Inspiration

Sometimes it seems difficult to find inspiration for a Toastmasters speech.

I don't believe for one second that inspiration for a speech topic is difficult to find.  Most of us have tons of stories to tell, even if it something as mundane as "what I did today".  Now "what I did today" may very well make a terrible speech, but that isn't my point.  Speech topics are all around us and  the lack of "inspiration" is likely just a myth.

When people mention a lack of inspiration I think they really mean a lack of motivation.  Who could blame them if their current idea for a speech is "what I did today".  Believe me, you don't want to hear about my average day.  I don't want to hear about my average day!  If you simply pick a topic out of the ether it is hard to get motivated to do the work to prepare, practice, and present a speech on that topic.  The key is to find a topic that does get you motivated to do the work that helps you down the path towards better speaking.

Now you could brainstorm a list of topics when you want to present a speech to your Toastmasters club.  I'm willing to go out on a limb and speculate that this is how the average Toastmaster plans out a speech.  In my speculative state I'll postulate that it is during these brainstorming sessions that people feel they have no inspiration.  My response would be "you're not doing it right", but that is a topic for another time.

Instead of deciding to speak and then find a topic, I'd suggest finding a topic and then speaking.  Actually, scratch that.  Don't find a topic, but work towards having a bunch of topics.  Carry around a small notebook and pen, or create a list on your smartphone.  As ideas come across your path, jot them down.  Pick some time, maybe once a day or once a week, to go through your list and make a few notes.  Maybe some subjects lend themselves better to specific types of speeches.

The act of jotting down ideas and then later consolidating them helps take care of motivational problems when preparing for a speech.  Subjects that have no interest to you, and subsequently no motivation, get weeded out because they won't even make it on the list.  With what is essentially a "pre-approved" list of speech topics you can spend more of your time actually preparing for your presentation and less time wondering what you are going to speak about.

You never know....this might even help your complete your manuals just a bit quicker.....

Just Get Out & Do It

When I was in High School I spent my summer working at a Boy Scout camp.  One year I taught the Archery merit badge, and it was challenging.  The Scouts I had were given five hours to try and learn all of the information regarding Archery and get a good enough score at target practice.

Of course learning to use the bows safely is paramount, but having enough time to learn good form and score well enough can be challenging.

I was fortunate because a Scouter (and Adult Scout) had a "few" compound bows to lend me for the summer.  With the smaller draw pull of the compound bows the Scouts would get more out of their target practice.  I drove over a couple counties to this Scouter's home to borrow the "few" bows he had offered and came back with 39 bows.  The temporary loss of these bows hardly put a dent in his collection.

This fact I found quite peculiar, so I inquired about his massive collection, only part of which I had seen.

This Scouter's goal in life was that one of his many grandchildren would someday win a Gold Medal in Olympic Archery.

This goal, like the Toastmaster's goal to become a better speaker and leader on the way towards earning their Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM), isn't something that just happens.  You have to get out there and do the work....get in the practice.  The weekly Toastmasters meeting is just a start.  You need to seek out speaking and leadership activities in your work and volunteer life.  When opportunities come your way grab them!

It's hard to hit the target if you don't even pick up the bow.....

Speech Progression Outside of Toastmaster Manuals

As Boise Club 61's Vice President of Education, my job is "providing and maintaining the positive environment and the programs through which members can learn and grow." Usually that is done through helping schedule club meetings and assisting members fulfill the various roles and speaking engagements needed to complete their Competent Leader (CL) and Competent Communicator (CC) manuals.

Other ways I can help Boise Club 61 members include encouraging them to work towards other speaking & leadership goals and to offer useful advice when possible.  This blog can be a useful tool in helping do just that.

I think it is important for Toastmasters to avail themselves to pick up specific speaking skills that they will find particularly useful.  Sure, we have manuals to give us experience with specific types of speeches, and the evaluations we receive are useful for improving general aspects of our speaking ability and to create our own style.  Where we can get more out of the Toastmaster program is when we develop our own goals/skill development outside of the mainstream.  Maybe your job requires (or is going to require) that you have a better understanding of PowerPoint and be able to put together effective presentations.  The CC manual only has one speech regarding Visual Aids, but that doesn't mean you couldn't take a PowerPoint course at the local college or learning annex.  You definitely could strive to use PowerPoint in more of your other manual speeches.  You could also speak at other clubs to specifically get additional advice and critiques.

Increasing PowerPoint is just one example.  Another, more personal example is how I've written the last six of my CC manual speeches.  One area of personal speech growth I perceive was being able to give a short-notice speech.  More notice than the impromptu speaking of Table Topics, but less than one would have for a normal manual speech.  I can remember being given speaking assignments at work that were for later in the day or first thing in the morning.  The time-crunch was a real pressure that I felt I needed to learn to deal with.  The best I could do was deliberately start writing my speeches the day I was set to present.  Sure, I "cheated" quite a bit in that I new what the topic was and the fact it is hard to not think about an upcoming speech before hand, but this mental pre-preparation couldn't have contributed to more than a sound bite or two.

One thing I learned from this exercise that you might be able to take away from reading this blog post and put to use is the concept of written timing.   The specifics of what works for me probably won't work for you, but you can most likely come up with your own standard easily enough.  In writing my speeches I use a simple Word document with 1/2" margins and a 20 point font (I've been using Calibri).  I learned that a single sheet of paper should run me about two minutes of speaking time.  For a five to seven minute speech I want three single-sided sheets of typed up speech.

This single concept of written timing, or more specifically figuring out what my base written timing is means that I have a quick and easy starting place for preparing for any speech I have advanced notice of.