May your table topics always be brilliant,
May your evaluations always be insightful,
And may you be walking off the stage before the Devil knows you're giving a speech!
Happy St. Patriicks Day!
Jay Elkes, DTM
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Notes from a Champion
2001 Champion of World Speaking Darren LaCroix gave a workshop in New Albany OH on April 23, 2011. Here are my notes from the event with my thoughts.
“Habits are like train tracks. They’re hard to get into place — but once you do, they’ll take you wherever you want to go.” Attributed to Patricia Fripp.
Be inspired by those who have achieved greatness, but don’t compare yourself to them. Instead, compare yourself to those at the same level or, better yet, to your own past performance.
Experts think differently from others, leading them to different habits, which is why they get different results.
There are two types of feedback:
1. What I thought and felt (which anyone can provide)
2. Coaching feedback requiring a specialist.
Your goal in developing a habit is to change your subconscious.
Many Toastmasters make the mistake of starting a new speech when they receive feedback when they should take what they have and make it better. LaCroix used the Toastmasters championship to pull out and polish segments of one larger keynote address. Professional speakers find new audiences, not new speeches.
99% of all coaching is about clarity. Is your message clear and consistent?
Winners of the world championship built a five minute speech up to seven minutes. Most of their competitors cut a nine minute speech to seven. A seven minute speech has enough time to get one idea across, and Craig Valentine believes you shoul;d be able to say it in no more than 10 words.
Get the attention of the audience in the first thirty seconds – a suspenseful CSI opening. The Toastmaster’s job is to deal with welcomes; yours is to get to the point.
Use dialog (even internal dialog) rather than narration.
Don’t be the hero of your own story –credit a guru you learned something from.
I’ve heard and used the idea of having a personal “I” centered story leading to a “you” centered message. LaCroix recommends starting with a “you” focused question so audience members get an idea of how the story pertains to them before getting into the story. He credits Craig Valentine, who calls this “tap and transport” (tap their consciousness and transport them into your story).
When used, the question should be directed at one audience member. Do not ask “how many …” which can only be answered with a number. If you want a number, still ask it one-on-one and raise a hand to suggest audience members do the same.
The audience judges the stability of your message based on your movement. While you want to use the stage effectively during the speech, start by standing perfectly still. It doesn’t matter what you say – it only matters what the audience sees when you say it. Patricia Fripp
Each character in a story needs to be seen and felt. Offer one visual characteristic and one emotional point, leaving the rest for the audience to fill in. This is much easier to do than creating a distinct voice for each character.
Describe a situation from its VAKS:
• Visual (what you’d see)
• Auditory (what you’d hear)
• Kinesthetic (what you’d feel)
• Smell
You can find out more about Darren and his resources at http://darrenlacroix.com/.
“Habits are like train tracks. They’re hard to get into place — but once you do, they’ll take you wherever you want to go.” Attributed to Patricia Fripp.
Be inspired by those who have achieved greatness, but don’t compare yourself to them. Instead, compare yourself to those at the same level or, better yet, to your own past performance.
Experts think differently from others, leading them to different habits, which is why they get different results.
There are two types of feedback:
1. What I thought and felt (which anyone can provide)
2. Coaching feedback requiring a specialist.
Your goal in developing a habit is to change your subconscious.
Many Toastmasters make the mistake of starting a new speech when they receive feedback when they should take what they have and make it better. LaCroix used the Toastmasters championship to pull out and polish segments of one larger keynote address. Professional speakers find new audiences, not new speeches.
99% of all coaching is about clarity. Is your message clear and consistent?
Winners of the world championship built a five minute speech up to seven minutes. Most of their competitors cut a nine minute speech to seven. A seven minute speech has enough time to get one idea across, and Craig Valentine believes you shoul;d be able to say it in no more than 10 words.
Get the attention of the audience in the first thirty seconds – a suspenseful CSI opening. The Toastmaster’s job is to deal with welcomes; yours is to get to the point.
Use dialog (even internal dialog) rather than narration.
Don’t be the hero of your own story –credit a guru you learned something from.
I’ve heard and used the idea of having a personal “I” centered story leading to a “you” centered message. LaCroix recommends starting with a “you” focused question so audience members get an idea of how the story pertains to them before getting into the story. He credits Craig Valentine, who calls this “tap and transport” (tap their consciousness and transport them into your story).
When used, the question should be directed at one audience member. Do not ask “how many …” which can only be answered with a number. If you want a number, still ask it one-on-one and raise a hand to suggest audience members do the same.
The audience judges the stability of your message based on your movement. While you want to use the stage effectively during the speech, start by standing perfectly still. It doesn’t matter what you say – it only matters what the audience sees when you say it. Patricia Fripp
Each character in a story needs to be seen and felt. Offer one visual characteristic and one emotional point, leaving the rest for the audience to fill in. This is much easier to do than creating a distinct voice for each character.
Describe a situation from its VAKS:
• Visual (what you’d see)
• Auditory (what you’d hear)
• Kinesthetic (what you’d feel)
• Smell
You can find out more about Darren and his resources at http://darrenlacroix.com/.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Ron Arden Speaking Tips
From Patricia Fripp's Interview with Ron Arden
Champion's Edge June 2010
1. Be Loud. put in vocal energy. Speak a bit louder than you think comfortable.
2. Eye Contact. Give each person 3 to 6 words.
3. Hands speak. Move elbows to side to increase gesture size.
4. Move. If you can't step, pivot as you switch eye contact. Give a slice of attention.
5. Silence is powerful. Give listener time to process.
Champion's Edge June 2010
1. Be Loud. put in vocal energy. Speak a bit louder than you think comfortable.
2. Eye Contact. Give each person 3 to 6 words.
3. Hands speak. Move elbows to side to increase gesture size.
4. Move. If you can't step, pivot as you switch eye contact. Give a slice of attention.
5. Silence is powerful. Give listener time to process.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Assignment Guide: General Evaluator
The role of General Evaluator may e the most difficult at the meeting. You need to simultaneously observe and take notes on everything that happens and serve as the host for the evaluation portion of the meeting.
It is your responsibility to call for prepared speaker evaluations by the designated evaluator on the day's agenda.
Make appropriate comments on the conduct and quality of the meeting. Plan on about two minutes maximum for this function.
Evaluate the evaluators, not the speakers. Make your comments on their presentation, organization and the completeness of their evaluations.
The evaluation of the meeting and the evaluators should be at least 3 minutes and not more than 4 minutes.
The following hints outline one way to approach the job of being General Evaluator. You may prefer to develop your own technique.
Use the Agenda to keep track of who the assigned speakers are and who is assigned as evaluator.
On the back side of the Agenda, draw a vertical line down the middle of the page. The left side of the page will be used to keep notes on speakers, the right side on evaluators.
Create a row for each speaker/evaluator pair. If there are three speakers, you will end up with six boxes, three rows of two columns.
In each of the boxes on the left side, write the name of the speaker assigned to that place in the speaking sequence. Most of the space will be used to keep notes, so write only big enough to read the name. The corresponding box on the right side should be given the name of the assigned evaluator. This lets you keep track of which evaluator is assigned to which speech.
As each speaker presents his/her speech, make notes on things you think should be evaluation points in that speakers's box.
As each evaluator presents the evaluation, check off the points you noticed and make note of any you didn't. Keep notes on the evaluator's presentation and organization. Remember that you are commenting on the evaluator, not the speaker.
It is your responsibility to call for prepared speaker evaluations by the designated evaluator on the day's agenda.
Make appropriate comments on the conduct and quality of the meeting. Plan on about two minutes maximum for this function.
Evaluate the evaluators, not the speakers. Make your comments on their presentation, organization and the completeness of their evaluations.
The evaluation of the meeting and the evaluators should be at least 3 minutes and not more than 4 minutes.
The following hints outline one way to approach the job of being General Evaluator. You may prefer to develop your own technique.
Use the Agenda to keep track of who the assigned speakers are and who is assigned as evaluator.
On the back side of the Agenda, draw a vertical line down the middle of the page. The left side of the page will be used to keep notes on speakers, the right side on evaluators.
Create a row for each speaker/evaluator pair. If there are three speakers, you will end up with six boxes, three rows of two columns.
In each of the boxes on the left side, write the name of the speaker assigned to that place in the speaking sequence. Most of the space will be used to keep notes, so write only big enough to read the name. The corresponding box on the right side should be given the name of the assigned evaluator. This lets you keep track of which evaluator is assigned to which speech.
As each speaker presents his/her speech, make notes on things you think should be evaluation points in that speakers's box.
As each evaluator presents the evaluation, check off the points you noticed and make note of any you didn't. Keep notes on the evaluator's presentation and organization. Remember that you are commenting on the evaluator, not the speaker.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Assignment Guide: Toastmaster
A general outline of the Toastmasters duties can be found in your "Communications and Leadership Program" manual. However, there are some points which need to be highlighted.
Duties
When you preside, you are responsible for the meeting's success or failure. It is up to you, in meeting this function, to be sure participants are present and prepared.
You should have appropriate comments at the opening of the meeting, after you have been introduced by the opener, to set the stage -- especially if you have a theme.
You are responsible for the introduction of each speaker, the Table Topics Master, and the General Evaluator.
You will be introducing each of your assistants and having each assistant explain his/her own role.
Remember to notify the Timer if there is a change in the time limit for any portion of your meeting.
When introducing the Grammarian, be sure to ask for the word of the day.
Call for the vote for Best Speaker and Best Table Topic Speaker prior to the scheduled evaluations.
When control of the meeting is returned to you by the General Evaluator, call for the vote for Best Evaluator if the General Evaluator has not done it.
Ask for assistants reports, if not done by the General Evaluator.
Return control of the meeting to the President (VP of Education if President absent).
Important Points to Remember
Start calling your assigned people at least one week in advance of your meeting. Make sure they remember their assignments with a follow-up call the morning of the meeting. Use voice-mail or email as much as possible to reduce your workload.
If you have trouble getting at least two speakers, call the VP of Education to ask whether anyone has volunteered to do additional speaking.
Keep the tempo of the meeting going.
Prepare your agenda early. Prepare yourself to conduct an interesting and successful meeting. Agendas should go out by email the Monday before the meeting. Members who don't have email should be sent an agenda by US Mail the Friday before the meeting.
Toastmasters who do not have access to Battelle email or voice-mail should coordinate with a Battelle staff member for these services. This will greatly reduce your workload.
Duties
When you preside, you are responsible for the meeting's success or failure. It is up to you, in meeting this function, to be sure participants are present and prepared.
You should have appropriate comments at the opening of the meeting, after you have been introduced by the opener, to set the stage -- especially if you have a theme.
You are responsible for the introduction of each speaker, the Table Topics Master, and the General Evaluator.
You will be introducing each of your assistants and having each assistant explain his/her own role.
Remember to notify the Timer if there is a change in the time limit for any portion of your meeting.
When introducing the Grammarian, be sure to ask for the word of the day.
Call for the vote for Best Speaker and Best Table Topic Speaker prior to the scheduled evaluations.
When control of the meeting is returned to you by the General Evaluator, call for the vote for Best Evaluator if the General Evaluator has not done it.
Ask for assistants reports, if not done by the General Evaluator.
Return control of the meeting to the President (VP of Education if President absent).
Important Points to Remember
Start calling your assigned people at least one week in advance of your meeting. Make sure they remember their assignments with a follow-up call the morning of the meeting. Use voice-mail or email as much as possible to reduce your workload.
If you have trouble getting at least two speakers, call the VP of Education to ask whether anyone has volunteered to do additional speaking.
Keep the tempo of the meeting going.
Prepare your agenda early. Prepare yourself to conduct an interesting and successful meeting. Agendas should go out by email the Monday before the meeting. Members who don't have email should be sent an agenda by US Mail the Friday before the meeting.
Toastmasters who do not have access to Battelle email or voice-mail should coordinate with a Battelle staff member for these services. This will greatly reduce your workload.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Verbal, Written, and Followup Evaluations
As a speech evaluator, you have the chance to give the speaker three different evaluations. Each has its place but trying tomake do with just one evaluation can be a recipie for disaster.
The most common evaluation is the 2 to 3 minute verbal evaluation. Verbal evaluations may be the most signifcant of the three because you can'tbe sure the speaker will pay attention to the other two. Other members and guests also hear this. Although you may have many things to comment on, I suggest you focus your verbal evaluation on the single most mportant thing you can share with the speaker. This provides a clea message to the speaker while avoiding two traps an evaluator might stumble into.
Some evaluators try to offer two or more points to grow on. While I understand the desire to shre as much as possible with both the speaker and the audience, there isn't enough time in the verbal evaluation to cover more than one point. If a fully prepared seven minute speech can effectively address only one point, why do you think a hastily pepared evaluation can do better? Put as many points as you want in the written evaluation or a followup discssion.
Another common error is to verbalize the notes you took during the speech. My main complaing with this plan is that the speaker will get the written notes anyway. I saw one evaluator literally walk down the evaluation list. "I gave you a 3 for this, a two for that ..., etc." Neiher the speaker nor the audience learns anything useful with this kind of evaluation.
While your verbal evaluation needs to clearly focus on a single poin togrow on, the written evalation can and should give as mych deail as possible. Unless the verbal evaluaion is recorded, he written version is the only one the speaker can look back on hee days later. Be encouraging, but specific. We tell speakers to write their speeches but not read them. The same holds true for evaluations.
Finally, you can offer more thoughts verbally after the meeting. The advantage of these evaluations is the combination of depth and clarity. Unfortunately, these evaluations are rarely done because schedules are so packed. At its best, this becomes a conversation between speaker and evaluator where the speech can be analyzed in detail.
I think the General Evaluator should use this as part of the general evaluation. Did the evaluator pick a point to grow on (good) , offer too many points to grow on (bad) or none at all (worse)? Help the evaluator give the information in the best context available.
The most common evaluation is the 2 to 3 minute verbal evaluation. Verbal evaluations may be the most signifcant of the three because you can'tbe sure the speaker will pay attention to the other two. Other members and guests also hear this. Although you may have many things to comment on, I suggest you focus your verbal evaluation on the single most mportant thing you can share with the speaker. This provides a clea message to the speaker while avoiding two traps an evaluator might stumble into.
Some evaluators try to offer two or more points to grow on. While I understand the desire to shre as much as possible with both the speaker and the audience, there isn't enough time in the verbal evaluation to cover more than one point. If a fully prepared seven minute speech can effectively address only one point, why do you think a hastily pepared evaluation can do better? Put as many points as you want in the written evaluation or a followup discssion.
Another common error is to verbalize the notes you took during the speech. My main complaing with this plan is that the speaker will get the written notes anyway. I saw one evaluator literally walk down the evaluation list. "I gave you a 3 for this, a two for that ..., etc." Neiher the speaker nor the audience learns anything useful with this kind of evaluation.
While your verbal evaluation needs to clearly focus on a single poin togrow on, the written evalation can and should give as mych deail as possible. Unless the verbal evaluaion is recorded, he written version is the only one the speaker can look back on hee days later. Be encouraging, but specific. We tell speakers to write their speeches but not read them. The same holds true for evaluations.
Finally, you can offer more thoughts verbally after the meeting. The advantage of these evaluations is the combination of depth and clarity. Unfortunately, these evaluations are rarely done because schedules are so packed. At its best, this becomes a conversation between speaker and evaluator where the speech can be analyzed in detail.
I think the General Evaluator should use this as part of the general evaluation. Did the evaluator pick a point to grow on (good) , offer too many points to grow on (bad) or none at all (worse)? Help the evaluator give the information in the best context available.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Meeting Assignment Guide - All Members
Check the schedule. It is your responsibility to check your schedule each week to determine your assignment. You should inform the Toastmaster, as early as possible, if you will or will not be present and prepared to fulfill your assignment.
Attend as often as possible. It is important to understand that if you are not assigned to a meeting function, or will not be prepared to meet your assignment, you should still attempt to attend the meeting. Your attendance itself has a positive impact on the quality of our club meetings. Every member in attendance provides the audience necessary for the speakers and the Toastmaster. By merely being at the meeting, listening and observing, you learn from your fellow members (both good and bad). A full membership attendance has a positive impact on any visitors and future members. Remember your first impression of your club!
Keep members informed. If you know early that you will be out of town or on vacation, it is your responsibility to inform the VP of Education so you will not be assigned any meeting during the period of absence. Scheduling is a difficult task, one made easier by your cooperation in this matter. Also, you will feel better if you can advise your fellow members of your intended absence. You will more fully realize this when you are scheduled as Toastmaster.
Be ready. If you would like to be a speaker and you were not scheduled for a particular meeting, have a speech prepared and notify the Toastmaster that you would like to be on the agenda if someone cancels. This is an excellent way to stay prepared for your next speech and to advance faster through your manual if you wish.
Keep the Promise. When you joined the club, the application had the Toastmasters Promise. It covers all these responsibilities and more.
Attend as often as possible. It is important to understand that if you are not assigned to a meeting function, or will not be prepared to meet your assignment, you should still attempt to attend the meeting. Your attendance itself has a positive impact on the quality of our club meetings. Every member in attendance provides the audience necessary for the speakers and the Toastmaster. By merely being at the meeting, listening and observing, you learn from your fellow members (both good and bad). A full membership attendance has a positive impact on any visitors and future members. Remember your first impression of your club!
Keep members informed. If you know early that you will be out of town or on vacation, it is your responsibility to inform the VP of Education so you will not be assigned any meeting during the period of absence. Scheduling is a difficult task, one made easier by your cooperation in this matter. Also, you will feel better if you can advise your fellow members of your intended absence. You will more fully realize this when you are scheduled as Toastmaster.
Be ready. If you would like to be a speaker and you were not scheduled for a particular meeting, have a speech prepared and notify the Toastmaster that you would like to be on the agenda if someone cancels. This is an excellent way to stay prepared for your next speech and to advance faster through your manual if you wish.
Keep the Promise. When you joined the club, the application had the Toastmasters Promise. It covers all these responsibilities and more.
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