What is entertaining to one is not entertaining to all. We have an interesting dynamic to our Toastmasters club and I took that into account when preparing. We are sometimes perversely twisted and so I thought farting would be an entertaining for all. But I think in retrospect it is more entertaining for a younger audience. Though my group did get a few kicks of of my stories. I didn't write the speech, but I did prepare in my mind. I think it would have been much better if I would have practiced it.
I had strong stories....Beanie, Tyler, and Fred. I had a bucket of more stories I could have shared. It's weird how intertwined my life has been with fating. Marrying someone with the nickname of Freddy fart fart would do it to you.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
EM Speech 1: Barking Spiders
"The Entertaining Speech" (5-7 mins)
- Entertain the audience through use of humor and/or drama drawn from your personal experience.
- Organize an entertaining speech for maximum audience impact.
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Reflection of Number 7
This speech was trying to inform your audience about a topic. I really wanted to start preparing my next contest speech which was about depression and my struggles with it. I was worried although because this speech has to be all about facts and giving the audience information, and I tend to stray from that kind of speaking. I'd rather tell stories, or connect to my audience through their emotional side. So Micah was evaluating me and I was really worried that he would drill me bad for not sharing enough facts.
My speech was not completely typed up and it was scattered with facts all over it. I hadn't quite chosen which ones I would share. This speech was a dangerous one to do in general because it was so close to me...so close. And people have varied skeptical opinions about depression. I felt guarded from the beginning...feeling like I had to defend its validity. And then I got emotion...literally crying while I was sharing how tough it had been. I compared to depression as being in the mud. I gave this speech telling everyone I wanted to one day make this a contest speech. I have alot of improvement before this can happen.
- I want to make it lighter
- Not be so skeptical on my facts...Micah said that I would say a fact and then say how I didn't beleive the fact so I took away the validity of the information.
- Have a stronger analogy
- Change my beginning
- Don't cry
One day I will try to rewrite this.
Reflection of Speech 10
This was speech 10 (I've gone out of order) and it was also the speech that was for the International speech contest. It is supposed to be motivational in nature. To start with, this was a hard topic to pick. I feel I don't have or I haven't had things happen in my life yet that have motivated me. I have the hardest time being motivated myself. So I asked myself, what does motivate we, and what do I do that I can encourage others to do also.
Serving. I love service and I have done it most of my life. Unfortunately I followed my mentor and closest friend in Toastmasters. She has Crohns disease and gave a positive speech about how she's dealt with it the last few years. She worked in skits from the Hillbillies. She used comparisons and analogies. It was honestly one of the best motivational speeches I have ever seen.
It was animated, funny, and thoughtful. It was emotional, but she held her emotions in. She was everything I wasn't. I don't say that negatively although. I say it with admiration. My voice was shaky, I was emotional without controlling it, and I didn't have my speech memorized...at all. I had to finish 6 speeches before I could compete, so I rushed them. And I didn't have the time to dedicate to my contest speech. I didn't realize how fantastic they should be and how much preparation and innovative thinking you want to have.
I shouldn't have felt as bad as I did, but even as I was saying my speech, I knew I hadn't given the right one. I really needed to talk about something that was deeply important to my soul. I had prepared my depression speech, but it was too immature to even share yet. But one day I would like to make that as strong as I can. It was a good experience to feel that rejection and disappointment. It will push me to do better the next time.
Serving. I love service and I have done it most of my life. Unfortunately I followed my mentor and closest friend in Toastmasters. She has Crohns disease and gave a positive speech about how she's dealt with it the last few years. She worked in skits from the Hillbillies. She used comparisons and analogies. It was honestly one of the best motivational speeches I have ever seen.
It was animated, funny, and thoughtful. It was emotional, but she held her emotions in. She was everything I wasn't. I don't say that negatively although. I say it with admiration. My voice was shaky, I was emotional without controlling it, and I didn't have my speech memorized...at all. I had to finish 6 speeches before I could compete, so I rushed them. And I didn't have the time to dedicate to my contest speech. I didn't realize how fantastic they should be and how much preparation and innovative thinking you want to have.
I shouldn't have felt as bad as I did, but even as I was saying my speech, I knew I hadn't given the right one. I really needed to talk about something that was deeply important to my soul. I had prepared my depression speech, but it was too immature to even share yet. But one day I would like to make that as strong as I can. It was a good experience to feel that rejection and disappointment. It will push me to do better the next time.
#3 Reflection Bush Whacking
This was the best speech I have given so far. My dad gave me the idea when I told him the topic was "Get to the Point." I wrote this many weeks ago and I practiced it alot in the beginning. But then I got tired of hearing it. So I gave it a rest and did it from memory alot.
Finally when it was time to give the speech, my one weakness was that I brought the speech up with me in paper form. I didn't even need it! I should have gone without. It messed me up once, but other than that I felt I did great.
I talked at a good pace and volume. I even enjoyed saying this speech I had practiced a ton of times. The joy all came back to me when I was in front of the audience. And they were a good audience. I had the best evaluator I have ever had! Jodi, my mentor, told me so many great things. She said I got the attention of the audience right away. I had powerful words. I had seamless transitions. She loved the example of using the timer to show what my ex-fiance should have said in time. Two hours compared to the 2.5 seconds. The one piece of advice I didn't even think about was to breathe. I guess I talk so fast that I get breathy sometime. Breathing will help with that. Who would have ever thought. :)
Finally when it was time to give the speech, my one weakness was that I brought the speech up with me in paper form. I didn't even need it! I should have gone without. It messed me up once, but other than that I felt I did great.
I talked at a good pace and volume. I even enjoyed saying this speech I had practiced a ton of times. The joy all came back to me when I was in front of the audience. And they were a good audience. I had the best evaluator I have ever had! Jodi, my mentor, told me so many great things. She said I got the attention of the audience right away. I had powerful words. I had seamless transitions. She loved the example of using the timer to show what my ex-fiance should have said in time. Two hours compared to the 2.5 seconds. The one piece of advice I didn't even think about was to breathe. I guess I talk so fast that I get breathy sometime. Breathing will help with that. Who would have ever thought. :)
Speech 9 Persuade:Toastmasters- The door that opened many
Every year, my family rents out a timeshare in
Destin Florida. We've done this since I was able to walk. We always
rent out week 19, which happens to fall on Mother's Day. We love the
beach of course, but we also love the family we have made there. The same
families have been coming every year.
We’ve swam together, won sand-castles together, spent nights playing at
the arcade with all the kids and parents, and even had graduation parties when
a group of us all graduated at the same time.
When someone does not show up one year, we miss their presence. We
miss their laughter, their stories of the year gone past, and the news of their
lives.
I believe this is how a club should work. We should know each other. We should celebrate in each other successes and moments of sadness. Already there have been so many memories that have been made.
Fellow Toastmasters, such memories happen each week here. I’ll never forget…
Chuck the Bunny will never be forgotten, bless his sweet rabbit heart.
Then there was one day Peggy had a fight with the ice on the way in the
building. Thankfully Peggy won the fight
and is still truckin. The ice on the
other hand has melted away, bless its poor soul.
I think we will never forget Jodi and Peter’s bang out competition
speeches, and I will never watch Beverly Hill Billies or Lord of the Rings and
Star Wars without thinking of them.
I’ll never forget when innocent Linda roasted devilish Sonya. We learned
much that day!
I love this club. A mere months doesn't seem like a long time, but to me they have been full of motivating moments of wonder and awe. I signed up for this club to pursue one of my life-long goals of becoming a motivational speaker and I have not been disappointed.
After joining, I soon found myself
"volun-told" as Peter would say, to the position of Vice President of
Membership. I was happy to serve. As I have been in this role for
"many" months now, I've had true realization. A club is a
living, breathing form of life. It changes. It grows and decreases
with movers, schedule changes, and even a lack or desire for accomplishing
public speaking goals.
Just like each year at Florida is different, I have noticed that each meeting has been different with each passing week and we feel a loss when one of us is not present. Unfortunately life sometimes gets in the way of our schedule. Family issues, sicknesses, work, and other ambitions prevent us from coming to every meeting, but when we are all together, the feeling is the same. I can honestly say I love all of my family members in this club and your presence is missed when you are absent.
Every club knows that to continue to thrive, it
needs to slowly make progress- Progress in achievement, advancements, and even
new faces from time to time. Now with
that said, how do we grow our family so we makes sure it lasts.
A club can feel success if its members contribute, feel success and accomplishment, and have a steady growth of new members. I know we are contributing, heck sometimes I think we pull double-duty most weeks, but I also know that Mary and I are the newest members and we are about to hit our 6 month mark.
How do we grow our club in our already busy lives? One way we can share the joy of Toastmasters club is by sharing our successes. How many people know you are part of such a club...one that allows you to perfect your public speaking skills in a safe environment, share in friendly banter on occasion, and encourages you to share your life with others in multiple ways? Some might be afraid of this initial invitation, but once they take the risk to come, they realize we are just a normal group of crazy people.
We live in a day where technology has made speaking to others a convenient pastime. Texting, emailing, calling, IM'ing, Skyping, Facebooking...and alot of other I-N-G words that make you feel like O-M-G. Share that speech you just accomplished with others. Ask people for ideas on speeches. Failure, rejection, disappointment, and ridicule are some of the top human fears we feel on this earth. Sometimes, public speaking brings out every single one of those fears. We have to use the back-door approach to helping others see that public speaking is a way of overcoming fears we have in ourselves by explaining how your success motivated you forward.
Secretly we love sharing our successes in life. We want our accomplishments to be known, maybe not with the whole world, but with those that we are closest to. Isn’t that who we would invite into our Twilight family, those we love?
It's up to us, as an individual Twilighter, to keep out club floating. A club has to progress at an upward climb through club membership. I challenge you to invite a friend to the next meeting, share success from assignments given from your club meetings, and let others know what this club means to you. Will you commit to bringing a friend to Toastmasters before the end of April? Thank you for your commitments and your friendship in the best Toastmasters club yet!
From the moment I have joined Toastmasters, this club has been a swinging door that just keeps swinging. You hear the expression that when one door closes in your life, another one will open. When I signed up for Twilight Toastmasters, the door swung, kept swinging, and is still swinging. The hinges are getting a little loose in my opinion.
Reflection of Speech 9
This was one of my pocket speeches I had written, but hadn't really worked on very much. I hadn't practiced or memorized anything. But there was opening and the toastmasters that were supposed to speak didn't show up. So I gave this...reading most of it.
I thought this was a good speech for our club because it relived some fond memories that we have shared together. Sonya loved it. She thought it would be a great one to share at a conference level because it is so motivating. I felt really bad then that I hadn't done it justice by practicing it. I haven't prepared or practiced any since the competition I lost. I kind of lost hope, but the ones I have given without a speech right in front of me have actually turned out ok. So maybe I don't need to sit down and right down every speech out.
I want to give this speech again one day and give it the justice it deserves. I feel like Toastmasters has given me alot of hope for what I want to be one day and it is one way I can repay its members.
I thought this was a good speech for our club because it relived some fond memories that we have shared together. Sonya loved it. She thought it would be a great one to share at a conference level because it is so motivating. I felt really bad then that I hadn't done it justice by practicing it. I haven't prepared or practiced any since the competition I lost. I kind of lost hope, but the ones I have given without a speech right in front of me have actually turned out ok. So maybe I don't need to sit down and right down every speech out.
I want to give this speech again one day and give it the justice it deserves. I feel like Toastmasters has given me alot of hope for what I want to be one day and it is one way I can repay its members.
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