Toastmasters International has been the most influential organization in my personal and professional development. Over the years I have been a member, I have become more confident, more action orientated, and better able to accomplish the goals I have established for myself. With that being said, there is one trap that Toastmasters has created and I wonder if you have fallen into it yourself.

What is the trap?

Imagine for a moment that you are in a presentation outside of a Toastmasters meeting. As you sit there listening to the speaker, what do you notice?

• Is the speaker pacing the room in a way that is annoying?
• Does the speaker laugh too hard at his or her own jokes?
• Did the speaker point directly at someone in the audience?
• Was the speaker using ums, ahs, you knows, and other filler words?
• Did the speaker not have a clear opening, body, and closing?

If that is all you picked up from the speaker, then you have fallen into the trap.

The trap is expecting every speaker to speak like a Toastmaster.

As a Toastmaster, you learn a system for speaking more effectively. The Toastmasters system makes you more confident, effective, and better prepared as a speaker. What the system also does is create a trap that makes you believe that every speaker has to speak like a Toastmaster.

The secret to being a respected speaker is not that you have eliminated filler words, but that you have changed the lives of the audience for the better.

If you have a desire to become a professional speaker, then know that the person that is writing the check is not deducting money for each um and uh. They are paying you to make a lasting impact on the lives of the audience. This can be done with or without the techniques taught by Toastmasters.

I was reminded of this fact when I was reading a public speaking advice blog. The writer of the blog was critiquing one of the most highly paid coaches and speakers in the world, Marshall Goldsmith. In his critique, he talked about the bad habits Marshall had and how it distracted from his effectiveness as a speaker.

Having read Marshall Goldsmith’s bestselling book, I was interested, so I watched the video the blog referenced:

Was laughing at his own jokes annoying?

Did he not follow all of the “rules” of public speaking?

Yes, but that video changed my life for the better. After the first few moments, it didn’t matter what habits he had. All that mattered is that I am far better off in life after watching the presentation. That is more than I can say from many technically perfect presentations I have seen.

Do we need to continue to improve our speaking habits?

Yes, but the most important part of the speech is the message. Focusing on the techniques can be a trap for many Toastmasters and loosening up a little on “the rules” could be good for us all.

I have noticed a disturbing trend in the Toastmasters clubs that I am active. A new member will join, give a speech or two, and then send an e-mail that says, “I am sorry, but I just don’t have the time for Toastmasters anymore.”

The irony of these e-mails is that they tend to come from people that would benefit the most from being an active member. I have collected some excuses that people use and want to present some ideas on the meaning behind the excuses.

I don’t have time for Toastmasters

Did you know that Toastmasters can make you more efficient in managing your time? By working with the Vice President of Education, you can plan out when you are going to give your first ten speeches and when you are going to do your first ten Competent Leader projects. Doing this will demonstrate how to effectively make time for meetings, roles, and projects in your life.

I am not advancing as quickly as I wanted to in Toastmasters

In Toastmasters, you only get out what you put in. Have you put the time in preparing and practicing your speeches? Have you been proactive in scheduling roles on the club calendar? Have you served as a club leader? Have you asked someone for feedback on where you are now compared to when you joined? If you answered no to any of these questions, then you might not have put anything into your club, so how do you expect to get anything out?

It’s Not the Right Time in My Life

Really . . . when is it ever going to be? For any activity in you life, there might never be a right time. There will always be work, family, and other issues that can be used as excuses to not doing something. In many cases, these excuses are nothing more then an excuse for your fear of improving. Where else will you find a supporting environment for improvement? No where that I know of.

What excuses have you heard?

Depending on your length of time in the organization, you might have heard similar excuses or many more. What have you heard? What do you think the reason is behind the excuse? How can a club overcome them to keep the people that need this organization?

Let us know in the comments.

I Have a Dream

I dream of traveling the world to speak to audiences about technology, leadership, and personal development. The past five years, I have worked hard at becoming an excellent speaker. However, being a great speaker is only part of the equation.

What it Takes to be a Professional Speaker

In order to be a professional speaker, you need a combination of speaking skill, knowledge, and marketing.  I have the first two, but I am struggling at becoming a marketable speaker.

You Can Help Me

One of the top ways to be recognized as a marketable speaker, is to be seen speaking at major events. An event that I have always wanted to speak at is South by Southwest (SXSW), a music, film, and interactive media festival. The SXSW event is a key event for me, because it lets me reach a young, technologically savvy, and forward thinking audience.

To help me, you can vote for my proposed presentation for the event.

What you need to do:

1. Visit http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/3264
2. Register on the site in order to vote
3. Vote for my presentation
4. Leave me a comment after you vote

If you vote for me, you rock.

If not, then that is OK too.

Thank you for your support!

Sitting in a training class, I found myself starting to wonder about the point of the class. We had an agenda, workbooks, and trainers but the point was slipping away. You could see the attention of the audience slip and the trainers begin to go on to autopilot. What was one thing that the trainers could have done to get our attention from the start and keep it through the two days of training?

Ed Tate in one of his lessons on the Champions Edge shared with me a technique that gets the audience interested in your presentation, and keeps them engaged in long speeches or training sessions. Before we get to the lesson, let me share with you how our facilitator started the class I attended.

She first reviewed the agenda for the next two days. After reviewing the agenda, she gave an introduction to the HR department and talked about the resources that the HR department had available for managers. Though the speaking was pleasant, it didn’t get my attention or keep me engaged. I have attended many classes, presentations, and workshops where the opening did not compel us to be engaged. Not engaging the audience reduces the value of the information you will share and makes it more difficult to sell your message over the length of the presentation.

The lesson that Ed Tate shared was to sell the benefits of the training at the beginning of the class. Don’t review the agenda, which only describes the content of the training, but share what the expected outcome of the training will be on the participants.

Think of how this could have been accomplished in the class I attended recently:

“At the end of this training course, you will have the tools to save at least an hour a week that you would have spent looking for the information we will share with you. In one hour, we will share with you nine HR pitfalls that managers trained in avoiding, have saved 10 million dollars of litigation expenses for our company and they will help you keep your. Managers that have taken this course previously, have saved the company over three million dollars in expenses related to employee medical affairs.”

In order to capture the attention of an audience, you have to sell them on what they are going to learn. If you demonstrate to them that this information can be used to have a positive impact, then you will get your audience to pay attention to what you have to say. Not selling your major points can cause confusion and it will make it harder to sell your points when you get to them in the presentation.

As you work on long presentations, training sessions, and workshops be aware of the benefits that your attendees will gain. Then when opening your session, share specifically what monetary, time, or other benefits can be had from paying attention. Sharing the benefit will increase attention, engagement, and give people a sense that you are providing value which makes them engaged.

Leave a comment and let us know the last time you heard an engaging or disengaging opening to a speech.

If you are like most Toastmasters, you get a copy of the agenda for the next meeting and take whatever open role that you are comfortable. For many Toastmasters, that means you will be the timer, grammarian, or ah counter. Those roles are important on the agenda, but they don’t require you to speak much, provide in depth analysis of speakers, or take an active role in leading the meeting. Just taking the open role that you are good at also hinders your growth and doesn’t enhance the learning environment in your club.

In order to develop as an individual and as a club, you need to change the way you assign club roles in order to maximize results from the Toastmasters program. Too often we are filling gaps instead of assigning roles to members that need development in the area the role explores. Also there are many Toastmasters that do not use the CL manual. The CL manual requires members to be evaluated in all roles of their club. When you are always the Timer, you will never be able to complete this important part of the educational program.

This effort in your club should be lead by your Vice President of Education and the Education committee. Working closely with the membership, each agenda should be crafted in a way that benefits each member in that role. If a member needs to improve their evaluations, then they should be evaluator and general evaluator more often. If someone is 4 speeches from a speaking award, then they should be given the speaking assignments they need to complete their award. The agenda should be crafted to move the club forward and not just filling gaps.

Being successful in Toastmasters is not just about showing up. You have to continually push yourself and other members forward. It is not easy to get some people into some roles, but if you want to advance above “most people”, then it is something you are going to have to learn. So what will it be? Are you going to stay comfortable with being the timer, or are you going to push yourself to develop a high performance club environment?

Do you want to know a sure fire way to alienate large portions of your audience?

“You all know the next speaker…”

Can I let you in on a little secret? Not everyone knows the person that you are neglecting to introduce, so you always need to properly introduce someone. This common oversight only gets worse when the person comes up and gets right into the content without introducing themselves after a misguided introduction.

When someone introduces a speaker as “a person that needs no introduction”, you will alienate everyone in the audience that doesn’t know the speaker from Adam. It also has the unintended effect of that are unfamiliar with the speaker feel like they are not connected with the rest of the group, which makes the speakers job far more difficult.

As a speaker, you need to make sure you have written an introduction and provided it to the person that will be introducing you. I wrote a post on this last year that you should check out.

Even when writing and providing an introduction, sometimes people will introduce you as the speaker everyone knows. When this happens, and it happens a lot, you as a speaker need to know how to recover from this major speaking faux pas. Whether it is in a Toastmasters club, association meeting, or other event; you have to assume that there is a large part of the audience that doesn’t know who you are or what you can do.

If you are being introduced as someone that everyone knows already, then you have a moral obligation to introduce yourself to the audience. If you have a powerful opening  that draws people into your content, consider developing an alternate introduction that draws people in while establishing who you are and why that matters.

To do this, you need to develop the same parts that you would have written and given to the person that introduced you. That means you have to provide your expertise on the topic, a statement that gets people’s attention, and compelling reasons for the audience to listen to what you have to say. This allows you to quickly let people know who you are, why you are there, and what you hope to accomplish. When you have soothed people into the speech, you can then get into the meat of the content.

Another gesture you can make to people who do not know you is to acknowledge them while speaking. This allows you to establish the connection with them to make them feel like they are a part of the group that knows you. Doing this makes the speech stronger, and establishes that you care about the audience.

As speakers and introducers, you must continue to be vigilant in stomping out this habit. Continuing to not introduce speakers can kill the credibility of the speakers and make it so people don’t want to join the group.

Spread the word by sharing this article with others.

Why don’t you practice your speeches more?

photo credit: S.Su

I have observed hundreds of speakers in the past four years of my Toastmasters membership. It hasn’t mattered if those speakers are brand new or old-timers, you can always tell when they have not practiced. I see it in the reliance on their notes, the overuse of filler words, or the lack of structure in the presentation. If I can tell, your audience can tell, and you are going to lose them.

So why aren’t you practicing?

Do you feel that you do not have enough time? Do you not know what you really want to say? Did you sign up to give a speech, so now you are going to give one whether you are ready or not? Do you think that it is just not your style?

My favorite excuse is, “I am not going to be a professional speaker, so I don’t need to practice. I want to keep it real.”

So you think that only professionals practice? You think practicing will make it seem unnatural? What about Steve Jobs? He is not a professional, but he spends hours practicing his presentations. So do successful sales presenters, pitchmen, and professionals. They have all taken to heart the advice, “Practice until it looks natural.”

The most “natural” speakers spend hours practicing for a 10 minute speech.

You have to practice.

If you want to be effective as a speaker, then you must schedule time to practice your presentations. It doesn’t matter if it is in a Toastmasters club or for a presentation to a trade group. The habit is important to develop, because it will allow you to get your point across, make your audience believe your message, and deliver value to the listeners.

Most speakers have a 5 to 1 rule for practice. That means that for every minute of your speech, you practice for 5 minutes, so a 10 minute speech would be practiced for 50 minutes. Is this the most important speech of your life? Then maybe you should make it 10:1 or more. The point of the ratios is to give you a time to schedule to get up there and give your speech.

Is practice boring, silly, or downright painful? Yes it is, but everyone that has ever done anything important in life has practiced. Whether it is in sports, music or art, every profession requires a level of practice. It doesn’t matter if you are an amateur or professional; if you are passionate about what you are doing…practice.

You audience will thank you.

I am reading Marshall Goldsmith’s, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, and it has been enlightening. As a leader, it has given me perspective on the habits that hold leaders back and keep them from attaining their true potential. What struck me about the cases presented in the book was the use of 360 feedback forms with the persons that were being coached. As a Toastmaster this interested me, because we are always giving feedback to our members, but are we doing it correctly?

It has been some time since I dug into the topic of evaluations on this blog, so I am glad that Goldsmith’s book piqued my interest in talking about it again. The evaluation process in Toastmasters is beneficial to our members, and when done effectively, can truly improve all members of a club.

In the Toastmasters evaluation materials, we always talk about using the sandwich method. “The Sandwich”, means that we point out areas for improvement between two positive comments on the speaker’s speech. This is done to motivate the speaker to improve by building on their strengths.

On paper it makes sense to do that, but does it work in practice? I ask, because I too often see many members only talk about what they like about the speech but never about what they need to improve. No speaker is perfect and by helping speakers discover their weaknesses, we can help them improve in their speaking.

That is one of the key principles in, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There. Goldsmith points out what the weaknesses are in our abilities and pushes us to correct our faults that are holding us back. It is something that I see lacking in many evaluations, but not all.

I can tell you from personal experience, that there are three people in one of my clubs that let me know what my weaknesses are. Though to a new Toastmaster, I might seem good. To more experienced speakers, I am stiff and robotic in my delivery at times. While many people would hate to have that pointed out – over and over – I love it. It gives me a reminder of what I need to improve on and my progress in removing that flaw from my speaking.

Do we need to eliminate the positive comments? No, because I agree that they reinforce the speaker and let them know what they are doing right. What we need to improve is our tracking of what people say are our weaknesses. It wouldn’t hurt to keep a log of what people say you need to improve. This allows you to target the areas you have the most negative feedback from and discard the areas where there are only one or two comments of it being a weakness. Then you can focus on improving the target areas one at a time. Targeting one weakness can help eliminate feelings of being overwhelmed by areas for improvement.

Evaluations are important to the Toastmasters educational program. They help you learn what you are doing well and what you need to improve. So as you get up to give one, think about how you can target key areas that the speaker can improve. What are their weaknesses? If you are a speaker, think about how you can track feedback you are getting and then improve one thing at a time.

You can get there.

As you develop as a speaker, you will inevitability become critical of your speaking and the speaking of others. When you turn that critical eye to the world, you will find that most speaking is just dreadful. You will then sit and lament to yourself, “Why are so many speeches horrible?”

The reason is Intention, which I discussed in an earlier post . If your intention is not in the right place, then you will come off as self serving and petty, which is death for a speaker.

So what is the proper intention?

Last week, I was on a teleconference with one of my mentors, the fabulous Patricia Fripp and one of her partners in crime, the Contrarian Consultant, Alan Weiss, PhD. After listening to the call, I started to read through Alan’s blog  to gain insight into topics discussed on the call. This morning, I came upon a podcast on The Secrets of Million Dollar Consulting.

In the podcast, Alan answered the question of what the proper intention is when speaking in principle number one of Million Dollar Consulting. It is “to improve the client condition.”

As you are speaking, you are not there to make money, sell a product, or make a name for yourself. You are there to improve the lives of the audience. Making money, making a name for yourself, and winning contests is an outcome of improving the lives of the people you speak to. When people see how you change the lives of others, they will gladly pay you for your time.

So get out there and start speaking to change lives.

Today’s guest post is from a new Toastmaster in one of the clubs I am in, Katie McCartney. I asked Katie to share her thoughts on being a new member and what she looked to get out of the organization.

I joined Toastmasters recently to improve on my speaking skills and to gain some new insights in the industry of public speaking.  I was concerned going into the organization because I feared that either I was going to find a “coffee club” or advanced people in speaking that they were not interested in assisting in my quest to get better or just very competitive to win speaking contests.  Well instead of finding the click that I feared, I found a very open and inviting group.  Those who are just starting out in overcoming their speaking fears, people who are developing into a speaker, and those who are so polished that I am looking forward to sounding like them some day.  Everyone was open and honest with each other and wanted to help each other improve.

I have learned so far that public speaking is not an innate talent.  Although we may have the calling to go into speaking, speaking is something that should be practiced and refined.  Refining what you do is a part of becoming that polished speaker.  Having poise in front of everyone is indispensible in any situation whether it is in front of 1,000 people or just 1 person.  Having poise and polish under pressure is indispensible.

My goal for Toastmaster is to continue to hone my speaking skills and develop that exterior self confidence and poise that I feel that I have inside myself.  I am here to develop my whole self and put sometime in the development of what I find vital for my industry and career.

About Katie McCartney

Katie has been practicing Real Estate since April of 2007, and recently received from RE/MAX Affiliates the brokerage’s 2008 Rookie of the Year Award.   She believes real estate is working with you to manage the project of selling or buying a home.

Katie started her career in Management Information Systems right here in Columbus, Ohio 10 years ago.  SK Ventures embodies her desire to see technology used more effectively as a meaningful and useful tool to assist businesses in their never ending quest for prospects, leads, and just plain relationship building.

Katie lives in Worthington, Ohio with her husband of 9 years, Sean who is an IT Network Manager for The Ohio State University’s Business and Finance.  Katie and Sean have one child, Ron (2) and one fur child, Edy (6).

You can read more of Katie’s writing on her blog at: www.katiemccartney.com