A large vocabulary has often been as much a hindrance as much as a help. Simple words and expressions are distinctive characteristics of some of the world’s great speakers.

I find that eloquence and precision are best developed by surrounding yourself with language of that pattern. It is absorbed rather than learned. So listen to great speeches, read thought-provoking books, and watch insightful movies. And you might also find excuses to befriend people who speak the way you seek.

Later in the afternoon, Wendy Wang ACB ALB was elected Division Governor for Division D, and Bill Wang ACB was elected Division Governor for Division L, the new Division for CAT. No doubt many other CAT members will be taking on other leadership roles within the District, and we look forward to their success.

Congratulations!

Oh, and don’t tell your audience that what you are going to say is boring! If it is, change what you’re going to say. If it is still boring – and you have to say it for some reason – let your poor audience drift away peacefully rather than being pushed into slumber by you

CAT’s President, Carlo Wolff ACB ALB, won the Division F International speech contest!

Competition was tough, and he had to beat some of the best speakers around Shanghai. But he did it. And we’re very proud of him.

We have just a few weeks before the national championships at the District Conference. Make sure you’ve got your ticket – it’s going to be a tremendous event!

And take advantage of the opportunity to see more of Carlo before the contest at our next few meetings – this Thursday, 22 April, and next Wednesday, 28 April, for our joint meeting with IDEAL.

Also congratulations to our MVP, Joyce Hu, CC CL who won third place in the Mandarin Showcase!

Speaker: Carlo Wolff ACB ALB

General Evaluator: Susan Zhou DTM
Evaluator 1: Aky (Oemer Akyazici) CC
Evaluator 2: Andrew Wang ACB

TME: Aky (Oemer Akyazici) CC

Timer: Minnie Li CC

Table Topics Master: Spike Gu ACB CL

Speeches

Jenny Ni CC Fall in Love With Yourself
Manual: Humorously Speaking | Project: keep them laughing (A6)
Objective 1: Prepare a speech that opens with a self-deprecating joke;
Objective 2: String together two or three related jokes in the speech body;
Objective 3: Close the speech with a humorous story.

KC Loh CC The Secret
Manual: Speaking to Inform | Project: The Abstract Concept (A6)
Objective 1: Research and organize the thought of experts on an abstract concept, theory, historical force, or social/political issue;
Objective 2: Present the ideas in a clear and interesting manner.

Andrew Wang ACB Smoking Should Not Be Allowed in Any Restaurant
Manual: Persuasive Speaking | Project: Addressing the Opposition (A19)
Objective 1: Prepare a talk on a controversial subject that persuades an audience to accept or at least consider your viewpoint;
Objective 2: Construct the speech to appeal to the audience’s logic and emotions.

And we will enjoy a senior evaluations team led by President Carlo Wolff ACB ALB as General Evaluator, and supported by Joyce Hu CC CL, Bill Wang ACB and Yingdan Liu DTM.

Thursday night, 25 February, from 7pm.

Hope you can make it!

But when asked about it once, Gladwell replied, “I know it may not look like this. But it’s all scripted. I write down every word and then I learn it off by heart. I do that with all my talks and I’ve got lots of them.”

It’s great to connect with your audience as if you were just having a casual chat with them. And sometimes that’s precisely what you will want to do. Other times, when you want to really nail it, you might be better off going beyond the bullet points to rehearse, refine and distill the most important information that you are there to share. And find yourself on a level where you have that polish that casual (amateur?) speaking just doesn’t allow.

While memorizing isn’t “the answer”, if you want to deliver a professional-standard speech, you might find yourself enjoying an interesting experience if you treat your next presentation as a performance.

At least that what seems to work for the guy who wrote The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers and, most recently, What the Dog Saw.

3 January, 1-5:30pm: Learn how to be a trainer…

Our facilitator: Yingdan Liu ACS ALS
District 85 Lieutenant Governor for Education and Training
Certified Simultaneous Translator and Senior Toastmaster with great experience delivering dozens of workshops and training sessions.

Speaker to Trainer is the Toastmasters International program specifically designed to help you become a trainer – to bridge the gap between public speaking and delivering effective trainings. Through delivering this session, Yingdan will be completing a requirement towards her Advanced Communicator Gold.

In this program you’ll discover the five steps involved in preparing and presenting a training program using adult learning principles. You’ll also learn the role of trainers and the difference between public speaking and training. Along the way, you’ll learn how to make learning experiences enjoyable, how to handle difficult audiences, creating learning activities, using visual aids and designing the training itself.

Our last event sold out…

Sunday 3 January – 1pm-5:30pm

150RMB or 100RMB until 25 December for Toastmasters

(download flyer here)

Please register here – no registrations will be taken on the day.

[contact-form]

Building Your Mental Power

How to Think and Lead with Purpose

And learn about:

Building Your Mental Power flyer

• Divergent thinking
• Option thinking
• Opportunity thinking
• Creative guesswork
• Mental Calisthenics
• Brainstorming
• Putting it together through facilitation

Andrew Shih ACS ALS, trained facilitator, certified management trainer and assessor, will deliver the training. Andrew has more than 16 years of experience in the fields of Change Management, Leadership Assessment, Reengineering, Human Performance and Organisation Development. Andrew holds an MBA from Strathclyde Graduate Business School (UK) and is certified with numerous learning systems and assessment tools. He is also a certified NLP Master Practitioner and a Past President of Shanghai Leadership Toastmasters Club.

21 November, 2-6pm, MSD China Office, 20F Park Place 1601 Nanjing Road (at Changde Road)

We only have space for 20 18 16 6 2 more people. Yes, that’s just two places left… This will most likely sell out.

Update 6 November: SOLD OUT

Tickets are 100RMB until 11 November. From 12 November, if tickets remain, they will be 150RMB. In the unlikely event that seats are available on the day, they will be 200RMB.

Register your interest below or contact Spike Gu on 135 857 56625 (note corrected phone number) for more information.

Summitting Session – Carlo Wolff, ACB & CL on “Creating the Best Club Climate”

Table Topics Master – Marco Meng, CC & CL

Speeches
* Spike Gu, ACB & CL with “The Patriot” from the storytelling manual
* Guest speaker Helen Zhang, ACB & CL of Amazing Fridays with “It’s Now.” from the humorously speaking manual
* Emily Minor, CC & CL with “Couchsurfing: Changing the World One Couch at a Time” from the speaking to inform manual

General Evaluator – Joyce Hu, CC & CL

Individual Evaluator – Susan Zhou, DTM
Date: 2009-09-10