Toastmasters Public Service Announcements

According to the Book of Lists by David Wallechinsky, the top fear of over 40% surveyed is speaking in public.  This is head and shoulders above other common fears like heights, flying, even death!  These two Public Service Announcements from Toastmasters International add a little levity to this common fear.

The spot transitions from Dead Man Walking to Dead Man Talking.  Toastmasters can be your pardon.

Fear of doing this is what puts public speaking as the #1 fear.  

Toastmasters can give you the skills to ensure this doesn't happen to you!

10 Public Speaking Mistakes to Avoid

Top executives often fall flat on their faces as speakers.

How come intelligent, business-savvy people end up boring their audiences? They fail to recognize that public speaking is an acquired skill that improves with practice and honest feedback. Speaking for 20 minutes before the right group of people can do more for your career than spending a year behind a desk!

Rob Sherman, an attorney and public speaker in Columbus, Ohio, says in an article in the Toastmaster magazine to avoid these mistakes:

1. Starting with a whimper. Don’t start with “Thank you for that kind introduction.” Start with a bang! Give the audience a startling statistic, an interesting quote, a news headline – something powerful that will get their attention immediately.
2. Attempting to imitate other speakers. Authenticity is lost when you aren’t yourself.
3. Failing to “work” the room. Your audience wants to meet you. If you don’t take time to mingle before the presentation, you lose an opportunity to enhance your credibility with your listeners.
4. Failing to use relaxation techniques. Do whatever it takes – listening to music, breathing deeply, shrugging your shoulders – to relieve nervous tension.
5. Reading a speech word for word. This will put the audience to sleep. Instead use a “keyword” outline: Look at the keyword to prompt your thoughts. Look into the eyes of the audience, then speak.
6. Using someone else’s stories. It’s okay to use brief quotes from other sources, but to connect with the audience, you must illustrate your most profound thoughts from your own life experiences. If you think you don’t have any interesting stories to tell, you are not looking hard enough.
7. Speaking without passion. The more passionate you are about your topic, the more likely your audience will act on your suggestions.
8. Ending a speech with questions and answers. Instead, tell the audience that you will take questions and then say, “We will move to our closing point.” After the Q and A, tell a story that ties in with your main theme, or summarize your key points. Conclude with a quote or call to action.
9. Failing to prepare. Your reputation is at stake every time you face an audience – so rehearse well enough to ensure you’ll leave a good impression!
10. Failing to recognize that speaking is an acquired skill. Effective executives learn how to present in the same way they learn to use other tools to operate their businesses.

10 Tips for Public Speaking

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:

1. 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.
2. Practice. Practice. Practice! Rehearse out loud with all equipment 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.
3. Know the audience. Greet some of the audience members as they arrive. It’s easier to speak to a group of friends than to strangers.
4. Know the room. Arrive early, walk around the speaking area and practice using the microphone and any visual aids.
5. Relax. 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.
6. Visualize yourself giving your speech. Imagine yourself speaking, your voice loud, clear and confident. Visualize the audience clapping – it will boost your confidence.
7. Realize that people want you to succeed. Audiences want you to be interesting, stimulating, informative and entertaining. They’re rooting for you.
8. Don’t apologize for any nervousness or problem – the audience probably never noticed it.
9. Concentrate on the message – not the medium. Focus your attention away from your own anxieties and concentrate on your message and your audience.
10. Gain 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.

Visit a Toastmasters meeting!

Toastmasters groups meet in the morning, at noon, or in the evening in communities and corporations all over the world. No matter where you live, work or travel, we're nearby!

How we're organized

For many, Toastmasters begins and ends at the club level.  They attend meetings, participate, laugh and learn with fellow club members.

But Toastmasters is far more than the 20 to 40 people you meet in your club.  There is an entire organization behind your club, working together to make sure that you get the most out of Toastmasters.

Member You are at the top, not the organization because Toastmasters is nothing without it's members!

Club (repesenting 20 - 40 members)

Area (representing 3 - 7 clubs)

Division (representing 3 - 6 areas)

District 53 (representing over 143 clubs in Connecticut, Eastern New York, and Western MA)

Region 9 (representing 6 districts from Prince Edward Island, Canada to Washington DC and Northern Virginia)

Toastmasters International (representing almost 313,000 members in 14,650 clubs in 126 countries)

Benefits of Toastmasters

Survey after survey shows that presentation skills are crucial to success in the workplace. Many people pay high fees for seminars to gain the skill and confidence necessary to face an audience. Toastmasters provides an option that is less expensive and held in high regard in business circles. This organization has been around for more than 84 years and offers a proven – and enjoyable – way to practice and hone communication and leadership skills.

You will…

• Learn to communicate more effectively
• Become a better listener.
• Improve your presentation skills
• Increase your leadership potential
• Become more successful in your career
• Build your ability to motivate and persuade
• Reach your professional and personal goals
• Increase your self confidence.

How you do it. . .

• Build speaking and leadership skills with time-tested methods
• Focus on areas of interest in our self-paced curriculum
• Receive suggestions for improvement through constructive evaluations

Toastmasters programs are . . .

• Inexpensive
• Interactive
• Convenient
• Friendly
• Supportive
• More than four million people around the world have discovered the benefits of this proven learning formula.

How Toastmaster Works

Toastmasters makes learning fun!

A Toastmasters meeting is a learn-by-doing workshop in which participants hone their speaking and leadership skills in a friendly atmosphere. A typical group has 20 to 40 members who meet weekly or biweekly to practice public speaking techniques. The average meeting lasts one hour.

Members learn communication skills by working in the Competent Communication manual, a series of 10 self-paced speaking assignments designed to instill a basic foundation in public speaking. Participants learn skills related to use of humor, gestures, eye contact, speech organization and overall delivery. When finished with this manual, members can choose from 15 advanced manuals to learn skills related to specific interests.

Members also learn leadership skills by taking on various meeting roles and serving as officers at the club and district levels, and by working in the Competent Leadership manual and the High Performance Leadership program. In our learn-by-doing approach, we don't lecture our members about leadership skills; we give them responsibilities and ask them to lead.

There is no instructor in a Toastmasters meeting. Instead, members evaluate one another’s presentations. This feedback process is a key part of the program’s success. Meeting participants also give impromptu talks on assigned topics, conduct meetings, serve as officers in various leadership roles and learn rules related to timing, grammar and parliamentary procedure.

Thousands of corporations sponsor in-house Toastmasters clubs. Businesses and government organizations have discovered that Toastmasters is an effective, cost-efficient means of meeting their communication training needs.

Toastmasters groups also can be found in governmental agencies, as well as in a variety of community organizations, prisons, universities, hospitals, military bases and churches.

Our Vision

The Mission of the Toastmasters Club

We provide a supportive and positive learning experience in which members are empowered to develop communication and leadership skills, resulting in greater self-confidence and personal growth.

The Mission of the District

We build new clubs and support all clubs in achieving excellence.

The Mission of Toastmasters International

We empower individuals to become more effective communicators and leaders.


Toastmasters International Values

• Integrity
• Respect
• Service
• Excellence

Toastmasters International Envisioned Future

To be the first-choice provider of dynamic, high-value, experiential communication and leadership skills development.

About Toastmasters

Toastmasters International and its member clubs, provide a mutually supportive and positive learning environment in which every member has the opportunity to develop their communication and leadership skills. Some join Toastmasters join to overcome their fear of public speaking while others join to enhance their speaking and leadership skills ... building skills for the future.

Toastmasters International is a nonprofit educational organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of clubs. The organization currently has 211,000 members in 10,500 clubs in 90 countries. Since its founding 81 years ago in October 1924, the organization has helped more than four million men and women give presentations with poise and confidence.

The Toastmasters Vision

Toastmasters International empowers people to achieve their full potential and realize their dreams. Through our member clubs, people throughout the world can improve their communication and leadership skills, giving them the courage to change.

Deliver Your Next Evaluation C.O.D

SAVE THE DATE

Wednesday, February 29, 2012 -- 7PM

Deliver Your Next Evaluation C.O.D

You are invited to attend a special evaluation workshop entitled Deliver Your Next Evaluation C.O.D. and will be led by award-winning speaker Don E. Smith 7pm on February 29 at Greenwich Toastmasters.

Don E. Smith is known throughout Toastmasters International, District 53 as "The Speech Wiz." Don E. (pronounced Don-eee) is a Presentation Skills, Executive Leadership and Personal Development coach. In his coaching practice he works with individuals, executives and organizations helping them move from the ordinary to the phenomenal.

A former professor of Communications at Sacred Heart University, he is the creator of the Ready… Set… Speak!™ method for developing public speaking and presentation skills.

Don E. is a Past Area D4 Governor, District 53 the 2000 Governor of the Year, and the District 53 - 2001 Evaluation Champion. He is a CTM-CL and currently the VP-Membership of Westconn Toastmasters #599 and a Club Mentor to Ridgefield Toastmasters. Don E. he has been a member of Toastmasters International since January 1998.

Please email  Info@greenwich.freetoasthost.org with your rsvp if you plan to attend as space is limited.

Greenwich Toastmasters Meeting Location:
Western Greenwich Civic Center
449 Pemberwick Road, Rm 204
Greenwich, CT

HELP IS HERE Are you having issues changing your club website to Free toast host 2.0?

HELP IS HERE

Are you having issues changing your club website to Free toast host 2.0?

Are you scared to try?

Help is Here!

www.support.toastmastersclubs.org

1.      Create an account for yourself

2.      Go to FORUM (2^nd tab from left)

3.      Go to NEW TOPIC tab

4.      You can ask a question

         Give your club number

5.      Facilitators on duty 24/7

6.      Answers in 2-74 minutes

7.      They will work with you to achieve your goals. They are, after all,

            TOASTMASTERS

If you get help, give the guy Karma by clicking on the  Ë

Note

February 17 fth 1.0 server goes DOWN

fth 1.0 club websites will be lost

One officer needs to update TI by going to CLUB CENTRAL and updating club meeting information