From Kate McNeilly, Excalibur Speakers
London Cardinals held their first workshop in 18 months on Monday, 14 June 2010 and devoted the evening to 4 subjects, 30 mins each. I wanted to experience something different, in a different club, so I went along to check it out. Merlin, Gandalf and Dumbledore had nothing on our Toastmaster wizards (and witch?) that night! It was a very entertaining and educational evening.
1. TABLE TOPICS - first to wave her wand was Gilly Cutts, DTM, a Toastmaster since 1994. She shared the following 10 top tips on How to Approach Challenging Table Topics with Creativity and Confidence:
- Don't panic
- Take your time – deep breath, walk slowly to front & go with first thought that comes to mind.
- Three of the Best – eg, beginning / middle / end; alliterations, etc.
- It’s for You – allow your imagination to explore different Table Topics.
- Be prepared - mentally - to have a go.
- Six of the Best – what, where, who, when, how and why.
- Your Blank Page – eg, if you are serious by nature, ham it up, play around. TM is place to experiment, no one will ridicule you
- Your Personal Story – people are hungry to know more.
- Box of Tricks – you can buy Table Topics cards from Toastmasters International.
- Have Fun!
Of course there was a Table Topics session to allow others to be wizards! The audience had fun watching three lucky people who were asked to speak in a style not their own, using - in turn - Passion (ie, Your Blank Page), Six of the Best and Power of Three.
2. MEMORY – Do you envy those members who can give a talk or evaluation without notes? Me too. Paul Walsh, President, Dale Carnegie instructor and upcoming Area 6 Governor generously shared and demonstrated practical tips to improve memory. He taught us tools to remember names and numbers for lists which have all sorts of uses. It is a process. The belief that you can do it is very important. And so is practice.
3. HOW TO DEAL WITH CONFLICT – Andrew Chuks deftly demonstrated how to turn conflict into resolution in all relationships by using just 3 strategies for: (a) Calmness; (b) courage; and (c) communication (not surprisingly, the most important). You had to be there to experience the effect. Next best thing is to get Andrew to conduct a workshop at your club.
4. LOVE AT WORK – Nigel Cutts wanted us all to win and succeed because the great thing about winners is that they help others and in that way they become great leaders - something much needed in Toastmasters and in life. Several excellent stories (never knew Nigel was a water skier) to show that preparation leads to opportunities.
What a wonderful way to spend an evening at Toastmasters in a high-learning environment with skilled people facilitating appropriate subjects.
Is this something that your club could do some time to meet the educational goals of your club and members for the benefit of all?
