Would be writers travel to England to the Writers' Summer School at Swanwick and the Writers' Holiday in Wales and visit our Toastmasters Speakers' clubs. On LinkedIn I read a debate about how useless, even insulting it is to members of the audience eager to learn if a speaker offers no useful advice and seems unprepared. The construction of a good speech and a good short story or novel or even a poem are all similar. Hero/Heroine/victim has an aim or problem, is thwarted, through determination beats the villain/opposition/self-doubt/disaster and succeeds.
The short story has one problem; the novel can have up to 50 obstacles. You can have clear helpers and foes such as rival companies, but also the hero/heroine can have friends or colleagues or family who become rivals or enemies pretending to be friends and baddies who are won over by the kindness and help of the hero/heroine (Read Treasure Island.) The same happens in real life in business.
At Toastmasters I've heard speeches prepared in the interval which were well constructed - and topics - often using material the speaker has used and prepared earlier for another subject. (This is how as an English tutor I've got failed mock O level pupils to reach A star. They prepared three perfect corrected well constructed essays. In the exam they used the same essay topic or the same structure such as past, present, future.)
In Toastmasters we tend to give ten different unrelated speeches practising various techniques. If you plan to be a professional speaker it's better and easier to pick a topic or subject and keep honing that. Martin Luther King had given his I have a dream speech many times. (In fact he abandoned his new speech and went back to the old one.)
I met an actress who was a professional speaker and she had only four speeches which she gave again and again so that like a play she had every word and pause planned and memorised. That's actors for you. But ENFP (extravert procrastinators like me - teachers and journalists - always interested in the news and trying something new) are more likely to try out a new subject every time they stand up.
Success in speeches can come from preparing the perfect speech and adapting it to a similar subject. The person who is winging it and not succeeding needs to join toastmasters and get evaluations, and a mentor. It's the same as preparing for a job interview and facing hecklers doing stand-up. But what stops the preparation is probably what drives people to Toastmasters in the first place - procrastination due to fear of facing the audience. Some of those top speakers have made millions on line with businesses run to collect money without ever meeting a person. That's why they have failed face to face. But they could succeed with a checklist - and the organiser should ask for a pre-speech run through of topics to be covered or give the speaker a list. We used to have the same at writers' conferences. Speakers promoted themselves reading out their books or literary agents told us they did not want anybody to contact them whilst the audience wanted tips. If the organisers had said, your audience is writers who have paid to learn how to write, what are your top three tips - please put them in your speech because if not as chair that will be my first question. That helps the speaker focus on what the audience wants.
I've been a member of two clubs in the UK and one in Singapore. At the time of writing this I'm President of Harrovian Speakers and if you are ever in London please look us up and email one of us and come along to a meeting, dinner or party. You'll meet friendly people and learn a lot about speaking and personalities.
www.harrovians.org.uk
Also check out my book Quick Quotations For Successful Speeches on lulu.com
I'll sign a copy for you if you buy it from me or buy it on line and bring it to a meeting.
When I'm in Singapore I go to a Toastmasters speakers' meeting every night when I'm not out to dinner.
You can also see me in action on YouTube How to give a good speech.
I have some books on Amazon new and used. Any positive feedback or good or helpful reviews would be appreciated.
The short story has one problem; the novel can have up to 50 obstacles. You can have clear helpers and foes such as rival companies, but also the hero/heroine can have friends or colleagues or family who become rivals or enemies pretending to be friends and baddies who are won over by the kindness and help of the hero/heroine (Read Treasure Island.) The same happens in real life in business.
At Toastmasters I've heard speeches prepared in the interval which were well constructed - and topics - often using material the speaker has used and prepared earlier for another subject. (This is how as an English tutor I've got failed mock O level pupils to reach A star. They prepared three perfect corrected well constructed essays. In the exam they used the same essay topic or the same structure such as past, present, future.)
In Toastmasters we tend to give ten different unrelated speeches practising various techniques. If you plan to be a professional speaker it's better and easier to pick a topic or subject and keep honing that. Martin Luther King had given his I have a dream speech many times. (In fact he abandoned his new speech and went back to the old one.)
I met an actress who was a professional speaker and she had only four speeches which she gave again and again so that like a play she had every word and pause planned and memorised. That's actors for you. But ENFP (extravert procrastinators like me - teachers and journalists - always interested in the news and trying something new) are more likely to try out a new subject every time they stand up.
Success in speeches can come from preparing the perfect speech and adapting it to a similar subject. The person who is winging it and not succeeding needs to join toastmasters and get evaluations, and a mentor. It's the same as preparing for a job interview and facing hecklers doing stand-up. But what stops the preparation is probably what drives people to Toastmasters in the first place - procrastination due to fear of facing the audience. Some of those top speakers have made millions on line with businesses run to collect money without ever meeting a person. That's why they have failed face to face. But they could succeed with a checklist - and the organiser should ask for a pre-speech run through of topics to be covered or give the speaker a list. We used to have the same at writers' conferences. Speakers promoted themselves reading out their books or literary agents told us they did not want anybody to contact them whilst the audience wanted tips. If the organisers had said, your audience is writers who have paid to learn how to write, what are your top three tips - please put them in your speech because if not as chair that will be my first question. That helps the speaker focus on what the audience wants.
I've been a member of two clubs in the UK and one in Singapore. At the time of writing this I'm President of Harrovian Speakers and if you are ever in London please look us up and email one of us and come along to a meeting, dinner or party. You'll meet friendly people and learn a lot about speaking and personalities.
www.harrovians.org.uk
Also check out my book Quick Quotations For Successful Speeches on lulu.com
I'll sign a copy for you if you buy it from me or buy it on line and bring it to a meeting.
When I'm in Singapore I go to a Toastmasters speakers' meeting every night when I'm not out to dinner.
You can also see me in action on YouTube How to give a good speech.
I have some books on Amazon new and used. Any positive feedback or good or helpful reviews would be appreciated.
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