On the Table – Topics for Toastmasters

Have you ever taken an online test and gotten an answer you never expected? Toastmasters Pathways Communication Styles Quiz Project might surprise you. I once took one of those quizzes and deliberately answered the wrong answer on every question, but the “results” and I say that loosely were that I had answered every question perfectly, which made me a genius. Yeah, right. The Shocking Communication Styles Quiz Sometimes the answers you get from online quizzes aren’t what you expect.  Take the Level 2 Communication Styles Quiz.  I got an answer that I might even say shocked me at the time. I was sure I was one kind of speaker and would have a strong second component.  No.  Not at all.  In fact, what I expected would be my strongest score tied with 2 of the other styles at the bottom of the score sheet.  I’m pretty dominantly one style of communicator, according to the quiz. I suspect that my club was pretty much in agreement with the quiz results. We often have blind spots in how we communicate with others because… well, it’s just obvious to us that there’s one right way to communicate and we do it that way.  Sometimes we have a hard time understanding people who use different styles that what we personally use.  This quiz opened my eyes to the lopsided nature of my style and made me reconsider how I might address audiences who didn’t use mine.  And since that is the goal of this project, I guess I am a genius. Classic program Toastmasters, there is nothing in the old program that gives us this kind of information.   This might be, in my mind, the most critical reason that Toastmasters needed to update the education program.  This information about my communication style and recognizing how to adapt to speak to others was useful to me.  Unlike our leadership styles, which I’m told are pretty fixed because of our personalities, our communication styles can be changed up based on how we want to relate to our audiences. Our Audience Determines Our Communication Style Which, when you think about it, makes sense.  If you’re giving a persuasive sales type speech, you’re not going to be using the same techniques and style as you would when you’re giving a technical briefing.  So communication style is about awareness of your audience and the message you want to give them. This reminds me of a pitcher in a baseball game.  The pitcher can just throw the ball, but the best pitchers know the batters.  The pitcher will know what the batters can and can’t hit.  They will have a strategy to win the game.  When we’re the speaker, we need to have a strategy that will reach our audience.  Those strategies are techniques that Pathways will be covering more in Level 3, but I hope that you’re picking them up from other speakers in your club. But however good your speaking techniques are, it still comes down to your audience. Communication Style Speech Project After you take the test, your speech project is to Deliver a 5- to 7-minute speech at a club meeting about your communication style and its impact on your professional and/or personal relationships. If you are uncomfortable discussing your communication style, you may speak about the communication styles you have encountered and how they impact you. This is one of those speeches with rather confining limits on it.  In our last podcast, I talked about the power of constraints and how we get more creative.  This is definitely one of those occasions where you’re going to have to think outside the box to produce a speech that represents you. Because we only have 4 styles of communication presented in this project, finding a way to present this material may be a challenge.  I recently heard an interview with John Cleese of Monty Python’s Flying Circus.  He said Sometimes you don’t have much and you have to improvise. That’s sometimes when the very best ideas come through. He was talking about making a movie on a very small budget.  Think of this project the same way:  you have a very small amount of material.  How can you build on it to make it up to 5 to 7 minutes? Longer speech? I’m hesitant to make suggestions on how to make a speech longer.  It’s not a common problem unless you haven’t done your prep work.  But you can decide which speech format you want to use.  I can imagine several ways to use the different categories: Chronological – how do we change how we speak over our lifetime? Informational: Compare and Contrast – one style compared to another. Demonstration:  showing different styles Interactive:  using the audience to participate. You can see there are plenty of options for a speech project presentation. It’s all about the audience.  When you know who you’re speaking to, the creation of your speech goes a lot easier. Think about your audience and practice this project.  And give the Toastmaster of the Day a good introduction so your audience will be prepared for you.  You can find a link to our Pathways Speech Project introduction form on the website or you can go to toastmasters101.net/intro/. Communication Style Quiz Project x2 If you’re repeating this speech project, see if you can compare what your style was the first time you took this quiz and what it says now.  How have you changed?  Did you think you needed to change after taking the speech the first time (I did!)  Let me know if you changed – I really want to know. In our next podcast, we look at the required speech projects and the true start of the Pathways specializations. Our music is from Incompetech.com which is now incompetech.filmmusic.io.  Nice improvement to the website, Kevin! Extra sound effects are from effects.wondershare.com and the Liberty Bell March, also known as the theme music for Monty Python’s Flying Circus, came from archive.org.  Podcasting is fun! "Mariachi Snooze" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Podcasting is fun? To fart or not to fart – that is the question/whether tis nobler in the podcast to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous District 10, or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by dropping the fart, survive. So, since taking counsel from several friends, I’ve edited out the final fart.  I miss it too.   The post Level 2 Communication Style Quiz Project appeared first on Toastmasters101.

Do you like taking online quizzes?  Pathways thinks we must all love them since they give us so many to take.  The Leadership quiz or Communications quiz always shows up in Level 2 of Pathways. This project is fairly simple:  take the quiz, give a speech. This causes a lot of concern – if everyone in Toastmasters is taking the leadership quiz or the communications quiz, aren’t we going to get a lot of identical speeches? Let’s take a look at the Leadership quiz and the assigned speech project and see what really happens. Leadership Quiz The quiz you’ll take has about 25-30 questions – scroll down to see them all.  Like the Assessment, I think you’ll find the results are worth the time. Leadership is a skill, I think.  I don’t think it’s an innate talent.  Toastmasters doesn’t seem to believe it either – or why would they teach leadership skills?  No, I think the purpose of this test to show your personal leadership style as it is right now. I’ve asked a few people who work in the training field about this.  They say you don’t really change much as a leader over time – it’s based on your personality.  Are they right?  What do you think? Kim’s Chili Cook-Off I recently had the opportunity to run a chili cookoff with a new group of people.  I’ve done this 10 times in the past – I know what I’m doing and how to do it.  With this new crowd of people, I didn’t handle the process the same way as I had the first time I’d handled this project.  Earlier, I didn’t have as clear an idea of what I wanted to do and needed more help, so I was a lot more dependent and open to ideas.  This time?  I wasn’t willing to talk people through what I wanted to do.  I just did it. Was that leadership?  Probably not.  I still finished the project and raised the money I wanted. I learned some important aspects of leadership from this one experience.  Leadership doesn’t say to the other participants “Do it my way” without consequences.  The other members of the team didn’t learn anything.  They just did what they were told.  As a leader, I failed them because they didn’t learn – because I didn’t teach them.  Another thing I learned was how important it is for the leader to adjust to the needs of the team, not the other way around. If I went back and took that leadership test again, I wonder if I’d get a different answer… Then there’s the speech Deliver a 5- to 7-minute speech at a club meeting to share some aspect of your leadership style or leadership styles in general. You may choose to discuss your style preferences when working with others, your style, and how you can adapt it to situations, or leadership styles in general and how they impact a group. -Pathways Level 2 Leadership Style Project This is your 5th project speech in Toastmasters.   I call it the Paradox speech. You’ve been given a topic and the results of your test. You’ve been told what to talk about: an aspect of your leadership style OR leadership styles in general. You may include your style preferences when working with others how to adapt to working with others leadership style impacts. What are you going to give a speech about?  I’ve heard maybe a dozen of these speeches.  The paradox? No two speeches were alike. One speaker talked about leadership – and the Star Wars movies.  Another speaker compared her leadership styles to how the government runs (and how she thinks it ought to be done.)  Both were based on this project! How did they go so widely different? Here’s one of the other weird things you’re going to discover about writing speeches.  Constraints are good. Constraints in Speech Writing Why?  Because constraints force you to be creative.  Instead of looking at the constraints as limiting, you’re now required to think in a different way than you normally would. There’s this “management paradigm” out there called the Theory of Constraints.  It’s basically this:  you’re only as fast as your slowest system. So you need to work with whatever is the slowest and either fix it or find a way to make it work at its maximum potential.  That’s called “exploiting the constraint.” In the case of writing a speech, you need to exploit the constraint of what you’re expected to talk about.  I’m not saying you need to go around it or fix it – frankly, you’re not doing the project if you do that. If you stick to reporting statistics – you’ll lose the audience.  If you explain what the statistics mean, you might keep their attention.  But if you tell your story with emotion, using body language, vocal variety, and staging, you’ll entertain and engage your audience. You need to look at all the material in front of you – your test results, the topics, the material they encourage you to include – and tell your story.  Nobody else is going to do that. Emotion vs. Logic This is not the first time nor the last time I’m going to talk about story.  It’s undoubtedly the most powerful tool in our speaker toolbox.  Use this speech to express your thoughts in ways that make sense to you – what inspires you?  What influences you?  How does your leadership skill shine – and where do you need to improve? This speech looks like it can be a bit… dry.  The Leadership Quiz isn’t very emotionally inspiring.  You may want to research your speech and give a very logical presentation.  (Don’t let me stop you, especially if you’re quoting Mr. Spock.)  However, logical presentations need to convey material in a way that interests the audience.  How can you do that? I think a creative way to present your material is to compare and contrast it to a topic that the audience understands.  Compare Obi Wan’s leadership style with Darth Vader.  Or The Avengers:  Tony Stark vs. Thor. Look, if a speaker can take a character from Star Wars and show leadership skills – you can take a leadership story and tell it in any way you want!  Superheros – sharks – sentient computers – go for it. Or tell a story where you were a leader and how you should have applied different leadership skills for a different outcome.  Or a historical story, or an Aesop’s fable. Leadership Quiz Scores – with yourself So take your Leadership quiz and learn something about yourself.  Then share your story with your club. Next week, we discover what kind of communicator you are. "Mariachi Snooze" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ The post Level 2 Leadership Quiz appeared first on Toastmasters101.

Are you ready to research and organize your speech?  Good, because that’s the last project in Level 1. Pathways provides you with a couple of PDFs to help you organize your material and your speech.  They outline 7 different types of speeches.  They explain that speeches have 3 distinct parts – the introduction, the body, and the conclusion. How important is speech organization? Making sure that your material is presented in a logical format is the difference between communication – and chaos.  That’s how important it is. Just throwing all your information at your audience is not informative nor persuasive.  Your task as a speaker requires you to be proactive – to present your data and conclusions in a format that a listener can follow.  Your call to action will be obvious and motivating only if you organize your material first. Pick your topic Picking your topic for this speech is less comfortable than the previous speeches, when I recommended that you pick a topic you know and like.  This speech requires you to do some research, so you need a topic that you don’t know.  Inspiration comes from any number of places – newspapers, radio, a book you’re reading, a show you’re watching.  Research and organize your speech comes after you pick your topic, so don’t lock yourself down to specifics just yet. Pick your sources, collect your information, and then sit down to make some decisions about how to organize everything. 3 Common Speech Organization Techniques I think the three most common ways to organize your speech: Categorical – Comparison and Contrast or Informational Chronological – Storytelling or Problem/Solution Persuasive – Inspirational or Sales Each of these creates a stable structure for a speech.  Stories usually fall into the chronological pattern. Problem-solution is usually a chronological speech because you’re showing a cause to an action – the reason to do something. Categorical breaks down the topic into sections.  Informational speeches often talk about the parts of a topic    Show the benefit of one thing by showing how it relates to another – comparison and contrast. It’s my opinion that public speaking is performance art.  It’s not acting with someone else’s written lines as part of a play.  But it’s an art to lay out information and logical arguments to persuade someone.  Let me give you a recent example.  I was wasting time – I mean – doing media research on Facebook and this ad popped up about pillows.  This reinforces my suspicion that FB is listening to me all the time as my husband and I were just talking about replacing pillows… and here’s this ad.  What an ad! Kim Buys a Pillow It starts with the story of a school where the students are saved from a tornado by an alert teacher – all the children survived, but the school did not.  After the tornado, the students, especially the youngest pre-schoolers, were so stressed by the event that they couldn’t sleep.  As the media covered the story, a sleep researcher voluntarily sent pillows that were part of her work in solving insomnia.  The claim that the pillows were made of a particular substance that relaxed a particular part of the brain…  The story continued with how the pillows changed the students.  They could relax and sleep.  Vets with PTSD were suddenly sleeping soundly with this pillow. I bought that pillow before I even got to the end of the video.  That’s persuasion! But persuasion isn’t just about sales.  It motivates people to make personal changes in their lives.  It inspires people to achieve new and great things! Which format should you use? Don’t try to force a speech into a pattern that doesn’t work.  Going with the obvious allows you to concentrate your efforts on the other parts of your speech right now – vocal variety, body language, and gestures.  Think about the evaluations you’ve already been given – they’ll direct you to what you need to concentrate on. But let me tell you the smart way to write a speech:  write it backward. What’s the purpose of your speech? In the end, it comes to – the end.  What do you want the audience to think, feel, or do after you sit down? I’ve talked about this in the Competent Communicator episodes of Toastmasters 101, but let’s go over it again. I find that the worst part of my speeches – the part that the evaluator will almost always comment on – is the end of the speech.  I don’t have a solid ending.  Now, you may think that you have to have a splendid intro and a strong body to craft the end – but I say it’s exactly the opposite.  When you’ve got a strong end to your speech, you’ve built the foundation to the body and introduction. When you know what you want the audience reaction to be, you know how to end your speech.  You’ll create a call to action – the challenge to the audience to act.  Write that down first.  Be specific, be concise.  Make it absolutely clear what it is you want them to do. When you know that, you can write the last paragraph of your speech – but don’t think you’re done with it yet. The Body of Your Speech Since a good 80% of your speech is the body, you need to organize your information in a clear, orderly manner.  As you do your research, you’ll combine facts and information into logical categories.  Or you’ll recognize the sequence that the speech needs to follow.  Maybe you’re going to try to be persuasive, so you’ve got to craft the speech to convince your audience to agree with you.  That’s the organizational part we were just talking about. Should you write out your speech?  I do.  You don’t have to, but I think it’s a good exercise to help you craft what you want to say into how you say it.  Rhetoric is an art and you have a unique voice.  How you say something is not how I would say it.  That’s the way it should be! Writing may be a difficult task for you.  Is it better for you to write on paper or on a computer?  That’s up to you.  But early in your Toastmasters career, I think – again – I think – that writing out speeches helps you more than you expect.  You’ll get the benefits of learning the techniques of putting things together slowly, then when you need to, you’ll be able to put a speech together faster, even on the fly. Finish by Starting If you have your ending, and your body, all that’s left is the introduction.  This will be easy to write because you’ve already got all your ideas in place – now all you have to do is create an introduction that will create curiosity for the audience to want to continue to listen to what you have to say. There are lots of ways to build curiosity.  Have you thought about using a rhetorical question? You might make a list of the things you’re going to talk about and see what inspires you.  But please, don’t fall into the “tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them what you want to tell them, and tell them what you told them” trap.  It’s one of the worst ways to handle a speech.  Nobody likes this format. It’s borrrrrrring. A lot of speech training courses are going to tell you to do that.  Don’t.  Resist the temptation and open the door to your creative side.  Jokes aren’t necessary, but humor is always nice. Once you have the intro, go back and check what you’ve written and your conclusion.  Make them all fit together – use transitions that lead from one part to another. That’s how to research and organize your speech.  If you want to listen to my previous podcast, you can find it at http://toastmasters101.net/cc3. Don’t forget to give your evaluator your evaluation form.  You may need it to get approved to move on to Level 2. How to Complete Your Level After you complete this research and organize your speech project, go back to Base Camp and finish the post-test.  Then go back to Base Camp and you’ll see the option to Complete the Level 1 Completion task by hitting the Mark Complete button. This sends a notification to your club’s Base Camp Managers that they need to approve the completion of the level. Some BCM want to see the actual records – evaluation forms of your 4 speeches and the evaluation of your evaluation.  If you store your evaluations online – you can’t show them your records online at this time unless you save them as PDFs or image files and forward them via email or shared drive.  If you have printed evaluations, you may show them at a meeting.  Some VPEs want the agendas as well if you’ve given speeches at more than one club.  Ask your BCMs what they want. Base Camp Manager Task The Base Camp Manager has to sign in as a Base Camp Manager – not as a club member.  A screen will come up that shows the requests that they must approve.  They approve it and another screen comes up asking for comments.  Toastmasters International Pathways Guides training recommended that the BCM enter their name in there to keep track of who approved the level.  It’s optional, of course.  But if there’s a question, you’ll know who to contact. Approving a member’s level is very simple.  The VPE, club president, or club secretary all have the access to approve the level – but you need to be sure that the club officers are getting the notice.  The correct email for the club must be entered into the Toastmasters International website.  Even then, there’s only one person who’s likely to get the email. It’s very simple to just hit the button to submit your level completion test and send a separate email to the officers in the club.  It will probably be the quickest way for you to be able to move to Level 2. Next week, we’ll start Level 2 with a pop quiz.   The post Research and Organize Your Speech appeared first on Toastmasters101.

Impromptu Evaluation Speaking Since we communicate in the moment, often with no opportunity to plan our speech, you see why it’s critical to build those impromptu speaking skills.  It’s not just about meeting that rock star, or getting a chance to pitch the perfect idea in an elevator to the investor or your dreams.  It’s about finding your voice, whatever the situation, and being able to use it. Are we talking Table Topics here? Yes, obviously.  But we’re also talking about speech evaluations.  When you think about it, a speech evaluation is pretty much an impromptu speech that requires some logical and rational thought on the fly. Evaluations in Real Life The ability to evaluate someone verbally is a precious skill.  Don’t think so? I was talking with another Toastmaster at an officer training about what he learned from Toastmasters.  He asked me if I’d ever been in a room with a crying man who was suffering through a poor review at work. The art of evaluation helped him manage the poor review and help his employee improve the situation. To me, that drove home the value of evaluation skills.  When you’re a parent, you have to guide your children.  When you’re a good friend, sometimes you have to help someone face an unpleasant reality.  Knowing how to give feedback in a positive method can change your life, as well as those around you. That’s why we not only teach evaluation skills, but we evaluate your evaluations.  Level 1 Project 2 includes you giving an evaluation to another speaker, and getting an evaluation of your evaluation. Pretty meta, right? How to Evaluate Others In a previous episode, we talked about the evaluation forms – how to get them, the speaker’s responsibility to give them to the evaluator.  When you’re the evaluator, ask the speaker for specifics.  What do they want to improve?  What do they think is their biggest flaw that they want to improve?  When you know their goals, you can give a better evaluation. The evaluation form isn’t the best format for a verbal evaluation.  “I gave you a four on eye contact” doesn’t really tell anyone much, does it?  The usual method is to share what you felt were the strongest points of the speech, give a couple of points of growth, and then finish with a positive note. This is called the sandwich method.  There are many others. See Hear Feel. Pies. Gloves. We’ve got a lot of ways to evaluate.  What’s most important is that you share points of growth.  Generally, people give 3 points of growth.  More than that is overwhelming.  Aim for 3. It’s okay to feel like you’re being nitpicky.  That’s actually nice to hear sometimes.  It means you’ve been paying attention. Try not to focus on the content unless you have comments about the organization of the speech – especially if you disagree with the content.  Your job isn’t to critique what has been said, only how it is said.  You should also avoid telling your own story in response to the speech.  Your reaction to the speech – yes.  How it made you feel – yes. Don’t attack the speaker.  Talk about the speech. Don’t flatter needlessly.  Talk about the speech. Don’t take too long – but… talk about the speech! Toastmasters Evaluation Contests Evaluations are important in the Toastmasters education program that we even have district-wide contests.  A test speaker gives a speech and the competitors give evaluations of the same speech.  Judges will select the best evaluator at the club, area, division, and up to the district level. So get your evaluations evaluated and work on the skill. Not just to win the contest, but to win at life. The post Evaluation Evaluations appeared first on Toastmasters101.

Impromptu speaking – aka Table Topics.  It’s a key component of Toastmasters – we have Table Topics contests!  Why?  What’s the deal? Did you ever have that conversation where you were the most clever, smartest – and wettest, because you were in the shower at the time?  You know – when you talked to that person who was going to be forced to reckon with your brilliance and concede that of course, you were right all along? Have you ever had that kind of conversation when the other person was actually present with you – presumably outside of the bathroom? Me neither.  I’m never as eloquent as I am when I’m alone with shampoo in my hair. Why am I talking about this?  I want to make the point that we don’t usually plan out our casual communications and even when we do, they don’t go the way we expect. Public Speaking for Introverts: Table Topics How many of the words that come out of your mouth are pre-planned or prepared?  The majority of speaking you do in your life is impromptu.  You don’t have time to prepare for it. That’s why it’s so important to learn the skill and to keep practicing it.  Social conversations aren’t anything more an impromptu speaking. Table Topics gets us started with impromptu speaking.  For shy people or introverts, it’s a soft start – just a minute long. You’re given some kind of prompt and asked to respond to it for at least 60 seconds, up to 2 minutes. That’s pretty much the only rule.  Maybe they won’t mention a few things, like You can lie or make up answers. You can change the subject. You can ignore the prompt. It’s just like real life – sometimes you lie, sometimes you duck the question and sometimes you change the subject. This is not condoning lies, nor are we advocating that you duck your boss’s questions.  Nope.  Table topics simply gives you the opportunity to practice speaking without preparation – and to learn how to handle the stress of those questions you are asked when you’re not expecting them. The Power of Story and Table Topics In English, the four most evocative words are “Once upon a time…”  We know that what’s coming is a story. Humans are hardwired for stories.  A 2014 report from the Harvard Business Review says so.  Don’t believe it?  Do you remember what you paid in taxes last year?  Or do you remember how you felt and the process of paying them? That’s where you can really shine in impromptu speaking.  We encourage that with Table Topics. It’s not easy to put together a story in 1 to 2 minutes on the fly.  You do have the option to take a moment and compose your mind to tell your story.  It may be best to think about how you want to end it first. * I recommend that all the time. Table Topics Prompts: Go Sideways Most Table Topics prompts are questions or situations that you’re asked to address. Don’t rush to answer your prompt.  Take a moment to think about the emotions that the prompt provokes and let that influence your response.  It’s important that you don’t let yourself be overcome by emotion – laughing at your own joke or crying takes the emotion away from the audience.  Give them the opportunity to feel the emotion, not feel embarrassed for you or by you. But if you want to win the ribbon for best Table Topic speaker (which is done by vote in some clubs) don’t do the obvious answer.  English is a rich language.  Using puns and jokes makes your Table Topics answer fun. With all the homophones in our languages, it takes a quick wit to put a pun together, but believe me, you can do it and enjoy the groans and moans!  “What did you do last night?” can quickly become a very bad joke about Knights of the Round Table or Monty Python’s  Knights that Go Ni! Have Fun with Table Topics As Table Topics Leader, this is a problem with corporate clubs in particular.  When your boss is in the room or might hear you say something that you don’t want the boss to hear – you might self-censor.  You know your limits – but really – try to have fun.  If the boss issue is a problem, going creative rather than just asking questions should make it easier.  Instead of asking straight questions, go for the odd.  Use props.  Ask for stories about childhood events.  Get a list of weird holidays from Wikipedia and ask how they should be celebrated.  Seriously – have fun with Table Topics. I can’t guarantee that you still won’t be your most amusing while you’re in the shower, but you’ll improve your conversations when you’re dry and fully dressed.  Make sure you hang up your towel when you’re done. Next time, we’ll talk about evaluations, evaluation evaluations, and evaluating evaluations.  We’re going meta.   *This podcast was created in 2016 before the release of Pathways.  The information about how to write a speech still stands. The post Toastmasters Table Topics appeared first on Toastmasters101.

Being a toastmaster means more than giving speeches and the occasional evaluation.  These meetings don’t happen by themselves, you know.  Club meeting roles are important. Club Meeting Roles If you’ve attended a meeting, you know there’s a Toastmaster of the day – a ringleader or MC who manages part or all of the meeting. There’s a table topics leader who poses the prompt for the impromptu speeches – and who may call for votes to be sent in to pick a winner. The general evaluator might lead the 2nd portion of the meeting – the evaluation section.  This person may call up the speech evaluators, the grammarian and ah-counter and the timer to give reports on how well the club meeting was handled.  This is handled in different ways within clubs – be aware of how your club manages these reports. All of these roles are important for you to take – even if you don’t think you’re ready to do it. Mastering Club Meeting Roles Do you know the value of taking these club meeting roles? Do you struggle with nerves?  Stage fright? We’ve talked a bit about stage fright in previous episodes, but this isn’t just stage fright.  This is the pressure you feel when you’re expected not just to give a speech, but to perform a task at the same time. This is a whole nother level of public speaking.  And honestly, this can be the fun part of the club meeting. Each of these roles does require the member to stand up and speak without much prep.  It requires you to listen to the other speakers, to pay attention to the nuances of the meeting, and to be aware of how you fit into the whole of the meeting.  Not to make you more stressed, but the club meeting roles are important for the meeting and for you to learn how to function better in a team role. When you learn how to make those fun, you’re improving the club experience for everyone. How do you do that? Table Topics, Timer, Grammarian Fun If you’re table topics leader – find fun topics.  Don’t default to the usual questions you’ll find on the Internet.  Instead of asking about what would people do, try these instead. Give them a pair of sunglasses and tell them that they give the speaker superpowers – What superpower do they have?  Would they use it for good? Give them a box with a random household item to open and challenge them to tell the members if it’s a birthday gift or a murder weapon – and who they’re going to give it to? Pick up a couple of color sample cards from the hardware store and ask people to describe the room they might paint that color. If you’re the timer, relate the times that a person used to the topic of their speech.  If I heard a speech about flying, I might say, “Chris’s speech flew past us in 7 minutes even.” Grammarian has the easiest job to make fun.  By focusing the most on the great uses of language, you can also make some puns – such as “sewing circle” for the people who abuse the word “so” or “You know how many times we used ‘you know’ in today’s club meeting?” The fun in a meeting isn’t just the job of the joke master! Club Meeting Roles Recordkeeping I should use this time to also introduce you to the Level 3 requirement of filling certain club meeting roles.  This sneaks up on you – I know a lot of Toastmasters who didn’t realize they needed to keep track of their club meeting roles. It’s also sneaky where Toastmasters International hid the recordkeeping page.  So let’s take a look at it.  Go to the basecamp page (yes, log in) and at the top right of the screen, you’ll see a small button with a gear on it.  You might think that these are settings… well, yes, you’re going to the My Account page.  Scroll down a bit and you’ll see all of the club roles listed.  All you have to do is go to the club meeting role you filled and enter the date.  Be sure to scroll to the bottom of the page and hit the save button. Ideally, if you fill in the agenda screen for your club, it would automatically populate this field here – but no.  That doesn’t work.  You’ve got to do this manually.  Since you may be voluntold to fill a role at the meeting, you wouldn’t be on the agenda anyway. Competent Leadership Manual vs. Pathways recordkeeping For longtime Toastmasters, we’re used to the Competent Leadership manual.  In the end, I think this is simpler because you’re not required to get someone to sign off on the work, but on the flip side, you’re also not getting any feedback for how you filled the club meeting role. Whether you’re new or old, ask someone how you did and what you might do to improve.  The general evaluator is a good person to ask since it’s their job to evaluate the meeting as a whole. Sign Up Anyway Even if you don’t think you’re ready – sign up for a role next week.  The only way you’ll learn how to do these tasks and give the reports – is to do them.  Yes, being grammarian requires you to listen actively and report what you heard.  Timers have to watch the clock and not get caught up in the speeches and forget to note the time.  But these skills are learned on the job.  If you feel unprepared, try to sit next to the member who is filling that role at the next meeting and watch them.  Get some on the job training and sign up for next week.  Have fun with it! Talking about having fun – let’s talk about the funniest part of Toastmasters in our next podcast.     The post Tracking Your Club Meeting Roles appeared first on Toastmasters101.

We call them hip pocket speeches.  When we get to a meeting and there’s a slot for a speaker – we’ll grab it to give a hip pocket speech.  But we need an evaluation form to give to our evaluator.  What do we use?  The Generic Evaluation Form. Generic evaluation forms are your friends Hip pocket speeches are sometimes pre-prepared speeches that my friend Judy will have ready to go.  Judy is a strong believer in the concept “You never give a speech without getting credit for it.” That may be a little harder to do with Pathways than it was with the classic Toastmasters education program.  Pathways is more directed than the old program and sometimes the speech projects require more time and effort so we’re not always able to give the next speech in our level when the open slot comes up.  But don’t skip the chance to speak!  You need the stage time to improve, so take the slot if you can. Judy always has a speech in the works and is always ready to step up and fill the slot.  For some of us, an empty slot is an opportunity to wing it.  We think of it as a 5 to 7 minute Table Topic.  Sometimes these go very well.  I did 5 minutes on why to eat a green apple before giving a speech.  Another time I talked about zombie giraffes.  Your mileage may vary on your success with impromptu speeches.  Personally, I love them.  Not so sure about my clubs… I digress.  Whatever the speech is, I need an evaluation. Some clubs have a spare evaluation form known as PIES in their files.  This is a useful evaluation form but not very specific to Pathways.  I don’t dislike it, but I’ve discovered a Pathways evaluation form that I like more.  It’s called the Generic Evaluation Form. Generic Evaluation Form It’s in the same format as all the other Pathways evaluations forms.  It allows you space to put in an objective for your speech.  It’s a familiar format to the Toastmaster, which is a benefit to them.  If they have to spend time getting familiar with the form, they’re not paying attention to you.  I think you’ll get a better evaluation if they’re not distracted by the form. The generic evaluation form is handy for the unexpected presentation.  It’s also nice for those of us still working in the classic program manuals when we’ve forgotten the manual.  I’ve got a PDF of the Competent Communicator manual and if I forget to print out the evaluation form, I’ll just use the Generic Evaluation form and keep it for my records. Where do you get the Generic Evaluation Form? I’m glad you asked.  When you get to the Pathways Base Camp, you will see a menu that says “Home, Tutorials and Resources, Check Compatibility” across the top.  Select Tutorial and Resources and you’ll find a boatload of information, including every evaluation form in every language.  I think you save yourself a lot of trouble by selecting your language first. Downloading forms in German when you need English?  Very annoying. I keep this link handy.  If someone has forgotten their evaluation form and I have the option, I can print out the specific form that they need me to use.  EVERY evaluation form is on there, not just the ones I need for my Pathways. But since we’re looking for the Generic Evaluation form, I can search for it in the search box at the top of the page instead of scrolling down.  It will show up, I will download it and print it up. In fact, I usually print up several of them at a time.  This is a valuable resource for my club.  By having this on hand, I help my club from getting stuck because someone forgot theirs.  We have used up my supply a couple of times now.  But it’s worth it.  The club looks more professional to guests and supports the members better when these forms are on hand. Next podcast – what role will you take in your club?   The post Pathways Generic Evaluation Forms appeared first on Toastmasters101.

I’ve said for a while that the evaluations you receive and give at a Toastmasters meeting are Toastmasters’ secret sauce.  Immediate feedback has always been recognized as the best way to learn. That reinforcement of your good skills and a look at what could be done to improve make you better faster than everything else. The evaluation has 2 parts.  The verbal evaluation is the speech that’s given during the club meeting.  The written evaluation is a form you’ll download from the Pathways website for the evaluator to take notes on and return to you after the meeting. As the speaker, you need to provide the evaluation form from the project.  On the surface, this evaluation form looks fairly standardized.  They are.  There aren’t significant changes from one project evaluation form to another.  What is different? The objectives of the speech project Any particular skill that is being evaluated in the project. Every speech project has its own purpose You could say that every speech is about improving speaking skills – well, yes.  But sometimes the speeches are to be designed to improve or practice specific presentations.  That will be mentioned in the objectives section. Now… in many clubs we don’t have evaluators assigned until the day of the meeting.  Some clubs have every slot filled the week before the meeting.  And there’s no guarantee that the person you expect to be your evaluator will show up. It is your job as a speaker to get the evaluation form to the evaluator.  You can either print it out or email it. Add the additional possibility that there won’t be wifi or a signal for an evaluator to get your last-minute evaluation form online.  So print a paper copy just in case and bring it to the meeting.  I know, some people say they’ll remember and send it later, but there’s nothing like in-the-moment notes made by an evaluator.  Plus, you can be sure that they’re not going to wing it during your evaluation. I think that it’s a good idea to have a brief conversation with your evaluator before you start and explain if there is anything specific you want them to pay attention to.  I’d write that on the top of the evaluation page too.  I always appreciate when a speaker tells me what to look for. Let me say one thing about new evaluators. We LOVE you.  We WANT your evaluations almost more than any others.  Why?  Because you haven’t seen us before.  Fresh eyes will see new things that our long-time fellow members don’t notice anymore.  Don’t think you don’t have anything to bring to the table in an evaluation.  You’ve got your perspective and we want to hear it. I often hear evaluators say to the speakers, “I couldn’t find anything to improve.”  I wince when I hear that.  It’s the worst possible comment to make.  There is always something we speakers can find in ourselves to improve.  That stutter, that mispronunciation – I can catalog all my problems after every speech. If you’re not sure about what to say, try this method. What did you see? What did you hear? What did I make you feel? That’s a speaker’s dream evaluation.  You cover every key point of communication just by answering those three points.  You do NOT have to follow the Pathways evaluation form when you give the verbal evaluation.  That’s the power of the See/Hear/Feel evaluation.  It’s not the average evaluation. It brings a lot of value to the speaker.  Let them read your comments about what they did well, what they can improve on and how to challenge themselves from the evaluation sheet. The second great value of evaluation This may surprise you – but you’re not going to improve the most from the time you’re on the stage. What? I know, crazy, right?  But I think it’s been most Toastmasters experience that their improvements start when they evaluate other speakers. I have no explanation for this.  But it’s true.  I think that there may be 2 components in play. First, you’re paying a lot more attention to the speech and the speaker if you’re the evaluator.  What you see, write down, and verbally comment on – it gets into your brain.  Then, when you’re speaking, that reinforcement unconsciously influences your presentations.  I have no science to back this up – but it makes sense to me.  This is why I like to evaluate other people’s speeches – and I’m known to be a rough evaluator.  For new members, I will be almost all encouragement.  But I know that I need the tough, specific, nit-picky evaluations to improve.  For advanced Toastmasters, most of us crave them. The second great value to being an evaluator is that you’re going to comment on things that you notice the most.  Of course.  But you will also point out the things that you personally need to improve.  Many Toastmasters have had the same experience, so it’s not just me.  What do you consistently notice about other speakers?  After several evaluations, you’ll figure it out.  Then you can start to work on it yourself. Weird, right?  But oh so true! Advanced Toastmasters and Pathways Evaluations If you’re a long-time Toastmaster, you’ve seen the variety of evaluation forms in the manuals.  Each was created to be specific to the speech project. When you look at the Pathways Evaluation, they look identical until you put two side by side.  Yes, there is a lot of redundancy.  I don’t know why TI chose to do that, but there it is. If you’re an advanced Toastmaster, it’s time for you to step up your evaluations.  Are you still reading the evaluation questions and then answering them?  Come on!  It’s time to get into the game.  You’ve got experience and you’ve got wisdom – bring it to your evaluations.  Don’t let the Pathways Evaluation form be a limit – let it become the diving board for moving you into better, deeper evaluations that will help you and others improve. My thanks to Debbie Curtis DTM for the See Hear Feel evaluation technique. It’s gold! Next time, we’ll talk about the single evaluation form you need to keep handy for yourself and for your club. The post Pathways Evaluations appeared first on Toastmasters101.

Ever been lost?  Completely without your bearings?  That uncomfortable moment when nothing looks like you think it should? Based on what I’m hearing from a lot of Toastmasters, that’s how they feel about Project 2. Project 2 is complicated. For Advanced Toastmasters, we’re confused. For new Toastmasters, we’re confused. Why is it so confusing? Project 2 = 2 speeches Here’s the deal with Project 2.  It’s not like anything we’ve done before in Toastmasters.  You’re given 3 tasks in one project, which, in my mind, is confusing. Looking at the Project checklist, I think it could have been written clearer.  It says you have to do a 5-7 minute speech.  Then it says ? Incorporating feedback from your first speech into a second 5- to 7-minute speech That’s not how I would write a checklist item.  I think this is what’s tripping people up on this project. For me, a checklist item doesn’t start with what you’re to do in the project, it starts with the project name and adds the details.  But that’s just me. But is it?  This level of confusion in so many people makes me think that I’m not the only one who needed someone to explain this project in detail to me. Project 2, Task 1:  The First Speech After you complete your Ice Breaker speech, you have to go back to the Pathways project and complete the post test – we covered that in episode 6 – Don’t Forget Your Post-Test . Once your club’s base camp manager confirms your work on Pathways, you can open the Project 2 instructions.  Again, this requires a pop-up window, so look for it behind your browser and maximize it. The first task is to present another speech – different from your Ice Breaker.  Pick whatever topic you want, but I suggest you pick one that you’re really interested in because you’re going to do this speech twice.  The training on the Pathways Base Camp will give you a lot of good information on how to get and give evaluations, but not so much about how to write a speech.  So let me give you a couple of quick thoughts before you start to write the speech. Three Steps First, try to pick a topic that’s not very emotional for you.  Think of it as an informational speech.  Educate us. Second, pick three things about that topic that we should know.  Suppose you’re going to talk about cats.  You can guess that several members of the club know or own a cat.  But you probably have some good cat stories of your own, so plan to share at least one. Third, take some time after you’re done writing by reading your speech aloud and thinking about what you want the Toastmaster of the Day to say about you and your speech before you speak.  I don’t know why, but that’s when I often get my best ideas for my speech – to the point that I might change the speech’s title or change some of the content.  Weird, right? Evaluation and Feedback When you give your speech, your evaluator will need the evaluation form you must provide.   We’ll talk more about the evaluations in the next podcast, but for now, this piece of paper is crucial because you’re going to take the content of the evaluation – verbal and written – and use it to rework this speech. The purpose of the double speech project is to help you.  You’re going to hear some points of growth from your evaluator. Points of growth are what we call “things to improve.” If you’re in Toastmasters, you’re probably here because you know you’re not a perfect speaker.  You should be open to hearing and acting on the feedback you’re given.  I hope that your evaluator is kind and not mean and it’s easy to accept what they have to say to you. Project 2, Second Task Take that advice and apply it to your speech and modify it to improve it.  Or listen to their suggestions about your speech presentation skills.  You’re going to repeat your speech, improved. Make sure you can get the same evaluator for the 2nd speech.   Sometimes that’s not possible, so bring your first speech’s evaluation with you so this evaluator will know what was suggested.  Honestly, if I’m your evaluator for both speeches, bring the evaluation anyway.  I need the refresher. Project 2, Third Task Now it’s time for you to evaluate someone else.  We’ll be talking about that in a future episode.  Since we’re just reviewing the Project 2 tasks, you’ll have time to listen to that podcast in the future. That’s it.  Project 2 in about 800 words. Three tasks, but the entire project is going to take at least 3 weeks. At the end of that, you’ll be 80% done with Level 1! The post What’s Up with Project 2? appeared first on Toastmasters101.

Every project has several steps.  You’ll start with a pretest to determine where you stand. The tests in particular need to be full screen.  So make sure you open the pop-up window all the way – some of the test instructions won’t show up in the small window. Pathways pretests aren’t programmed the same way as the rest of the site.  In general, you just press the arrow on the right side of the screen to move to the next page.  However, on the tests, you select your answer for each question, but when you get to the last question, you have look at the bottom of the window to see a button that says “submit.” Then move to the next page and continue with the instructional videos and slides on the skills you’ll develop.  There may be some worksheets to help you plan your project.  Finally, you’ll have the instructions for the project. You’ll find a checklist and the evaluation form. After you complete the project, you have to go back online to that project and complete the post-test. Post-Test Problems This is the number one problem I get calls about from Toastmasters.  It’s become the second question I ask.  The first one is always “have you picked a pathway yet?”  You’d be surprised at how often the answer is “no.” The post-test works the same way as the pretest, but believe me, this submit button is critical.  You can’t move on past your Ice Breaker speech or level up until that submit button is hit for every single project. One nice thing about this program is that it does remember what you put in when you took the test, even if you didn’t hit the submit button.  You may be able to speed through and get to the final question and hit submit without retaking it.  So if the option to submit your level completion isn’t active on the screen, check your post-tests first.  Make sure you’ve completed them and submitted them.  Go ahead and do it again, just to be sure. Another Post-Test Problem The other common problem with the post-test – and I completely did this myself – is that I thought it was the pretest.  I had scrolled through the entire project to see what the speech requirement was and filled out the post-test, thinking it was the pretest. You are not alone in this.  I get calls about this, I read about it online from other Pathways guides – it happens a lot. Now, if I were King of the Forest – I mean, if I were running Pathways, those two tests would look significantly different, just to avoid this problem. Don’t worry about this. I believe you’re an honorable person who made a mistake.  It happens.  You don’t need to fix it with TI or with your VPE – who can’t fix it anyway.  What you can do is simply FINISH THE PROJECT. Don’t submit your level completion request until you’ve done the project. If you want to let your VPE know what you’ve done, go ahead.  There are some reports that the Base Camp Managers have access to that show your progress and your mistake might show up as a completed task.  It won’t matter.  Just do the project. Base Camp Managers The job of the VPE is to make sure that everyone is progressing in the Toastmasters program.  In particular, keep in contact with the club’s vice president of education.   If you’re having problems, talk to them.  They can help you. Your club has 3 Base Camp Managers.  The club president, club secretary and vice president of education serve the club by approving completion of the Ice Breaker Speech and Pathways Levels. Now, this doesn’t mean that they can see it, or they have access to your files or any personal data.  This approval is simply an acknowledgment that you’ve completed the level work.  And the approval can’t be given unless the post-test is submitted, not just completed.  Computers.  We’re at their mercy. If you opted to get the print copies of the pathway, you’ll need to work out a system with your club’s Base Camp Managers to notify them of your completed work.  The post-test requirement isn’t an issue for you.     The post Don’t Forget Your Post-Test appeared first on Toastmasters101.

Level 1 sounds… basic.  Like boot camp.  Where you start. Level 1 Confusion This is your first introduction to the education program and to be honest, I found it very confusing at the start.  I didn’t understand how the projects worked and was often struggling with them.  At the rollout of Pathways, nobody had any experience understanding the flow of Level 1. There are 4 projects in Level 1,  but one of the projects, Evaluation and Feedback, has several distinct parts to it – 2 speeches PLUS an evaluation. So you have more work than you’d think. You start with the Ice Breaker speech project.  In Project 2, you give a different speech from your Ice Braker.  You’ll give it 2 times – the second time, you try to use the points of growth that your evaluator gave you to improve it.  Then you serve as someone else’s evaluator. Finally, you have another speech that requires some research and organization.  We’ll cover each of these projects in future podcasts – so stay tuned! Where you start in Toastmasters is with the Ice Breaker Speech. Ice Breaker Speech Simply put, the Ice Breaker speech project is to introduce yourself to your club.  This is your story, your reasons for joining, your goals – whatever you want us to know about you.  For 4 to 6 minutes, you get to talk about yourself. For a lot of people, this seems intimidating.  What if I choke when I get up there?  What if I don’t know how to write a speech? Or… what if I’m boring? Let’s start with those questions: What if you choke? Stage fright is a real struggle for everyone.  We all get some symptoms that we have to deal with because that’s what our human bodies do when faced with stress.  We sweat, we want to run away, we want to vomit, we shake – the list is extensive.  Please believe me when I tell you that this is normal.  Those symptoms are the signs that you’re preparing to do something new and challenging. Some people equate the fear of public speaking with stage fright symptoms.  That’s a myth.  While they are obviously connected, have you ever noticed that many of those exact same reactions are what we have when we are excited? Suppose you have the opportunity to meet your favorite celebrity.  Would you be tongue-tied?  I was! Suppose you’re about to get into the car of your dreams?  Did your hands shake when you’re given the keys? Or the roller coaster you just waited 2 hours to get onto?  Or your wedding?  Think about your body’s reactions to those events and you may notice that your body’s reactions are exactly the same – but are you afraid?  No – you’re excited! It’s your frame of mind that calls your body’s reactions either “stage fright” or “excitement.”  Your attitude makes the difference. Not that that knowledge is going to be of much help at this moment, but it’s good to know. What you’re going to learn as you grow as a speaker is that those symptoms don’t have to stop you!  That energy that makes your throat close up or your knees knock can be redirected into your speech.  Give it time  – you’ll see it happen! What if you don’t have stage fright? If you don’t have stage fright, it’s not a sign that you’re a naturally great speaker or that there’s something wrong with you.  This just isn’t the thing that makes your body react.  It’s like taste.  Some people like Brussel’s sprouts.  I happen to love them.  But I know there are a lot of people who don’t.  That’s ok. What if you don’t know how to write a speech? That’s pretty much what we teach you.  If you’re here to learn, we’re going to demonstrate it in our own speeches, we will evaluate speech construction, and the material in Pathways covers it. Don’t worry about speech organization yet!  Everything in your Ice Breaker speech is about you.  Tell your own story! What if you’re boring? I won’t think you’re boring.  After all, I don’t know you yet.  I’m going to be waiting to get to know you!  So you can’t bore me.  Don’t worry about it.  You’re not a stand-up comic I’ve paid to see- you’re a fellow traveler.  We’re going to help each other. Get on the Stage Before you give your speech, you will be introduced by the Toastmaster of the Day.  Most clubs want the speaker to provide a short introduction that includes the Pathway name, the level and project names, as well as your name and the title of your speech.  The club may have a form that most speakers use – ask your Vice President of Education if there’s one to use.  Or you can download on from here at toastmasters101.net/intro. Finish It Up Don’t forget to go back to the website and finish your project work by completing the post-speech quiz.  It’s the same 5 questions you answered before you started.  I hope you’re doing better than when you started.  (Sometimes, I don’t.)  Make sure you hit the submit button!  Then the club officers will approve the completion of the task and you can move on! We’ll talk about the double speech project next.  Double the fun!   The post Ice Breaker: Everyone’s Project 1 appeared first on Toastmasters101.

You can find the list of the new Pathways options on the Toastmasters.org website.  They are usually listed in alphabetical order: Dynamic Leadership Effective Coaching Engaging Humor Innovative Planning Leadership Development Motivational Strategies Persuasive Influence Presentation Mastery Strategic Relationships Team Collaborations Visionary Communication There are two basic level pathways:  for public speaking, we’ve got Presentation Mastery.  For leadership, Leadership Development. Some things you should know about the Pathways options.  All of them are currently available online in English.  Some of them available in other languages online.  Not all are ready for print, so if you want to get a print copy of the projects, you should check to be sure that the one you want is available before paying for it. It looks like there’s a lot of similarities between the Pathways.  In Level 2, there’s a lot because of the Mentoring Project and most of the pathways have either the Communications Style or Leadership Style test.  Does that mean you’re going to hear the same speeches from everybody?  Not at all.  The projects have some direction on how to present the material or what the speech topic should be (in the Mentoring Project, you’re to talk about a time when you personally were mentored.)  I am always impressed by the variety and perspectives that the speakers bring to these speeches.   What?  Everyone starts with the same material in Pathways? Yes, we do.  When you think about it, it makes sense.  Plenty of people are not going to start with presentation mastery – which kinda sounds like an advanced course, doesn’t it?  – they’re going to pick what interests them or what sounds like the reasons why they joined.  Daniel Rex said that the most popular Pathway is Innovative Planning – and that’s after he admitted that the assessment is weighted toward Presentation Mastery.  So Toastmasters has to be prepared that any new member might pick any pathway – and start with the very beginning material. So regardless of the path you pick, you’re going to start in the same place that everyone else does. For new members, this is good.  There will be plenty of people in the club who are familiar with the projects or are going through them all at the same time.  We can support each other. Advanced Toastmasters For advanced members who fondly recall the classic Toastmasters program, this material will be familiar.  Some people will find it too simplistic.  Well, yeah.  They’ve already completed this work once.  For the experienced Toastmasters, their challenge is going to be different from the new member’s facing fears and writing the first speech.  Make this material challenging to yourself!  Whether you’re facing your fears and stepping up to give your first speech or if it’s a 20th or 200th, it’s up to you to learn from every speech. If you’re a long-term Toastmaster, you may remember the Better Speaker or the Successful Club series of speeches.  I’ve called those Zombie Speeches.  Back in the day, we had scripts and PowerPoint presentations that we were to give.  Smart speakers found ways to customize the speeches.  I think I’ve given the Club Roles speech at least a half dozen times and I’ve changed it up each time.  If you’re an advanced, experienced Toastmaster, you need to have the same sort of creativity that you used on those speeches.  Instead of being unhappy that the Toastmasters Pathways options seem repetitive, look at them as a challenge. Tomorrow, we’ll talk about Level 1 – what to expect and how to move through it. The post 11 Pathways to Choose appeared first on Toastmasters101.

Did you take the assessment yet? For some people, the assessment was simply a confirmation of what they want:  they came in already knowing where they want to go. But what if the assessment didn’t give you the answer you expected?  If you’re not sure or confused by the recommendations from the Assessment, you may need more information. Do you know where you want to go?  Just put the destination into your smartphone and let the map program give you directions. But what if you don’t know where you want to go?  Maps don’t help you.  You need something else… to inspire you, to give you ideas… to help you find out what you need to know.  How about a catalog? There was a time when everything you needed you could find in the Sears catalog.  Nowadays, that’s probably how we would describe Amazon.  How do you find everything you need about Pathways?  With the Pathways Catalog, of course. Pathways Paths and Projects Catalog There is a Pathways Paths and Projects Catalog available – but not from Toastmasters International.  I don’t know for sure who produced the document – rumor has it someone in District 57 – but it’s as complete as I think you’re going to find outside of an official Toastmasters document.  I hope that it will be updated with the release of the newest pathway – Engaging Humor – soon. Inside this catalog, you’ll see a list of each pathway and the projects in each one.  All of the projects are listed, but not described in detail.  The electives that are the same across all of the pathways (and there are many electives that are the same on all pathways – in particular on Level 3.) The catalog is not comprehensive.  You’re not going to see every project completely.  But it may be enough to help you make a more informed decision. Pathways Companion Reference Guide I just found the Pathways Reference Guide, published in January 2019, compiled by Mark Snow DTM* of District 69.  The Companion Reference Guide provides short project descriptions as well as great graphics that explain the level requirements and process that the member and the club’s Base Camp Manager must take to get each level approved.  There’s also a current list of the Pathways that are available in print in English or in another language. Neither the Catalog or the Reference Guide have been produced by Toastmasters International.  They were created by other Toastmasters to help us understand the new program.  I’ve talked about two of them, but there are several others you can find on the Internet.  Remember, Toastmasters International is the final authority and what they say – regardless of what you may read elsewhere – is the last word on the subject.  So if you’re confused, call TI directly.  Their team is very helpful and wants to hear what they can do to make Pathways better. See All the Way Through Still not enough?  I’ve got some good news. Toastmasters International President Daniel Rex announced in the fall of 2018 that Toastmasters will be able to see all the projects in the pathways in the near future.  There’s no firm date when that wall will come down – so if you want more details, contact Toastmasters and ask!  Or you can ask around in your club.  As more and more Toastmasters embark on the Pathways journey, you’ll find others who have done it.  I suspect that the media tasks on Level 4 will produce more and more content and information about all of the projects in all of the paths – and you’ll be able to use a search engine to find them. For the people who yearn for the return to the classic Toastmasters program because they understood how it worked – I hope this will help you understand that this system is logical.  It’s introducing a lot of new material that Toastmasters need that the dated Advanced Manuals never covered.  While I know a lot of experienced Toastmasters don’t appreciate the changes, I think you’ll find it’s worth your time to discover what Pathways offers.   The Pathways Reference Guide and The Pathways Paths and Projects Catalog can also be your roadmaps.  You can download the catalog at toastmasters101.net/catalog and the Reference Guide at toastmasters101.net/reference. And… if anyone knows who wrote the Catalog, I’d love to give them credit.  Let me know! UPDATE:  May 2, 2019 I’ve got the updated Pathways Paths and Projects Catalog V3!  It includes the 11th Pathway – Engaging Humor – and more information about the Mentoring program and the DTM requirements. Download it now! Thanks to George Marshall DTM for putting it together! *Mark Snow is a DTM in the traditional program and the first Pathways DTM in the world.  Thanks, Mark, for letting me share your work here on Toastmasters 101.   The post Pathways Catalog and Reference Guide appeared first on Toastmasters101.

In the last podcast, I talked about the Pathways assessment.  I mentioned you’re not stuck with their recommendations if you don’t like the results of your assessment. There are plenty of reasons not to like the choices they offer you.  A 25 question assessment is only so good.  It doesn’t read your mind or know your future. While I see the assessment produce good results most of the time, there’s no reason that you have to blindly accept them. Pathways Names I’m going to be honest here.  I think some of the names of the pathways are… cliche?  Unclear?  Exactly what does Visionary Communication mean? When I got that from my first time taking the assessment, I had no idea what that meant.  Are we talking about leadership or communication?  Storytelling or how to do PR?  I didn’t find the title very helpful. I know I’m not alone.  I’ve talked to a number of new and experienced Toastmasters who have said the same things.  “Word salad” and “leadership jargon” were among the comments. I think it’s unfortunate that the titles don’t convey their scope or purpose.  However, that doesn’t mean that the pathway fails to provide a positive education.  It does mean that we have to get more information to make a smart decision. Why was Visionary Communication recommended to me?  I think because Presentation Mastery is an introduction to public speaking skills, and I, as a DTM, have already gotten through the basics.  So when I answered the questions in the assessment that I am extremely comfortable writing and presenting speeches, the recommendation wasn’t going to be for Presentation Mastery.  Visionary Communication is the logical next step for me… without ignoring the need of the beginner who finds that title more inspiring or more appealing. The Results of Your Assessment You’ve got three choices in front of you.  We’ll call them A, B, and C. A may represent more of your vision for what you came to Toastmasters to learn.  Whether it’s public speaking or leadership skills, it sounds good.  In fact, it’s exciting! B looks… challenging.  It’s not what you expected.  Instead of being the obvious choice, it’s a bit out there.  Maybe more than you think you want.  Or maybe not.  You’re intrigued. C is out of left field.  What on earth did you say that got that result? In this situation, it’s pretty easy to throw out C and stick with A. Not that I’m discounting C. The Power of the Unexpected That C option – the one out of left field?  – might be easy to dismiss.  Here’s why you might want to consider it after all. It might be that one project in the Pathway corresponds specifically to a need you expressed during the assessment.  I have horrible time management skills – it’s been a lifelong battle.  I wouldn’t have thought that Leadership Development was a pathway for me – but there it was.  Why?  Because time management is a specific project in that Pathway. And that’s why I picked Leadership Development as my first pathway. What’s the difference? But what if you get Dynamic Leadership and Leadership Development?  How do you choose? You need more information.  Toastmasters provides more information about each Pathway on the website.  Go to toastmasters.org/Start-Pathways/Recommendations for a list of the Paths.  Click on each one to get more information about the path.  Do the projects listed sound like what you want or need to work on?  If you’re trying to decide between Dynamic Leadership and Leadership Development, you’ll see that the differences between them aren’t significant until Level 3.  But at that point, one might be more attractive to you. Are the results of your assessment wrong? If none of the recommendations appeals to you, or if you’ve already chosen the Pathway you want, go for it. You are not bound by the results of your assessment. You can pick whatever Pathway you want. But the most important thing is that you decide.  Don’t wait around!  If you make a selection today and tomorrow discover that you want something else, you have 30 days to change without any additional charges.  The work you do on the first pathway is the same across all Pathways.  You won’t be wasting your time or effort. Wait, you want more information?  Next, I’ll talk about some resources… and how you can find them to help you decide.     The post Don’t Like the Results of Your Assessment? appeared first on Toastmasters101.

Can contests make you a better speaker?  Donald Kelly says it does for him. Donald Kelly is the sales evangelist.  Actually, that’s the name of his business, his website, and his podcast.  He’s a successful salesman who has taken his expertise and built his own business with it.  Donald’s not only known for his business – he competed at the 2016 International Speech Contest at the World Championship of Public Speaking. Friends introduced Toastmasters to Donald several years ago, which then led to his taking the stage at Podcast Movement as the MC of the foremost podcasting conference in the world.  He has introduced podcasters such as Adam Curry, John Lee Dumas, and Pat Flynn. We took some time to talk about contests, in particular, the International Speech Contest.  Donald explained the sequence from club contest to international stage, his methods of preparing and his biggest piece of advice. Happy Toastmasters New Year! The Toastmasters year runs from July 1 to June 30 the following calendar year.  That means you’ve probably just elected new officers, the district officers have changed (maybe just changed jobs at the top level of the district) and you’ve got a new area director who’s checking out your club.  Make that person welcome when they come by, won’t you?  They’re pretty nervous about visiting and don’t know your club culture.  They want to help you succeed and have access to support that can help your club.   Advanced Manual Reviews I’m still looking for DTMs to interview about their favorite advanced manuals. We have already covered: Storytelling Special Occasion Speeches Communicating with Video Public Relations If you want to talk about an advanced manual, I’d like to give you the chance before the Pathways roll out is completed.  Just fill out the form and I’ll be in touch.   [contact-form-7] by The post Can Contests Make Me a Better Speaker? appeared first on On the Table - Topics for Toastmasters.

District 10 had the honor of hosting Toastmasters International President-Elect Balraj Arunasalam for several days before the Spring District  Conference.  He kindly consented to an interview to talk about the organization of Toastmasters International, the move from California to Colorado and, of course, Pathways. Balraj Arunasalam Biography.   Toastmaster Arunasalam came from Colombo, Western Province, Sri Lanka, where he is chairman/managing director of Gemtrans Engineering Company. Toastmaster Arunasalam is a member of the Toastmasters International Executive Committee and Board of Directors.  He is a “working ambassador” for Toastmasters and works with the Board to develop and support the policies and procedures that guide Toastmasters International in fulfilling its mission.  This August, he is on track to be elected the International President of Toastmasters for 2017-2018. A dedicated Toastmaster for 27 years, Toastmaster Arunasalam is a member of two clubs, including his home club Colombo Toastmasters. A distinguished leader, Toastmaster Arunasalam has held numerous offices from club through the international level: He served as International Director 2011 to 2013,  Second Vice President 2014-2015 and First Vice-President 2015-2016. He holds the Distinguished Toastmaster designation—the highest level of educational achievement in Toastmasters International. “Toastmasters is a way of life,” Toastmaster Arunasalam says. “It helped me understand the philosophy of leadership, to give and receive respect, and to be humble.” Toastmaster Arunasalam delivered a keynote in the morning of our conference, and an educational workshop in the afternoon.     by The post President-Elect Balraj Arunasalam appeared first on On the Table - Topics for Toastmasters.

We continue our conversation with Region 6 Regional Advisor Carol Prahinski about being an exceptional club coach. Toastmasters International Supplies for Club Coaches You must be a member of Toastmasters to access these materials. Toastmasters has a number of supplies available to assist a club coach. The Club Coach Recruitment poster has the basics of the job. The First Class Club Coach is an hour long program to train club coaches. This assessment form can help identify the problems a club needs to address. How to Rebuild a Toastmasters Club is a PDF download of the plan for a club coach to follow. Leading the Club to Success:  Club Officer Training includes the presentation Club Success Plan that a club coach could give to a struggling club. Club Coach Help If you’re working with a struggling club, you have many resources available.  The Club Growth Director will be able to give you a hand, but don’t ignore previous club coaches.  Even the ones who didn’t have a successful experience will have some words of wisdom to give you. The member who takes on the coaching position is accepting a lot of challenges low membership poor attitudes lack of commitment to the Toastmasters program failure to manage the paperwork. The biggest challenge is for the coach, however, is to avoid doing all the work themselves.  Rebuilding the club has to be the work of the members, not the coach.  This hands-off management may frustrate the more active of us (I know it frustrated me!) but by letting the club handle the problems with guidance will teach them how to handle things when the same situation again.  The ultimate goal of a coach isn’t just to get five goals of the Distinguished Club Program,  but to build a healthy club that will continue on into the future. Announcements: BALRAJ ARUNASALAM, DTM Balraj Arunasalam DTM, the president-elect of Toastmasters International, will be the keynote speaker at the District 10 Spring 2017 conference.  You can get more details about the conference at District10.org.     Our music today is from River Valley Breakdown Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ by The post How to Be an Exceptional Club Coach, Part 2 appeared first on On the Table - Topics for Toastmasters.

Club Coach: The Big Challenge The goal of a club coach is to take a club in trouble up to the Distinguished Club Award level.  To be a successful Club Coach takes a set of skills that most of us don’t have without work and determination.  That delicate balance between confrontation and encouragement challenges us.  I think a lot of Toastmasters find this the most difficult task in the trek to the Distinguished Toastmaster Award.  Certainly, this requirement can take the longest – up to two years. A club coach can’t just be assigned to a club.  The club must request a club coach from the Club Growth Director. Often, the club coach is a last-ditch effort by the club and the district to keep a club viable and restore it to health. Walking into a club that’s low on membership can be daunting.  The problems facing this club may be entrenched in the club culture or leadership.  Addressing the needs of the club might be painful to the current members.  The effective club coach isn’t just about rebuilding the membership – the task requires not just a head count but a commitment to long-term success. Walking into a club that’s low on membership can be daunting.  The problems facing this club may be entrenched in the club culture or leadership.  Addressing the needs of the club might be painful to the current members. Both the club coaches and the club have to be ready to do some hard work to make the club successful again.  While the club members do the work, the club coach needs to be creative and listening to everyone. The effective club coach isn’t just about rebuilding the membership – the task requires not just a head count but a commitment to long-term success. Carol Prahinski, Region 6 Regional Advisor Carol Prahinski has successfully brought several clubs back from the brink.  She’s currently working a university club in Michigan that’s starting with eight members.  She’s sharing her experience with us after presenting her webinar How to Be an Exception Club Coach to several of the districts in Region 6, where she currently serves as the Regional Advisor. Carol is a three-time DTM who has served as a District Governor.  She is a professor at Michigan State University in the business school.  She and her husband Flemming were recently featured on the St. Vincent Catholic Charities blog with the story of how they married. Announcements District 10 is having the Spring 2017 Conference on April 29, 2017, at the Hilton Garden Inn in Mayfield Village.  We’re looking for volunteers to help chair the committees.   If you’re up for the challenge, go to District10.org and contact organizers Lenard Taylor and Tony Green today! “Furious Freak” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Sweeter Vermouth Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ by The post Techniques to be an Exceptional Club Coach appeared first on On the Table - Topics for Toastmasters.

Advanced Manual Reviews Continues… Special Occasion Speeches Advanced Manual The five projects are: The Roast The Introduction Giving Praise Presenting an Award Receiving an Award A roast is a speech given in honor of a specific person who is the subject of some good-natured ribbing and insults.  This tradition had nearly died out until Comedy Central started up roasts in the 2000s.  It’s now a semi-annual event. An excellent resource on roasts can be found at the ProHumorist blog. The blogger discusses roasts and Toastmasters, which makes it very helpful to any Toastmaster looking for help with the project. Debora Curtis Our guest, Debora Curtis DTM PDG, thinks that this manual is so good that she’s done it twice! Debbie Curtis has served in a multitude of roles in District 10 Toastmasters, including District Governor, Division Governor, Area Governor, LGM, and Finance Manager. She’s served as a conference chair, audit chair, club coach, and sponsored three clubs in District 10.  She’s been a Toastmaster for over 10 years and held every club officer role at least once. Are You Up for an Advanced Manual Review? On the Table – Topics for Toastmasters is looking for DTMs who are willing to talk about their favorite advanced manual.  If you’re willing to give up an hour of your time for an interview, we’d love to talk.  The following advanced manuals are currently up for review: Facilitating Discussion Humorously Speaking Interpersonal Communication Interpretive Reading Persuasive Speaking Speaking to Inform Speeches by Management Technical Presentations The Discussion Leader The Entertaining Speaker Leave us a note here or contact me at onthetablepodcasts@gmail.com and we’ll talk about including your review on our podcast. Sweeter Vermouth Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Deadly Roulette Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ by The post Special Occasion Speeches with Debbie Curtis appeared first on On the Table - Topics for Toastmasters.

You asked for more information about the Advanced Manual series in the recent survey I asked you to fill out.  We’ve done a few, but Storytelling hasn’t been done yet. Here you go! The Storytelling Manual This is Maureen’s bio: Maureen Zappala is a former NASA propulsion engineer, turned professional speaker, and the founder of High Altitude Strategies. She encourages high-performers who struggle with the “Impostor Syndrome,” the internal voice that says “I’m not as smart as everyone thinks I am!”  With a BS in mechanical engineering from the University of Notre Dame, she became the first female and youngest manager of NASA’s Propulsion Systems Laboratory. While most engineers are not known for verbal communication skills, Maureen has shattered that stereotype.  In 2009, she was in the top 10 of 30,000 contestants in the Toastmasters World Championship of Public Speaking contest. She’s the author of “Great Speakers are Not Born. They’re Built” and is working on her next book ““Over-Achiever, Under-Believer: How to Match Your Confidence to Your Competence.” All of those things are true, but what they don’t convey is how easy it is to talk to Maureen.  This interview took place a few days before she left to represent District 10 at the World Championship of Speaking.  She’s happy with her performance there. This manual had a direct impact on her final speeches.  Maureen is a gifted storyteller who knows the value of a great tale and how to make it connect with the audience.  Her stories about the Storytelling Manual will help you decide to try this manual out. District 10 Fall Conference We’re gearing up for our fall conference here in northeastern Ohio.  This time, the Western Division is hosting us at LaCentre in Westlake on November 6, 2016.  Kelly Swanson, one of the keynote speakers at the International Toastmasters Convention in August, 2016, is our keynote speaker too! We’ve got exciting news about changes from Toastmasters International, a great lineup of education sessions, a fabulous DTM minting ceremony and two contests – Humorous Speeches and Table Topics. Tickets are available at District10.org. by The post Storytelling: Advanced Manual Review with Maureen Zappala appeared first on On the Table - Topics for Toastmasters.