Monday, February 14, 2022

Of Course!

As Toastmasters, we all make commitments to occupy roles in our meetings. We progress through the educational programs by evaluating at one meeting, speaking at another, and serving other roles at other meetings. We do it because in the the world outside Toastmasters we want to be ready.

When members are unable to fill a role, the Toastmaster will be forced to rework the agenda at the last moment. This cannot always be avoided. People don't show up or aren't ready if they do. One speaker isn't ready, another doesn't show up. Suddenly, a promising meeting is replaced by a backup plan. My advice is to be able to step into any role at any time, to be the backup plan. Recognize it as an opportunity and say “of course!” By doing so, you can accelerate your progress and enhance your reputation while the whole club benefits by better meetings.

You may be thinking it's only a club meeting so what's the problem? The problem is that it's an opportunity. You get to choose if it is an opportunity to relax or an opportunity to grow. If you punt on this, you use it as an opportunity to practice punting. There will be bigger opportunities with higher stakes and this is your chance to prepare.

Area Contests

Twice a year, Toastmasters offers a series of contests in clubs, between clubs, and across various levels of the organization. Some members compete seriously, some enjoy the show, and some psy no attention at all. Entire clubs, sometimes entire areas, don't participate. This is another opportunity to grow that people overlook.

My friend Kate Gaylord came to an area contest to give the target speech for the evaluation contest. It turned out that nobody was there to compete. Someone else gave a speech for Kate to evaluate and in three minutes she qualified for the Division Evaluation contest.

Like all Toastmasters contests, the evaluation contest is judged. In addition to getting some tips on evaluation, Kate studied the judges scoring criteria. This led to three big takeaways:

Don't try to be smart or clever at the target speaker's expense. Some. people do this even though it is both common sense and common courtesy. Their names typically follow phrases like "also competing were..."

Focus on the biggest takeaway you can offer the speaker for improvement. As you get into higher levels of the contest better target speakers are found and this becomes more challenging.

Finally, assume the judges are busy and will get only a minute to score your evaluation. One of the scoring criteria was quality of your summation. Hint: make sure they know you have a summary. If only some of the judges score this zero (missing) you've left easy points on the stage.

Shortly thereafter, Kate won the Division contest, this time against actual competition. At the District contest she evaluated a target speech presented by a visiting International Director.

Two tried to be smart or clever and earned their spot at the bottom of the also competing list.

One gave a solid evaluation but didn't offer a clear summation--good enough for third place.

The top two also offered actual thoughts for improving the speech. I thought Kate's suggestion wax better and the judges agreed. Kate went home as District Evaluation Champion. I got to pass my private scorecard around the table,correctly predicting the top three places in the correct order.

Kate richly deserved the result for her fine effort, but none of it could have happened without her willingness to step up. Here's another example where stakes were higher.

COCACM Symposium

In 1985, I was both a new employee at Battelle Columbus Laboratories and an active member of the local computing society COCACM. When COCACM scheduled its annual symposium at Battelle’s 500 seat auditorium, I became the de facto liaison between the two organizations for the event.

The Symposium was the chapter’s fundraiser for the year. It featured four presenters providing various perspectives on a state of the art theme. Columbus had been a computing hub for several years, and the one day event had a long history of filling the auditorium and putting on a quality event.

Out of town presenters were not paid to speak, but COCACM covered their meals, lodging and travel. Since the symposium was a day-long event, we asked them to come in the day before for a dinner party with event organizers. Two of them, scheduled for afternoon presentations, decided to fly in the morning of the event to save themselves time and us a night’s expenses. The two morming presenters were our guests the evening of Thursday May 16, 1985.

At midnight, a pilots strike began, leaving thousands of people grounded, including our afternoon presenters. As the Sun rose, hundreds of attendees filled the auditorium. Half our program was out of town, stranded, in an age that predated cell phones.

While the auditorium settled in to listen to the first presenter, a few of us held a quiet but tense meeting in the lobby. Our morning events were on track and lunch would be ready, but our afternoon? It wasn’t up in the air. It was grounded.

At this moment, John Fried suggested that he might be able to find an alternative presenter. John wasn’t my boss; he was four steps up the management hierarchy. Battelle at the time had a collection of leading edge software projects. Would we like a public version of one of them? Yes, please. A few minutes later, Richard Darwin got a call. Could he pull together a presentation and spend the afternoon with an auditorium full of computer geeks? Of course! It was an opportunity (and John Fried was asking).

Battelle is internationally famous as a think tank that turns science projects into real-world technology. At the time, this included computer systems. Darwin’s role was to market Battelle’s capabilities to anyone who might be interested. What was the topic of the event? No problem.

While the audience was escorted to lunch and Darwin was preparing, we were still one presenter short. The contingency plan was a round table discussio but dhortly after Darwin began one of our missing afternoon presenters walked through the door with suitcase in tow. He had gone through who knows what and arrived in time to fill our last gap. The other presenter was unable to get through.

In the end, the audience got its day of presentations, COCACM had raised its funds for another year, and my employer had made a big splash to a valuable community. The feedback sheets gave highest results to Richard Darwin’s presentation. Everybody went home happy, albeit through the airline strike for our out of town presenters.

In Summary…

Not all spontaneous opportunities are going to be public triumphs. As meeting planners, we want to have a plan and a backup plan, but even then we may need to make the best of a bad situation.

As individuals, we can an should be ready to meet our commitments and when unexpected opportunities arise to cheerfully say “of course!”

Monday, May 11, 2015

Mentoring and Feedback

One essential feature of every self correcting system is the ability to collect, process and use feedback. When we first learn to drive a car, we over correct until we learn how to adapt to the feedback the wheel is giving us. Feedback makes it possible for us to stand and walk.

We include teachers in the educational system in part to provide feedback. While it is possible to figure out a subject like mathematics from first principles, the formal teaching tools of mentoring and feedback are far more efficient. We use mentoring and teaching to learn, practice to build experience, and feedback to understand that experience.

It is no accident that the Toastmasters program has these features, and no accident that it works well. We are taught by the example of others, mentored by those further along the path, and practice by actively working our way through the program.

In Toastmasters, the key feedback tool is evaluation. Evaluation is a skill in itself, a skill a skill we will develop here. Let's start by defining evaluation and recognizing its limits.

A Toastmasters Evaluation is a two to three minute analysis of a speech, focusing on what a speaker did well and offering some feedback to grow on. To do this, an evaluator must listen carefully, analyze quickly and summarize effectively. These essays offer a model for doing all of that.

As we grow, we learn to handle feedback more effectively. Since we are working with people at many different skill levels and trying to build a cohesive group, the kind of feedback we offer at Toastmasters is focused and limited. There can be value in going beyond those limits, but for now let's define those limits and stay within them.

A Toastmasters evaluation is your chance to change a life in three minutes.

Three minutes isn't enough time to do a complete feedback on a speech. The model I'm sharing suggests you don't even try. Focus instead on one simple goal.

Find and share the most important thing the speaker needs to know about the speech.

This book offers a step by step process for finding and sharing that that.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Do You Use Social Networking?

As Toastmasters, our clubs provide a structure for face to face networking that is hard to match. Our fellow members learn a lot about us through our speeches, our evaluations, our table topics, and our participation in club activities. We learn about them as they become friends and a part of our business network. We find ourselves on club email lists and websites. Does it make sense to invite them into our online social networks as well? Which ones?

I would answer this question with an enthusiastic but qualified yes. The enthusiastic part (yesss!) is because this helps make you a hub in the network, allowing your fellow members to connect indirectly with other people in your life, creating weak ties that benefit all. It also provides a way of promoting each other and your Toastmasters activities to a larger network. The qualified yes (yeees...) acknowledges that this isn't worth creating and maintaining a network you don't participate in anyway. That is, joining a network exclusively to connect with Toastmasters dilutes or eliminates the benefits of participating.

Here are a couple networks I use. If you are too, I recommend reaching into your Toastmasters contacts (including me) with them.

Professional Networking

LinkedIn is more than a resume exchange and distribution service. If you use it to promote your professional activities, the word can spread. I connect with other Toastmasters here because these are the kind of connections LinkedIn is designed to work with. On LinkedIn, I will connect with any Toastmaster. If you want to connect to me, my profile is here: http://linkd.in/1EMGNZR

Club Networking

I recommend that your club set up a club Facebook page and use it to announce events and describe activities. Members should connect with the club page for the club's benefit and with each other as friends as they see fit. Here, I am more selective about who I connect with.

Other Options

Do you videorecord your speeches? If so, you can post them on YouTube and create a personal or club YouTube channel.

Where else on the Internet do you show up? If you use Google+, Pinterest, or something else to connect with your Toastmasters network, leave a comment below and let everyone know where, how and why.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

An Irish Blessing for Toastmasters

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

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/.

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.

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.