h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Well the evening has come and gone. I think it went reasonably well. I almost forgot the final Timekeeper's report, but that's about all. The programme had changed a bit as people weren't able to attend (it is half-term here, so that makes it more difficult) and we are having meetings on the second, fourth and fifth Tuesdays, so we had one only last week.

There I was, with my swollen foot and my stick! And the next speech I'm giving is about attitudes to age and ageing!

Our grammarian had two 'words of the day', the first being 'synchronistic', the second being 'fun'. Interestingly, I gave a warm-up question based on my experience of twisting my ankle and finding the silver lining. We had a Number 9 speech - a really good one - called 'Problems, Problems, Problems!' with the message being - you got it - finding the silver lining to having problems (like them being a great opportunity to grow). Talk about synchronicity!

Little got some really good feedback to his table topics and his being the Timekeeper's Assistant, too!

Actually, Woodpigeon, I found one of yesterday's topics really valuable personally. I didn't necessarily recognise it at the time (although David Thompson who was evaluating it gave it a sparkling evaluation). It was the one about the silver lining to life's difficulties. I've realised there's a really big issue that I haven't done that for, so I'm going to do some work on it.

That's great Z! I figured it would be no bother to you. It's really good when you are able to get something personally out of the experience. It happens quite often, in my opinion. Has David finished as Governor now? I think the next District Governor is from Dublin, but I might be wrong. We should have our officer meetings coming up soon, which should be interesting. I have a fairly hectic travel schedule coming up, so hopefully it won't clash too much.

I think it will make me look harder at what the next Toastmaster does. The one thing I wasn't afraid of doing was showing I didn't know stuff. As I introduced the speaker with the Educational Speech, I wasn't sure what it was about (I had been told a couple of days before, however I forgot), however I did give her a good introduction and welcome - better, in fact than the first speech that I did know something about. I think it was to make up for the fact I didn't know the title that made me try harder.

As far as I am aware, David is still District Governor. I've no idea when his term ends (and in fact, it didn't occur to me that it should, but of course I should have realised that it would be time limited). How long are these terms? Annually?

We made an appointment with the bank to set up a bank account - I think I told you I was treasurer and Vice-President at the moment. We will need to look to fill other posts when we grow a bit more.

Good luck with your officer meetings. I imagine you've targets to meet?

Yes - I will have to identify targets in August.

I'm going to be heading off on my hols for a week - small island on the west coast of Ireland (think Father Ted ), so I will be offline for a few days!

W

Have a great holiday, Woodpigeon - far away from Toastmasters, h2g2 and the like. (unless, of course, you're like David Thompson, who seems to eat, sleep and dream about Toastmasters!)

We banned David Thompson from mentioning Toastmasters in his table topics. I did my Number Three speech yesterday and David evaluated me. I didn't think I was prepared enough and hadn't really had the time to rehearse it - however I got some really good feedback and a couple of people said they felt really motivated by it. I wasn't sure that I had got my point across - seems I did.

Ageing is a fascinating subject. Did I tell you, my topic was 'Romancing the Crone'.

o/±

Well done! You are flying - how are you finding Toastmasters overall now that you have been here a few months?

I was *really* nervous on Tuesday - much more so than for my Number Two. I noticed that I did lots of research (so I was really comfortable with the subject), but didn't spend as much time as I needed to shape it into a more powerful presentation and I was a little uncertain about how well I got my main point across.

How am I finding Toastmasters? Well, I may well get the chance to put the proof of the pudding into operation on Tuesday. I'm taking part in an event next Tuesday and I'm told that possibly there will be a radio interview about the event. Anyway, I need to prepare to be interviewed.

I'm thinking of doing my Number Four on 'It's only words' about the power of word for good or otherwise. I might approach it differntly this time and look at my message and structure first, How do you usually attack it?

Best of luck on Tuesday! A media career dawns!

I think this speech needs a strong message - powerful words need it. Your approach sounds about right. I don't have any real technique. I tend to work on subject first, structure second and then content and delivery last. I will change structure and content - and I do - regularly until I am happy with everything.

Mmm, for this last one, I got the subject first, immersed myself in the material, so I had a lot of the information before I had a structure. The structure came out of the information. In fact, come to think about it, that's the way all of my speeches have been so far. For the second, I changed the order of the speech, which I thought made it more powerful, but it would have worked well in the original order. Sounds as if you do something similar with the structure. THat's comforting.

As for 'It's only words!', I have a clear idea of my message - words are powerful things for good or evil, so it pays to be aware of what you say and how you express it. Things said to us in childhood can act as black magic and shape our future.

Where are you at in your Toastmastership now, Woodpigeon?

Your topic sounds very interesting. H2G2 is a good example of how words can be both beautiful and destructive.

I have one advanced speech completed from the "Speak to Inform" manual. I completed the basic manual back in 1997, but I didn't get my CTM qualification until 2004. This was because of a series of small life events around that time such as moving cities, marriage, new jobs, children etc!

Don't you get to be a CTM once you've completed the basic manual? Or did you make Toastmasters play 'chase the Woodpigeon'? How does the 'speak to inform' manual work? Do you have a set theme as in the basic manual?

My radio interview went reasonably well today. The interviewer was please, however I felt I could have done *much* better. He arrived earlier than I anticipated before I had chance to get a feel for who else was there, so I forgot to tell him about the steel band and the entertainers!

I'm doing the topics evaluation in our next meeting. This will be a new role for me. It will be challenging as I'm good at identifying what's wrong and less good at giving positive feedback. Mind you, sometimes, I can find lots of good things to say and struggle to find anything to give as something to improve. From the sound of it, this is what you're really good at!

'H2G2 is a good example of how words can be both beautiful and destructive.' How true! Interesting about people who deliberately or thoughtlessly hurt other people. They are also hurt generally, as it generates bad feeling against them.

Well, I should have got my CTM immediately, but it was the last meeting and I left the club at this stage, so it was a screw up in the system, I guess. I had meant to follow it up but I had so many things to concentrate on at the time that it fell through the cracks.

There are a ton of Advanced manuals - ranging from Speaking to Entertain, to Public Relations, to Managerial and Motivational speeches. I did the Speak to Inform as I have a latent schoolteacher in me that's crying to get out! My wife is always slagging me that I love asking her questions that I already know the answer! This particular manual works on helping people to communicate complex things in a way that suits the audience. You still set the subject: it's just the same as the basic manual in many ways - you have to concentrate particularly on a particular aspect of speechcraft for each speech. I'll try to get a few more speeches completed next year if I can.

Well done in the interview. I bottle up completely when faced with anything like that! There is an advanced manual on Public Relations which is a complete hoot! It features TV interviews, press conferences, radio interviews - terrific stuff.

Not to worry too much about evals. In the end I just try to be honest, but to bring across my honesty in a sensitive way. We don't have topics evaluations in our club, so I guess I am saved from this in a way.

I shan't worry overmuch about the evaluations, AS everyone I've seen has done it with notes, I don't think I shall be fine. I'll just try to pick the main points. A lot of people are new, so I know to be gentle and encouraging.

The advanced manuals sound interesting. Having just done the radio interview, I know I could have handled it better, so I'll look forward to doing the media/public relations one at the appropriate time. I know I have a teacher in me too - I do it every week in my qigong classes, so I'm used to people doing what I ask them to do.

Yes, teaching is all about asking questions you know the answers to, isn't it! I love asking questions, as even if people don't answer out loud, they do in their head (well, I find that sometimes when I'm asked to describe something like my perfect house, I really struggle, as I haven't thought it through, and I seem to want all sorts of contradictory things).

Last Tuesday I did my Number Four speech - 'It's only words!'. I was really unprepared, as I'd been away on a course the week before, only coming back on the Sunday and I took my parents back the following day. (They'd been looking after little .)

It worked really nicely, except for the fact that I got a bit confused with the timing. I thought I was more or less out of time, so I finished a bit earlier than I really wanted, only to find that I had almost a full minute to go.

Interestingly, I started with a short story as planned, then found myself telling a bit more of my childhood than I had intended. At the end, I had some really good feedback. Roy thinks that I probably did a better speech than if I'd prepared more thoroughly. I was really nervous before giving it, hoping that I would remember all the points I wanted to make. We had a guest (an American lady) from another club - and she was *really* good in her table topic, so when I got some positive feedback from her, I really valued it. She thought I had poise and talent.

Well done! You are doing really well, if I may say so!

Finishing a speech with a minute to go is *far* better than going over time. There are few things worse than an unprepared speaker who loses track of time and decides "well, I've hit the red light so I might as well continue on for the next ten minutes now". There are a lot of speakers like that. Sod 'em.

I still have some way to go to master the art of speaking with just the barest of notes and the jist of the speech I want to make. I normally have to write out the speech in advance and concentrate on the speech, line for line. I hate it, because to me you can lose the message in its construct. I would prefer to be in a situation where I am able to speak from the heart, without requiring any recourse to learning something line for line. I know it is possible for me to do, but it's still my preference to do it the hard way.

I'm president now - better start figuring out what it's all about!

'Finishing a speech with a minute to go is *far* better than going over time.' Oh good.

'I still have some way to go to master the art of speaking with just the barest of notes and the jist of the speech I want to make.' What stops you? It struck me the other day, that the fact that I've given qigong and t'ai chi lessons for the past few years has helped a lot in my speech-making. Not in the structure, mind.

I agree - I think I'm doing quite well too. I'm going to start preparing for my next one in a different way - I intend to start at the finish and work backwards. It will be interesting to see whether this is a more productive approach.

What stops me, I guess, is my fear of losing my place during a speech - forgetting what to say next, and looking the complete idiot. The trouble though, is that if you rehearse a speech too much, it can sometimes make such an eventuality even more likely, because you begin to divorce the presentation of the speech from the content. Also, sometimes I find myself in the situation that I cannot, for the life of me, remember the right word to say. I'm going to practice doing speeches with less overt preparation next year, I think. What I might try to do is to memorise the basic points, and then let the speech flow as it will during the presentation.

'What I might try to do is to memorise the basic points, and then let the speech flow as it will during the presentation.' That's more or less what I do. I do tend to practise my speech in the car and it comes out differently every time. That probably gives it spontaneity. I think it was only in the last speech that I added stuff in that I hadn't prepared at all. It seemed to work, though.

What I really *need* to get more practice in, though is table topics. Mind, as I have done a fair amount of 'staff' roles, I seem to get less practice than I would like. Actually, the other thing I need to practice is endings. I'm good at starting, less good at ending. Which are your best bits?