Chennai Speakers Forum - Time Management Interview

1. How do you get people to fall for you at your very first interaction?

I treat people, as if I’m meeting a good old friend after a long gap. I genuinely listen to them and try to help them in whatever little way possible. I make them feel special by appreciating their achievements. For example, if someone says “My wife doesn’t allow me to go out on Sundays. However, I managed to come out to attend this meeting today”… I’ll say “Wow! I’m completely impressed by your passion towards improving your speaking skills”.

Even if I see a district governor or a division governor standing near to me when I’m talking to a new person, I don’t divert my attention towards the “biggie”. I continue to talk to the new person or will introduce the new person to the “biggie”. I’ll make sure that the new person gets my fullest attention and service, when I’m talking to them.

I have served as SAA two times in my club. One of the roles of a SAA is to meet & greet members and guests. I think I had picked up this skill by playing the role of the SAA religiously J

2. What according to you is time management?? What is your secret?           

 “Time management” is not just about using your available time effectively. It is also about learning to say NO to certain things, prioritizing the critical vs. not so critical tasks, spending time on tasks that are inline with your long term goals/aspirations, setting right expectations, keeping others informed when you anticipate slippages etc.,.

I read the book “7 habits of highly effective people” early on in my life. There are few books that are life-changing and “7 habits of highly effective people” is one such book. It taught me how to manage time effectively.

3. You are known for your mentoring skills, tell us how you manage to find time for your mentees in your packed schedule?

I allocate at least 2 hours for toastmasters everyday and most of my time is spent in mentoring members and clubs. Mentoring includes helping mentees to come up with speech topics, speech script reviews, in-person rehearsals, helping mentees to understand “how to handle certain situations in their club or office” etc., I have nearly 60+ mentees and I review approximately 2 speech scripts a day.

Consciously, I’ve stayed away from district leadership roles because it would prevent me from spending quality time with my mentees. I also don’t waste my time in “non-core toastmasters activities”. For ex., if toastmasters plan for a weekend picnic or go out for a movie outing, I don’t join them there J

Looking back, toastmasters has become more of a habit to me like walking, bathing, and eating J

4. What made you a time lover? What inspired you? What is your routine for the day? Is there a day that you did so much work because of time management that you felt like superhuman?

10 years ago, I read this quote somewhere "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!'". Earlier, I used to party, chit-chat and unnecessarily waste time. This quote made me to realize that I should effectively use time to achieve my dreams. I’m a strong believer of “Small, but continuous improvements done over a long period of time will produce HUGE results”.

I get up at 5.30 am and go to bed at 9.30 pm or so. Before going to work in the morning, I do some exercising, check my personal emails, read news papers, FB comments and review speech scripts. I leave home by 8 am sharp. I leave from office in the evening by 4.45 pm. I try not to get distracted by Toastmasters activities during my work time – I just respond back to short emails or quick phone calls. If I know that a particular call is going to take 30 mins or so, either I don’t pick that call or I tell them that I’ll call them in the evening J

I spend 1 + 1 hour on my commute everyday and I use my commute time for Toastmasters calls. I reach home by 5.45 pm or so. I spend some quick time with family (hardly 30 mins!) and start taking care of office emails & personal/toastmasters emails. When I find time in the evening, I write blogs (www.saroscorner.com) or read books.

I’m yet to become a super human J May be, I was pretty close during the days that lead to our district conference - Ovation 2013.

5. If someone wants to manage time in the best possible way, but is not sure how to do it. What advice would you give that person with dreams to manage time?          

Read “7 habits of highly effective people” – Steven Covey. He does a brilliant job of explaining how effectively you can manage time and prioritize your tasks. Steven Covey also tells you ways of achieving your dreams/goals in a systematic way.

6. Time and tide wait for no man; have u ever missed a tide???

So far, NO! But, I have a big dream to achieve in my life. You should ask me this question 10 years from now J

7. What is the reason behind you to continue being a Toastmaster?  

Before I joined toastmasters, I used to think in Tamil, translate that into English and express my thoughts. Even, if I have to order something in English in a restaurant… I used to rehearse it once in my mind before asking the bearer. Today, I’m able to think in English right at the first time. The credit goes to Toastmasters. People who watch me speaking today, wouldn’t believe that I had the problem of speaking in English once upon a time.

Toastmasters has given me so much in the last 7 years. I feel that being part of Toastmasters and helping youngsters learn communication/leadership skills is a way of serving the community. Even today, I continue to learn new things, by serving our members and clubs. These are the things that keep me active in Toastmasters.

Toastmaster of the Day Script - Chennai Toastmasters Club - 28th July 2013

Toastmaster of the Day Worksheet

DATE: 28^th July 2013                   Word of the Day: gregarious

Theme: Discover the leader in you

1.      Introduce theme of the day and word of the day. Encourage the speakers to use them during the meeting. Ask the audience to applaud when the Theme of the day and word of the day is used by the speakers.

An Egg is a symbol of transformation

A hen lays several eggs. But only a few hatch and transform into chicken. Similarly, a number of members join toastmasters. However, only a few are determined and passionate to get transformed into great leaders and communicators. Our mentors help mentees to discover the real leader in them. Discover the leader in you, is the Theme of the Day.

If you carefully observe the newly born chicks, they go around in groups. They love to be with other chicken. That is because, they are all GREGARIOUS – that is the word of the day.

2.      Explain the flow of meeting and the 3 segments (Prepared speeches, Table Topics and Evaluation) for guests.

Every toastmasters meeting has 3 segments.

The first segment is called prepared speeches segment. In Toastmasters, speakers are given time to come prepared with a speech and deliver it in the club as part of the Prepared Speeches segment. The prepared speeches section in Toastmasters meetings is the incubation house for members to practice their presentation skills.

The second segment is called Table Topics segment. In this segment, we help fellow toastmasters to handle impromptu speaking situations .. which normally comes with extreme Temperature & Tension. Like an egg that becomes stronger when put in a boiling water, our fellow TMs become stronger by participating in Table Topics Session.

When an egg is broken from outside force life ends, when an egg is broken from force inside life begins. Evaluation is that segment in Toastmasters that helps members to break that shell from within, to bring a new life into this world.

In order to walk us through the evaluations segment, we have a team headed by our General Egg Braker... I mean General Evaluator..

3.      Introduce the General Evaluator (based on the meeting theme) and ask the General Evaluator to introduce his/her team:

1) Works as Software Development Engineer at Amazon Inc.

2) His hobbies include Toastmasters, Table Tennis, and Office Work

3) The leader that he admires is Jeff Pesos, the CEO of Amazon for his leadership

Please join me in welcoming the General Evaluator for today Prasanna Venkat

4.      Regain control from General Evaluator. 

5.      Inform the audience that you are starting the prepared speeches segment.

6.      Prepared Speeches

Speaker #1	Suresh Natarajan
Project Details	Manual:  Competent Communicator Project #: 1 Project Title: Ice Breaker Speech Title: Yes, “I can Do”
Introduction of the speaker (based on the meeting theme)	1)      Works as Program Manager at Coromandel Infotech 2)      Reading books - Product management, Playing Cricket & Tennis 3)      He admires Mahatma Gandhi for his Simplicity and Determination

Before I call Suresh Natarajan to the stage, may I request the evaluator of the speech TM Bharath Raja to read the project objectives?

Speaker #2	Sabareeswar Balakrishnan
Project Details	Manual: Competent Communicator Project #: 3 Project Title: Get to the Point Speech Title: Euphemisms
Introduction of the speaker (based on the meeting theme)	1)      Calls himself a NERD … Works as Tech Lead at HCL Technologies 2)      Listening to music, when tired of browsing Internet 3)      Greg Ferro (co-host of packetpushers.net) demonstrating his leadership by giving a new dimension to technical podcasting.

Before I call Sabareeswar Balakrishnan to the stage, may I request the evaluator of the speech TM Harish Kataria to read the project objectives?

Speaker #3	Yamini
Project Details	Manual: Competent Communicator Project #: 9 Project Title: Persuade with Power Speech Title: Dil Jumping Japang Jampak Jampak
Introduction of the speaker (based on the meeting theme)	1)      Works as Sales Manager? at e-Con Systems Pvt Ltd 2)      Hobbies include Drawing, Painting and making creative home decors 3)      Leader that she admires is Abdul Kalam for his Simplicity, Sincerity, and Dedication

Before I call Yamini to the stage, may I request the evaluator of the speech TM Ramesh Daswani to read the project objectives?

Speaker #4	Harini Srinivasan
Project Details	Manual: High Performance Leadership Project #: Project Title: Speech Title:
Introduction of the speaker (based on the meeting theme)	1)  Take a Wild Guess 2) Making earrings, reading books and falling down 3) Every single person who has concern for a fellow living being. The one who respects queues, the one who stops the car for a tiny puppy to cross the road or the one who rushes to help someone in an accident or adversity

Before I call Harini Srinivasan to the stage, may I request the evaluator of the speech TM Deepa Bharatkumar to read the project objectives?

7.      Ask the timer if any of the speakers are disqualified due to time. Ask the audience to vote for the Best Prepared Speaker.

8.      Introduce the Table Topics Master (based on the theme of the meeting):

Introduction:

1) Works as a Manager at HSBC

2) Hobbies include Reading, Watching movies Favorite movie – Mask (Jim Cary)

3) Leader that he admires is Mahatma Gandhi – for non-violence and the way in which he was able to motivate the whole world for a common cause

Please join me in welcoming the Table Topics Master for today Rajesh Upadhay

9.      Signal the Table Topics Master to end the session when the time limit is reached / exceeded.

10.  Regain control from Table Topics Master.

11.  Ask the timer if any of the speakers are disqualified due to time.  Announce eligibility. Ask the audience to vote for the Best Table Topics Speaker

12.  Invite the General Evaluator to conduct the evaluations segment

13.  Regain control from General Evaluator.

14.  Final remarks (try to end with a BANG). Not exceeding 1 minute.

We joined Toastmasters to transform

By taking a variety of roles and perform.

Though heavy lunch acts like chloroform

We fight it hard like men in uniform

With every performance we reform,

Because we always go above the norm !

15.  Return control to President ___________________________

Don't be a Toastmaster

"Don't be a Toastmaster" - This is the speech that I delivered at Wordsmith Toastmasters Club's 250th meeting on 6th July 2013. Most of the information in this speech are exaggerated for entertainment :)

 “If you get out of Toastmasters all there is to get out of Toastmasters, you’ll never get out of Toastmasters” – said our Past International President Helen Blanchard. The first time I heard this quote, I never understood the true meaning. However, I learned the true meaning of this quote only in the last 2 years.

My personal friends got substituted by my Toastmasters friends

My personal get togethers got substituted by my Toastmasters get-togethers

My personal family got substituted by my Toastmasters family

My personal wife got substituted by … OOPS! Let us not get there.

When I was pondering over the transformation that was happening in me in the last few years… Toastmaster Bharath Kumar from wordsmith popped up one day and said, “Saro! We are celebrating our 250^th milestone meeting on 6^th July. I want you to do a session at Wordsmith… not your usual boring inspirational talk… but something that is Wackky!”. That was the context for my session today. I’m going to tell the guests the reason why they should not be a toastmaster.

Reason #1 - Toastmasters don’t get to the point

Toastmasters never get to the point… Let me give you an example.

A Club officer would go to the stage and make an announcement… “Imagine it is 24^th Aug 2013… a bright sunny day… you are attending the Toastmasters International convention at Cincinnati, USA…. the finals of the World Champion of Public Speaking Contest… the hall is filled with people… people are busy talking to each other … you can smell the coffee brewing … your name gets called on the stage… Contestant #1, Rajeev  Nambiar… Rajeev Nambiar, Contestant #1… the crowd starts to cheer… Rajeev… Rajeev. All of a sudden, the Chief Judge walks to the stage and stops you from talking “Rajeev… You are not eligible to contest. You haven’t paid your membership dues for this term”. Fellow members, if you don’t want to lose an amazing opportunity to participate in WCPS contest, pay your membership dues now”

All that the club officer wanted to say was “Dear Members… the last date for membership renewal is Mar 2013. Please pay your dues before that to be eligible to participate in the contests”

Reason #2 - Toastmasters are great liars

Toastmasters are great liars. For example, you might not have prepared well for a speech… you might’ve gone to the stage and made a number of mistakes… and even forgot a few lines here and there. Your speech might’ve been very boring to the audience.

But… after listening to your pathetic and boring speech, the evaluator would come to the stage and say “What a wonderful speech it was… I couldn’t find words to describe your speech” Your speech had a perfect flow… like the water in the river that flows smooth… I have so much nice things to highlight about this speech and it would take an entire hour for me to list all of them”.

Toastmasters just don’t lie within the meeting hall. They do that in the Facebook groups also. If a fellow toastmaster posts a flyer… immediately you’ll get a response from others saying “Nice flyer”… irrespective of whether the flyer is great, average or pathetic.

Is that a “Nice flyer?!... No…. You are a liar Mr. Toastmaster”

Reason #3 - Toastmasters crave for entertainment

Toastmasters crave for entertainment. They want you to crack jokes, tell story, or make them laugh/cry. They are not used to listening to ordinary speeches. They get disconnected very fast from the speaker or feel bored.

For example, you might have shared an ordinary story in which your aunt went to Singapore for a vacation and had a great time visiting places with your uncle.

After your speech, the evaluator would go to the stage and say “Now, how can you make this already great speech into a greater speech?” This is the standard phrase they normally use to give you suggestions to improve. Any speech delivered in a Toastmasters club is already considered to be a GREAT speech.

This is how the feedback would be … “May be, you could’ve made the story interesting by making your aunt lose her hand bag … passport (or) by making your aunt meet with an accident and getting hospitalized for a week or…. your aunt losing her uncle in the crowd. I mean, “Not her uncle… but, your uncle”.

Toastmasters crave for entertainment… they want you to share stories that are humorous… they want you to share stories that are touching and make you cry!

Do you know who has the most number of best Table Topics speaker ribbons with them?

#1 – Toastmasters International… #2 – Kartikeyan Srinivasan … Toastmaster Kartik has so many best Table Topics speaker ribbons piled up in his home… not because he shares lots of knowledge & wisdom with people… not because he inspires us with his speech every time… but because he is entertaining and humorous.

Reason #4 - What you see is not ALWAYS what you get in a Toastmasters meeting

Let me share with you my first Toastmasters’ meeting experience.

It was the year 2006... Yes! I was very young... with lots of hair on my head. My friend took me to a Toastmasters club that he was part of. 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 … an educational session, a humorous speech, some table topics and evaluation. 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 the club 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 comes 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 even to 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 4 more members came. We started the meeting with just 7 members.

Immediately after the meeting was over, I went to Sai and asked… “Sai! What happened to all of those people who came to the meeting last week? Why didn’t they come this week?”.

Sai said “Last week’s meeting was a special meeting and hence members from other Toastmasters clubs have come to our club. This week’s meeting is a regular meeting”.

For all the guests who have assembled here today… This is a special meeting. Come back for next week’s meeting and then make the decision.

Reason #5 - Toastmasters Love to Talk

Toastmasters love to talk !

You won’t believe… one of our Toastmasters spoke for 3 days in a row continuously … and won the Guinness World Book of Records. We, the Toastmasters do not even care whether there is somebody who is listening in the hall or not. For that matter, we do not even care whether there is somebody in the hall or not.

Let us take a look at a typical Toastmasters club. The club meeting starts 15 minutes late. The SAA goes to the stage, shares a story, starts the meeting and invites the President. The President goes to the stage… feels very sorry for starting the meeting late. He goes almost to the extent of crying. Then the President talks about the importance of time... he shares with us a story about how we should value others' time... and his address goes on for 15 minutes. He then hands over to the TMOD, who in most cases would be an impromptu role player. Due to the interest of time, the President skips the TMOD introduction".

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.

Conclusion

Despite all of these shortcomings, Toastmasters is a wonderful place to groom your communication and leadership skills.

Toastmasters don’t cut to the chase… but, would any soup be tasty if it is bland and without spice and salt?

Toastmasters are great liars … but Tamil Poet Thiruvalluvar once said “Poymayum Vaymayidathu… Purai Theerndha Nanmai payakkum yenil”… which means even a lie is good, if it produces some good results.

What you see is not ALWAYS what you get in a Toastmasters meeting – Who are all “married” in this hall, raise your hands… you can understand this statement better. It is no different from the experience that you had before and after marriage.

Toastmasters Love to Talk – “Come on man! After all you are coming here to talk and practice your speaking skills… If you want to go there and talk… so do everyone… “

9 ways to prepare for Table Topics / Impromptu Speaking

"It usually takes me more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech." - Mark Twain. It is really true. Fluency in English alone is not enough for you to be a great impromptu speaker. You definitely need to

prepare and practice to master the art.

Also read: Table Topics - 6 ways of getting the initial thinking time

When I joined toastmasters, Table Topics used to be Terror Topics. There were times when I used to sit in the remote corner of the room to hide away from the Table Topicsmaster. Eventually, I developed passion to speak. Though I had the passion to speak, I was running out of ideas / thoughts to express. I used to imagine my brain to be running rigorously like an empty grinder... making a lot of noise without any useful output. That is when I learned, you should feed the grinder with something to reduce the noise and to get useful output. I tried experimenting a number of techniques, which produced results. Today, I can confidently talk on any Table Topic (even on a topic which is as complex as "Craziness is the welcome mat at the doors of creativity").

Also read: How a Table Topics Master can hurt your club membership?

How do you go about preparing for Table Topics? Here are some simple techniques that you can follow to become a great Table Topics speaker.

1) Read newspapers - Reading newspapers will help you to stay current with the day to day events that are happening in the country/world. Most of the water cooler conversations that happen in social and professional life are about current events. Staying on top of current events will help you not only strike conversation with people, but also to handle impromptu situations such as Table Topics. For ex., if you get a topic such as "Honesty is the best policy", you can immediately relate back to the match fixing that is happening in cricket and how players have lost honesty.

2) Read books - “Five years from now, you’re the same person except for the people you’ve met and the books you’ve read.” a quote from John Wooden. You can accelerate your communication journey by reading good books. Reading books will help you to learn new words and new ways of communicating ideas. You can apply them in your Table Topics.

3) Listen to Podcasts / Audio Books  - Listening to podcasts and audio books help you to learn so much during your spare time - be it walking or commuting or when sitting idle waiting for a bus or a train. The authors of podcasts and audio books would've learned / experienced so much during their life time and sharing those experiences with us in a nut shell. You can talk about the content that you learned from Podcasts & Audio books, during your Table Topics. For ex., I quote Zig Ziglar often in my speeches. Zig Ziglar has published nearly 200+ podcasts for free. Each one of them has a story and a message. You can use those stories and messages in your table topics.

4) Prepare for standard topics - Most of the table topics are around common subjects such as success, failure, most memorable event, greatest achievement, most happiest moment, leadership, hardwork, friendship, forgiving, happiness, sadness, goals, vacation, professional life, career, family, kids, education, determination. If you can prepare a short paragraph on each of these subjects, you can easily talk about them in your speeches.

5) Blogging - Write blogs... Blog about your personal events, passion, hobby, things that inspired you, things that you learned, things that you admire etc., When you write about blogs or articles, you learn to organize your thoughts and present in a clear / conscise manner. This is a skill which will be very useful for you to apply when handling Table Topics.

6) Write Diary - If you don't like to write and share your thoughts publicly through blogs, you can even begin the habit of writing diary. This will also help you to document your important moments & experiences which will eventually help you in creating stories from your own personal life. In fact, writing diary will help you to track where you are and focus on what you want to achieve in your life. It will also help you to get over your emotions.

7) Offline practice using Quotes - Take a printout of some 50 or 100 quotes from Internet. Cut the paper into smaller chits - each chit with one quote. Fold them, shuffle them and put them in a bowl. Now, take 1 chit from the bowl, open it and start talking about it for 2 minutes. Record what you speak. Then, play back and see how you could've handled the topic better. Be your own evaluator and write your "strengths" & "areas for improvement". Redo speaking on the same topic again, if you want to. Record it again and listen to it. Whenever you find time during the day or weekend, do this exercise. I have done this during my early days of toastmastering and it has helped me to think instantly and talk on any subject.

8) Play Table Topics Games - http://www.tabletopics.com/ sells box full of table topics that you can buy and play with your friends.

9) Volunteer for Table Topics - You cannot learn swimming by standing on the shore - you'll have to jump into the water to learn swimming. Similarly, you can sharpen your impromptu speaking skill by constantly participating in Table Topics sessions. Whenever the Table Topics master asks for a "Volunteer" to speak, raise your hand immediately without a second thought.

If you practice the suggestions given above, Table Topics will no more be a Terror Topics session for you.

Also read: Table Topics Evaluation Tips

25 tips from Craig Valentine's Workshop at Ovation 2011

Craig Valentine, the World Champion of Public Speaking (1999) did a workshop at Ovation 2011, in

Mysore on the subject - "Breathing life into your speeches". He shared a number of useful tips on public speaking, speech crafting & speech delivery.


Following the success of  20 speaking tips from Darren La Croix, I'm capturing the important points from my notes at Ovation 2011:

1. Good luck is when preparedness meets opportunity
2. Breathe life into your speech, bring the audience to you, build a message that stays
3. Essence of public speaking is "Tell a Story" & then "Make a Point"
4. Average leaders place blame, exceptional leaders take it
5. Master what you measure
6. Change small, change soften
7. Your foundational phrase (a phrase that summarizes the essence of your speech) should be less than 10 words 
8. If you can write your message at the back of a business card, only then it can be crystal clear to the audience
9. "No phrase, no stage" - Without a foundational phrase, don't take your message/story to the stage 
10. "What you say is not always what they hear" - You should take the accountability for both the sides of the communication.
11. Speaking is all about making the audience wait...
12. You are always #1 in what you haven't done
13. Speak to one, but look at all. For example, instead of asking "How many of you have been to the US", ask "Have you been to the US"?. Instead of saying "Some of you may be thinking"... say "Now you might be thinking".
14. Make a move on the stage only for 2 reasons - the action in your story prompts movement on the stage (or) you want to indicate the timeline of events
15. Check the VAKS - Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic and Small in your story
16. Don't tell, ask
17. Tap & Transport - Tap into the audience' world and transport them to your world
18. Never be the HERO of your OWN story 
19. Speakers should pay attention to SOFTEN - Smiling, (having an) Open posture and not sitting behind a desk, leaning Forward to signal interest, respecting the other's Territory (space, culture, physical comfort zone, etc.), maintaining non confrontational Eye contact, and Nodding to show show encouragment and active listening
20. Too many speakers convey too much info in too little time. When you squeeze info IN, you squeeze audience OUT
21. In a 10 minutes speech, you should have just 1 point
22. Don't get ready, stay ready
23. If I say it, they doubt it... If they say it, they believe it
24. Specifics stick
25. Public speaking is 1-on-1 enlarged

Also read: 10 leadership skills by DTM Ted Corcoran

20 tips from Darren La Croix's Workshop at Ovation 2013

Darren La Croix, the World Champion of Public Speaking (2001) started his workshop titled "OWN THE STAGE" with a question "Why do some speakers take the stage & some OWN IT?". He shared a number of useful tips on public speaking and speech crafting.

This post captures the lessons learned from Darren La Croix educational session at Ovation 2013, an annual District 82 toastmasters conference.

(Also read: 25 tips from Craig Valentine's workshop at Ovation 2011)

1. Don't try to be perfect, try to be PRESENT
2. Failure is a valuable negative information
3. You don't know what you don't know
4. Your mentor supplies the direction, you supply the energy and efforts
5. Take any story and continuously try to improve it, to make it good
6. If you want to be a master piece, you've to master the pieces
7. When I'm done speaking, what do I want my audience to do, think and feel - Answer it in 10 words or few
8. When you are delivering from your head, your emotions are dead. Don't memorize, but, internalize.
9. When you are perfect without flaws, audience wouldn't like it. They want it to be real
10. The most important part of a presentation is the thought process in your audience mind (not the introduction, and not the conclusion)
11. Don't tell us, take us
12. Use foundational phrases as a way to get into the audience subconscious mind (for ex., words such as "ouch!" that Darren used in his World Champion Speech)
13. Don't quit when you get an offer to speak, commit.  Never turn-down stage time
14. Record your speech every time
15. Always be coachable and find the best coaches
16. When telling stories, just touch the canvas, and let your audience paint the picture
17. When you are delivering your speech, your audience is continuously asking "So what, Who cares, What is in it for me?" Keep that in mind when crafting speeches.
18. Speak to one, look to all
19. Avoid using "How many of you have been to Las Vegas?" type questions. You won't be asking such questions when you are talking to a friend in a coffee shop. Rather ask, "Have you been to Las Vegas?"
20. Do things you know, know things you do

Reference to other speakers

1. "What would you dare to dream, if you know you wouldn't fail" - Brian Tracy
2. I/You ratio - use more "You"s when compared to "I"s - Patricia Fripp
3. Use the VAKS technique (Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic, and Smell) when delivering speeches - Craig Valentine 

Useful websites

www.makeyourspeechmemorable.com (free audio programs)
www.rhymer.com (to find rhyming words)

CC Speech #1: Ice Breaker - My Journey so far

"You don't have to be GREAT to START, but you've to START to be GREAT!" powerful words from Zig

Ziglar. If there is something that fuels my passion to achieve my dreams, it is this quote.

(Also read: CC Speech #1: Ice Breaker - My college life)

I was born as a Virgo, in a poor family. My mother is a home maker. My father was employed in a grocery store. When I was a kid, I hardly saw my father at home. He leaves to work before I wake up and he comes back home only late in the night. My father used to work for nearly 16 hours a day carrying gunny bags, and packing groceries. I have a brother and a sister. My father's earnings were barely adequate to just feed the family and take care of our educational expenses. I still remember the days when I went to school with a bare foot because we cannot afford slippers... I still remember the days when I was wearing trousers torn at the back, because we cannot afford new uniforms every year. In fact, I never took a full new pencil to school. My mom buys a pencil, cuts it into two halves and gives a half each to my brother and myself.

Despite all the odds, my parents made the 3 of us study in a convent. While all my class mates attended tuitions for every subject, I studied on my own. My mother had studied up to 5th standard and my father had studied up to 8th standard. So, they cannot help us with studies. I used to get up at 3 o'clock in the morning for studying. My hard work paid off. Year after year, I scored well in studies. I became the Topper in +2 in my school. That was one of the proudest moments in my life. I still remember the day when my parents got a trophy on my behalf, at my school’s annual day celebration, the next year. That was the first time when I realized “You don't have to be GREAT to START, but you've to START to be GREAT!"

(Also read: Competent Communicator Manual Speeches)

I got admission into Government College of Technology, Coimbatore. I did my Bachelors in engineering Computer Science, there. One of my most memorable moments happened in my college. It was the year 1998 and the year of graduation for us. It is a tradition in my college to conduct Mr. & Miss. CSE contest for graduating students every year. I participated in the contest too. My fellow contestants were good looking and can talk fluent English. However, I was average looking and hardly able to talk in English.
During the contests, they asked me a question on “What do you think about Life after death?". My response was "A rose dies... when it is pluck out. However, it still makes all of us happy by staying in our hands. Similarly, leaders like Gandhi, Kamaraj etc., have died. However, they are still living in the hearts of millions of people in this country. To me, that is life after death". The whole auditorium roared and many got inspired by that response. Surprisingly, I was awarded the Mr. CSE title that year. An average looking guy, with half-baked English speaking skills became Mr. CSE that year. That was the second time when I realized “You don't have to be GREAT to START, but you've to START to be GREAT!"

I graduated in 1998 and joined HCL Technologies. My boss Ashok Kumar who is also a toastmaster now, introduced me to book reading habit. He recommended me to read "7 habits of highly effective people" by Stephen Covey. Very few books can transform you... very few books can inspire you… very few books can sow seeds for your future. 7 habits of highly effective people helped me to learn better time management, set personal goals, look at things from other's shoes and taught me to constantly invest time in improving my skills. The book made me to do an MBA, it made me to go to USA and get more exposure, and it made me to join toastmasters.

Life moved on, and I got married in the year 2005 to Divya. We have a beautiful 7 years old daughter.

My passion is to serve the society in a LARGE way. I know that I’m nowhere close to what I want to achieve in my life. But I know, “You don't have to be GREAT to START, but you've to START to be GREAT!"

High Performance Leadership (HPL) Project - FAQ

High Performance Leadership (HPL) is a five-projects program which provides instruction and practice in

key leadership skills/activities such as developing a mission/vision, setting goals, planning, identifying values and building a team. HPL project has to be done systematically using the steps outlined in the manual and with the help of a guidance committee. That will maximize your learning opportunity and will help groom your leadership skills. You need to run a HPL by involving a team (say, 10+ members) and for a longer period (say, 3 - 6 months). I keep receiving several queries on this subject. I'll use this blog post to keep track of the queries that I receive from fellow toastmasters and my thoughts/answers for such questions.

Also read: High Performance Leadership (HPL) - Ideas / Requirements

What are some HPL projects that we can do? Who can get HPL credit for such projects? This is a question asked by a number of new toastmasters. Here are some guidelines:

• Running a conference (Conference Chariman & Co-Chairman can get the HPL credit)
• Organizing a Youth Leadership Program (Chief Co-ordinator will get the credit)
• Organizing a Speech Craft Program (Chief Co-ordinator will get the credit)
• Planning & organizing a major training program attended by 250+ people (Chief Co-ordinator will get the credit)
• Students can organize a major event involving other departments/groups/colleges (Chief Organizer will get the credit)
• A project at workplace that involves a large team (You'll get the credit when you play the role of a Project Manager)
• Activities done by an Area / Division Governor during his/her term (Area / Division Governor will get the credit)
• A project in local community/church etc., involving a large team (Chief Organizer will get the credit)
• Building a club from scratch with the help of a team and with focused marketing/demo activities (The person who champions the new club will get the credit)

Also read: How to organize Youth Leadership Program (YLP)? 

Here are a set of questions asked by a fellow toastmaster and the answers that I provided.

1. Our VP-PR organized the club's 2nd anniversary celebration in Hotel Regency. It was really a grand celebration. The event budget was nearly Rs. 65K. Can HPL award be given to the VP PR for this ?

[Saro] No. I don't think this is a large enough project for HPL.

2. 6 of us will be planning to conduct 2 credit educational programme for 150 students. As coordinators for this entire program, can a team of 6 people be given HPL credits because they will be handling 25 students each for 90 hours.

[Saro] This is similar to a Speech Craft or YLP program. HPL credit can be given for the Chief Co-ordinator who is organizing the program, by involving the various volunteers.

3. We organize an out bound training every year where over 100 toastmasters go for a 2 day trip (as a certified course). A team of 2 people organize this.  Can this be considered as an HPL project ?

[Saro] No. I don't think this is a large enough project for HPL.

4. If we file a HPL award for a toastmaster now - will the award/credit be given immediately or it will be credited only when the toastmaster completes his/her ALS?

[Saro] You can file it separately and need not wait until the toastmaster completes the ALS. Toastmasters International will immediately honor the toastmaster with the "Leadership Excellence" award. It gets accounted automatically at the time of ALS.

Disclaimer: The answers given here are just my personal opinion. Please write to Toastmasters International (educationawards@toastmasters.org) to get the right answer.

An Interview done by Medley Toastmasters Club, Chennai

This is an interview done by the editors of Medley toastmasters club, Chennai for their club newsletter.

1. When and why did you join Toastmasters?

I joined toastmasters to improve my public speaking skills. I had the difficulty of thinking in Tamil, translating that to English and conveying my thoughts.

I joined Toastmasters in September 2006.

2. Since joining Toastmasters, how have you grown as a communicator and leader?

Yes… Very much. Though I joined toastmasters to develop my communication skills, I realized that I had a fantastic opportunity to groom my leadership skills also.

Today, I can think in English right at the first time (as opposed to thinking in Tamil, and translating that to English). I attribute the success of my professional growth also to Toastmasters. Hadn’t I been a master communicator, I wouldn’t have grown so fast in the IT ladder.

3. What have you done in Toastmasters to gain leadership experience?

I started by leadership journey by volunteering to serve as the Sergeant at Arms in my club. I have played SAA role for 3 terms in my club. I have taken a variety of roles in Toastmasters, which helped me to groom my leadership skills.

·         Served the club by playing the role of SAA (3 times), VP M, VP Ed (2 times) and President.

·         Actively participated in club meetings and played all the meeting roles at the club level.

·         Helped in running the contests (played all the roles – Contest chair, Contest master, Timer, Tally Counter, SAA, Chief Judge, Judge, buying trophies, designing/printing certificates, and even, getting venue, serving snacks and arranging chairs/tables)

·         Participated in Youth Leadership Programs, Demo meetings, OTPs, Contests and Conferences

·        

      Mentoring clubs and members (I’m proud to say that I’ve 50+ meentees all around Tamilnadu)

·         Served as Asst. Area Governor (2010 – 2011) and Division Governor (2011 – 2012)

Toastmasters provides a fantastic opportunity to practice your communication and leadership skills. For somebody who wants to improve, sky is the limit. I’ve always seen “work coming my way” in toastmasters as “opportunity to practice and learn”.

4. What does DTM mean to you?

DTM is just a title. The experience that you go through when achieving DTM makes the actual difference. The urge to constantly practice and improve will actually make you the REAL DTM.

5. How has the Toastmasters experience helped you in your career or daily life?

Yes. I always consider the time that I spend for toastmasters as an investment on my self-development. I’ve become more organized, and developed a number of good habits because of my toastmasters experience:

• Getting up early in the morning
• Reading news papers
• Reading one book a month
• Blogging
• Listening to motivational and self-development podcasts / audios

All these habits, made a HUGE DIFFERENCE in my personal and professional life. Today, I’m a Director-Technology in a MNC because of the confidence/experience that I gained from Toastmasters.

6. Now having achieved DTM, what is your next step in Toastmasters?

I would like to continue to serve members and clubs in whatever way possible.

7. What surprised you the most about Toastmasters?

Toastmasters is a well maintained secret. That surprised me the most. I got to know about toastmasters only 7 years ago. I wish I had known about Toastmasters earlier. It would have helped me accelerate my career, even further.

8. If someone asked you to give a presentation on short notice, how would you react?

I’ll tell them “I’m game” J Toastmasters has equipped me well to make “impromptu presentations or speeches”.

However, I always value my audience time and I normally request for time to prepare before I make a presentation. I feel that even a champion speaker should prepare before making a presentation for a lasting impact on the audience.

9. What is the thing that you like the best about your club?

My club officers and members are super creative and they constantly experiment new ideas. I like the enthusiasm of my club.

10. What would be one advice you would like to give new Toastmasters?

Follow 3Rs in order to be successful in toastmasters.

1.    Participate in meetings and take roles Regularly,

2.    Rehearse well before any performance

3.    Continuously Research for ways of doing it better (You can research by reading books, listening to speeches from champions, attending workshops, participating in contests, attending other club meetings etc.,)

11. One leader who has inspired you the most and why?

I continue to admire Gandhi the most. In fact, the book “My experiments with Truth” brought a sea change in my life. Nobody gave him the authority to fight for freedom… nobody asked him to lead the freedom movement… and he wasn’t born in the family of “kings”. However, he emerged as a strong leader by serving people. He is a true example of “servant leadership”. No wonder why he is admired by the entire world. I wish we have more Gandhi’s in this world.

12. What is the most important thing you would tell your friends and family about Toastmasters?

I don’t tell anything about Toastmasters to my friends or family… because they have witnessed the transformation that I went through in 7 years. They know that Toastmasters make an everlasting positive transformation in people.