Tuesday, July 07, 2009 x 7/07/2009 11:35:00 AM

I have finally completed my Competent Communicator manual yesterday, at Toastmasters Club of Singapore. 6 July 2009 - truly a night to remember. The icing on the cake was that I won Best Prepared Speech Speaker for the first time! It was a great feeling to receive those two gold medals..! I thank all my fellow Toastmasters who have been with me on this journey along the way, to achieving this award, and also those who worked with me in the EXCO. I must say it has been quite a journey since December 2007, when I first joined as a member.

I've learnt many things about public speaking, applying many skills and concepts taught in the Competent Communicator Manual, what I'd learnt in Communications class at SMU, and from observing the more experienced speakers.

It all culminated in yesterday's speech (I spent about 3 weeks working on it - as the great Mark Twain said - "it takes three weeks to prepare a great impromptu speech", what more a prepared speech.

While doing the speech I have reflected on my toastmasters journey and what I've learnt, and I realize that there are several things that are different in speechcraft than in the written word.

KISS
When we are speaking, with have to KISS - Keep it Simple, Stupid! This is because the audience cannot remember bombastic words, or words with too many syllables. When first write your speech, it's ok to write it like prose. But remember to read it aloud and adapt it to the listening ear. If you read it and it sounds convoluted, change it! summarize, cut until you get the bare essence, with words with as little syllables as possible. Case in point - "Why use a long word when a diminuitive word will suffice?" can be onverted to "why use a long word when a short one will do?" You get the idea.

Also, brevity is the soul of wit. Just come up with a point, give an example, relate its significance and move on. No need to dwell on a point too long, unless its important.

Repetition is OK - especially for important points
Unlike writing, repetition is good in speaking for it emphasizes the point. When I first started, I thought repeating my points would make me sound long-winded. But my communications professor said that if a point was important, keep repeating it to the audience and they will get the message. Everything else -e.g. examples, anecdotes, quotes, are just an afterthought- the meat in between the sandwich.

i.e. tell them what you are going to say, tell them, and tell them again!

Organization is everything
The way you organize the speech is perhaps the most important. What is your message?
What is the purpose of your speech? Your speech is like a building - it requires a strong foundation. otherwise, it will be going nowhere. It is no good just to "data dump" the audience with random facts, anecdotes and quotes. You must be clear of your bottom-line- what are you driving at? Build your speech around those points, and repeat to re-emphasize. A great general structure (which i use constantly) is as follows :

WHAT : are you talking about - introduce the topic
WHY: is this topic important to the audience? What benefits can it bring to them?
This is perhaps the most important part of the speech, and it is great to bring it in early to lock in their attention.
HOW : Go into factors 1,2 and 3 to tell the audience what you wanted to tell them.

Opening and Ending

These are the most crucial parts of your speech. You need a great opening to get the audience's attention. This ensures they will pay attention to what you have to say for the next 5-7 minutes. Then, you need a great ending to ensure they remember the message of your speech. Generally, you can start by asking the audience a question, rhetorical or not, share an interesting fact or anecdote, or start with a quote.


The power of threes

Use the power of threes to your advantage. It is a rhetorical device called tricholon. For some reason, it sounds really nice when spoken, there is a strange, nice-sounding symmetry when things are said in threes.
e.g. "Friends, Romans, Countrymen" (Caesar)
e.g. "Block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand"(Obama)

Also, use alliteration to your advantage. "Block by Block, Brick by Brick, Calloused Hand by Calloused Hand"- the B by B, B by B, CH by CH. It gives a nice ring to your speech, helping the audience remember it, albeit unconsciously. You can perhaps adapt it to your speech.E.g. mine was on doing your best for toastmasters project , so I said :

fulfil your toastmasters dream "word by word, speech by speech, project by project".
(adapted from Obama's excellent speech - brick by brick etc).

Should you memorize?
Generally, its not advisable to memorize your speech word for word, to the T. It not only puts unnecessarily stress upon yourself, doing so is practically impossible!
Rather, write out your speech in point form with the important points (shown below) and say it to yourself at least 6-8 times before giving the speech proper. It doesn't have to go word-for-word, as long as you get the general idea out. Generally, it's good to start with a finalized version at least three days before the actual speech. You can say it in the bathroom, in the car, even on your way to the presentation!

Timing
Timing is all important. The key to keeping within time is to rehearse your speech multiple times, while keeping track of the time. If, during the actual presentation you overrun, cut short a paragraph or two (the audience won't know!). If you are ahead of time, you can speak slower, throw in more anecdotes (good to keep some extras handy) and generally enjoy speaking with the audience.
Project 10 : Achieving Success with Toastmasters.

Pause fillers
Sometimes, we hesitate when we speak, and say things like "uhhh... ummm... OK..."
generally, it's no good to say these things while speaking. it shows that we are unsure, and ill-prepared. It also makes the speech unclear to the audience, and may annoy them. There are 3 Ps that can remedy this - Practise, practise, practise. Once you are fluent, zero-pause fillers are possible.


Here is the Outline of my Speech :

Achieving Success with Toastmasters

Why are we here today?
• For the good food? For the company? To become great communicators?
• All of the above! But speech focus on becoming great communicators.
• Achieve dream of becoming great communicators
• Great opportunity today , a new beginning for the EXCO,for ourselves to reflect and set goals for ourselves

I’m here today to share with you how Toastmasters can help you achieve this dream. But first, you have to challenge yourself. I will address the concerns that you may face, tell you why it is necessary for you to challenge yourself, and lastly, share some tips with you on how to do so.

Why is it important?
• Professional and personal success depends on it
• Professional success = communicate with superiors, colleagues, clients
• • Personal lives = we want great relations with our friends and family
• To excel in whatever we do -> we need communication skills
• Barack Obama => won the US election against all odds, despite background, joins the ranks of Winston Churchill, JFK, Martin Luther King
Address Fears and concerns
• “Know your enemy and know yourself and you will win all your battles” –Sun Tze

• Fear of public speaking -#1 fear ->
• Fear greater than death
• Jerry Seinfeld, rather be in casket than deliver eulogy
• Congratulations for confronting it

• Not enough time to juggle priorities
• work, study, play
• Time-starved world
• Treat toastmasters preparation as a chore, secondary activities
• Give up after project 1? don’t put heart & soul into prep? terrified of table topics?
• It is understandable, but each of us needs to conquer this mountain of doubt
Why a change of attitude is necessary
• People expect more of their leaders, especially communication
• Previously, leaders communicate through only one medium – radio, newspapers
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How can you do it?
• Learn from experts
• I can see further because I stand on shoulders of giants
• watch the way experienced toastmasters speak
• E.g. I watched a distinguished toastmaster speak on SEX, table topics
• For success you need Skills, Enthusiasm and the X-Factor
• Read books by experts, e.g. Earnest Speaking by Ernest Chen
• Youtube, watch World champion speakers in action, be inspired

• Practise, practise, practise
• It takes three weeks to prepare a great impromptu speech – Mark Twain , what more a prepared speech
• 10,000 hour rule – Gladwell’s outliers
• Bill Gates, Beatles, professional athletes/musicians
• Not that successful people are more intelligent than others – once they reach a certain threshold, it’s the number of hours they put in

• Constantly evaluate yourself
• Even George Bush wasn’t spared!
• Evaluation by California Toastmasters Club
Call to action.
• Chinese proverb : journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step
• Obama builds the American dream – “block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand”
• We build our Toastmasters dream “word by word, speech by speech, project by project”
• If we persevere, the possibilities are endless
• And we may end up as great a speaker as Obama