Educational Programme | Competent Communicator | Competent Leader | 10 Tips for Your Speech | Structure Your Speech
******************************************************************************
Educational Programme
"The educational program is the heart of every Toastmasters club. It provides members with a proven curriculum that develops communication and leadership skills one step at a time, with many opportunities for awards and recognition along the way. The communication and leadership tracks are not mutually exclusive; you may participate in both at the same time, if you wish.
You progress along each track by working through a series of manuals, each of which offers a set of carefully crafted projects to complete.
Each project includes an evaluation guide, which gives club members an easy way to provide immediate feedback as the project is completed.
Once you become a member, you can begin the educational program right away.
The New Member Kit includes the following manuals to get you started in both tracks:
Competent Communication
Competent Leadership
Your Speaking Voice
Effective Evaluation
Gestures: Your Body Speaks"
Quoted from: http://www.toastmasters.org/MainMenuCategories/WhatisToastmasters/
******************************************************************************
Competent Communicator
The Communication Track begins with projects from the Competent Communications manual, this track is dedicated to improving member's speaking and listening skills. The Competent Communication manual helps you to develop the basic skills that you need to prepare and present an effective speech.
The manual is organized into ten separate projects, each with its own individual focus or objective. An extremely effective tool in developing your speaking skills, the Competent Communication manual never tells you exactly what to do or what to speak about, but rather it provides a set of guidelines for you to think about as you prepare your speech.
As an essential part of the Toastmasters program, another Toastmaster will evaluate each speech that you give, providing positive feedback and suggestions for improvement, as necessary.
After completing the Competent Communication manual, you earn Competent Communicator (CC) recognition and are able to focus your efforts on the projects in the advanced speech manuals of the Toastmasters program.
"Talking on track
Members who wish to focus on communication skills begin with the Competent Communication manual that’s included in the New Member Kit. Once they have completed this manual, they can progress to the Advanced Communication Series.
Competent Communication manual
The 10 speech projects in this manual will help you develop your speaking skills one step at a time. When you finish all of the projects, you are eligible for Competent Communicator (CC) recognition. Complete the CC application in the manual and ask your vice president education to submit it online to World Headquarters. You'll receive a CC certificate and, if this is your first CC award, two Advanced Communication Series manuals free of charge."
Article quoted from: http://www.toastmasters.org/MainMenuCategories/WhatisToastmasters/ communicationandLeadershipTraining/CommunicationTrack.aspx
******************************************************************************
Competent Leadership
Each of the ten projects in the Competent Leadership manual focuses on a different leadership skill, providing you background information and an assignment that requires your service in one or more specified meeting or club roles in which you can practice aspects of that skill. Roles can include Evaluator, Timer, Toastmaster, Ah-Counter and General Evaluator. In most projects you can choose which roles to serve in. While leadership skills can be acquired in every meeting role, some roles provide a better learning experience than others.
It's not necessary to complete the projects in order, although it is beneficial to do so. You can complete the manual at your own pace and can work on it at the same time as working on the Competent Communication or Advanced Communication manuals.
As an essential part of the Toastmasters program, another Toastmaster will provide you written and verbal feedback on each leadership project completed. This toastmaster, known as an Evaluator, provides a personal opinion of your leadership role, pointing out strengths and offering suggestions for improvement.
If many club members are working on the leadership manual, providing verbal evaluations during a club meeting may be difficult. Each club should discuss the matter and make a decision as to how to handle leadership manual evaluations.
Possible options are to provide:
1. verbal evaluations for leadership projects during meetings
2. verbal evaluations privately outside of the club meeting
3. only written evaluations for leadership projects
4. verbal evaluations during meetings for both speech and leadership projects, but allow less time for each evaluation.
After completing the Competent Leadership manual, you will receive the Competent Leader (CL) award. Your Club’s Vice President Education can submit an application for a CL or other award.
Requirements for CL
The following content shows what meeting or club roles fulfill project requirements in the Competent Leadership manual.
Members are encouraged to take on the roles more than once, as practice makes perfect.
******************************************************************************
10 Tips for Your Speech
Written by: Sigmund Seah
Find your confidence.
Feeling some nervousness before giving a speech is natural and even beneficial, but too much nervousness can be detrimental. Here are some
proven tips on how to control your butterflies and give better presentations:
- Know your material. Pick a topic you are interested in. Know more about it than you include in your speech. Use humor, personal stories and conversational language – that way you won’t easily forget what to say.
- Rehearse, Rehearse, And Rehearse! Rehearse out loud with everything you plan on using. Revise as necessary. Work to control filler words; Practice, pause and breathe. Practice with a timer and allow time for the unexpected.
- Pause. Allow yourself and your audience a little time to reflect and think. Don't race through your presentation and leave your audience, as well as yourself, feeling out of breath.
- Understand your audience. Know the needs of your audience and match your contents to their needs. Know your material thoroughly. Put what you have to say in a logical sequence. Ensure your speech will be captivating to your audience as well as worth their time and attention.
- Know the setting. Arrive early, walk around the speaking area and practice using the microphone and any visual aids.
- Breathed!!. Begin by addressing the audience. It buys you time and calms your nerves. Pause, smile and count to three before saying anything. ("One one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousand. Pause. Begin.) Transform nervous energy into enthusiasm.
- Visualize. Imagine yourself speaking, your voice loud, clear and confident. Visualize the audience clapping – it will boost your confidence.
- Realize that people want you to succeed. Audiences want you to be interesting, stimulating, informative and entertaining. They’re rooting for you.
- Concentrate on the message – not the medium. Focus your attention away from your own anxieties and concentrate on your message and your audience.
- Gain the experience. Mainly, your speech should represent you — as an authority and as a person. Experience builds confidence, which is the key to effective speaking. A Toastmasters club can provide the experience you need in a safe and friendly environment.
http://www.toastmasters.org/tips.asp
http://www.aresearchguide.com/3tips.html
******************************************************************************
Structure Your Speech
Written by: Sigmund Seah
Introduction
As a speaker, you may get nervous about being at the mercy of your audience. If you tries to tell a sudden joke with no respond, has trouble reading the introduction, or leaves out key parts which you plan to respond to in your opening, you can have a tough time in the beginning of your speech.
Proper planning of your introduction can eliminate unnecessary anxiety.
Knowing how to introduce a yourself is an important skill and although everyone is expected to be proficient, many of us are uncomfortable when asked to introduce a speaker.
The Purpose of Introductions
The purpose of an introduction is twofold: (i) to gain the audience's attention, and (ii) to motivate the audience to listen attentively.
Members of the audience generally arrive individually and need to coalesce as a group. Frequently, they may have just come from listening to another presentation on a very different topic. They may be in the middle of a conversation with one or more colleagues or friends. They may be thinking about personal, family or business matters. As the introducer, it's your role to bring the audience together and focus their attention on the speaker.
Secondly, just because the audience is present, it doesn't necessarily mean that they are there to listen. Perhaps they came to be seen, to escape something else or to meet with another attendee. You can motivate an audience to listen by giving a preview of the speech from their perspective of the audience. Let them know what they will learn and how it will benefit them.
One last tip is to look pleasant and eager to speak as you are being introduced. Audience members will be looking at you and forming judgments as the introduction is being given. Don’t be writing a last reminder on your notes at this time.
You can never predict what the audience will say or do, but these suggestions can help ease anxiety by lowering the risk of the unexpected as you go to the lectern to speak.
Organization and Preparation
Good introductions merge together three essential elements: (i) the speaker, (ii) the subject, and (iii) the audience. The order in which you choose to address these elements is generally unimportant. A common error is to focus solely on the speaker to the exclusion of the other two elements.
A key to a good introduction is preparation and practice (together with a healthy dose of enthusiasm). These need not take long once you understand how to go about them. Returning to our three essential elements, preparation involves learning about the speaker, the topical nature of the subject and the audience's interests and concerns. You should make an effort to approach the speaker for background information. Get audience background from members of the audience and subject information from the the speaker, the program organiser, relevant publications and your own research or other sources.
When approaching the speaker for background information, ask what they would like you to emphasize or what they think is most relevant. Some speakers prefer to write out their own introduction. If a speaker provides a lengthy pre-prepared introduction, you should not feel obligated to use it all. Instead, pick out the things that will connect the speaker with the subject and audience.
Write out your introduction and practice it in front of a mirror. You may also find it helpful to use a tape recorder so that you listen to yourself and better judge and practice the speed and tone of your delivery. Once you are throroughly familiar with your material, reduce it to a few key words and phrases which you can transfer to a sheet of paper and bring with you. This will be your standby in the case of a mental freeze, but if you have properly prepared and practices you will almost certainly not need it.
And finally ...
Remember to welcome the speaker to the podium or lectern with a friendly smile and handshake. You are aiming for continuity not a disconnect. Simply finishing your introduction and leaving the podiumor lecturn empty will do just that.
Sources:
http://www.speaking-tips.com/Articles/The-Importance-of-Introductions.aspx
http://www.speaking-tips.com/Articles/Enhance-Your-Speech-With-A-Great-Introduction.aspx
http://www.speaking-tips.com/Introductions