9.         Something that you learned from your work or real world experience that may be of use to others

o          Steps involved in buying a car, buying a house, building a house, making the best investment etc.,

o          How to hire best engineers for your projects? How to get the best out of your team? How to get the best performance rating?

o          How to effectively raise a child?

o          How to deal with relatives, friends, spouse, parents, colleagues, or boss?  

10.       Imaginary topics

o          What if you weren’t born in India?

o          What if you were the President / PM of the country?

o          What if you weren’t an Engineer and you were a doctor?

o          What if you got a million dollar in lottery?

o          What if you have to live for 100 years? etc.,

Also Read:  5 Wives & 1 Husband technique to write a Speech Script

You don’t have to be a born speech writer to come up with a speech script. The more scripts that you write, the better you are going to be. You can easily develop your writing skills… if you are determined to develop it. Sign-up for your next speech and start preparing RIGHT AWAY … and using the RIGHT WAY! 

Also read: International Speech Contests Topic Selection Ideas

Happy speaking ... 

What is toastmasters? (1 pager)

What is Toastmasters?

Toastmasters is an International non-profit educational organization that teaches communication and leadership skills through a worldwide network of clubs. The organization currently has more than 260,000 members in approximately 12,500 clubs in 113 countries. Since its founding in October 1924, the organization has helped more than 4 million men and women lead and communicate with poise and confidence. Today, organizations around the world recognize the value of incorporating Toastmasters training to help employees improve their communication and leadership skills. We have 36 different clubs in Tamilnadu and nearly 500+ toastmasters clubs in India.

How Toastmasters Program works?

At Toastmasters, members learn by speaking to groups and working with others in a supportive environment.  A typical Toastmasters club is made up of 20 to 30 people who meet once a week for approximately an hour. Each meeting gives everyone an opportunity to practice:

• Conducting meetings
Members learn how to plan and conduct meetings.

• Giving impromptu speeches
Members present one- to two minute, impromptu speeches on assigned topics.

• Presenting prepared speeches
Two or more members present speeches based on projects from manuals in Toastmasters’ proven communication and/or leadership programs. Projects cover topics such as speech organization, vocal variety, language, gestures and persuasion.

• Offering constructive evaluation
Every prepared speaker is assigned an evaluator who points out speech strengths and offers suggestions for improvement.

The Tools 

Upon joining a Toastmasters club, each new member receives a variety of manuals and resources on how to become a better speaker and a more confident leader. Members also have access to other books and educational resources. In addition, they receive the award-winning Toastmaster, a monthly magazine that offers the latest insights on speaking and leadership techniques.

3 Toastmastering lessons from my little daughter...

An article that I wrote for TUTI PALMS toastmasters club newsletter.

I got a message from our Chief Editor TM Uma... She requested (actually, ordered! ...) "Saro! We are producing a newsletter this month. You are writing an article for that ... and it is going to be about Women's day. By the way, the article is due next week".

I was thinking about it for a week. I don't want to give a gyan about Women's achievements and their importance in our society. I wanted to write something about women which will also be relevant to toastmasters.

I'm fortunate to have seen the multiple faces of women - thanks to my mom, sister, wife and little daughter. Each one of them is different and they make my life's equation complete. To stay away from controversies at home, I decided to write about the toastmastering skills that I learned when raising my little daughter :)

1) Yes! You can do it

It was about 5 years ago. My wife and I were helping our little daughter to walk... she was 10 months old, then. She took a few tentative steps, and fell down. My wife and I didn't show our disappointment on our face, when she fell down. We continued to cheer her up… "Mitra! You are doing great... try again..." "Mitra ! It is OK... You can do it".... "Mitra! Only a few steps more... Common".

When Mitra took her first 5 steps continuously without falling, we became so proud.

Don't we do exactly the same thing in our toastmasters meetings? When a fellow member couldn't answer a Table Topic or forgets a speech in between, we continue to encourage them to talk. There are times when we even pray that our fellow toastmaster shouldn't fail. We never criticize our toastmasters when they fail. Rather, we provide them a constructive feedback. Thus, we provide a safe environment for everyone to experiment, fail, learn and improve. We always tell them "Yes! You can".

2) Vocal Variety / Body Language 

"Dad, I saw a HUGE elephant today when coming back from school"... My daughter was narrating her experience of seeing an Elephant on the road... with her eye balls popping out and arms stretched wide. I was quite impressed by the tone of her voice and her gesture. Her face was literally glowing when she said that.
I'm sure all of us were expressive when we were kids. But, somehow we lost our voice and body language when we grew up! I guess it was because our elders always told us to "lower our voice" or "not to raise our hands", when speaking.
Now, we are trying to rediscover those skills by doing speeches in toastmasters :)

3) Getting repeatable good behaviors

I read a book called “How to teach so that kids can listen”. The book talks about “How to motivate kids to get repeatable behaviors?”. The author says “Don’t just compliment your kid, but compliment them for a specific reason”.

I tried to experiment it. Most of the times, my daughter doesn't clean up her room before going to bed in the night. There will be toys spread all around. My wife ends up cleaning them every day. One night, my daughter cleaned up the room herself, without even being told. I wanted to appreciate her for that. Instead of just saying “Great job Mitra !”, I said “Mitra! I like the way you are keeping your room neat and clean. You are saving a lot of time for mom. I wish you can do that every day.  Great job”. When I communicated the specific reason for which she is getting the appreciation, she understood that “I’m getting this appreciation because I kept the room neat and clean”. Now everyday night, she cleans her room before going to bed.

You can use the same technique for adults also. After all, we were also kids once upon a time.

For example, instead of saying “Senthil! You did a great job of publishing our first newsletter”, you can say “Senthil! You displayed extraordinary commitment and passion to produce our first newsletter. You were able to make it happen despite the challenges you had in getting articles from our friends. Your persistent follow-ups paid-off. Great job”. Now, Senthil will be motivated to display his commitment, passion, and persistency whenever he gets a chance.

I wish all the toastmasters of our Tuticorin Palms Toastmasters Club a very happy Women’s day celebration.

Rhetoric 2012 - Division G (Tamilnadu) Conference

This is an article that got published in Chennai Toastmasters newsletter (May 2012)

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

We, the toastmasters from Division G, witnessed the performance of some of the BEST speakers in Tamilnadu who paid attention to those small details - that made them the STARS of Division G.  Rhetoric 2012 showcased the leadership of toastmasters who skillfully crafted the entire event.

Rhetoric 2012 is the Annual conference of Division G toastmasters which includes all the 33 clubs in Tamil Nadu. The highlight of the conference is the International speech contest and Table Topics contest.

The day kick-started with a Bharathanatyam performance by young masters Ritika and Varshini who kept the audience in rapt attention with their adept moves. In the morning, we had International speech contest and we had Table topics contests in the afternoon. The contestants gave extraordinary speeches making it tough for the judges to identify the winners. The speeches were of very high quality.

The guest speaker of the day Dr.Irai Anbu I.A.S, gave an enthralling speech on communication. His speech focused on body language and how it plays an important role in communication. He covered various topics such as evolution of communication since the universe began; origin of languages; importance of body language etc., Dr. Irai Anbu stressed on the fact that listening skills are imperative to be a successful communicator. The highlight of Dr. Irai Anbu’s session was the non-stop humor. Overall, the session was educative, entertaining and enriching.

Rhetoric 2012 provided a platform for young students, IT professionals and executives to bond with ease.
Rhetoric 2012 is special for many reasons:

- For the first time ever, the top 3 district officials are attending the conference together in Division G. District 82 officers DTM Saleem, DTM Nina John and DTM Nirmala Lilly attended the conference.
- This is THE last conference of the combined Division G which includes all the clubs in Tamilnadu.
- Last but not the least, Rhetoric 2012 celebrates the success of Division G. Division G is the first division  to become President Distinguished in the whole of District 82.

The event came to a close with toastmasters George Vinoj and Arna Chugani winning the International Speech and Table Topics speech contests, respectively. They will represent Division G in the District contests at Ovations 2012, happening in Colombo, Srilanka.

Rhetoric 2012 provided an excellent opportunity for toastmasters from various clubs to connect, communicate and cross-pollinate. This is one of the BEST conferences that I’ve ever attended.

CRISP Speech Evaluations

This is a summary of the CRISP Speech Evaluations workshop that I did for Chennai Speakers Forum on 5th August 2012. This is also published as an article in Chennai Toastmasters newsletter.

“Any speech can be improved”… This is the mantra that drives toastmasters. We invest our time in improving ourselves week after week… climbing one step at a time, on the ladder of communication and leadership. Speech evaluations help us to understand how we can improve our speeches. If Toastmasters journey is like driving a car, a mentor is the GPS who guides you along and evaluations is the dashboard in the car which gives you instant feedback. Evaluations is the catalyst that helps you to transform from just an ordinary speaker to an extraordinary speaker.

Also read:
Speech Evaluations - Right & Improper Usages
Table Topics Evaluation Tips

Types of Evaluations – Good, Bad & Ugly

What are the different types of evaluations? There are 3 types of evaluations

• Good
• Bad
• Ugly

Good Evaluations – TONIC

Good evaluations are like tonic. They motivate a speaker to improve his/her performance. An example of Good evaluations is

“TM Jim… Your speech was well organized. It had an attention grabbing introduction, nice transitions and a memorable conclusion.  One area where you can improve is the eye contact. You were focusing mostly on the audience sitting in the front row. I recommend you to establish eye contact with the folks at the back and at the centre. Your stage presence was good and kept us glued to you throughout your speech”

Bad Evaluations – Water

Bad evaluations don’t create any change in the speaker. It is like water – goes in and comes out. Bad evaluations do not help the speaker in improving his/her performance. Some examples are:

“TM Joe…  What a fantastic speech it was. It reminded me of one of my vacations to Kochin. We visited the port, beach and all the churches. We went to the GRT Hotel for lunch. I guess you didn’t go there during your vacation”

(or)

“TM Joe… Your speech was excellent. You had an amazing introduction, excellent vocal variety and an outstanding conclusion. I couldn’t find any areas of improvement for you”.

Ugly Evaluations – Poison

Ugly Evaluations are like giving POISON to the speaker. They kill the speaker and demotivate them. A member, who receives an ugly evaluation, may not even return to your club.

“TM Joe... I don’t know how you can deliver a speech without any preparation. First of all, you didn’t rehearse your speech and you were always looking at the notes.  
Second of all, you had a poor eye contact with the audience  

Third of all, nobody understood the message you were trying to communicate”

CRISP Evaluations

How can you make your speech evaluations a TONIC that motivates and strengthens the speaker? How can you help your club members to continuously excel in their communication journey? I’m going to introduce to you a technique called CRISP evaluations.

Constructive

Constructive feedback is like giving tonic to the speaker.  It is an art of telling the speaker that the “Glass is HALF FULL instead of HALF EMPTY”. Let us look at some examples:

Instead of saying  “Now let me highlight your weaknesses”, you can try the following:

  I’m going to give you some areas for improvement
  I have a few suggestions for you
  I have some recommendations to make your great speech, a greater speech

Instead of saying, “You didn’t use the stage properly”, you can say "I wish you had used the stage space better"

Instead of saying, “Your speech wasn’t up to the mark”, you can say "I think you can do some improvements to the speech to meet the project objectives"

When you are an evaluator, you have to sound positive and look positive. How do you do that?

• Use the right tone/gestures - Instead of saying “I wish you had used the stage space better” … say “I wish you had used the stage space better”…
• Give feedback with confidence - “I wish… you know… AHMM…. you had used the stage space…. Better…” makes you appear that you don’t have enough confidence/experience.
• Smile … when giving feedback... Be friendly… 

Relevant

Make your speech evaluations relevant to the speech and the project objectives. In simple words, “Focus on the delivery and not on the content. Focus on the speech and not on the speaker”

• Don’t try to comment about the speech content. For example, "In your speech you said India is a developed nation…. I don’t think India is still a developed nation”. 
• Don’t try to target the speaker. For example, "IT engineers have this problem of using so many jargon"
• You should always stick to the project objectives.
• For an ice breaker speech, don’t expect vocal variety or stage presence. Alternatively, you can evaluate a speaker based on previous project objectives. For ex., if the speaker has completed “Project 6: Vocal Variety”, and if you are evaluating “Project 7”, you can tell the speaker that he can improve on his vocal variety

Important

There is a famous quote “Live as if you are going to die tomorrow… learn as if you are going to live forever”. Similarly when you are playing the role of an evaluator, “Take notes as if you are preparing for a 1 hour evaluation. Deliver as if you have just 1 minute to give feedback”

You may have a page full of notes. But, pick the top 3 items from the page. For every 3 nice things that you have to say about the speaker, you can suggest 1 area for improvement.  If you have more feedback to give, give them after the meeting and in person.

Remember, the objective of speech evaluation is NOT to project you as a STAR evaluator. The object is to help somebody improve their communication skills.

(Also read: Methods to organize your speech Evaluations)

Specific

Specific feedback helps speakers to understand “What can they do differently to make a better impact with their speech”. You can use the “Show and Tell” approach to give specific feedback.

For example, instead of just saying “TM Joe…. You should improve your vocal variety”, you can say “TM Joe… you said, I saw a huge elephant and a tiny little rat… Instead, you could’ve said “I saw  a HUGE ELEPHANT and a TINY LITTLE rat”

Instead of saying “Joe… You need to improve your eye contact” you can say

“Joe… You’ll have a better audience connection if you maintain good eye contact. Here is what I recommend…Divide the audience into 4 groups. Establish eye contact with one person in the group. You’ll give a feeling to everyone in that group that you are looking at them. Then shift your eye contact to another person in a different group. Follow this repeatedly to have a better connection with the audience”

Personalized

Speech evaluations have to be personalized for the speaker and by the speech evaluator.

John Maxwell, a famous author once said … “People do not care how much you know, but they would like to know how much you care”. As an evaluator you should display genuine care and interest towards the betterment of the speaker. Every individual is unique – Joe is different from Jack, who is different from Jim.  For ex., for someone who has studied in their native language throughout their school days it would be difficult to use the right grammar in their speech.  They may already know that they have to improve on English grammar. As an evaluator, you don’t have to point that out during your feedback.

As an evaluator, you are not a representative of the audience. So, your evaluations have to just reflect your personal opinion.  For example, refrain from making remarks such as

“All of us thought, that you didn’t rehearse your speech”. Instead, just say, “I recommend you to practice your speeches in front of the mirror and rehearse a few times more. It will give you more confidence when you make the speech in the club”

With Constructive, Relevant, Important, Specific and Personalized (CRISP) evaluations, you can help transform an ore into an ornament; you can help transform an ordinary speaker to an extraordinary speaker; you can help your club member to climb the ramp to become a champ.  Will you practice to be CRISP?!

(Also read: Speech Evaluations - Right & Improper Usages)

Toastmasters Humorous Speeches (for Humorously Speaking Manual Projects)

This is my compilation of Humorous Speeches delivered as per the Toastmasters Humorous Speaker manual. This post has links to all the 5 Humorous Speeches that I delivered in my club. 

Humorously Speaking Manual Project 1 Speech    
Marriages are made in heaven, so are thunder and lightning (Warm-up your audience)

Humorously Speaking Manual Project 2 Speech 
You are what you eat (Leave them with a smile)

Humorously Speaking Manual Project 3 Speech 
My first day experience in IT industry (Make them laugh)

Humorously Speaking Manual Project 4 Speech
How to spot a judge in a contest? (Keep them Laughing)

Humorously Speaking Manual Project 5 Speech 
My toastmasters journey (The Humorous Speech)

(Also read: Entertaining Speaker Manual Speeches)

My toastmasters journey (DTM speech)

ACG Speech #10 - Humorously Speaking
The Humorous Speech
8th July 2012

[Disclaimer: This speech contains a number of exaggerated events / situations. This isn't a honest reflection of  my toastmasters journey and the speech was written just to meet the project objectives :)]

Some people join toastmasters to stay away from their pestering spouse for 2 hours

Some people join toastmasters to eat sandwiches and samosas at the end of the meeting

Some people join toastmasters to sleep peacefully in an air-conditioned hall

But I joined toastmasters to do all of them and also to pick up some communication skills.

It was the year 2006... I was very young... with lots of hair on my head. My friend took me to a toastmasters club in his college. It was a special meeting. The hall was filled with people and it was very colorful! Rajesh knows what I mean... It was a one hour meeting and I learned SO MUCH in SO LITTLE TIME. I was completely SOLD on toastmasters. I immediately filled the application form, borrowed money from my friend and became a member of the club on the first day that I attended.

I was eagerly longing for the next week's meeting. The next week came. I went to my friend's college and climbed the stairs to reach the meeting hall. Right there at the stairs, I saw the President of the club Sai. He greeted me with a beautiful smile ...

"Saro! I'm so thrilled to see you again. Welcome".

I thought ... "What a wonderful President he is... the President is going out of the way to greet everybody.... leaders should be like him".

Sai said... "Saro... Congratulations... you are nominated to be the Table Topics Master for the day".

"Wow... this club provides opportunity to everyone... even a brand new member. They follow the toastmasters' vision... in its true spirit... equal opportunity to everyone".

I walked to the meeting room and opened the door. I was completely shocked... There was nobody inside".

I asked Sai... "Sai.. have we changed the meeting room?"

Sai quickly responded... "No Saro! It is just you and me so far".

"But,... it is already our meeting time..."... Don't worry... members will come soon. We waited for another 15 minutes and 3 more members came.

The President started the meeting. He felt very sorry for starting the meeting late. He talked about the importance of time... he told us a story about how we should value others' time... and his address went on for 20 minutes. He then handed over to the impromptu TMOD.". The impromptu TMOD "Due to the lack of time... I'm going to be very short. He talked about his recent vacation for 10 minutes and told us why he was late today for another 5 minutes.

Friends... that was how my first club functioned.

With 3 years of toastmasters experience, I came to Chennai in 2009. It was my first visit to Chennai Toastmasters Club... the hall was filled with people. But, this time... I'm very cautious. I was carefully observing who is doing what. After the 2.5 hours meeting, I confirmed that this isn't a special meeting and this is REAL crowd. I joined the club right on day one.

Chennai Toastmasters Club taught me a number of things... and the most significant one was "How to be a GOOD evaluator". As an evaluator, you've to evaluate all kinds of speech. And the most tricky one was to evaluate speakers who give an unprepared, boring and pathetic speech. However, I learned the art of giving sandwich evaluations from Aditya. You've to always start with nice words and end with nice words.

For example, "Fellow toastmasters, guests and my dear speaker... What a wonderful speech it was. Your speech was really SUPERB".

·         S - Sleepy

·         U - Upsetting

·         P - Pathetic

·         E - Embarrassing

·         R – Ridiculous

·         B - Boring

Overall, I enjoyed listening to your speech and it was really SUPERB.

I love doing speech evaluations.

DTM Lalitha Giridhar, pushed me to kick start my leadership journey and I started with my CL 2 years ago. She also supported me to become a Division Governor. As a Division Governor, I had a fantastic opportunity to visit all the clubs in our Division. MCs in various clubs have introduced me in multiple different ways...

·         Some people introduced me as an Area Governor

·         Some people introduced me as a District Governor

·         One toastmaster was pretty close to introducing me as the Tamilnadu Governor (Thank god Rosiah didn't hear that).

The best part of my toastmasters career was my Division Governor role. In academics, you have theory and practical. In toastmasters, your Area or Division Governor role is the practical. That is where you'll get to fully apply all the communication and leadership skills that you gained in the previous years.

Fellow toastmasters, I THANK you for your outstanding support.... YOU converted me

·         from a DREAMING toastmaster to a DISCIPLINED toastmaster

·         from a DISAPPEARING toastmaster to a DEDICATED toastmaster

·         from a DULL speaker to a DISTINGUISHED TOASTMASTER