Comments on: Evaluating A Speech

By: sol morrison

sol morrison — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 01:05:39 +0000

A friend of mine in Toastmasters has Acting Experience — as well as many years of Professional Writing, Directing and Speaking. I’ve always found his speeches and contest entries Professional and Polished — and interesting.
However, because of his relaxed, “reflexive” style , this person is often chastised for Not Using “Vocal Variety ” and ” More Hand
Gestures.” These types of comments simply do not fit this
man’s Personality ; that is Not Him !

Steven Wright does not use huge Props like Gallagher does –
and he doesn’t pace around the stage and “insult people”
like Don Rickles. That is Not his Stage Persona ! SO : The
Evaluation of a Speech should RELATE to That Particular Person –
( who he / she is — Under / Before that Speech). If ya’
don’t really know the person speaking , you can “soften” comments
with “alternatives” ( You might consider adding / changing . . .)
or “subjectifying” ( I’d be tempted to . . . ) ( I think I would
try to add / change . . .). Artificial hand waving and
unnatural voice “changes” — usually show through right away –
and this “artifice” will start leeching away the truth and
honesty of the CONTENT of your speech.

LESSON : Key Your Suggestions for Changes to That Individual Speaker — as well as to That Topic and that Delivery . — Thanks

By: Richard

Richard — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 18:02:20 +0000

I read about the value of Point #5: “One Doable thing.” The example I read was deliver your first three lines to one person.

I urge anyone who feels overwhelmed by the many ways that we would improve to use google to find information on David Allen’s ideas.
Use his book title, Getting Things Done, for the search term.

He says we need to get our coulds and shoulds out of our minds. We can store them in on paper, and or in electronic form.

The Idea is that for each item that we capture in our inbox, We must decide to throw it away, DETERMINE THE NEXT STEP TO TAKE, or put it on a SOMEDAY MAYBE LIST. (As opposed to feeling guilty about it.

It’s June 1st in Minneapolis. Summer arrived yesterday, after a very long winter. HAPPY SUMMER TO ALL.

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 27 May 2008 05:39:46 +0000

Thanks for the tips John! I especially relate to #2. As Craig Valentine once said, many people seek validation, more than education… and that’s a shame because the speaker has just denied himself an opportunity to grow!

I added one more point in my list, inspired from Sunday’s district contest. Do check it out.