CONFIDENCE BUILDERS BLOG

With Toastmasters contest season fast approaching, I thought I'd share a contest speech that survived three contests last year, went through 15 drafts (I have them all), numerous practice sessions in front of two clubs, in the living room in front of a big dog and a cell phone, and in the driveway working on my footwork! I received good feedback on using parts of the speaking area (contest-speak for stage) to emphasize transitions from one point to the next - and to refer back to earlier points.  There are two "maps" one for the speaker's perspective and one for the audience's perspective.  The solid lines are movement, while the dashed lines are prompts to refer back to an earlier area. Did I get carried away?  I don't think so.  Having every detail mapped out and refined gave me the confidence to compete and improve each time - and confidence-building is what we do! Speaker's Perspective Audience's Perspective -RM Image

Image by Виктория Бородинова from Pixabay Sometimes, precious gems can be found in places where you might not think to look. Ross Morrissey (President) and I discovered such a treasure by chance at the Mill Creek Retirement Center (where our meetings are held) last November. The precious gem we ran into was Carol E. Titus, who was a Story Weaver with the  New Jersey Storytelling Network . Of course, we  had  to invite her to speak at one of our meetings! On December 3rd, she graced us with a thought-provoking and captivating storytelling workshop. Not only did we learn the importance of using vivid words but also how telling a story creates a bond between the speaker and the audience  and  between audience members.  It was an enjoyable experience!   When I first met Ms. Carol, she made a comment that stuck with me. She said that audience members aren't looking at the speaker but picturing what the speaker is saying inside their heads. I found this to be a profound revel

Since we call ourselves "Confidence Builders" I thought it logical to dive into how we actually build confidence by dissecting the 3 segments of our meeting structure: Prepared speeches, Impromptu speaking and Evaluations. I will unpack each of those experiences throughout our meeting and give insights into how they build confidence. What does "confidence" mean? from Latin confidentia, from confidere ‘have full trust’ The state of feeling certain about the truth of something. A feeling of self-assurance arising from one's appreciation of one's own abilities or qualities. Friendly reminder: try to maintain a healthy level of humility – know there's always room for growth and improvement. We always have something to learn from those around us. It's easy to get stop growing, thinking you've reached your limit of potential. Confidence is knowing this very fact and living in a more humble way. Prepared speeches segment Prepared speech

How to prepare and memorize a speech  Awesome, you've been assigned to speak! Ideally, you will have at least 3 weeks to prepare. Taking a 3 weeks prep time as a sample, this is how to use my speech prep formula: Week 1 Review speech objectives in the manual – this will influence the topic you choose. Once you have your topic, you'll need to focus in on a single facet and consider what message you want to convey. Ideate and hone your message and then start typing out your speech -- keeping within your speech timeframe. Typical speech lengths are 4-6 mins, 5-7 mins, 7-9 minutes. Target the middle minute – for example, for a 4-6 minute speech, target for the 5 minute mark. Target for 4 and you may risk ending too early or not developing your message enough. Target for 6 and you might go over.  A logical breakout of that 5 minutes is: 1 minute intro, 3 minute body, 1 minute conclusion.  For reference, a minute translated to word count is roughly 100 typed words per mi