Archive for the 'on speaking' Category

Grammarian at PS TMC

Published
by
Emily Minor, CAT VPE
on 14 January, 2009
in on speaking
. 0 Comments

Last night People’s Square TMC let me be the grammarian at their meeting. I really like language and words. Unfortunately, I am not good at words in any other languages than English :-)

Their VPE, XiaoXiao, asked me to share a written report so other members could learn from it. I also decided to post it here. I hope you find it helpful!

The Word of the Day was “invincible”. You might use the word like this: “I’ve dropped my camera at least five times, but it still works perfectly. It is invincible!”

Words and phrases I liked hearing:

Joe – Regarding …

Roawin – Fantastic, structure and organization, “love someone, love her mother!”

Alex – recently, hinder, ordinary

Paula – conquered, getting hired or getting fired?

Linda – straightforward, divert, input and output (you had to hear the story that went with it)

The most common mistake was saying “make a huge progress.” It should be “made progress” or “made a lot of progress” or “is making great progress.”

Don’t say audiences when referring to all of the people in the audience. You will always use audience, if you are talking about only the people you are standing in front of. Plural would only be used if you were referring several groups. “The audiences in PS, Leadership and CAT really like the trainings I gave their clubs.”

“You need to sell yourself out” should be “You need to sell yourself.” (Selling yourself is great. Being a sellout is not.)

Other things to improve on:

Here is it. Here it is.

What it is? What is it?

Give feedbacks Give feedback. (Feedback is always singular.)

Make people entertained Entertain people

Louder your voice Raise your voice or speak louder

She is a great sales. She is a great salesperson. or She is in sales.

I am very envy of… I am very envious of…

Will you give a try? Would you like to try? or Will you try?

How many time left? How much time is left?

Summiting Session on “How to Say It”

Published
by
Emily Minor, CAT VPE
on 15 December, 2008
in on speaking and past meetings
. 2 Comments

“How to Say It” is project #4 from the CC (Competent Communicator) manual. During our last Summiting Session, I spoke on this topic. Our group did a few exercises and I gave them a few resources. You can download my presentation to try the exercises or see the resources yourself.  Just click on the link right below.

Wishing your words would work well?

Feel free to contact me with any questions or leave a comment here!


To know it for the first time…

Published
by
Dan Smith, DTM
on 11 December, 2008
in on speaking and past meetings
. 0 Comments


TS Elliot would have us believe that the goal of journeying is to arrive at the place from which we started, and to know it for the first time. Tonight, I delivered my Ice Breaker, the first speech in the Competent Communicator series. It is a manual that I have never before completed – when I completed my previous Ice Breaker in early 1997, it was known as the Competent Toastmaster manual. And it was a challenging experience.

Challenging because in front of a small and distinguished audience of experienced speakers, I was to present a self introduction. A self-introduction that was to be engaging and interesting – despite many of the audience already knowing me very well. A self-introduction that was to be thought provoking and stimulating – despite the erudition and extreme intelligence of my listeners. And a self-introduction that was to be judged not as it was back in 1997 – when provided that I spoke at all, I would be congratulated and encouraged – but rather judged as a DTM and champion speaker.

Yet we are all making that first speech.

Every night, at every meeting, we each stand up to speak that first word.

And every time we speak, we all face those same challenges as we did that very first time.

Sometimes the butterflies are flying in formation. Sometimes the fear is transmuted into exhilaration. But sometimes we can mess it up.

I spoke on my personal passion, genius training. My brother spoke very well on a very similar topic just a few weeks before – he’s writing a book on the topic even! But as this was my Ice Breaker, I also needed to introduce myself.

Previously, I have talked about how you are naked as a speaker. How when you take the stage, you take the responsibility to honour the trust that each member of the audience has placed in you by giving you their attention and time… and how when you do, you are exposed there. If your clothes don’t look right or your voice doesn’t sound right or your hair doesn’t sit right – it’s there for all to see, hear and feel.

And you can either embrace that spotlight of attention or wish it away.

But the credit always belongs to those who are in the arena…

Speaking to one person, 60 million at a time

Published
by
Dan Smith, DTM
on 16 July, 2008
in on speaking
. 0 Comments

Speaking to groups of people can be greatly challenging. Not only can the skills be technically and cognitively demanding, but adopting an appropriate style can be very difficult. American President Franklin Delanor Roosevelt achieved quite a remarkable feat in his Fireside Chat radio broadcasts – connecting with ordinary people over the radio in a way that we find hard to fathom these days. Yet his method was simple.

Speak to one person… well, speak as if you were speaking to just one person. Then use technology to leverage your communication so that you can speak to massive groups.

Connect and communicate with your audience… one at a time.

There’s more about this here.

The DTM Track

Published
by
Dan Smith, DTM
on 29 February, 2008
in article and on speaking
. 0 Comments

The road towards DTM is long and can be confusing. Here is a way to break it down into more simple steps. We can work with you to make sure that you are completing each step along the way… The DTM Track (updated 13 May).

(Thanks to Pudong TMC for the opportunity for your support and feedback on this presentation)