Friendly Reminders and A couple websites I found.

  Fellow Pioneer Toastmasters:

 Just a friendly reminder to be forward thinking and look out a few meetings on the schedule and plan what you would like to do.  The club depends on us,  the members,  to fill the roles each week. I try to schedule 4 weeks out as best I can.  I also have the meeting templates out usually at least eight weeks. 

Several things you can do to help the club. 

Mark your attendance.  If you know you won't be at a certain meeting in the future go into the schedule and mark yourself as not attending. That way you will not be scheduled. 

Next is if you have a desire to speak or serve in a specific role in the coming weeks you can feel free to schedule your self as you wish. 

 I came upon a couple websites that I found to be wonderful. 

The first one is SOBRIEF:   https://sobrief.com/

 This website is a website that summarizes books. The Banner when you first go to the site says : Read any book in ten minutes." This to me would appear to be very useful for many things. I would say that reading a book is best but reading its summation and key points is better than not reading at all.  Also is a great tool for review of ken points in a  book.  This site could also be a great resource for speech ideas and so forth. 

The website is Z-library and is a free ebook site. https://www.zlibrary.cc/

  While I fully am continually impressed with our city libraries and the online accessibility to things I would add this website to your favorites and when you are looking for a book check this out. Ebooks you can download.  All free. 

 

NegativeTopics in Toastmasters Speeches?

  Depending on the toastmasters club many clubs make an emphasis to stay away from social issue topics or political topic  speeches.  I think we all know at least in a general sense why that is. We al probably have some of that in our family dynamics, for example at Thanksgiving gatherings. We get together with people from our families that perhaps we don’t any other time of the year. It may turn to political discussions and arguing ensues.  Feelings get hurt and it turns into a not so thankful gathering. 

  I believe with mature and reasonable attitudes almost any topic is allowed in a speech and in toastmasters.  

 Two points I would offer for your  consideration:

1. Avoid Negative topics.   

  Some of you are thinking Chris you just said that most any topic is allowed!   Indeed I did , but what I am talking about here is if your speech is going to leave your audience worse off than before you presented it.  Perhaps you should consider not presenting it at all!   No one wants to hear a speech that leave them with a feeling of despair or depression!   When presenting a topic that is negative  I would highly encourage you to present solutions to the problem at hand. Make the solutions as practical as possible so if people are compelled by the information you shared they can take some kind of action.  Include a positive attitude of solutions and not just doom and gloom. 

2.   Be hard on the topic and not on each other! 

   Years ago for a college class I was taking one of the assigned readings was a book called “Getting to Yes Negotiating agreement without giving in”  by Roger Fisher and William Ury.

 In that book this concept it talked about and they use an illustration of putting the issue or topic on a table and both sides take time to either beat up on it or affirm it. Not taking shots at each other!   Beat up on the issue not each other!   I believe social media has created a mass of people that are doing the exact opposite of this principle. They are going strait to beating up on each other and it is absolutely not productive and destructive to our society as a whole. It is definitely divisive!    In speeches this can be challenging sometimes to distinguish to an audience. Statements like  "I respectfully disagree with "xyz" position and here is why." will got  long way in neutralizing peoples emotions.  The antithesis to that is saying something like "This  position is idiotic and here is why."

 Remember like it or not we are all in this thing we call life together at one level or another!

  In conclusion I would bring up a quote that I find so very true and I can think of examples of how it has been proven to be true in my own life. 

"People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”   Maya Angelou

 I submit to you fellow toastmasters this is very true in speeches as well. How do you want your audience to feel when hearing your speech?  That is what they will remember most.  

Some friendly Reminders For Pioneer Toastmasters

   Pioneer Toastmasters:

  It is my privilege to be in this club and associated with such great folks as you!   I was asked to do an educational Moment on some things we have sometimes been forgetting to do. It is easy as our lives get busy and full. 

  One of these things is for the Toastmaster of the week. When you are toastmaster for a given week you are in charge of that meeting.  Sometime before that weeks meeting,  Sunday or Monday,  go in and  review what we have on the agenda.  Review what roles are filled and which one perhaps are in need of someone to fill it.   Ideally if you know of someone without a role perhaps message them and ask if they can fill in on vacant roles.   After doing your best to ensure a full agenda, send out the agenda to all members with a note saying something along the lines of:  you are looking forward to this weeks meeting. Highlight what roles still need to be filled and encourage members to go in and sign up. It is also a good time to remind the speakers for  the week to fill in their speech information. 

 The toastmaster is responsible to ensure the meeting is staying on time. This typically has not been an issue in our club lately. However there have been times when we had three speakers and time was shorter for table topics as an example. Be aware of these situations and maybe clue the table topics master with a  reminder "we need to finish by 8pm" on table topics.   Don't forget to fill out your agenda form and after the meeting is adjourned sign it and turn it into the secretary. 

   Remember being the Toastmaster is your opportunity to lead.  You can be creative with this as well. We typically don't see this but the sky is the limit!  Maybe dress according to this weeks theme?   Sounds like fun to me!    

Toastmasters International Webpage Resource Section.

   Personally I have not taken advantage of the Toastmasters International webpage's resources section very much at all. It is worthy of some exploration as it truly is a great library of resources for all of us as Toastmasters and Leaders. 

The Resource Library is where you will find many documents, forms, manuals fliers and so forth that you will need for different parts of your toastmasters journey. 

The video library has 123 items which includes videos on tips for different aspects of public speaking. There are video testimonials, videos about different years World Championship of Speaking, Information about how to interview better and many other topics. I am sure all of us can find something of interest and value!   

The podcasts section is also very good. There is a variety of people interviews as well as podcasts about different subjects regarding toastmasters. 

 I have to confess I do not reference this section as much as I should. It has a lot of great information.  I would encourage all to go and explore this section of the webpage. 

https://www.toastmasters.org/resources