Build Your Future Today

Build Your Future Today Introduction If I were to ask you, â€Å"What is the next major decision you need to make in your life, what would it be? † Perhaps you'll be looking at your next investment proposal. Or perhaps you are thinking about how to celebrate your next wedding anniversary with your spouse. Or perhaps, you're trying to decide whether or not you will Join our Toastmasters club today.Madam Toastmasters, my fellow Toastmasters, dignitaries, and our most honored guests, to help you decide tonight, not only will you get an overview of our Toastmasters program, you will also walk away with some of the tips and techniques I learned from more experienced Toastmasters. Speaking Off the Cuff First of all, take a look again at the agenda. You will notice how there are three parts to every Toastmasters meeting: Table Topics, Prepared Speeches, and then Evaluations. For Table Topics, the purpose is to help you think on your feet by responding too question you didn't prepare for, within 1-2 minutes.Why? Think about Job interviews. By keeping your responses short and concise, I think you're much more likely to establish rapport with your interviewers. I still remember how I recently had 4 Job promotion interviews. One of the questions they all asked was â€Å"tell us about software programs you are familiar with and how you used it for work. † I answered the question! I gave them a list of examples and connected them with work examples. Unfortunately, it came off like a typical laundry list. Boring, forgettable, and â€Å"toss salad†. Not surprisingly, I was O for 4 in getting my rumination.Then, in my 5th promotion interview, when I got the same question, I twisted the question. Instead of making the same mistake again, I actually asked, â€Å"What are the challenges for your unit? † Then, after listening patiently to their challenges, I was able to make everything I said relevant for their unit. For instance, I addressed how I coul d help them produce memos and proofread documents. Also, impromptu speaking can help improve your interpersonal communication skills. Consider your conversations with your friends and family.Are you likely to deliver 5-7 minute speeches? I hope not. As you can see, the ability to think on your feet is extremely valuable for reaching your professional and personal goals. Delivering Winning Presentations In addition to improving your impromptu speaking, you will learn how to deliver winning presentations. By working through the Competent Communication manual, you can improve many different aspects of public speaking, such as speech organization, body language, and vocal variety. Many people have difficulty coming up with material to talk about.Just pick topics you are familiar with. For example, I three chunks, each lasting from 5-7 minutes. Then, when I need to deliver the actual presentation, I feel much more confident. You can do the same. Take material you know you'll be presentin g in the real-world and practice it here at Toastmasters. Evaluations After you're done with presentations, you need feedback to keep improving. This is where evaluations come into play. When I first started out in Toastmasters, the hardest roles were Speech Evaluator and General Evaluator.I remembered how my ere first speech evaluation was for our Distinguished Toastmaster, Ron Dowel. My hands were shaking as I brought my notes and his manual to the podium. My voice was shaking too: â€Å"Great†¦ Gestures, great†¦ Volume, great†¦ Content. † Seriously, I didn't know how to evaluate an experienced speaker. As I gained more experience, this process became easier. Now you may be wondering, â€Å"Why does a giving effective speech evaluation matter to me? † Consider how you need to evaluate other people's ideas every day. Perhaps you need to evaluate ideas from your colleagues.Or perhaps you need to evaluate ideas from your family and friends. How to critiqu e their ideas without offending them? How to make your suggestions more useful and memorable? You can practice to master this invaluable skill here in Toastmasters. Conclusion As you can see, Toastmasters can help you improve your impromptu speaking, presentation skills, and evaluation skills. By investing Just $36 for every 6 months, you can change your life. Make the right decision by Joining Toastmasters today, because your future depends on it.