Successful Speechcraft Tips. - "What the manual does not tell you"

The speechcraft manual suggests you hold your speechcraft during regular meetings.  The following recomendations are based on a speechcraft course held as a dedicated event of its own.  Here are some ways to plan for success for this type of speechcraft course:

• Plan early - set your target of how many sessions your speechcraft will be, how long each session and draft a rough outline of what possibly you can deliver during these sessions, meeting the minumum outlined by TMI but planning to far exceed this.  Find your venue early.  Establish why you are running this course - what is your main outcome you wish to achieve?

• Realistic timing  - factor generous timing in the initial outline, don't forget breaks and discussions, introductions can take up lots of time too.   Base the timing on the maximum participants your course will hold.

• Number of participants  -  Ideally speechcraft is suited to 8-10 participants but accept a few more.  It is almost certain for what ever reason you will have participants drop out or not be able to continue.   Create a waiting list, keep contact details of enquiries for future courses or offer to them to be a guest at a regular meeting.

• Get the word out early to get helpers -   publicise this at your club, area, division and district.  Ask for help.  Publicise the dates the sessions are on, publicise the skills you want and get people to committ to dates.  Promote how these sessions will be credit towards awards.  You can't do it all on your own you will need lots of help.

• Use resources from other clubs.  Great opportunity for stronger more experienced clubs to help out a struggling club who may not have the experience to run a course.  Everyone wins in the end.

• Pick your presenters carefully - Pick the right presenter with the best skills for the educationals and roles. Cast a wide net!  Use emerging TM's and guide them to extending their skills (don't just drop them in).  It is as much a learning opportunity for the presenters as the participants, having this in mind brings enthusiasm and the best out of all. Never announce during the course the experince level of the toastmaster, it is irrelevant and counter productive for the confidence of  emerging toastmasters.

• Venue - ensure it is easy accessed and suitable, parking, seating, tables, heating/cooling, whiteboards/av,  noise levels, kitchen, toilets and price are all things to consider.

• Promote the course - try press releases contact your district speechcraft co-ordinator to get contact details of recent speechcraft enquiries.  Contact former guests of clubs in the area.  Letter box drops.  Raise awarness of not only your speechcraft, but the local clubs and TM in general.   Those who cannot make it to this course may be interested in visiting your or another local club.

• Membership - Use it as membership building tool.  Target people who are close to the area, who you think would consider joining.  Factor a free joining free and 6 months membership into the price.  But don't make it automatic, invite them to join at the end of the course.

• Payment - work out an easy payment proceedure where the participant is only considered securing a place on the course if paid in full before the course.  Consider direct credit options.

• Plan detailed agenda - Plan the whole course but be prepared to be flexible as this will change from week to week.  Stick with the main objective of the session but be flexible with timings as you will find some participants wont show up on certain nights.  Email your helpers with this plan and re email them at least a week before the session.  Be sure to tell them what they are exactly doing, the timing the deliverables and educational outcomes expected.  Send them all relevent copies of manual extracts.

• Email your paid up participants prior to the course with a welcome, what is expected to happen at the course, lots of support and reassurance and what you want them to have prepared for the first night.  Then send them a copy of the agenda closer to the session.  After each session send a praising email and confirmation of what is expected for the following meeting, then send the agenda for the following meeting.

• Rotate your presenters, toastmasters, evaluators and educational presenters.  There is nothing more boring than listening to the same person for 6 weeks.

• Factor in maximum participation and speaking opportunities for the participants, be creative.  Remember its all about the participants not the presenters.

• Use the final night as a showcase. Ask participants to bring a friend to support them in their final speech.  This will also spread the word about your club and TM.

• Don't forget a feedback mechanism like verbal and a form.  Use tangable measurements on the form.

• Follow up with participants after the course has finished.  They may want to join a club or be interested in future events.

"Enjoy each moment and go with the flow you are doing something special that will ignite something great for many people.  Speechcraft is such a priviledge and a pleasure." ........Elaine Doyle

Feedback from Maningham Toastmasters Speechcraft.

During the final session of speechcraft the participants had the opportunity to give verbal and written feedback by way of a feedback form.

Verbal feedback
Every participant gave a heartfelt thank you regarding the course and its presenters.  They spoke about how their confidence had improved and the many opportunites they received to practice their skills.  (Yes this was yet another speaking opportunity for them).

Written feedback
Of the formal feedback forms the results were:

We recieved 9 feedback forms.

All feedback indicated a self assessed improvement in the participants public speaking skills by the end of the course.  End results ranged from "fair"  to "excellent" skill improvement.

All feedback indicated a self assessed improvement in confidence by the end of the course.
End results ranged from "feel more confident"  to "Very confident"


When asked about the course content the results were:

Did your skills improve? (10 skills listed)
All participants reported a positive result in improvement of skills.  Most indicating a definate "yes" and some indicating "somewhat"

Was the presentation/exercise helpful? (10 skills listed)
Nearly all responses to this question was "yes" with less than 5% indicating "somewhat".


When asked " did you have enough opportunity to practice your skills"?
All participants answered "just right"  with some adding extra comments that a bit more time, or some extra sessions would have been beneficial.


When asked about the quality of the feedback?
All participants responded with the feedback was "motivating" and "supportive" with some also including "analytical" all extra comments given were possitive.


All participants reported the pace and demands of the course were "just right".


Some of the comments recieve about what the participants liked best were:

• Supportive nature of everyone
• Loved the practice
• Educational & evaluations providing learning opportunities
• Learning to trust myself
• Fantastic for confidence
• I liked it all
• Giving of speeches  (now thats a real measure of success since all participants reported being very fearful of public speaking at the start of the course!)

Some of the overall comments:

• Enjoyed the program - will be beneficial in future activity
• Very good, much better than those 1 day courses
• I thought it was a fantastic course.  I have learnt so much, thank you for your time
• Course was great and a good chance to practice
• Enjoyed 100%
• Very valuable, encouraging to see and listen to the toastmasters educationals and stories re personal experience
• It was just fantastic
• Very encouraging support with a variety of exercise.

So in summary, excellent feedback from some very happy and confident participants. 

My aim was to provide the participants with a value for money course that extended and challenged them.  Using quality presenters and educational sessions, co-ordinating a well rounded course that maximised the amount of educational benifit within the time constraints, in a supportive environment.   My measurement at the end of the course was confident participants who enjoy public speaking (and will happily build on and practice their skills), and I witnessed that journey and end result in each participant. 

The course was a huge success and a rewarding experience.  Hope other toastmasters take up the challenge and no doubt enjoy the experience as I have.

Elaine Doyle

Manningham Speechcraft Week 6 23-11-09

The grand fanalie

The final night of the Manningham Speechcraft was full of enthusiasm,

 energy and smiles. 

Many of the speechcrafters brought a guest to hear their final speeches. We were treated to 8 well presented speeches, delivered with enthusiasm and energy.  The confidence of the speechcrafters was apparent they looked comfortable presenting and Yes looked like they were enjoying it. This sight made me very happy to be a part of someones development, to unlock the power of communication, to help people move beyond the fear of public speaking and deliver skillful presentations.  Being at the begining of the start of somthing great for a person is such a reward, imagine where they will take this skill!

We started the evening with a reflection of memorable moments which was enjoyable to relive those memories.

Then it was into the speeches.  The progress of skill was easily seen.  An experienced  Toastmaster who had come along for the first time commented, "I was amazed at the quality of their skill, being only just their 4th speech".  Again we were entertained by a huge range of topics.  Some very serious health and business issues others on a more personal experience.  I extended the speechcrafters for this speech to be 5 minutes.  The speakers had no problem speaking for the extra minute, some went over time.  I feel most could comfortably speak for 10 min or longer.

After the speeches I spoke about the benefits of joining a toastmasters club and an invitation to join was handed out.  The timing of this session was blown out by handing out these invitations individually and an unexpected interviewing of the participants (which was antincipated for the award ceremony).   Perhaps as toastmaster for the night I could have reminded the presenter of the timing contraints when he got up to speak since we were already over time.  It's a bit hard to jump up and stop what the presenter is doing once they have already invited someone to front to speak.  You can't assume that the presenters are mindful of the time.   Seamless emceeing is truely an art.  Anything can and may go wrong and it is hard to know when to be assertive.  But enough beating myself up about that, it was another opportunity for the speechcrafters to speak and the night did flow well (but finished 15 min late).

We commence the break with a toast and glass of bubbly.  I was presented with a gift and thank you for co-ordinating the course.  It was unexpected and lovely and one of the speechcrafters presented me with the award.  We had lots of yummy things to endulge in for our celebration.

After the break we heard evaluations from the Toastmasters.  I deliberately assigned toastmasters who attended earlier sessions of speechcraft so they could comment on not only the speech but the progress. The evaluations were uplifting and motivating adding to the joyful spirit of the whole evening.

Sadly we ran out of time for table topics, I would have loved the guests to experience the fun of impromptu speaking too.
Then it was onto presentations of the awards.  This was done by calling the group up and handing out the certificates individually. I invited our Division Governor to present the certificates.  Then we had a group photo.

I handed out a feedback form which all participants completed. This has also been given to the participants who did not finish the course.  So when I have all the forms I will do a complete anaylsis.  But in short the feedback showed growth in skills and confidence in public speaking in all participants.  With course content helpful that improved skills.  Overall coments of the course reflected possitive feedback from every participant.

I gave some brief thank yous to over 11 Toastmasters and the 13 participants  and then closed the meeting.

It was a wonderful night, a fitting end to an exceptional speechcraft course.

Manningham Speechcraft week 5 16-11-09

The passion shone through

Now we come to the business end of this speechcraft course.  What a transformation in confidence and speaking skills I have witnessed.  We were privileged to hear 4 passionate speeches this night.  Passionate in not just the belief in the topic that was discussed but passionate in the delivery of the topic. Again I had the speechcrafters who where not presenting speeches introduce and evaluate the speakers.  The introductions were smooth and professional and the evaluations were supportive and insightful.

We have a regular 8 speechcrafters who are very committed to the course and are getting a lot out of it.  These speechcrafters have now completed 3 speeches in 5 sessions.  Thats a big undertaking for people who came into the course scarred of public speaking.  They have been brave and taken this on despite their nerves and broken through this fear barrier to come out the other side much better communicators.   I'm so proud of them!  This now means if they join Toastmasters they will get credit for 3 speeches towards the 10 speeches required for the competitent communicator award.

Unfortunately I had an email from one of the other speechcrafters who said she is unable to continue with the course.  She wrote to me to say she has enjoyed it immensely and would be interested in future speechcraft or perhaps joining Toastmasters. She is a great speaker and speech writter so I sincerely hope she does pursue developing her speaking.   That's not too bad having two out of 13 drop out of the course.  Six weeks is a big committment and sometimes things crop up and you are unable to committ. That is why it is always better to take on extra participants, even though it is difficult when scheduling the agendas. 

So we started off with 13 have 8 regulars, 2 dropped out that leaves the other 3.  One of which I have not seen since the first meeting, another the second meeting and the other who has been held up at work on several occasions.  I have invited them to come to the last meeting which is a celebration, they can present their 2nd or 3rd speech on the night if they wish. And of course can join the Manningham club as a member, this may suit their life schedules better.

Apart from the speeches we had a swift and well run round robin session.  An entertaining table topics session.  The speechcrafters really enjoy this challenge and I believe look forward to it.

I gave an educational on vocal variety which outlined the different qualities of the voice, we had a practice example and I read a passage without and then with vocal variety to demonstrate the difference.  I also spoke about the importance of word selection. To demonstrate this I invited a fellow Kew Toastmaster to present an amazing and entertaining speech with great examples of precise word selection.

I feel I have now done my job I have armed my speechcrafters with basic communication tools to be great speakers.  So far they have learnt and practiced:

• Speech structure
• Speaking with passion an in earnest
• Vocal Variety
• Word Selection
• Body language
• Introducing speakers
• Giving an award
• Recieving an award
• Evaluation that motivate
• Impromtu speaking
• Speech writing

But practice is the key word.  PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE at every opportunity given, to not loose the skills and confidence and build on it.  That's why joining toastmasters is a great way to practice and grow.

The speechcrafters have the opportunity to showcase their skills next week in their final speech.  I believe they will use all the skills learnt so far.  It will be a celebration night where they can bring a friend. We will have speeches, improptu speaking and presentation of awards, food and drinks.  I can't wait but am also a little sad it will be all over.  Its been such a journey for my speechcrafters all my fellow toastmasters I have taken along and especially me.  :)

Manningham Speechcraft week 4 9-11-09

Hot speeches and cool watermelon at speechcraft this week.

Week 4 was always going to be a worry.  It was the mid way point of the course with a two week break. Didn't get a lot of feedback from the emails I sent prior to the night ie. draft agenda and speech reminders.  Fingers crossed the speechcrafters would all return.   The other difficult thing was the weather.  It was a hot day and the venue is quite a glass house, so could everyone be bothered coming out on such a hot night?

The answer was yes!

I started the night with some fun.  A round robin interviewing all the in the room, introducing them and asking each a question regarding a theoretical scandal at the spring racing carnival.   There were lots of fun answers as each participant took on the persona of the person being interviewed.  Took up a bit of time but was worth it.

We had 8 out of our orginal 13 speechcrafters attend this week. We heard 6 terrific speeches based on the "be in earnest" project.  One of our speechcrafters was so keen he gave two speeches that night to catch up from the previous week. 

The speechcrafters who were not presenting speeches did the introductions of the speakers and also gave verbal evaluations. Putting the skills learnt from last weeks educational and the worksheet to give supportive and valuable evaluations. The toastmasters gave feedback on the evaluations, and the toastmasters gave written evaluations on the speeches. 

What worked well this week was assigning 5 min before the speeches to allow the introducer to interview the speaker.  This is especially important as the printed agenda changes when people don't show up on the night, so its impossible to organise this prior to the meeting. 

Unfortunatley one of our speechcrafters gave me notice he would not be able to continue with the course but was interested in joining the Manningham club.  So hopefully we will catch up with him then. Forwarded this onto Maningham to follow through.
We have another speechcrafter that has only been to the first session, with apologies.  We hope to see her for the last two sessions.
A couple of speechcrafters who are behind in giving their 2nd speech were invited to present their speech at a regular Manningham club meeting.  Hope they can make it along.
I was very impressed to hear that one of our speechcrafters attended the Area Speech Contest held last week, (very keen!).

Cool drinks, cold watermelon were popular at the break.  It's great the venue has a fridge to use, all these things are important when planning speechcraft.  The air conditioning progressively worked better during the night and the room was a comfortable temperature.

We heard an excellent educational on presenting and receiving an award.  We were given practical tips and then shown an example.

We had enough time for impromptu speaking session with evaluations.  These are always fun the speechcrafters seem to thrive on these now, so much more confident then session one. There were some really great examples of mini speeches in one minute impromptu.

The speechcrafters were asked to think about bringing a friend along to our final night.  It's going to be quite a celebration.  And were encouraged to visit and give feedback on this blog.

Next week will see the speechcrafters all complete their 3rd speech and have done at least one introduction and evaluation and several table topics.   It will be our last educational "vocal variety and word selection".  We have a guest Toastmaster speaker to give a great example of word selection in his speech.

We had a great team of 7 Toastmasters this week who are enjoying meeting the speechcrafters and watching their growth.

Can't believe we will be up to week 5 next week - looking forward to next Monday.

It was a fun night, lots of energy (despite the heat) and flowed smoothly.

Manningham Speechcraft week 3 26-10-09

Week 3 was full of energy, dynamic with 10 Toastmasters present to help.  Everyone (toastmaster members) are so excited about this speechcraft, and want to get on board.  It feels so good to have started something, and co-ordinated something that has raised so much enthusiasm and energy. Gets a bit addictive this successful leadership stuff, its very rewarding.

The scheduling becomes more complicated each week.  In week two we had several speechcrafters apologies so that meant I had to schedule 10 speeches for week 3.  That's a lot! and a lot of evaluations.

As it turns out I had one apology the day before and and three on the day so we only ended up hearing 6 speakers on week 3.  Which was good, I extended the evauators time to 2 min each evaluation which gave more detailed feed back for not only the speaker to benefit from but also the other speakers to learn from.

What was more challenging in relation to scheduling was that in week two we had an educational on introducing a speaker and the speechcrafters were to introduce one of the speakers.  I had pre assigned this before the meeting.  Some speechcrafters had contacted their speaker to get details for their introduction.  But with all the late appologies the introduction-speaker schedule was all out of wack, so a fluid agenda and relaxed approach was the order of the day.

We heard some great introductions (even though some of my speechcrafters were thrown into the task).  The speeches were excellent.  I could see that most had taken into consideration things we presented and encouragements from evaluations.  I could really see improvement in all of them from their first speech. 

We had two excellent educationals, one on how to evaluate and the other on body language, from two very experienced and respected toastmasters.  They entertained and educated us, connected with the audience, that's what public speaking is all about and did a brillant job.

Next week we move onto our next assignment "Be in ernest" speech  where I have encouraged the speechcrafters to use body language as a tool to convey how ernest they are about their topic.   Having several apologies in week 3 has left me with 4 speakers not presenting their second speech.  We need to keep the program moving along and in context of the sessions of the evening.  I have encouraged the speechcrafters who missed out to present their second speech at the Manningham club on a regular meeting.  Hope they take up the opportunity, it will be a great experience very supportive and expand their ability to speak outside their comfort zone. if they don't I will schedule them as reserve speakers in case we have apologies in week 4.

Invited the speechcrafters to bring along a friend on the final night.  It will be a celebration of their skills and an opportunity to expand the positive Toastmasters experience to others.  I know many of the Toastmaster presenters are keen to come back for the final night to celebrate the success and progress.

Two weeks break now due to the Melb cup weekend. Which is good to have a break mid session (its full on).  Next session on 9th Nov. 

Manningham Toastmasters Speechcraft - Week 2 19-10-09

Was very much looking forward to this session, even though I had been battling a cold all week and was not feeling so good.  Confirmed my presenters and drew up the agenda, with one apology listed.  Sent out the draft agenda and later recieved two more apologies from speechcrafters who were due to do their speeches that night.   This is one of the challenges of what being the co-ordinator is all about, keeping that agenda fluid so it works (lot like actual life).

One of our participants pulled out which left a space open for someone who was very keen on the waiting list.

We had scheduled 3 ice breaker speeches from the two speechcrafters who were unable to attend last week and one from our new speechcrafter.  4 "organising your speech" speeches.  10 participants expected and 5 toastmasters to facilitiate.  We ended up with one speechcrafter not showing up so in total 6 speeches.

It is always hard when you have people miss sessions, trying to get them up to speed with what they have missed is a balacing act of not repeating yourself but reviewing what was learnt and practice so the newer (and nervous) participants feel confident. 

We started the night off with a round robin.  Everyone took part in it.  From last week we were less one particpant and less 3 toastmasters it is amazing how you feel the energy level in a group reduce when there are less people.  It took a little time for the energy to rise in the group.  I felt that by the time everyone had given their speeches (there was a bit of a sigh of relief) and had supper they were all feeling very relaxed and comfortable.

Again we heard some great speeches, everything from salt water crocks in Darwin, tax definitions, alternative industrial uses of bamboo, careers in hairdressing, love of fishing, and thought provoking example of our perceptions.  WOW!  these guys are GREAT! As with all toasmaster programs the participant picks the topic and we enjoyed and were entertained by a great selection.  My speechcrafters did so well, very confident and received informative, analyitical and supportive evaluations that I am sure they will encorporate in their next speech.

We had a fun impromtu speaking session with topical questions in the current media, where again as last week everyone participated and enjoyed. Even when one of the speechcrafters was stumped by the question he was given support and several options on how to approach this next time.  Great advice that everyone could take home and use!

Our educational this week was on introducing a speaker.  Something that we may all be called upon to do at sometime in our life.  We listened to the theory then broke the speechcrafters up into pairs to interview each other.  Then they presented their introductions.  The next session will include the speechcrafters introducing the speeches. Everyone was keen to take part.

In the wrap up I explained who was speaking next week and we reviewed the introductions. Explained how our we will have some different toastmasters presenting next week and briefly explained the next speech project and how the educationals next week will help with the project. Our speechcrafters each gave a reflection on what they had learnt so far, which was rewarding, positive and great feedback.

A great night had by all.  Look forward to next week.

Manningham Toastmasters Speechcraft - week one 12-10-09

Our Toastmasters team of presenters week 1

Boy did this course create a lot of interest!

I was contacted by interested participants right up to 1 hour before the start time.  I had to turn many back, but hopefully they will attend as a guest at this or another club, will follow them up.

I had enquiries from previous guests who were had shown interested in joining either Kew or Manningham Toastmasters so I didn't want to turn them away, so the particpant number number ballooned up to 13. 
That also caused the problem of needing more manuals, after a ring around by my team we had enough manuals for all.

The participants wern't the only ones excited, there was a great buzz in District 73 Toastmasters Land.
I had planned to have the Presidents of both clubs involved as presenters the first night.  One of which is also the Area Governor.  The Eastern Division Governor found out and wanted to come too. As luck would have it the District 73 Division Governor was in town and wanted to come too.  So we had all levels of leadership in our division involved in our first night.  It was bigger than big.  The energy level of the group was so high we nearly blew the roof off, the evaluations and educationals were 1st class.  What a lucky group of speechcrafters.

All of my speechcrafters present gave their Ice Breakers, they were courageous in getting up in front of so many strangers and giving the 2 minute speech their best.  Before their speech I gave an very supportive and encouraging educational on overcoming nerves.  I would like to think that it helped them.  We had 3 participants who did not make it to this night, so will hear their ice breakers next week.
We gave short but positive, informative and encouraging educationals.
Had a lovely cuppa and some chocolate cake and muffins (they really deserved it), then back to it.

We had an excellent educational on impromptu speaking then practice by having each participant answer a table topic.   All the speechcrafters participated and they looked more confident than earlier.  Then positive, informative and supportive evaluations.

An educational on how to choose a speech topic, which will help the speechcrafters in choosing their next 3 speeches. Another educational on speech structure to compliment the written instruction in their manuals.  This was a dynamic and motivating educational.
Then I wrapped up with homework and next weeks tasks which would be split the group into two and hear group 1's "organising your speech" speeches.

We ran 15 min overtime (but we started late and the introduction went overtime) Will amend next weeks agenda to try to not go overtime again.

The speechcrafters went home uplifted and positive.  My team was thrilled and exuberant about how well the first night went, an infectious excitement I hope will filter through to all the clubs in our District.

Can't wait to week 2     :)

So you want to run a speechcraft course

This blog article is for Toastmasters members who are interested in running a Toastmasters International Speechcraft Course.  The planning experience has been a positive and enjoyable and enriching experience for me, so join me on my week by week blog.  Hope it helps other Toastmasters in speechcraft planning or inspires you to take it on as a membership and team/morale building exercise for your club.

My Commitment
I decided to run a speechcraft course.  This would help me ahcieve my Advanced Communicator Gold Award that I wanted to ahcieve in the 09/10 TM year.  I looked at the other projects to achieve this and although they were much less time consuming, I decided that speechcraft was in demand and would be a great membership builder.

The idea was hatched
My Club Kew has a healthy membership, but our neighbouring club Manningham (previously Doncaster) has very low membership, so why not run it in conjuction with the two clubs at the Manningham club, to boost membership for Manningham.  Our area Governor thought this was an excellent idea and put it to the Manningham club.  They were excited too, so the "Manningham Toastmasters Speechcraft Course" was officially launched.

The opportunities were:

• Credit toward my ACG award as being the official co-ordinator
• Membership building for Manningham Club
• Team/morale building for Manningham Club
• Raised awareness of the Manningham Club
• Communications and leadership opportunities outside the club for all involved
• Experience for toastmasters members in the speechcraft program for future courses
• Toastmasters members can run educationals credited to their awards
• Participants will receive high quality value for money course
• Participants will receive 6 months membership to Manningham Club at the end of the course if they take up the invitation
• Participants will receive credit for 3 speeches on their Competent Communicator Award (if they join TM)
• Club will attain DCP points for memberhsip and towards CC & CL goals

Before I started at Toastmasters I would have thought it crazy if it were suggested that "I" run a 6 week public speaking course, (especially for free).  But that's how Toastmasters can give you the skills and confidence that turns your approach to life around, when you give YOU RECIEVE.

The broad details were decided
Between our two clubs we decided to maximise the likelihood of participants joining as Manningham members:

• The venue was to be at the Manningham club rooms, they were available, reasonably priced and the infrastructure was already there, the participants would be familiar with the club rooms.
• We decided on a 6 week program, 2 hr sessions for 10 participants spanning Oct & Nov 2009
• The night was decided as a mutually available night at a similar time to the Manningham club meeting time but on a different night.
• It was decided to run it as a separate couse to the club meeting nights (the co-ordinators manual suggests run it on meeting nights)  this makes the course an event of its own and also will not detract from the meeting goals of the club's regular meetings.
• The price was set at $120pp to cover expenses with no profit.  This covered venue hire, manuals, supper, misc stationary, and six months membership to Manningham Club (the TMI joining fee would come from surplus funds from the course or met by the Manningham Club).
• Participants will be invited at the end of the course to become members, for ongoing support (which will be based on their decision to commit to join the club).

The 6 week schedule was drawn up
I planed each session, a rough agenda drawn up for each night.
My overall schedule covered:

• 4 speeches by the participants (each with a written and verbal evaluation)
• 1 evaluation by the participants
• 1 introduction by the participants
• 1 recieving an award by the participants
• At least 4 opportunities for impromptu speaking by participants
• A Toastmaster for each evening
• A timer/table topics master for each evening
• Evaluators for speeches and table topics for each evening

Educationals on:

• Overcoming nerves
• Selecting speech topics
• Speech structure
• Introducing a speaker
• Evaluations
• Body language
• Vocal variety & word selection

There is a minimum content to be covered according to the co-ordinators guide, this course covers much more.  The schedule is intense and rich in content and maximum speaking opportunities for the participants.
The scheduling did take a bit of time to complete but is an essential step to get the schedule organised in the initial stages to be clear on resourcing.



Call for volunteers
No one can run a speechcraft on their own!  Here is where the leadership comes in.
I ran an educational speech at Manningham and the Wafflers Clubs and an announcement was made at Kew.  The great thing about Toastmasters is you put out the call and people come to help.

I had more than enough Toastmasters responding.

I scheduled 4 Toastmasters members for the first 3 nights, 3 Toastmasters members for the next two and 4 again for the final night to fill the requirements on the schedule.


Assign tasks to resources
This again took a bit of time ot work out the best roles for the experienced Toastmasters and the best roles for the emerging Toastmasters.  I called in specific Toastmasters with exceptional skills for particular educationals.  It is a real show case for the talent we have in our area, the participants are very lucky to have such a skilled team to support them.

Things to think about are that there is no duplication in assigning roles,  ie ensure that a toastmaster is not running a section and expected to evaluate as well.  It is important to not have too many Toastmasters involved in one night, because you don't want more Toastmasters than participants and it gets too hard to organise a lot of people each night (the exception to this comment is if you are running it inconjuction with regular  meetings).  I had an open invitiation to Toastmasters members if they were not involved on the night to come and observe as a learning experience for future courses.

When resources were assigned I sent an email out to each resource for each week with venue details, dates, times, draft agenda, outlined their specific task and educational deliverables for the tasks and timing.
Then I waited for confirmations and/or inabilities.  Then revamped the schedule.


The Participants
We sourced our participants from:

• Visitors t the Kew and Manningham clubs
• Spread the word to Area, Division and District Governors
• Letter box drop of flyers in the local area
• Contacted past enquiries made to District about upcoming speechcraft
• Visited local business networking clubs

Initially our intention was to target participants who live locally who potentially would join the Manningham Club, but invitation was extended to all interested parties.  Participants were only confirmed on the course when they had paid in full.  This was done by direct credit into the Manningham account.


The Response
1 week before the start date we had 8 participants paid up, with another 3 promising to pay prior to the course.  This article was written 6 days before the course commenced.  Participants were sent a confirmation letter with venue details, dates, times, what to bring, and instructions on preparing their first assignment a 2 min Ice Breaker, the message included an outline about the Ice Breaker speech.
Organised some extra participant's manuals to be purchased to cater for potentially one or two extra participants.  Expectation that at least one may drop out before the end of the course.


The Team Building Effect
There has been such a buzz about this course, the feedback from the participants was exciting.  The feedback from the Toastmasters members and leaders has been exciting.  The Manningham club members have joined together to promote and facilitate the administration.  It will be a much more enthused and invigorated club at the end of the 6 weeks.  I am expecting a growth in memberhip too.


Finalizing The Agenda
Preparted the draft agenda, waiting on the final participants payments to go through, to add them to the agenda, will send out agenda to participants and Toastmasters members prior to the first meeting.

IT'S ALL SO EXCITING   -   CAN'T WAIT FOR WEEK 1

Contest Chair

For years I have been entering every club contest I could. For many years I never progressed past through to the next level of competitions.  But with persistance I eventualy developed a skill for the Humorous competition.  From someone who is lousy at even telling a joke.  So the years passed and I started winning these club contests and progressing further and further.  For many years I was a contestant at our Area Humorous contest.  Unfortunately this year I did not make it through.  So when our Area Governor asked me to be the Area Humerous Contest Chair I was thrilled.

The first thing was it was so much more relaxing being on the emcee side of the night, than being the contestant.  I didn't have days and days spent on preparing and practicing the speech.

You feel like royalty when people address you as "madam contest chair"

I was determined to warm up the audience before the first speaker.  So on to google to find some appropriate jokes, it took some looking to find clean ones but I did.

So after welcoming everyone and outlining the rules I gave some corny one liners and then built up to my main joke.  Everyone had a good laugh, so mission acomplished, on with the introductions of the contestants.

The contestants were really good, and funny, pitty the judges. 

Then the judges retired to tally their votes and I interviewed the contestants picking a question to ask them that was related to their speech.  This ended up being really funny too.

It was a terrific night, very entertaining, very enjoyable experience for me.

I would recommend to any Toastmaster to take on the rewarding role of Contest Chair.

Welcome to my "Great Toast" blog

I have been involved with Toastmasters International for 11 years now.  I first joined a club in the city then had a break for a couple of years and re-joined with my current club in Kew. I am now joining a second club in the city called Wafflers.  I wish I learned to blog years ago.  I could have shared so many life enriching experiences on how Toastmasters has improved my confidence and helped my personal development. I hope some of my stories inspire you to get involved with Toastmasters too.