Speaking and Listening: Toastmasters Experience

 This past week I served as "Table Topics Master" at one of my club meetings.  The "Table Topics Master" asks questions and calls on attendees to answer those questions.  Each attendee gets 1-2 minutes for their answer.  The theme of the day was "opposite day," so I asked questions in the format of "What is the opposite of ______?" I had not come up with any ideas myself for what the "opposites" would be, so I had no expectations for how people would approach the questions. When I asked "What is the opposite of snow?" I loved the respondent's approach.  She first described various qualities of snow and then thought aloud about something that would have the opposite qualities.  Snow is cold, falls from the sky, fun to play in.  So what is hot, comes up from the ground, and would not be fun to play in?  Lava of course!   Her answer made so much sense, even though I'm not sure I would have given the same answer.  Her appr...

 Speech topics are all around us if we look for them.  By identifying an interesting topic and organizing our thoughts around it, we can come up with a wonderful speech! Over the Christmas holiday, I went to visit my niece in Texas and learned of her new passion for gymnastics.  Watching her hope to receive gymnastics equipment for Christmas and her excitement and action when this hope was fulfilled gave me an idea for a speech that I have now given at two different Toastmasters clubs. Here are the notes I wrote to formulate my ideas and prepare for this speech: Tonight I tell you a tale of a great olympic gymnast - a young lady who literally set the example for what all the other gymnasts should aspire to. Her name is Emma, and I know her because she is my niece. Presents – desire / hope Practice – hard work Judging (Emma is the example of perfection) - confidence [Should be the end. She won the Olympics three times after all. But there is always a tomorrow…] Nervous ...