“While a picture may be worth a thousand words, those words will no doubt come in handy if the picture is distorted or poorly understood. After all, the best way to communicate is through speech.”
If you want to overcome stage fright and learn to speak with confidence, join a Toastmasters club.
—— The Importance of Speaking Skills By Gerald Gillis
While a picture may be worth a thousand words, those words will no doubt come in handy if the picture is distorted or poorly understood. After all, the best way to communicate is through speech.
The four language skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing are all interconnected. Proficiency in each skill is necessary to become a well-rounded communicator, but the ability to speak skillfully provides the speaker with several distinct advantages. The capacity to put words together in a meaningful way to reflect thoughts, opinions, and feelings provides the speaker with these important advantages:
• Ability to inform, persuade, and direct. Business managers, educators, military leaders, lawyers, and politicians, among others, seek to develop their speaking skills to such a level that they are transformed into master communicators. Speaking clearly and confidently can gain the attention of an audience, providing the golden opportunity for the speaker to make the message known. Wise is the speaker who gains and then holds the attention of an audience, with well-chosen words in a well-delivered presentation, forming a message that is effective, informative, and understood.
• Ability to stand out from the rest. When one thinks of speaking skills, one tends to think of it as a common skill. Think again. The ability to stand before others and speak effectively is not an ordinary skill. Many are deathly afraid of public speaking; others have little ability to form thoughts into sentences and then deliver those words in a believable way. The bad news is that at any given moment the world has precious few with the speaking skills of Winston Churchill; the good news is that a speaker with skills that are honed and developed with constant application and hard work can stand out.
• Ability to benefit derivatively. Well-developed verbal skills can increase one’s negotiation skills. Self-confidence is improved. A growing sense of comfort comes from speaking in front of larger and larger audiences. A reputation for excellence in speaking skills can accrue over time, thereby imparting a certain credibility to the speaker.
• Career enhancement. Employers have always valued the ability to speak well. It is, and always will be, an important skill, and well worth the effort in fully developing.
Speaking skills are important for career success, but certainly not limited to one’s professional aspirations. Speaking skills can enhance one’s personal life, thereby bringing about the well-roundedness we all should seek.
Constructive feedback in a Toastmasters meeting contributes to continued skill development, building the confidence a person needs to reach his or her goals. Learn how to critique the performance, not the person.
Tips and Techniques for Effective Evaluation by Toastmasters International
In Toastmasters, feedback is called evaluation, and it is the heart of the Toastmasters
educational program. You observe the speeches of your fellow club members and offer evaluations of their speeches, and they do the same for you. If you want to improve your speaking skills, you must learn how to give and receive helpful evaluations.
Check out the article Evaluating Speeches Tactfully. It is a very good article about how to do evaluation effectively. Here is the introduction of the article.
“Teacher. Guide. Captain.
Evaluation is a systematic determination of a subject’s merit, worth and significance, using criteria governed by a set of standards. Source: Wikipedia.com
What Is Tact?
Tact is the ability to tell the truth in a way that considers other people’s feelings and reactions.
It allows you to give difficult feedback, communicate sensitive information, and say the right thing to preserve a relationship.
You have listened to and observed others and their work and offered feedback
You evaluate in some manner every day, at home, at the office, and in the community.
People join Toastmasters clubs to improve their speaking and leadership skills, and these skills are improved through evaluations.
Members prepare and present speeches based on Pathways
Their fellow club members evaluate the speeches or leadership efforts, enabling the members to develop their speaking or leadership skills.
The tone and content of an evaluation have great impact on the speaker and even on the club.
A harsh evaluation may cause a member to leave the club.
An overly kind evaluation may not help the member to improve, making the member frustrated and unhappy.
Good evaluators strive to find a balance between the extremes, giving evaluations that are helpful and encouraging.
Although most of the time you will be evaluating others in the club, the skills you learn can be applied in all aspects of your life. You will become a better listener and a more critical thinker…” Click hereto the other parts of the article.
Toastmasters – Giving An Evaluation That’s Worth A Darn
How to Give a Great Speech Evaluation in Toastmasters
Join Toastmasters and find a club that you like to practise your speaking skills. You are welcome to visit our Kampong Ubi Toastmasters Club if you are living in Singapore.
Improve Your Listening Skills with Active Listening
Listening is one of the most important skills you can have. Being able to do it well has a positive impact on all aspects of your life, including how effective you are at work.
Research suggests, however, that we only remember 25-50 percent of what we hear, meaning that we could be missing important messages.
Key Points It takes a lot of concentration and determination to be an active listener. Old habits are hard to break, and if your listening skills are as bad as many people’s are, then you’ll need to do a lot of work to break these bad habits.
There are five key techniques you can use to develop your active listening skills:
Pay attention.
Show that you’re listening.
Provide feedback.
Defer judgment.
Respond appropriately.
Start using active listening techniques today to become a better communicator, improve your workplace productivity, and develop better relationships.
Join Toastmasters and find a club that you like to practise your speeches in a friendly environment. You are welcome to visit our Kampong Ubi Toastmasters Club if you are living in Singapore.
To be a good speaker, we need to be a good listener.
The following are some good other resources on active listening skills.
Talk Less and Listen More by the people of Give More Media
Improve Your Results With Active Listening
Listening is one of the most common and important things that we do. Recent research on work behaviour suggests that we spend approximately 9% of our time writing, 16% of our time reading, 30% of our time talking and 45% of our time listening.
Listening is a fundamental part of the communication process. Regardless of the type of job you do or the industry in which you work, it is important to understand the listening process, have an awareness of barriers to listening effectively, and learn how to listen actively.
Listening as a process
Hearing and listening are not the same thing. In fact, hearing is just the first of three stages in the listening process, all of which are fairly obvious but still worth remembering.
– Hearing Simply the process of sound waves being transformed by our brains into impulses.
– Attention Important so that we can hear what is being said to us, but often difficult due to distractions such as noise intrusion or internal distractions such as thinking about something else rather than what is being said.
– Understanding This is the most crucial aspect of the process on a number of levels. As well as understanding what is being said, we need to try to understand the context of the message, and understand the significance of any verbal or non-verbal clues from the speaker. Having a degree of background knowledge regarding the speaker or the subject is also helpful.
Barriers to listening
In most situations, there are a number of obstacles which can stop us from listening effectively, and as a trainer it is important to appreciate what these obstacles are and how to overcome each of them. Broadly speaking, there are four types of barriers to listening –
– Psychological barriers, including prejudice, apathy or fear on the part of the listener. For example, someone working in marketing or production may not be as interested in a presentation on annual financial results as an accountant or sales director, given that it may not directly impact on their day to day activities.
– Physical barriers, including disability, fatigue or poor health on the part of the listener. For example, trying to listen to a speaker for long periods while you are suffering from a heavy cold is a fairly difficult thing to do.
– Environmental barriers, including distracting noises, uncomfortable or poorly positioned seating, or an unsuitable climate such as an overheated, stuffy meeting room.
– Expectation barriers, such as anticipating a mundane or boring presentation, expecting to receive bad news, or being spoken to in confusing jargon.
In a work or educational situation, you can certainly address tangible barriers such as environmental factors or physical obstacles. Dealing with internal barriers can be more difficult, but a lot of this can be achieved by thorough preparation before any meetings or group sessions.
Activelistening
In order to understand the concept and value of activelistening, it is worth considering it as one of three different types of listening.
– Competitive listeningYou will see this most often in negotiation situations, or when politicians are debating with each other. The person being spoken to is more interested in getting their own point of view across when the other person stops speaking, rather than acknowledging what they have just heard. Alternatively, they are distracted by thinking about their own argument or point of view rather than listening properly.
– Passive or attentive listeningThis is always a danger in lecture style presentation sessions. An audience will pay attention to the slides and listen carefully to the speaker, but there is no real opportunity to interact. This means that the speaker may not know how well their message is being understood.
– Activelistening This is the best way to listen for and understand the real message in what people are saying. It involves taking the next step from just listening attentively, by looking to show obvious interest in what the speaker is saying, and by trying to interact with them. As a manager, salesperson or trainer you need to try to use activelistening yourself, and provide opportunities for colleagues, customers and learners to use activelistening techniques as well. This is of particular importance when involved in informal training activities such as coaching and mentoring.
In terms of outlining the techniques which can be used for activelistening, it is useful to think back to the three basic stages of the listening process – hearing, attention and understanding.
Hearing and attention
– First and hopefully obviously, stop talking.
– Try to eliminate as many distractions as possible, both external and internal.
– Try to control your own non-verbal signals to the person speaking. This could mean paying attention to your physical stance, your body movements, eye contact with the speaker, and encouraging motions such as nodding or smiling.
Understanding
– Make sure that you understand the purpose of the speaker, and also be aware of you want from the conversation.
– It also helps to take notes, but try to focus on writing down keywords and phrases that will jog your memory later, rather than trying to write down everything that is being said in an act of dictation.
– If possible, try to ask questions. You can use the notes you have written to remind you of points that need clarification. Try not to interrupt though!
– Finally, try to use the technique of reflecting what the speaker says to you.
Reflecting
This is a technique used extensively by people involved in consultative selling, but it is also a very useful tool for anyone involved in business, education, training or voluntary work. Communication can be broken down into three levels – facts, thoughts (or beliefs) and feelings (or emotions). Reflecting works on all three levels.
– Repeat the facts that you think you have been given by the speaker. This is sometimes referred to as ‘parroting’. If you are right, you know that you are getting the basic elements of what the speaker is telling you. If you have made any mistakes, this gives you both an opportunity to get back on to the same page.
– Also, share the thoughts or beliefs that you have heard, and try to convey the underlying feelings or emotions which you believe are involved. For example, the speaker may be very upset and wants you to display empathy or sympathy with their situation. It is this reflection of thoughts and feelings which distinguishes reflecting from just parroting back to the speaker, which might get a bit tedious and annoying for all concerned.
Again, this is a very useful tool when coaching or mentoring. It can also be used during feedback sessions in a more formal situation such as a performance review meeting.
Speaking in public provides you the opportunity to promote your brand, your company and yourself. It enables you to expand your circle of influence. Yet many people are reluctant to speak before an audience. Here are ten strategies to help you wow and win over audiences, and become a better speaker.
Practice is the key to helping you improve in public speaking.
Join Toastmasters and find a club that you like to practise your speeches in a friendly environment. You are welcome to visit our Kampong Ubi Toastmasters Club if you are living in Singapore.
——
Power Speaking – 10 Strategies to Wow and Win Audiences
By Dawne Simmons
You know the feeling. Your mouth dries. Your palms moisten. Your heartbeat pounds in your ears. Butterflies swoop and soar in your stomach. What’s the cause? You’re about to give a speech. Several studies report that public speaking ranks top among people’s fears. Yet, public speaking also affords you the opportunity to promote your brand, your company and yourself. It enables you to expand your circle of influence. More importantly, public speaking remains a powerful communication tool for your strategic business messages. Here are 10 tips to help you wow and win your audiences, and become a better public speaker.
1. Have something to say. Sounds simple enough. Yet too many speakers merely present encyclopedic reports of facts and figures. Take a stand. Express an opinion. Put your facts in context.
2. Use gentle humor. No, this is not the time to practice your stand-up routine. Try instead to use humorous stories and anecdotes. They can evoke smiles that relax your audience and make them more receptive to your message.
3. Share your personal experiences. You’ve been invited to speak because of your knowledge about a subject. Your experiences – both the successes and stumbles, as well as what you’ve learned from each – add an important human touch.
4. Stay within your allotted time – or even shorter. On the subject of making speeches, Franklin Roosevelt once advised, “Be sincere; be brief; be seated.” Your audience will appreciate your consideration of their time.
5. Allow your personality to shine. Everyone has a personal style – especially you. Allow your manner of speaking to reflect the real you. Are you soft spoken with understated wit? Then don’t try to emulate Carol Burnett or Eddie Murphy. Are you an extrovert with lots of pizzazz? Then it’s a mistake to take on the persona of Queen Elizabeth or Mother Teresa. Make sure it’s your personality that shines in the limelight.
6. Engage your entire body. Use hand gestures, eye contact and facial expressions to get your point across. Whenever possible, move around the stage. Vary your voice with stage whispers or muted yells. Your speech must be more than a dry recitation of facts and opinions. Effective public speaking is a performance that engages the audience. They will appreciate your efforts to keep them entertained.
7. Research your audience. Why is your subject important to them? How will the issue affect their lives? Knowing the answer to those questions enables you to tailor your presentation to the audience’s specific needs.
8. Understand your goals. How do you want your audience to feel after your conclusion? Speeches have the power to persuade, inform, inspire, entertain or move your audience to action. Tailor your remarks to meet both your goals and the audiences’.
9. Practice, practice, practice. Whether you use a full written text, talking points or brief notes, rehearse your remarks. Mark Twain explained that it took him more than three weeks to prepare an impromptu speech. Don’t just read it silently. Speak it aloud. This gives you the opportunity to time your talk and to change words or phrases that trip you up. An added bonus: Practice enables you to transform your anxiety into a poised high-energy performance.
10. Enjoy yourself. Your attitude determines whether public speaking presents stumbling blocks or stepping-stones. Have fun. The more speaking opportunities you accept, the better you’ll become. Like any roller coaster ride, public speaking provides both chills and thrills. Climb aboard. The experience is worth the trip.
Dawne Y. Simmons is president and founder of WordStorm Communications, Inc. With more than 20 years of experience in all areas of corporate communications, she assists company leaders develop and promote their strategic messages. For the last 10 years, she has written speeches, presentations, scripts and other business materials for high-level executives in the corporate, government and not-for-profit sectors. An award-winning speaker, Ms. Simmons assists executives improve their on-stage presence. She provides confidential, private coaching sessions that help business leaders quickly improve their presentation skills.
“There is no one subject that is going to interest every audience at every event. Selecting a topic is a personal journey. It’s where you, your audience and your knowledge matter. Let’s break down the process of finding the best speech topic when you are given the gift of choosing any topic you’d like.”
Step 1: Who’s in Your Audience? The topic you select is to benefit them and provide value. Remember, content is key to creating presentations that audiences love.
Step 2: What Do You Know About? Develop a list of your expertise.
Step 3: What Do You Love? Look through the list of your expertise and circle the topics you feel passionate about.
Step 4: Choose The Best Topic For The Audience And Event You understand your audience, you know what you know and appreciate what you love. Look at the topics you circled. Find the topic that best serves your audience.
If you are a toastmaster, you probably know that the speech projects from the toastmasters manuals describe the ways but do not provide the topics. Check out the below video for helping you to find good speech topics.
Finding Speech Topics Video from Toastmasters International
What should your speech be about? Should you stick to the topics you know, or explore a new subject? Get answers to these questions and more.
1. Talk about your personal experience. 2. Check reference materials like websites, newspapers, books and magazines. 3. Focus on your audience’s needs. 4. Recognize the occasion. 5. Are you qualified to speak on that topic?
Furthermore, I have two additional articles that I would like to share with you. The first one is “Setting Up a Speech Databank – the Real Secrets to Creative Speech Ideas” written by ATM-G Ng Seng Chuan.
Basically, we have to create a speech databank. “Set up an account book for depositing ideas, and you will have a wealth of materials from which to draw inspiration for your speeches.”
As stated in the article, “good ideas abound in life. All we need is a system for harvesting them”. The system is that you have to read widely. How about setting aside half an hour each day for reading. Make time to read and you will be generating ideas.
The next step is that you have to create “thinking time”. How to create the best thinking time? There are two suggestions. First, exercise regularly and you may get interesting ideas. When you are exercising, your mind is free to imagine. Secondly, make use of your “mindless time”. When you are travelling or doing daily routines, you can think clearly. Remember to jot down good ideas when they come, or else you will forget them.
Finally, you have to make time to write. Plan to do one speech a month.
Here is a simple plan as stated in the article.
“Week One: read the manual requirements, and start to think how you are going to fulfill them. Week Two: Settle on a topic, then start to develop a simple speech outline. Week Three: Write out your speech early in the week, then edit and refine. Week Four: Practice and rehearse.”
By setting up your speech databank and following this simple plan, you should have no problem for doing your projects.
Here is the full article.
Setting Up A Speech Databank
(The Real Secret to Creative Speech Ideas!)
By Ng Seng Chuan, ATMG
Many Toastmasters are keen to do their projects but soon run out of ideas. The speech projects prescribe the parameters, but do not provide the topics. And so we wait for the ideas to form for each project, and take years to complete our CTM ranking. This is bad for the club because it sets back the DCP goals; it is also bad for the Toastmaster because it hinders his speech progress. If this is your problem, I have the solution. Read on!
A friend of mine laughs at people who struggle to pay income tax. His strategy is simple. Estimate the tax payable from the beginning of your calendar year and put the money aside on a monthly basis. The result? No matter how much the taxman asks for, you have more than enough to settle the bill.
The same remedy can be used for your Toastmasters project speeches. Create a speech databank! Set up an “account book” for depositing ideas, and you will have a wealth of ideas from which to draw inspiration for your speeches. The secret comes from a Black preacher. A dynamite of a preacher, someone asked him what made him such a powerful speaker. His answer “First ah reads me full, then ah thinks me clear, then ah prays me hot; and then ah let’s go!”. Translated into a formula that will work for a Toastmaster, it goes like this:
1. Read Conscientiously Many of us do not read very widely. To be a good speaker, we have to. If you want something badly, but have no money, what do you do? You make money! Here are some suggestions. How about spending half an hour of your lunch break for reading. It will leave you with interesting ideas to bedazzle your audience. Alternatively, plan to set aside two hours over the weekend for your personal development through reading.
What to read? First read professionally – things related to your area of expertise. This is the easiest place to start. Secondly, read for literary enjoyment! Catch up on the best selling authors, be it fiction or non-fiction. Thirdly, read for cultural development. Books on religion, philosophy and psychology provide a powerful stimulus for quick thinking.
2. Think Creatively In order for you to think clearly, you need to first create mental “play-time”. How do you go about creating “thinking time”? I have two suggestions.
First exercise regularly. While exercising, your body is kept busy, and this is the best time for mental calisthenics! Your brain goes into overdrive (stimulated by the endorphins released into your blood stream), and thinks of the most interesting things. Secondly, maximise on “mindless” time – like when performing daily rituals or when travelling. I often tell my students to use travel time to practise impromptu speech (table topics).
Jot down good ideas when they come, or they will soon disappear from your mental landscape! My best speech ideas often come when I am jogging or cycling, and I have to write them down the moment I can lay my hands on pen and paper.
3. Plan Carefully Where are you in your speech development? Are you on your way to being a better public speaker, or are you just marking time at the Toastmasters Club? One simple way to ensure progress is to set up a system that will compel you to deliver your speeches regularly. My formula is as follows:
Plan to do one speech a month. This will ensure you attain a new ranking every year. And it is really easier than you think. Here is how it works. Week One: Read the manual requirements, and start to think how you are going to fulfil them. Week Two: Settle on a topic, then start to develop a simple speech outline, or at least jot down some thoughts. Week Three: Write out your speech early in the week, then edit and refine. Week Four: Practise and rehearse. It is easy to do one speech a month, and both you and your club will be on the way to success!
Conclusion Good ideas abound in life. All we need is a system for harvesting them. Make time to read: and you will be generating and germinating ideas. Make time to think: ideas need time for incubation, and periods of exercise and leisure can be your most creative moments. Make time to write: whatever you do, give life to your ideas. Follow this simple plan and the speech databank you set up will launch the speech communicator within you in an effective way.
——————
By Ng Seng Chuan, a Speech Consultant Ng Seng Chuan ATMG is a past president of Lion City TMC and has represented his division in several district speech contest finals since 1998. He was the 1st runner-up in the International Speech Contest District 80 May 2005 and 2nd runner-up in the Humorous Speech Contest District 80 Nov 2005.
Looking for Speech Ideas? Look at Your Life by DTM Dee Dees
The second document that I would like to share is “A Lifetime of Speech Topics” by DTM Dee Dees. If you don’t know what to talk about, look no further than your own life experiences.
For Project One “Ice Breaker”, you can talk about a brief overview of your life.
For Project Two “Organize Your Speech”, you can talk about your hobbies or areas of expertise.
For Project Three “ Get to the point”, you can discuss an issue that is important to you, for example, your college education or the impact of having served in the army.
For Project Four “How to Say It”, you can talk about your favourite holiday destination, or a major event in your life – marriage, the birth of your child, or retiring from your job. I think now you should have ideas on what to write for your speeches.
If you want to overcome stage fright, learn how to find speech topics and to speak with confidence, join a toastmasters club. You are welcome to visit our Kampong Ubi Toastmasters Club if you are living in Singapore
Have you ever wondered what happens at a Toastmasters club? Watch this video to find out, and share it with any of your friends, family or colleagues interested in improving their speaking and leadership skills.
The following are some of the FAQ about Toastmasters:
What is Toastmasters?
Toastmasters is an international, non-profit making organization formed to help people improve their communication and leadership skills.
Why do people join Toastmasters?
The most common reason given for joining Toastmasters is to conquer shyness, stage fright or fear of public speaking.
How much is the cost to join Toastmasters?
Very affordable – the cost for joining a Toastmasters club for 1 year is less than a 1-hour spa treatment in Singapore.
What kind of training do I receive in Toastmasters?
Toastmasters progress at their own pace through a professionally prepared program with a lot of hands-on experience. Educational manuals are designed to offer a step-by-step approach to speech organization and presentation.
How does Toastmasters help in my career advancement?
Research shows that people who can express themselves effectively advance further and faster in their career than those who have difficulty speaking. Toastmasters provides the tools you can use to improve your performance in a variety of situations.
What does Toastmasters membership offer?
* Unlimited opportunities for personal growth and career advancement based on improved abilities and broadened experience.
* Experience in leadership development through specific training and involvement in club administration and management.
* Build-up of self-confidence and self-esteem through the ability to conquer the fear of public speaking.
* Opportunity to develop a better understanding of human relations.
* Automatic subscription to “Toastmasters”, the monthly magazine with a wealth of knowledge about public speaking, to be sent to each paying member free of charge.
What activities are included in a Toastmasters meeting?
A typical Toastmasters meeting includes the following segments:
– Prepared speeches: Speakers will present their prepared speeches in accordance with the educational manuals designed by Toastmasters International. Usually, the time allowed for the speeches are of 5 to 7 minutes.
– Evaluation: Feedback will be given on the prepared speeches presented by the speakers to highlight to them their strengths and areas for improvement.
– Table Topics: This is the time to practise impromptu speaking, i.e. thinking on your feet without preparation.
– Ah Counter’s Report: Toastmasters is not just about speaking. It is also about listening. An “Ah Counter” is appointed at every meeting to pick up pause fillers such as “um”, “er”, “you know”, etc. uttered by the participants during the meeting.
– Language Evaluation: The “Language Evaluator” or “Grammarian” listens carefully and highlights to the audience the strengths and areas for improvement of the language used by the speech presenters.
Join Toastmasters and find a club that you like to practise your speeches in a friendly environment. You are welcome to visit our Kampong Ubi Toastmasters Club if you are living in Singapore.
“World Champion Speaker Reveals his #1 Key to Overcoming Fear Eliminating the Negative Self-Talk, and & Delivering a Clear Message…Even If This is Your Very First Speech.”
