Gurney-Hydro Toastmasters Club

Imagine this:   You’re on stage about to start your speech and suddenly, your mind just became a void of emptiness.   You can’t for the life of you remember what you were going to say or for that matter, what your speech is about. Sounds familiar? Don’t worry, it happens to the best of us, even seasoned professional.   We’re all human, after all.   The nerves, stage fright and the pressure to perform well are the biggest contributors to speakers getting thrown off track all of a sudden. But fear not, we’re here to help =) Here are some things that you can do to prevent that brain freeze. 1) Organize Your Speech in Point Form When you flesh out your speech, get your points together first.   What are the things that you want to convey to your audience?   Then pick out the most important ones depending on the length of your speech.   Looking at your speech as points instead of a collection of about a thousand words will mak...

Before you even start thinking about what your speech is going to be about, there is one crucial factor that you have to take into consideration: Who are your audience? You see, it doesn’t matter if you have the best speech in the world.   If it is not relevant to your audience, if they have no interest or knowledge about your topic, then you have no speech.   Period. If you are presenting your speech at your own club, then it is safe to say you probably know your audience.   However, be mindful that you may have guests visiting and they could be sensitive to your topic. Therefore, to be safe, always treat your topic and your audience with respect. In the event that you are expected to speak in front of an audience that you are not familiar with, here are how you can get intel on them so that you can tailor your speech accordingly. 1. Ask the Organizer The organizer of the event is the best source for this kind of information.   ...

Every speech you will give is a story.  You may not think so but that's the reality.  Everybody who excels in the art of public speaking knows how to tell a good story. It doesn't matter if your speech is telling a story about something you encountered, presenting a research or even if you're trying to teach people something.  The formats may be different but you are still telling a story. You may think that it is easy to tell a story.  Here's what happened, here's what you did, this is who were there, here's where it happened... That is just your outline, a shell of your entire speech.  You still need to flesh it out, draw your audience into your world, paint a picture for them.  Otherwise you'll end up with a very dry speech. You have to know how to use descriptive words to bring your story to life. For example, compare: "Today is a nice day." And "It's a beautiful morning.  The sunrise cast its golden hews upon the ...

We are often asked where we get the inspiration for our speeches. When attending a typical Toastmasters meeting, one will find the many varied topics on assignment speeches.   Some speakers even took an unusual spin on an everyday mundane subject and make them interesting for their listeners. So how do they find something to talk about week after week?   Here are our favorite methods. 1) Start a Journal Start of journal of speech topics, that is.   We’re not talking about starting a “Dear Diary, today is just another ordinary boring day…” type of journal.   The truths is, ideas can spring on us any time of the day and the only way to ensure you don’t forget about them later (which always happens), is to record them, either in a notebook or your phone. 2) Research Go online or the old school way – read.   Read as much as you can each day.   Read everything – the newspaper, books, blog posts online, social media posts – there are ...

At one time or another, you will be asked to present a speech or presentation based on research such as a survey of the current landscape of your industry, for instance. Presenting a speech on research is not as simple as showing the results of your analysis, you also need to prove that you used solid methods and your data is sound. Here are the elements that you must incorporate into your speech to present a solid argument for your case. 1. Your Executive Summary What is your presentation about and why did you want to do a research on this topic?  For the example above on the industry landscape, it could be because your company is looking to expand its business into a new city.  What is the demand/supply in that city for your products or services and level of competition? 2. Citation of Sources Citation of sources is very important in a research paper.  It goes towards the integrity of your data.  If you are citing a previous research done by someone ...

How would you introduce yourself, for example, in an interview where you are asked to tell people a little bit about yourself? You may think it's easy because the subject of "You" is something that nobody knows better than yourself. But you have to bear in mind that there is a fine line between introducing yourself in a way that will make the right impression on people and coming off as a shallow person that nobody can take seriously. Many people, when asked to introduce themselves, will proceed to give a narration of their life story including their first dog, their childhood spats with the rude kid in the playground, a litany of the leadership positions they've held from pre-school through college and the list goes on. You must bear in mind that you have a very limited amount of time to make an impression.  Truth be told, nobody wants to know about your entire life's history and in fact, some things, they don't need to know.  So make sure you make...

It's probably easy for most of us to connect with someone else through a one on one or small group conversation.  Not so easy to do it with a room full of people, though. So how do you get up on stage and deliver a winning speech that will wow your audience, making them feel like they have received tremendous value from you? Most people will say it's charisma, that special kind of charm successful public speakers possess that captures the audience's attention the minute they get on stage.  While it's true that some people have that kind of "presence" about them, remember that charisma wears off very quickly.  Without substance, charisma is a flimsy facade that will fall apart easily. Follow our tips below to make your audience hang onto your every word from start to finish and win in the art of public speaking. 1) Know Your Audience This goes without saying.  You have to know to whom you are speaking to before you even start to craft your speech. ...

What is it about your speech that will make your audience pay rapt attention to you from start till finish? Is it your wit? Your irresistible charm? Your presentation skills using mind blowing PowerPoint? How well you dress? Your speaking skills? Here's a piece of public speaking tip that you should always bear in mind when crafting your speech.  What's in it for them - your audience? Let's face it...nobody cares about you.  That's the sad reality. Nobody goes to hear a speaker because he/she is really good and speak really well. They go to hear a speaker speak for the benefits that they can gain from the speech, because of what they hope to learn from the contents of the speaker's topic. Those who really excel in the art of public speaking realize this fact. So the next time you are crafting your speech project, think of what benefits you can offer to your listeners. What can they learn from you that they can apply immediately? What per...