Here are some tips from some of the members who attended the Boot Camp on Feb 26:
Mary Jane
Attended the evaluation workshop and learned some ideas on how to evaluate an experienced speaker. I was told to ask the speaker what they are looking for in feedback. I believe that will help me and the speaker too!
Jean-Francois
I found out there was a crazy club that meets every week at 6:45 am!
I liked the handouts that explained the Communication and Leadership tracks. The Leadership track is very interesting. (Ed note: there are some leadership excellence manuals in our CTI library.)
The tips on evaluating were absolutely golden. The COD method (Content, Organization, Delivery) with all the ideas on what to look for will be helpful in the evaluation contest.
Val's tips on speechwriting were very helpful, eg to look for a title at the end after you have written the speech, and to brainstorm after you write your theme statement and then group the ideas.
Linda
TIP Speech Craft
Take a object/subject.
Think of all the different ways you can approach the subject and match it to the requirements for one of the 10 CC speeches.
Example: Cell phone - came up with 8 speech topics in 5 minutes
Darlene
Get ideas for speech topics from the newspaper, the TV, your children, your workplace, or from the hobbies you are interested in. Keep a speech topic file folder and stuff clippings, ideas, notes in it for future speeches.
CTI members were everywhere! Participating with enthusiasm, helping with moving chairs, registration, computers, copying, giving directions, SAA with the workshops and cracker barrels, facilitating…oh yes and organizing! What a great group of people! I am so proud to be a member of this club.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
What Happens at the Evaluation Contest?
If you are interested in learning more about how to be a better evaluator, an evaluation contest is a very good source of information. You will see a number of contestants at various levels of experience evaluate the same speaker (the test speaker).
In the contest, contestants first listen to a test speaker (usually from outside the club), then leave the room to write their notes for 5 minutes. Their notes are taken away by the SAA, and then one by one the contestants return to compete, receive their notes back, and give their evaluations on the same test speaker's presentation. After a contestant completes the evaluation, he/she may stay in the room to hear the rest of the contestants.
Watch how each of the evaluation contestants identifies some of the same strengths and areas for improvement, observe the differences in their recommendations and how they comment about the speech. Analyze how you might have done the evaluation and compare with what you see in the contest. Did they offer examples of strengths and weaknesses and offer specific recommendations for how to improve?
The evaluator's main goal is to inspire and encourage the speaker to keep on speaking and to offer suggestions that will help the speaker improve in the next speech. If you were the test speaker, would you have been inspired and encouraged by the evaluator's comments and suggestions?
In the contest, contestants first listen to a test speaker (usually from outside the club), then leave the room to write their notes for 5 minutes. Their notes are taken away by the SAA, and then one by one the contestants return to compete, receive their notes back, and give their evaluations on the same test speaker's presentation. After a contestant completes the evaluation, he/she may stay in the room to hear the rest of the contestants.
Watch how each of the evaluation contestants identifies some of the same strengths and areas for improvement, observe the differences in their recommendations and how they comment about the speech. Analyze how you might have done the evaluation and compare with what you see in the contest. Did they offer examples of strengths and weaknesses and offer specific recommendations for how to improve?
The evaluator's main goal is to inspire and encourage the speaker to keep on speaking and to offer suggestions that will help the speaker improve in the next speech. If you were the test speaker, would you have been inspired and encouraged by the evaluator's comments and suggestions?
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Tip of the Week
Why do we stand and applaud a Toastmaster who completes their Icebreaker speech? Everyone remembers their first speech! We understand the amount of courage it took to stand in front of an audience and speak for the first time. We stand and applaud to honour and encourage the speaker's effort and achievement.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Toastmaster Leadership Institute News
Six members of CTI braved the elements to attend the Toastmasters Leadership Institute (TLI) on January 26. They report that it was an "awesome" experience where they learned more about their club officer roles, met Toastmasters from all across the city, and had the opportunity to attend workshops.
Kyle was so pumped that he did a whole speech on the topic at a CTI meeting afterwards. Kyle says that the thing that he took from the one session on Evaluations was that there is more than just the sandwich method for evaluating. There are several other methods that he thinks would work better for several situations. We look forward to seeing Kyle use some of those methods over the next few weeks!
Mary Jane says, "I have gone several times to the TLI and I have always enjoyed it. It is great to meet other Toastmasters. People were interested in the Advanced Boot Camp that Rosario is planning. Mona gave the membership session and it was great, and of course lively! It was fun to report that CTI is doing well with membership! Our club had a great turn out at the TLI. I believe there are 75 clubs in Calgary, there were 100 people at the TLI and we had 6 people from CTI."
Our club President, Val went too. She had this message for everyone, "As you no doubt noticed, the TLI provides excellent opportunities to learn what you’re doing right and what can be improved upon. It’s a chance for networking and practicing your speaking and listening skills - all while in a positive atmosphere. The educational sessions this year were superb and I look forward to hearing about what CTI attendees learned.
CTI members who attended helped Rosario promote her Boot Camp scheduled for Feb 26. I’m certain that with Rosario’s enthusiastic leadership and the support of our club members, her Boot Camp will be a success.
I’m proud of you all and proud of our club."
Geetha couldn't stress enough how important these sessions (TLI) are. "Not only are they very well thought out and presented with so much effort by the trainers to provide a great training experience, they are absolutely free!!! Thanks to my mentor Mary Jane's gentle persuasion, I got to attend the TLI on Jan 26. To me it was a great opportunity to relive the glorious days of a toastmasters experience once again.
The packed 6 hour training session had some great speakers who entertained as they trained and educated the 100 odd attendees on Roles of Executive Committee, Judging, Evaluation for beginners and for advanced speakers, Speech Preparation to name some.
The special evaluation session ''Solutions for Non-native English Speakers Evaluation' in my view was well researched and a much needed entry into the toastmasters curriculum. According to the presenter TM Yvea Zaels, a majority of toastmaster members are non-native english speakers. Her tips on how to evaluate (by consent) on pronunciation, right usage of words, sentence formation while following the general rules of evaluation tied with techniques developed and used by speech therapists will indeed be of great help for members who want to move up to the next level as speakers.
Other two sessions I attended and thoroughly enjoyed were the Judges Workshop conducted by Chief Judge Marvin Henry and the Art of Advanced Evaluation packed with tips on various evaluation techniques from District 42 2010 Evaluation Champion Nandini Venkatesan, DTM, and past Evaluation Champion Christina Kruis, DTM ."
Editor's Challenge: Thank you to all the contributors who told us about their experience at TLI. In the next few weeks, I challenge each of you to post one more specific tip that you learned that our members can take away and use.
Kyle was so pumped that he did a whole speech on the topic at a CTI meeting afterwards. Kyle says that the thing that he took from the one session on Evaluations was that there is more than just the sandwich method for evaluating. There are several other methods that he thinks would work better for several situations. We look forward to seeing Kyle use some of those methods over the next few weeks!
Mary Jane says, "I have gone several times to the TLI and I have always enjoyed it. It is great to meet other Toastmasters. People were interested in the Advanced Boot Camp that Rosario is planning. Mona gave the membership session and it was great, and of course lively! It was fun to report that CTI is doing well with membership! Our club had a great turn out at the TLI. I believe there are 75 clubs in Calgary, there were 100 people at the TLI and we had 6 people from CTI."
Our club President, Val went too. She had this message for everyone, "As you no doubt noticed, the TLI provides excellent opportunities to learn what you’re doing right and what can be improved upon. It’s a chance for networking and practicing your speaking and listening skills - all while in a positive atmosphere. The educational sessions this year were superb and I look forward to hearing about what CTI attendees learned.
CTI members who attended helped Rosario promote her Boot Camp scheduled for Feb 26. I’m certain that with Rosario’s enthusiastic leadership and the support of our club members, her Boot Camp will be a success.
I’m proud of you all and proud of our club."
Geetha couldn't stress enough how important these sessions (TLI) are. "Not only are they very well thought out and presented with so much effort by the trainers to provide a great training experience, they are absolutely free!!! Thanks to my mentor Mary Jane's gentle persuasion, I got to attend the TLI on Jan 26. To me it was a great opportunity to relive the glorious days of a toastmasters experience once again.
The packed 6 hour training session had some great speakers who entertained as they trained and educated the 100 odd attendees on Roles of Executive Committee, Judging, Evaluation for beginners and for advanced speakers, Speech Preparation to name some.
The special evaluation session ''Solutions for Non-native English Speakers Evaluation' in my view was well researched and a much needed entry into the toastmasters curriculum. According to the presenter TM Yvea Zaels, a majority of toastmaster members are non-native english speakers. Her tips on how to evaluate (by consent) on pronunciation, right usage of words, sentence formation while following the general rules of evaluation tied with techniques developed and used by speech therapists will indeed be of great help for members who want to move up to the next level as speakers.
Other two sessions I attended and thoroughly enjoyed were the Judges Workshop conducted by Chief Judge Marvin Henry and the Art of Advanced Evaluation packed with tips on various evaluation techniques from District 42 2010 Evaluation Champion Nandini Venkatesan, DTM, and past Evaluation Champion Christina Kruis, DTM ."
Editor's Challenge: Thank you to all the contributors who told us about their experience at TLI. In the next few weeks, I challenge each of you to post one more specific tip that you learned that our members can take away and use.
Welcome New Members
Last week 5 new members joined the club. Give a big CTI Techtalkers welcome to Rob, Mahdia, Lynne, Mathew and Frank! To read more about our members, click on the "Members of CTI" page.
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