So you have joined Toast Masters and want to start taking on meeting roles. The Grammarian is a fun role in the meeting.  It helps to develop your listening skills and benefits everyone at the meeting.  If you’re new to Toastmasters I would suggest after Timer, this is next role to try, especially as it …
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Writing and delivering a 2-3 minute speech.  Piece of cake you may say … but is it?   The 2-3 minute speech which is called for in some Pathways projects is a great exercise in mastering the art of being concise.  As with all speeches you still need to have a speech arc with a …
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At Toastmasters meetings the second section of the meeting is focused on impromptu speaking; our Table Topics section.  The ‘Table Topics Master’ prepares a set of questions aligned to the meeting theme.  Each question is asked then there is usually a pause before they say ‘and this question goes to ….’, allowing everyone to consider …
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The Power of Repeating a Speech for you and the Audience The second project on all the Pathways is to prepare and give a speech, gain feedback and then give the same speech again.  This enables you to think about the evaluation and suggestions you were given, practice incorporating the improvements and then of course, …
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Competition season is in full swing again.  At Toastmasters there a 4 types of competition: The Humorous Speech, Evaluation, Table Topics and International Speech Competition. When I first joined Toastmasters I thought ‘why on earth would I put myself through the pain of a speaking competition’.  However, after a while I saw the light; if …
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You’re reading this blog so I guess you must have some interest in Windsor Speakers.  In today’s blog I’ll share with you why I joined Windsor Speakers and the additional benefits I gained I was not expecting.  We’ll look at speaking improvement, speech writing, leadership and the friends you can make. Improving my Speaking As …
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Have you ever given a presentation or speech and wondered if it landed well with your audience? In this blog I will cover: The value of Toastmasters evaluations How to give a good evaluation How to evaluate yourself and typical improvement areas you’ll notice from self-evaluation 1) The Value of Toastmasters Evaluations At work we …
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At Toastmasters we select a path to follow.  There are 11 Pathways to choose from; examples being ‘Dynamic Leadership’, ‘Effective Coaching’, Engaging Humour. If you are not sure which one to select you can review the projects within each option and there is also a very helpful survey you can complete that will suggest a …
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Struggling for speech ideas?  Read on for suggestions … Many Toastmaster assignments say you can talk on a topic of your choice.  That sounds really helpful on the face of it but when you have the world to choose from sometimes it can be hard to start and actually more daunting. Remember the best speech …
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So you have joined Toastmasters and you are excited to write your first speech – but where do you start? In this blog I will share some tips on how I go about writing a speech: Where to start How to structure your speech & points to consider Writing and learning your speech 1)  Where …
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