What A Speech Evaluation Contest Teaches The Audience

by Promod Sharma, President 2011-2012

We see as we are.

In Toastmasters, we improve our skills by observing others. As you listen to a speaker, you form your own impressions. When you hear the Evaluator, you often get different perspectives. That's valuable.

What if you good listen to different evaluations of the same speaker? In a recent Speech Evaluation Contest, five contestants evaluated the same guest speaker.

For Example

While there was overlap, each Evaluator had different perspectives. They commented on such elements as

• the importance of pausing
• the challenges of speaking to a new audience
• the effective use of hand gestures to show how a cantilever works
• the size of the props used
• the intricate design of the content
• the vocal variety in the delivery
• the multiple meanings of the title

Movies

Do you read movie reviews? If you've seen the film, you might wonder if the reviewers saw the same film. A speech evaluation is like a 2-3 minute movie review.

Ultimately, an evaluation is an opinion and opinions vary. You need not agree to become a better speaker or Evaluator. You just need to listen and watch. It's best if you form your own opinions before the Evaluator speaks. Even if you disagree, you learn by seeing how others interpret the same event.

Later

There's pressure on contestants in a Speech Evaluation Contest, but not for you in the audience. You can silently pretend that you're an Evaluator without competing.

As you build your powers of observation, you'll find yourself using them regularly without noticing. You'll find that even professional speakers can improve.

Links

• Control the fear of public speaking
• Get feedback from the right group
• Three mistakes seminar speakers make
• Prepare your speech with a mindmap
• Lessons from one year in Toastmasters
• image courtesy of Tom Oliveira (US)

You'll find more about Promod than you'd ever want to know at promodsharma.com. He's speaking about trust at Freelancecamp Toronto on March 25, 2012.

Get Feedback From The Right Group

by Promod Sharma, President 2011-2012

Feedback is easy to get. The challenge is getting feedback from the right group. You may think you want a group similar to your target audience. Maybe not.

There's another choice: a general group that isn't familiar with your topic. They are ideal for spotting what's "obvious" to you but a mystery to them. If you're skeptical, watch several TED Talks. The topics range widely but can be understood by an intelligent audience.

Worst?

Feedback from colleagues or experienced speakers may be the least valuable unless they are good at understanding audiences other than themselves. They may also suffer from strong biases for the “right” way to present (which means their way).

In the end, you decide what feedback to act upon. Getting the wrong inputs makes this more difficult.

Audience

Also, consider collecting written feedback from your entire audience on simple forms. You may be surprised at the range of opinions. If you're told that you
     A) relied too heavily on notes, and
     B) spoke from memory
you're probably fine. If the feedback is only A or B, you've got an opportunity for improvement.

What About Work?

At work, you may face additional constraints, especially if you're developing a presentation for your boss or someone with strong views on presentations.

You could create your own version of the presentation (removing any proprietary information) and deliver it at your Toastmasters club as a lesson and get feedback. You might speak at other clubs too.

Recording

Recording your presentation is an effective way to practice. Video is best but audio is good too. You then get feedback directly from yourself.

We can't tell how an audience reacts without feedback. Magician Dai Vernon said we can sweat in private or in public. Your semi-private Toastmasters club is an ideal place to practice.

Links

• Three mistakes seminar speakers make
• The best places to get free images
• Solve problems like a magician: four steps from Dai Vernon
• Should you join an Advanced Toastmasters club
• image courtesy of Kostya Kisleyko (Russia)

You’ll find more about Promod Sharma at promodsharma.com.

Table Topics: The Tropics

by Barbara Berezowski

As Table Topics Master of this week’s meeting, with its theme being TRAVEL, I thought it would be a great idea to design the Table Topic activities to be in line with the theme.

I decided to focus on "The Tropics". Hawaiian music, a slideshow of tropical destinations and a lei greeting at the door helped set the mood of the night. Lyle was a great contributor of spirit arriving in a brightly coloured Hawaiian-style shirt, an armful of props and a great smile!

Table Topics were served from a tropical tray loaded with fruit cups, topped with tropical paper umbrellas as the garnish. It was under these decorative umbrellas, that the members found their topics.

Fun was had by all. Everyone, including every guest, participated with Great Spirit. This contributed to the quality of the presentations given, so much so that there was a three way tie for the Winner! Three Awards were handed out to Anita, Yvonne and Trevor. Congratulations to these members as well as everyone who participated.
 

Thoughts On The Theme

My thoughts on the theme of Travel (read by meeting chair, Anita):

For those lucky enough to leave their backyards and travel, whether it be down the street or to the other side of the world, I am so thrilled for you.

It can be an experience of a lifetime. Open your mind and be prepared to meet people from all walks of life and see new sights that can be beyond your wildest dreams.

All in all, you will earn an education that no brick and mortar institution could ever give you. So pack your bags and "Bon Voyage!"

 

Word Of The Day

Word of the Day: vivacity [vi-vas-ity]

Meaning: liveliness

Members who don’t use the word pay a $0.50 fine. There’s no penalty for guests.
 

Table Topics: The Tropics

1. Easter Island Explorations
2. Telephones in Thailand
3. Activities in Australia
4. Bikinis in Bali
5. Night Life in Negril
6. Ocean View in Ocho Rios
7. Sunset on the shore
8. Flamingos in Florida
9. Cocktails in Cayo Coco
10. Coconuts in Cuba
11. Relaxation in Rio
12. Tan Lines in Tonga
13. Trade winds in Tahiti
14. Deck Chair in Dominican Republic
15. Fun in Fiji
16. Sunglasses in St. Kitts
17. Rain in Spain
18. Food in French Polynesia
19. Sand in Samoa
20. Royal Hawaiian Resort
21. Happy in Hawaii
22. Duty Free Shopping
23. Shells on the Seashore
24. Flip-Flops in Florida
25. Beach Blanket Bingo
26. Bali Beachball
27. Cruising the Caribbean

Barbara Berezowski is an Olympian, Hall of Fame Inductee and inspirational speaker. You’ll find more at www.bberezowski.com.

Behind The Scenes: Video of Building Trust With Podcasting (#pcto2012)

by Promod Sharma, President 2011-2012

When you’re presenting live, you may face hurdles. With practice, you’ll learn to overcome them. This session is an example.

The Hurdles

The main hurdle was getting ready. The previous speakers left no time for setup. As a result, the opening words weren’t delivered with the intended impact. Also, the camera could have been moved closer.

The room was wide and attendees were scattered from stage left to stage right. It wasn’t possible to look at everyone at once. I would have preferred to stand to the left of the screen, but that would have obstructed the view and put me further from the bulk of the audience.

Initially, the projector was showing a blank screen. The solution was to change the resolution on the computer from 1600x900 to 1280x800. Normally this adjustment occurs automatically. Presenters can’t rely on normal.

The Risk

About 75% of the session was unscripted participation with the audience. That’s risky but also rewarding for everyone. This audience was warm and participated actively. That was a relief. There are strategies to deal with tough audiences but they weren’t needed here. Let’s save them for another blog post.

The Video

What do you think? What would you have done differently?

The Editing

This video is the second time I’ve overlaid still images of the slides. The first time was a week earlier with Building Trust With Blogging. I made a mistake just before publishing. I moved the title slide. This caused the images to show several seconds earlier than planned.

If I could go back in time, I’d boost the audio volume. While editing, I was using high powered speakers and didn’t notice the levels were low. I was hoping that YouTube would have a setting to boost volume but I couldn’t find one.

Overall, video editing is easier easier. I got valuable tips at Podcamp Toronto from Craig Moore of Halifax-based Spider Video (spidervideo.tv and @spidervideo).

Links

• How to make your presentation better than a TED Talk
• Toastmasters, Podcasting and Podcamp Toronto 2012
• Podcasting resources

Promod Sharma keeps writing these blog posts to encourage other club members to get contribute text, audio or video. His own blogs are here and here.

The Best Places To Get Free Images

by Promod Sharma, President 2011-2012

Visuals add punch to your presentations and images are everywhere. Google even lets you do an image search. The problem is that you may be using images that are subject to copyright.

The police aren't likely going to smash in your doors and drag you to jail. The bigger risk is getting caught by the copyright owner and getting a big bill.

If you want to give your presentation in public or to post a recording on YouTube, why take risks?

Safe Sites

There are sites where you can find images free for your use. I've relied on Stock.XCHNG for years. In recent months, I've started using everystockphoto.com. This search engine lets you search different sites at once — about 15 million images. The advanced options are handy. I normally select landscape photos of at least 500 pixels by 500 pixels from MorgueFile, PhotoXpress and Stock.XCHNG. In the beginning, you may want to use the default settings.

Check the licenses carefully. You might be able to use the images for commercial purposes without giving credit to the creator. As a general practice, I give the creator credit when linking to images online. That feels fair.

If you don't find suitable images, try different keywords. Be a detective.

Paid

You can also get images from commercial sites. You'll get more choice for a price.

Screenshots

If you want to capture something you see on your screen, there's a powerful tool called SnagIt from Techsmith ($50 US). I use it almost daily for captures and basic editing (e.g., resizing and cropping). That’s how I got the visuals for this post.

Links

• public-domain-image.com (new)
• Three mistakes that seminar speakers make
• The painless way to blog

Promod Sharma makes many presentations that include visuals. You'll find examples on YouTube on the riscario channel.