Overcoming Embarrassing Moments Onstage.

I was on the Toastmasters International Website and was looking at some articles in the Section of the website that has the Toastmasters magazine. They have articles and resources from many years of past magazines. It is a great place to find some things to read.  

  One such article I was reading was from August 2022 titled: “Overcoming Embarrassing Moments Onstage” written by Caren Schnur Neile, PhD

  The article is very entertaining and talk about how the author tripped and fell onstage one time. She goes into naming some famous celebrities who have also fallen on or off the stage. Some very famous names included in that list. The biggest take away form this was the suggestion of just owning it! You’re human and fell! While embarrassing it can be endearing to your audience and they see the humanity of making such an error. You can endear yourself to them by perhaps making a joke about it and just moving on. 

  Another  take away that I liked was that of preparing and thinking ahead to avoid such bloopers. They shared an example of a speech contest and the contest chair had asked someone to secure a test speaker for an evaluation contest. When it was time for the test speaker the Contest chair reminded him he had asked him to secure a test speaker he realized he had completely forgotten to do it.  In this moment he volunteered to be the test speaker and he used a speech he had used in the past and was able to fill this need on the spot. “World Champion [of Public Speaking] Craig Valentine’s famous advice: ‘You don’t get ready, you stay ready!”   Point beeping prepare for every thing and anything you can think of.  This will help you avoid embarrassing situations on stage.   It si greta article and can be found here:  https://www.toastmasters.org/magazine/magazine-issues/2022/aug/oops

Tips for Toastmasters

 The toastmasters international website has a section called 90 tips for toastmasters which is actually very good tips. I would like to periodically in my educational moments cover some of those tips. 

I would like to share and talk about three tips from that list today. 

1.  Know your material. Speak about a topic you’re interested in and know a lot about. Reinforce your message with facts and statistics, if possible.

 Perhaps an obvious tip. Speak about things you know, especially when starting out as a new speaker. Certainly one can learn about new things and speak about them but do your due diligence in your research and use references when possible to support your points. 

2.  Use humor, personal anecdotes and conversational language to make your speech engaging.

  This to me really empowers a speech. When you share something form your personal experience it just makes the speech very compelling. You are an interesting individual nd your audile loves hearing about your experiences. 

3. Rehearse your speech aloud using any equipment and/or visual aids you’ll use during your presentation. Rehearse as often as you can.

 This is wear the rubber meets the road. I think it is fair to say you can not practice enough.  I saw the famous Zig Zigler speak years ago and he said in his presentation that he practiced that day before he came to speak at this event.  I am guessing he probably gave what he presented that day thousands of times, but he still believed it was a good idea to practice. 

https://www.toastmasters.org/about/90th-anniversary/90-tips

Pathways Enhancements 2025

   Toastmasters World Headquarters has made some changes to the pathways requirements.  There will be more info to come, but I will cover some of the highlights that they have sent out at this time. These changes will be implemented starting October 2025. 

   There is now a requirement at each level to complete meetings roles. These will be documented on your profile in the TI website. IF you go to your profile near the bottom there is a section titled "Meeting Roles" I would just encourage you whenever you go into the website update what roles you have done recently so it is always current. I am not sure is this part of the website will be connected to the pathway directly ro not. IE: won't let a person sign off level until these are entered. I have little to no concern for our club at this time as we are all very active in the roles of the meetings. This could be a little more involved as we grow in membership as there will be less roles to go around so to speak.  This would be an excellent problem to have! 

  There is also going to be a requirement for club members to present from the Successful Club Series, The Better Speaker Series and the Leadership Excellence Series presentations.  While this will be more effort and work, I think this will be a positive thing. It will help us all to practice presentation skills from the already drafted materials. It will also allow us to make it our own presentation even though it is sourced from the material given.  There are requirements at levels 3.  4 and 5. 

  There is more info including a "Pathways Enhancements by Level" chart. Follow this link to review this information.   

Pathways Enhancements Club Officer Guide

  I have said it before,  inside of me when changes come I have a tendency to resist and frankly I need to check my attitude!  :).    I think these changes if we approach with a positive attitude will be great! Let's get after it this year fellow toastmasters. Let's achieve some things and improve ourselves together!