Division J Contest Results Are In!

The hall was so full they had to bring in more chairs at the Division J Contest on Friday evening, Oct 29, at the Thornhill Baptist Church. They came to cheer on their champions. They left laughing and smiling. It was a great evening with 5 humorous speakers and 6 table topics contestants. Garret Ulmer came first in Humorous Speech, representing Igniters, and Nandini Venkatesan came first in Table Topics, representing Calgary Advanced. They will go on to compete in the District Speech Contests in Canmore on Nov 12 and 13.

Quick Tips for Evaluating a Speech

Evaluating a speech is really about being a good audience member, about listening carefully and simply sharing what you have seen, heard and felt. Remember that you are sharing one person's viewpoint, one audience member's response to the speech, and you are offering honest, encouraging feedback to help the speaker recognize what he/she already does well and identify how to become an even better speaker.

Here are some quick tips to help you get started:

• When taking rough notes, some Toastmasters divide their page into 4 sections:
• upper left quadrant - list the objectives in short form
• upper right - jot down examples of where the speaker met the objectives, circle the objectives that the speaker didn't meet.
• lower left - jot down your notes about what worked for you, what you particularly liked
• lower right -jot down examples of what didn't work for you (poor gestures, flat voice, closing and opening didn't work together etc). Write down any suggestions you have to help them improve next time.
• When you write in the evaluation section of the speech manual, use your rough notes to guide your answers so that they are balanced, helpful and encouraging. 
• When you deliver the evaluation:
• start with something that you really enjoyed about the speech
• tell the speaker how you are going to evaluate.
• acknowledge the strengths the speaker already has from your perspective, give examples
• give feedback on how well they met the objectives of the project
• offer examples of one or two areas for improvement with specific suggestions about what could be done next time to improve
• end with what you liked best about the speech. 
• There are many ways to organize a speech evaluation but this method, called the sandwhich method, will help get you started on the path to being a good evaluator.

When you provide honest feedback from your personal experience of the speech, you help both new and seasoned speakers by reflecting back their speech from one audience member's viewpoint. That glimpse of how an audience member responded to the speech is a valuable gift, indeed!

Congratulations to Val and Carole

Our club champions, Val and Carole, both did outstanding presentations at the Area J41 contest on Thursday, October 21, 2010.

The results are:
Table Topics:          1st Place - Dolores from Speakers' Edge
                               2nd Place - Carole from CTI
 Humorous Speech: 1st Place - Garrett from Igniters
                               2nd Place - Val from CTI

The first place winners will be going on to the Division J contest on Friday, October 29. If for any reason the 1st Place winners are unable to compete, the 2nd place will go on.
CTI was also well represented at the contest by Rosario who is the current Area J41 Governor, Linda, Helen, Chris, Mary Jane and Darlene. Rosario did double duty by not only organizing her own area contest but also including that of another Area Governor. Well done Val, Carole and Rosario!

Wednesday is Our Meeting Day

Today at our meeting, members voted unanimously to move CTI's meetings to Wednesday permanently. We achieved a quorum with 17 paid members present. Wednesday has proven to be much better for most of our members and 3 of our members who had some challenges with Wednesdays are working on changing their schedules so they can attend.

Lively meeting!

A nearly full board room, three guests (Kyle, Jean and Lee) and a lively debate - the energy in the room was high. Everyone had a chance to participate during the meeting on Wednesday, Oct 13! Helen and seasoned Chris were asked to take on challenge roles at the last moment by Toastmaster Darlene and did a great job of Thought of the Day and Joke of the Day. Table Topics Master Linda led us in the debate posing the question: should we use electronic means to increase voter participation in the upcoming elections? Kevin spoke on the PRO side, new member Chris spoke on the CON side. It was interesting to hear the perspectives of members Phil and Mary Jane and guests Kyle and Jean.
The highlight of the meeting was the Icebreaker speech presented by Mitch. Congratulations!

The First 45 Seconds

First impressions are tough to overcome. Whether you are presenting a speech or going to a job interview, you need to capture your audience's attention in the first 45 seconds or they will go on to thinking about something else. If that happens, they might miss the very special gift that you are giving them - the key message of your speech.

The first contact that the audience has with you is the title. It is a great tool for generating interest and arousing curiosity. Titles should be short, intriguing or humorous, generate interest, and relevant to your audience and your speech.

From the moment your name is called, you have the opportunity to engage the audience, to perk their interest and show that you are confident and credible. Dress appropriately for the occasion. Remember that people want you to succeed. Shake hands firmly with the Toastmaster, make eye contact with the people in the room. When you scan the audience, remember that you are also being scanned. The audience is thinking, "Do I need to pay attention to you?"

Every word must count in your opening few sentences as if each was a piece of gold. Every movement must support your message.  A simple rule of thumb is to use the active voice whenever possible.  Don't say "At dawn, the crowing of a rooster could be heard", instead say "The rooster crowed proudly at dawn". Use vivid word pictures or interesting relevant facts to capture your audience's attention.

Avoid qualifiers like rather, very, little, pretty good, or maybe. They are leeches that suck the power out of your words. Say "We will do better" rather than "We will try to do a little better", or "He was impatient" rather than "He was rather impatient".

Walk to the front of the room confident that you have a message that the audience will want to hear and that they want you to succeed. Craft your title and your opening so that you grab the audience's attention and make them think "I want to hear what this speaker has to say!" You have 45 seconds. Use it well.