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Health & Fitness

Looking to develop speaking and leadership skills?

Do you have glossophobia?  Not sure?  Are you afraid of public speaking?  Then you may be one of the 74% of Americans who suffers from speech anxiety or glossophobia.  It could be because, as George Jessel says, "The human brain starts working the moment you are born and never stops until you stand up to speak in public." However, this “disease” is curable.  And Toastmasters can help! 

President Gerald Ford said, "If I went back to college again, I'd concentrate on two areas: learning to write and to speak before an audience. Nothing in life is more important that the ability to communicate effectively." You do not have to go back to college to learn to write and speak, you can join your local Toastmasters group.  Toastmasters has clubs throughout the world and each club has its own flavor.  In this area alone, I have heard of clubs that are wine/fine dining themed, photography themed, industry or company specific, etc.  Some clubs are geared towards competitive speaking and some towards professional speakers.

If you are like me, you have probably heard of Toastmasters, but I am also guessing, also like me, you are not sure what goes on there other than people giving speeches.  I was not sure what to expect when I walked into my first meeting this past May.  First night, I jumped in feet first in Table Topics, but more on that later.  I learned Toastmasters is more than just learning to be comfortable speaking in public, it also encourages you to build up your leadership skills.  To that end, each meeting has a variety of jobs that members take turns filling.  Toastmaster, Table Topics Toastmaster, Ah Counter, Timer, Grammarian, etc.  Next week, I am taking my first turn at being the General Evaluatlor.  Basically, I will evaluate the speech evaluators and the meeting on whole.  Sure hope I do not blow it, but even if I have a total meltdown, the other members will be there to help me get through my speech with lots of words of encouragement. 

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Two of the members are speakers giving prepared speeches from whatever Toastmasters book they are currently working on.  As Winston Churchill said, "Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen."  I never know what I am going to hear about each week, but, to date, I have not heard a speech I did not like.  Sometimes I am touched, sometimes I am ticked, but I am always entertained and learning something new.  The two speakers each have an evaluator who will then give a short speech on what they liked about the speech and give some pointers to the speaker for improving their speech or speaking style.  There is voting and one speech and one evaluation will win a ribbon for the night.  The last ribbon for the evening goes for Table Topics.

Each week there is a different theme and the theme my first night was Super Heroes.  What happens is you are given a question by the Table Topics Toastmaster based on the week’s theme and then you have about 30 seconds (depending on where you sit and how long it takes you to walk to the podium) to formulate your response.  You then speak for 1-2 minutes.  I had witty remarks for all of the questions until, as Jessel said, I had to stand up and talk about sidekicks.  Only one that came to mind was Robin and I was not a big Robin fan.  Cannot even remember now what I said, but I know it was less than 1 minute and full of lots of ums.  The next question that came up was about outfits and I could have answered that one much more intelligently.  I mean, who would argue with Wonder Woman having the best outfit?  Quick spin and she was ready to go!  Need to scuba dive, spin again and you are in a full wetsuit.  Addressing the UN?  Another quick spin and you have your formal cape.

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You do not have to participate your first night but, since on the spot speaking was what I wanted to improve, I decided to give it a shot.  In the words of President Abraham Lincoln, "Extemporaneous speaking should be practiced and cultivated."  In just a couple of weeks, I could already see the improvement.  I will not say I am at the level of some of the others in the club, but I can proudly say the last few weeks I have had no ahs, ums, ands, or other crutch words.  I get a big thrill out of not only coming up quickly with a witty remark, but sounding literate at the same time!  Next goal?  To win a Best Table Topics ribbon!!! 

So there you have it, our Toastmasters meeting in a nutshell.  Willing to give it a shot?  I invite you to visit my club, the Saddleback Valley Toastmasters, on Tuesday nights at 7 p.m. at the Carrows in Laguna Hills.  On Tuesday, August 13th, we will be having an open house, so we ask that you RSVP if you are coming that night.  You can visit our Meetup site at www.meetup.com/SaddlebackValleyToastmasters/ or visit out new website at www.SVTM.CRCSite.com for more information.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said "Speech is power: speech is to persuade, to convert, to compel."  I look forward to meeting you soon and hope we can both work together to build our speaking powers and leadership skills.

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