Will You Join Me in Giving Three Cheers for Toastmasters.org Convention Online and In General?

 Hello To Everybuddy, 

Are you ready to be inspired to give and get support on many levels to 'tell your story' and hear from others? Toastmasters.org is all about connecting with others and communicating (in that order, since showing up and caring about one another is key to wanting to share ideas and information as well as giving voice and presentations...some of which involved an interview or interactive aspect.)

  Dan Clark gave a free e-book option after his talk. He trained with Zig Zigler. Go right to the end of his talk if you don't have time to listen to the whole shebang. Then there's an offer to take a course with him for a fee, Speak Like a Pro speaking course. I may see what that entails.

I am often planning to launch one aspect of greater outreach and even speaking, and have done a play recently so got a big boost when I allowed life to deliver the goods after setting my intention.

I had wanted to work with this certain group, Grumbling Gryphons, from decades ago, then the time seemed right. It was a magical opportunity and quite the adventure given we had a small tornado cause trees and wires to block the regular route, so I would go on lots of detours with friends. We found our way each time.

The final big show outdoors got postponed and then rained out, but We Did It Anyway! I'll share the link as it's available to the public....(have to check on that detail.) Meanwhile check out their other shows and the ones I was in recently were Anansi as well as The Myth of Persephone (Purr-seph-ah-knee!) 

Check out Toastmasters.org today and the great speakers. Consider joining the organization for a small registration fee, then after visiting clubs and such (many of which are online now or in general) then join a local group or one of your choosing.

Once you are a member of a club you can visit other clubs and even sign up to help out with a role of Toastmaster (who introduces the meeting), Humorist (who tells a short story or joke for 1-2 min or so), a speaker (for 5-7 min or longer usually, but timed and prepared and organized), a timer who times the speeches and evaluations which run 2-3 min with a 30 second grace period.

All timing is done on a stopwatch with signs of green, yellow and then red held up to indicate time nearing the end. With the red there is still 30 seconds to complete, and in many clubs it may be okay to go a bit over but in a contest that would disqualify one. In general there are guidelines to think carefully to avoid saying 'um, ah, and ya know or like or other filler words, starting a few times as a habit to hatch out and idea or speaking too slowly.'

Using a pause to gather one's thoughts is a helpful reminder...and is all part of learning to think and speak on one's feet (generally the talks are given standing up without a podium to allow more direct contact and freedom of movement for meaningful gestures, but not generally to speak with one's hands (which I used to do very regularly and feel in ways it was a helpful way to get exercise now that I know others who do that, one can practically conduct and orchestra, so I would encourage one to do so if that helps if doing a podcast or mainly has a headshot of a video and that's helpful...but learning to 'speak more calmly and clearly, directly and with one's arms by one's sides not behind or in front of one or in pockets etc is something to work on...)

Many of these points are covered and there are a few other roles such as a general evaluator who runs the second part of the meeting when the speeches, not the speakers as people, are given feedback about what went well and what could be worked on to be more effective as suggestions.

Everyone has their own take on how a speech lands based in part on their own stance and style, so it's helpful to consider one's bias. Those folks generally meet on the phone or in person with a speaker to see what they are working on and how they might support the person.

There can also be mentors who are not part of the roles during the meeting but who welcome and support a person in their journey of Toastmasters for a certain amount of time, working through a speech or presentation (many of which can involve digital components and so on.) It is okay to have notes with main points and also helpful to practice a few times and even record oneself on zoom.com or a tape recorder and in front of friends. Maybe there could be a whole new business providing support for one another or from more experienced speakers. But no one is supposed to pay for others to join Toastmasters to keep politics out of it in private clubs. There are corporate clubs where dues are paid by one's workplace however. There is another branch for colleges (and maybe high schools?) or younger adults I believe but need to learn more. The sooner people become familiar with Toastmasters, the better chance of youth and adults feeling like they can engage confidently with others and the wider world at team players!

Then there are the club officers, the President, Vice-President and Treasurer, Secretary as well as the Sargeant-at-arms who sets up the meeting and opens it with a gavel, calling the meeting to order at a specific time. Each part of the meeting is on an agenda that is shared and helps keep the flow within the designated time.

The President may open the meeting and introduce the Toastmaster for the day. One other favorite part of the meeting is after the speeches called Table Topics, and that is an impromptu response to a given topic or can be of one's own choosing sometimes with a transition from the given topic. Those run for 1-2 minutes with a 30 second grace period so 2 min 30 seconds tops (in a contest, some allow in meetings for that to run another 30 seconds etc.)

The overall sense of the meeting, the start, organization, roles and flow, themes and so on are touched on by the general evaluator. Some clubs explain the roles to any guests or remind the members of the roles as needed with a short summary of a minute. Others may print out those guidelines to have handy.

The effort to organize the meetings falls largely on the Toastmaster well in advance of the actual meeting so everyone else is committed ideally to signing up for roles or speeches in a timely manner. That's a lot of the magic of Toastmasters, is having a format and a friendly, capable group of people filling the roles, like playing a game of tennis or Scrabble. It's a lot of fun after one feels more confident about how all the pieces fit together.

There is a new way of instructing people about projects and speeches to do for the whole organization called Pathways which is an online platform. There used to be booklets that gave a lot of guidance on how to give ten basic speeches.

That may be helpful to realize so everyone can appreciate the new learning curve of getting used to doing projects and evaluating things. Generally people sign up online as well, so a computer or phone with internet access is key.

Hope that's helpful and warms the waters. I'll head back to the main event shortly, after a bike ride on this lovely summer day. Meanwhile I have a couple of stories I am happy to share if people want to read one aloud there's The Turtle and The Acorn.

The other is an audio which I hope to have in print or as an e-book soon called The Jewel Story by Catherine Palmer Paton.  My main post on this blog is Remembering Kaelan Alexander Palmer Paton and is in memory of our heroic teen son. His memorial service is on youtube.com. In this time of COVID19 when so many lives have ended on earth, it is important to lean into the circle of community from over the years.

The 2009 celebration of Kaelan's life with hundreds joining in  was held at his local Sharon Center School in Sharon CT a month after he passed trying to save his friends from treacherous undercurrents at the base of a waterfall. The short videos include his teacher Monica Connor reading part of Kaelan's 8th grade essay, the rescuer Skip Kosciusko who did save the lad Kaelan had gone into the water to rescue and reached briefly, possibly pushing him from the worst of the current. There was online news coverage as well at the time since it was a tragic unusual set of events involving a group of minors. The big lesson is to plan for only safe, well-supervised outings to appropriate places with the right lifevests and safety ropes and equipment and people prepared to help if something goes awry. Having cell phones and  timely responses from rescue people in the loop was critical to no other loss of life that day.

There were miracles amidst the madness, yet seeking to prevent such a complicated, dangerous set of 'plans gone awry' on many fronts among many families, the schools, the courts and counselors, and wider communities is work we can all join in doing to honor the unnecessarly loss of life in such kinds of ventures and 'accidents'.

Those are tough words but as people can see throughout this blog and many outreaches I have done along with hundreds of advocates, we really don't want to have history repeat itself or the future be bleak. Thanks for taking good care of yourself and those in your circles with accountability and support to pursue peace, healing and competency each day as team players. In these ways we can honor those who have journeyed on and continue to live life fully!