Toastmasters Archives | Toastmasters 101

Your High Performance Leadership Project in a Pandemic

Today’s podcast is about your High Performance Leadership Project in a Pandemic – what to do when you are stuck.

TI Extends the Deadlines

Toastmasters International made a huge announcement last week right in the middle of my recording last week’s podcast. The big news? An extension has been made for those who are currently stuck due to the pandemic – the Advanced Leadership Silver award and the Distinguished Toastmaster Award in the classic education program have had their deadlines moved to 2021. Inside this extension is the Club Coach project – also extended into 2021.

What wasn’t extended was the deadline for the High Performance Leadership – which is part of the Advanced Leadership Silver award.

What’s a Toastmaster to do?

My suggestion? Pivot. Continue reading “Your High Performance Leadership Project in a Pandemic”

Mastering Online Meetings

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Mastering Online Meetings

Toastmasters are facing a lot of challenges right now. As we make the transition to mastering online meetings, we get to

Learn how to manage a meeting platform
Present projects with a remote audience
Plan out our path for us to achieve our goals.

Yeah, that’s not much, right?

What’s even more challenging is that your equipment is what you’ve got to work with. So how do you make that work?

Online Meetings

Good question. We can’t possibly address every single variant – this equipment, that platform. But what we can do is try to help you face your audience at the meeting with some confidence that you can do it.

So today, we’ll spend some time talking about how to learn your platform, presentation skills in the video format, and what your next project will teach you – a lot more than just what the Pathways instructions told you. Continue reading “Mastering Online Meetings”

Moving My Toastmasters Meeting Online

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In the face of all the advice to stay home, how do we Toastmasters meet?

Let’s talk about moving my Toastmasters meeting online. Let’s talk about moving all Toastmasters meetings online!

“When managing during a crisis first make sure that your people and the organization you are managing are going to be safe, then look for opportunities.

Periods of turbulence provide both large risks and large opportunities, so after you make sure that you and your people are safe from the risk of ruin, look for the opportunities. It is at such times most people pay the most attention to the risks than the opportunities, that at such times opportunities are greatest.” – Ray Dalio

via Harry Duran.

Welcome to the new world.

In the midst of all the panic, the crises, the lack of toilet paper in the stores, we find we can still function. It’s a matter of adaptation.

Becky Holland Fuller is president of Singing Sands Toastmasters Club in Michigan City, Indiana. I saw her post on the Official Toastmasters International Members Facebook Page about her club’s first online meeting last night and I immediately messaged her.

I HAVE TO TALK TO YOU!

We’re all feeling a bit at sea with the news from Toastmasters International that encourages online Toastmasters meetings. Many of us have been in webinars, some of us have run webinars. But how do you switch from an on-site meeting to an online meeting? How does that work? Continue reading “Moving My Toastmasters Meeting Online”

Contest Speeches and Ice Breakers

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Today’s episode is about contest speeches and ice breaker speeches.

According to Toastmasters International, I’ve given more than 8 Ice Breaker speeches.

According to the evaluations on my desk, I’ve given my contest speech 8 times in preparation for this week’s area contest.

I see a connection, and it’s not in how many times I’ve done the same thing.

INTRO

Do you want to overcome your fear of public speaking? Do you want to discover the leader inside you? Welcome to Toastmasters, in one hour per week, we can help you do both. This is Toastmasters 101 and I’m your host, Kim Krajci. Continue reading “Contest Speeches and Ice Breakers”

Membership Contests

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Where will you find a Toastmaster? Get new members in your club with membership contests.

I went to a story-telling conference last week and discovered that one of the other attendees is a Toastmaster. ( Hi, Alan!) Then I met another gentleman who has been in Toastmasters in the past.

You never know where you’ll find a Toastmaster – or someone who would like to know more.

Because of that, I’d like to ask a favor of you. If you like this podcast – would you tell one person about it? Someone who would like to know more about Toastmasters – or a current Toastmaster who needs to know more about the Pathways program? Thank you!

Why am I asking this?

Continue reading “Membership Contests”

Toastmasters Meetings: Why you should go

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Oh, not another meeting. It’s that time of year when we in the northern hemisphere know that spring is coming – months from now. We want to sink down into a warm blanket and sip something soothing and not leave until that groundhog’s prediction no longer matters. But there’s a Toastmasters meeting. Why should we go to Toastmasters this week? we ask.

Intro

Can you spare an hour a week to change your life? With Toastmasters, you can find the voice inside you and discover the leader you can become. This is the Toastmasters 101 podcast. I’m your host, Kim Krajci

Continue reading “Toastmasters Meetings: Why you should go”

Youth Leadership Program: Take Toastmasters out of the club

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Youth Leadership Program by Toastmasters – Is it time for you to take Toastmasters out of your club?

There are about a zillion good reasons to become a Toastmaster. Everyone has their own reason to join. But at some point, after you’ve witnessed what our training has done for yourself and for others, do you ever think – maybe it’s time to take Toastmasters out of my club and into my world? Continue reading “Youth Leadership Program: Take Toastmasters out of the club”

How to Create a Speech in One Hour

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How to Create a Speech in One Hour? Impossible? Not at all.

I gave 3 speeches in 20 hours last week. I’d mention the clubs by name, but that’s not ideal because – they had empty slots to let me speak. That’s not a good thing. The reason I heard for a meeting that had no speaker but me? No one has time to prep a speech to give at the meeting.

So I’ll let those clubs remain anonymous for now and talk instead about the problem they face: an empty agenda of prepared speakers. Continue reading “How to Create a Speech in One Hour”

Toastmasters District Events Outside Your District

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If you’re a new member of Toastmasters, you might not understand the organization of the program. How the parts make the whole, as it were. But you probably have heard about the Toastmaster district events where the entire district has been invited, either for education, or for awards, or for both.

Every fall, we host Toastmasters district events. District 10 held the Quality Club Forum district event – a series of presentations to help build up clubs in the district. District 11 held the Fall Education Day. What’s the difference? There were a lot of differences in the Toastmasters district events – differing messages, separate tracks vs single track, and whole lot of new people I’ve never met before.

That made all the difference to me. It’s why I recommend you get outside your comfort zone and try a different Toastmasters district event from just your club meeting.

Continue reading “Toastmasters District Events Outside Your District”

Toastmasters Contest Organization: Chair and Contest Master

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Toastmasters Contest Organization requires three people.

Ever been to a circus? Back in the long lost days of traveling circuses, there would be huge tents with three staging areas called rings and each would have an act going at the same time. The smart the circus company used one tent to cover everyone, but no one was too far away from the action on one of the stages. Besides, there were peanuts. Who can hate an event with peanuts?

Contests are like circuses. There’s a whole lot going on that the audience is oblivious to and that’s a good thing. They are there to be entertained. They don’t want to know about who’s cleaning up after the animals or how the clowns get into the car. But without that organization in the background, the show won’t go on.

Toastmasters Contest Guidelines

Contests don’t just happen. It’s not like we say, “Oh, today, let’s have a contest that may send a member to the international convention .” Continue reading “Toastmasters Contest Organization: Chair and Contest Master”