West Austin II Toastmasters

We had 12 people at our club meeting today. During the first part of the meeting, two speakers gave prepared speeches (one was a spur-of-the-moment speech). The first speaker spoke about the "school bus monsters" and gave a speech rich in mind pictures.
Our second speaker spoke about her experiences as a vendor at home and garden shows and about a video that recently went viral.

Impromptu speaking, called "Table Topics," featured four speakers who spoke off the cuff for at least one minute on topics related to the theme of love and prosperity. Experience in impromptu speaking helps when responding to customer objections or when someone above your pay grade blindsides you with a question during a staff meeting (and, thanks to my experience with Table Topics, I handled it very well, thank you).

The third part of our meeting consists of evaluators giving feedback to the speakers who delivered prepared speeches. They discuss what went well and what they might try next time to improve. I've found that evaluating also helped me give feedback to my direct reports at work.

We'll be meeting next Thursday at 7:00-8:15 AM at the IHOP at Cesar Chavez and I-35. I'll post a link to our website below.
Come visit. We love guests! (Yes, they have caffeine.)

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We had 10 people, including one former member, show up this morning at our club's meeting. Our president, Amy, stepped in with a pocket speech and showed us what I'm convinced is a magic formula when you need to deliver a last-minute speech.

The first step is to select a topic. Then tell us what is good about it. Next, tell us what is "bad" about it.
Then tell us something about the topic you find interesting.

I have been a Toastmaster for more than 20 years and this is the simplest formula I've seen. As her evaluator, I suggested people could play off Clint Eastwood's movie, "The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly by remembering
1. The Good
2. The Bad
3. The Interesting.

I also pointed out you can use versions of this in social settings or even at work. Although if your boss has asked you for feedback on an idea of his, I'd be careful about the "bad" part. 😀

We'll be back at it again next Thursday at 7:00-8:15 AM. We meet in the back room of IHOP at 707 E. Cesar Chavez in Austin. We love guests! Come visit!

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West Austin II President Scott congratulates club member Amy, who won the District 55 International Speech Contest on May 17th. Amy will represent District 55 at the next level of the contest. CONGRATULATIONS, AMY!!!!!