What I Did on My Lunch Break

By Ms. Sara Brunner

On Monday, September 17^th, Carolina Little, Kathy Lu, and I took a trip to Audubon Engineering.  We checked in and took the elevator to the 7^th floor not knowing what to expect. We were greeted by one of the members at the elevator door and followed her to the room. To my surprise, the room was filled with people; in fact we had to sit to the side because all of the seats at the tables were taken. The meeting had already started and everyone was eating their Jason’s Deli- catered lunch. The first thought that came to my mind was, “Hey, how come they get free lunch during their Toastmasters’ meeting and we don’t? “

As the meeting progressed, we were all very impressed with the Toastmaster. She was very good about getting everyone involved and speaking.  During segues, she would select people in various rows to stand up and share what their pet peeves were. It got everyone excited and involved; and it was nice to see every individual in the room contribute to the meeting. It also gave us the opportunity to learn more about the group.There were two speeches given that day and they were both Ice Breaker speeches. I found this to be interesting, because I had never seen two individuals give their Ice Breaker speeches at the same meeting. Later on, I discovered this was only Audubon Engineering’s second meeting and realized that with a new club most of the speeches for a while would be Ice Breakers.  The first speaker shared  how she overcame her fear of public speaking; while the second speaker  discussed his experience with sky diving. Both speakers did a great job incorporating humor into their speeches and getting the audience interested in what they had to say.

Overall, I believe the Audubon Engineers’ second meeting was conducted very well. The only area I recommend they work on is recognizing guests during the meeting. As their guests, they had us participate in the “What is your pet peeve?” game; however, the Toastmaster did not fully introduce us to the group.  All and all, I think everyone did a great job at the meeting and it was very enjoyable. Not a bad way at all to spend a lunch break.

Editor's note: 

Thanks, Sara, for sharing your “What I Did on My Lunch Break” story. I highly recommended that every Mudslinger go and visit other clubs when you can. It is interesting to meet other people with similar goals. Not every club runs their meetings exactly the same, so you can get a lot of new ideas and energy from them or at the very least, a change of scenery.  Plus, if you want to, you can deliver a CC or specialty manual speech to an outside club and get credit for it. This helps you get out of your comfort zone by presenting to a whole different group of people and helps them by observing someone outside their club.

For an opportunity to visit Audon Engineering Toastmasters on Mondays during lunch, please contact Carolina Little, VP of Ed at Clittle03@slb.com or call extension 1359. 

Traveling Toastmaster

Welcome back, Patrick! Thanks for the awesome picture you took for our club with the TOASTMASTER magazine. I welcome all Toastmasters to do the same. It is a fun idea.

Mudslinger Patrick Tyczynski in Perth, Australia, September 2012

Using Nervous Energy Effectively and Planning To Create A Successful Presentation

This past Monday was the kids’ first day back at school.  While many parents, me included, dread this event, our kids tend to look at it from different point of views.  Some kids love it. Other kids hate it.  My son, Justin,   who started middle school this year, was both nervous and excited.  After going to his  new school’s orientation, he spent every spare moment he had not only meticulously planning his wardrobe, but mapping his daily schedule, memorizing his lunch PIN and locker combination, and setting and resetting his alarm clock. His also made sure to learn his bus schedule and bus number, too. Like I mentioned, he was excited.  

But, he was also nervous.

 The first thing that I asked him on Monday morning was how he felt. He smiled and responded that he had been too excited to sleep.  I asked him if he meant nervous. He replied, both: though, he believed he was more excited than nervous. Having felt this way myself, I told him that I could understand what he meant.  The two emotions can often feel the same and evoke the same energy.  Being nervous can help us become aware that we need more preparation for an event. Many times, being nervous can also make it seem as if we are excited, therefore optimistic, as we take on a new challenge; such as the first day of school, a much bigger school.

What my son did to prepare for his milestone moment exemplifies what we, as Toastmasters, can all do in undertaking our presentations. The first thing to do is plan, plan, and plan some more. My son is not obsessive-compulsive at all.  Sadly, he is somewhat scattered-brained like his mom. However again like his mother, he will plan well for something that he is particularly excited about. He even devised backup-plans for his big day.  For example, he set up two alarm clocks in case one did not go off. How often have we seen ill-prepared speakers waste time trying to get their slideshows to work at the onset of their scheduled presentations? A practice run or backup presentation would have saved the day and more importantly time and effectiveness.  A second thing to do is to use our nervous energy while we speak. Using nervous energy effectively makes us appear to our audience as peppy, confident, and excited about our topic.  Since, Justin was nervous, his adrenaline was high, his spirits were up, and he tackled the day ahead of him. He channeled his nervousness into excitement and made his first day seem like an adventure, not an obstacle course.  This allowed Justin to help many of his friends find their classes, work their lockers, and become more comfortable when around the worldly 7^th- and 8^th- graders. Using nervous energy can bring life not only to the presentation, but build the audience’s confidence in what the speaker is presenting, too.

Hopefully, Justin will be able to use his nervous energy during his first tackle football game this Saturday. It may not be pretty, but he is excited. 

submitted by Carolina Little, VP of Education

A Fun Post

I found this at  http://www.limelightpresentations.com/vocal-warmups.php. I thought it would be a good tool for many of us to use. Thanks, Marcia McGilley, for allowing this to be posted for free!

Vocal Warm-up's: Top 10 Voice Exercises to Try Before a Speech or Presentation 

(repeat each 5 times)

1. Good Blood, Bad Blood, Bad Blood, Good Blood
2. Around the Rugged Rock the Ragged Rascal Ran
3. Unique New York
   
   
4. A Real Rare Whale
5. Double bubble gum bubbles double
6. Eat fresh fried fish at the fish fry
7. Sixty-six sick chicks
8. Tie twine to the tree twigs
9. Which wily wizard wished wicked wishes forWilly?
10. Shy Sarah saw six Swiss wristwatches

Want to post this content on your web site, blog or include it in your newsletter? You are welcome to do so provided you leave the following signature line with live link to www.LimelightPresentations.com and the Copyright notice below in tact:

Copyright 2007, Denver, CO, Marcia McGilley, Presentation Skills Coach All rights reserved. Shareware: May reprint with footnote attached. www.LimelightPresentations.com 303.794.6760

Seven Overseas Dos and Don’ts

by Dr. Art Leuterman, ACB

Much of my career with M-I SWACO and its predecessor companies has involved formal presentations conducted overseas.  Three decades of traveling and talking has led me to develop a short list of “Dos and Don’ts” when speaking outside of the United States.

1.       Speak Clearly

First and foremost – determine the level of familiarity with your language that your audience has.  Many people can understand American English reasonably well but do not speak it confidently enough to respond in English.  Others have only a nodding acquaintance with English and can ‘get by’.  For example, I can read menus in nearly a dozen languages, say “please”, “thank you”, introduce myself and others and utter a few other pleasantries, count and argue with taxi drivers.  I do not however speak their language!

Remind yourself that you are speaking to people whose native language is not yours!!!!  Then remember the difficulties you encountered when you took a foreign language in school all those years ago.  First, you struggled to ‘find the word’, then you struggled to translate from the language being spoken into American English in order to define the word(s) you thought you heard.  Yikes, by the time you figured out the first few words of your teacher he or she had already uttered another dozen or more words which you totally missed.  Assume that this could be what a good portion of your current audience is experiencing.  Therefore, help them out by our word selection and pace - avoid jargon, contractions and buzz words.  For presentations, these should be removed from all of your verbal renditions regardless of the country in which you are speaking.  Everyday verbiage used at home, at the office and/or on the street here in the United States is often at times indecipherable by your audience overseas.   Additionally, work diligently to speak clearly in “word packages”, i.e. a set of words no longer than five to seven followed by a short pause, thus allowing those that can follow English to translate for themselves.  In situations where an ‘instantaneous translator” has been employed utilize a similar pattern of verbal presentation thereby allowing the translator a few additional seconds to find the ‘exactly correct’ word to bring full meaning to yours. 

A frequently asked question by our younger staff members is “Should I greet the audience with a sentence or two in their native tongue prior to delivering my presentation?”  My answer is always “That depends!”  I would never attempt some of the oriental languages because they are tonal and if I get the tone wrong I may well have insulted my audience rather than praising the beauty of the countryside that I enjoyed on the tour they provided yesterday!  If you are reasonably competent then write out what you wish to say in both your native tongue and the intended language and have one of the company’s local staff read and then listen to you several times.  The upside to this attempt at speaking the local tongue is the obvious attempt by yourself to demonstrate respect for your audience and their native land and can be quite successful on occasion.  The downside, which I have personally experienced, is that if you pull it off and manage to sound reasonably competent in the tongue of your hosts for a sentence or two they will either wonder why you did not continue in the local lingua or will begin all their questions in their native tongue leaving the speaker (at least in my case) sorely lost and waiting on the translator to work his/her magic in reverse to save me.

2.       Avoid Acronyms

Never ever use an acronym without first having utilized the full word, for example, instead of “all those UUA forms …”  say “all those United Underwriter Association forms …”, when speaking or writing.  Always define the acronym the first time!

3. Avoid Profanity

At all costs avoid the use of profanity in any form in your presentations.    If you listen you will be amazed at the foul language, ranging from mild to inexcusable, that you hear on the radio, television or see in print.  If you need to shock your audience to make a point, shock them with sound factual evidence based upon good science and solid research.

4. Have a Concise Introduction

If you are going to be formally introduced, develop a concise and humble introduction for yourself.  Leave the flowery, prosaic introductions to others.  If you are going to be introducing yourself, again do it concisely with pertinent information only.  An introduction is not a history of every job you have ever held.

5. Avoid Jokes

Although it is frequently a heavily recommended practice in the U.S. and Canada to use a humorous story/joke in order to ‘warm up’ your audience I recommend that this device not be employed elsewhere.  A joke/humorous story apparently loses a great deal upon translation and nearly always falls flat.  This is a horrific hole to have to dig one’s self out of as a speaker who is unable to communicate in the language of his/her hosts.

6. On Time

Be on time for your pickup ride and begin your presentation on time as per the agenda.  If you cannot be on time, then be early.  There really is no excuse for being late.  Instead, be prepared for any contingency.  Beginning on time is a demonstrable sign of respect for those in the audience that showed up on time. 

7. Dress Appropriately

Class and good taste never go out of style nor are either unaffordable.  Fashionable is not necessarily either classy or in good taste.  If you wish to be adjudged professional then act and dress so!  That includes your shoes – get them polished and keep them that way.  

Competent Leader: As Easy As 1, 2, 3

When I first joined Toastmasters in 2007, I confess that I did not open my CL book, not even once. I thought that it would be too much to work on top of everything else I had going on. As it was, I was lucky to complete my speeches and conduct roles at the meetings. After leaving the company for three years to stay at home with the kids, I decided to come back to work and to Toastmasters. Finally, I cracked open the Cl manual. Boy, was I feeling pretty silly (and then some) when I saw that I could have already completed at least 80% of my CL from conducting past roles. Since joining the Mudslingers I had been: time keeper, ah counter grammarian, TI event coordinator, Toastmaster, General Evaluator, speech evaluator, Table Topics speaker, Table Topics Master, and speaker. In fact, I had done most of those roles several times. Yes, you can imagine my disbelief when I realized that only I had1) cracked open the book and 2) had a member  evaluate my role, I could have received most of my CL credits. After discovering this simple enough fact, I started taking my CL book along with me to the meetings and scheduled my roles ahead of time.

In April, I finally completed my Competent Leader manual. Today, after I logged into the Toastmasters International website, I was so excited to see the CL beside my name.  After working towards my CL for over a year,that was a reward in itself. It wasn’t difficult or burdensome to achieve.  In fact, I accomplished that recognition comfortably. On this journey, I was able to improve my team-building skills and become more involved in the club than I probably would have if I did not have goals to work towards, which is exactly what the CL projects become-goals.

This is what working towards my CL helped me to accomplish:

• To be more involved with the club
• To build confidence to conduct more roles
• To build confidence to accept more professional responsibilities
• To help the club achieve Distinguish Club Select status
• To experience the rewards of being a mentor to a new member (really awesome!)
• To experience the rewards of helping to coordinate a successful event
• To develop habits that belong to a "DO-ER"

According to MindTools.com, “By setting sharp, clearly defined goals, you can measure and take pride in the achievement of those goals, and you'll see forward progress in what might previously have seemed a long pointless grind.”  To me, this is exactly what the CL manual achieves; it sets sharp clearly defined goals to help a Toastmaster measure his or her progress that can spill over into daily life. The bonus is that the projects are fairly easy to complete and are effective at improving team-building and communication skills.  The CL manual can easily be worked on at the same time as working through the CC (Competent Communicator) manual. Trust me. I learned that the hard way.

Now, dust of those books, sign up for a role, give your book to a member to evaluate your role, and you are well on your way to obtaining your CL.

See? Super easy. 

10 Tips for Time Management In a Multi-Tasking World

written by Penelope Trunk 

Time management is one of those skills no one teaches you in school but you have to learn. It doesn’t matter how smart you are if you can’t organize information well enough to take it in. And it doesn’t matter how skilled you are if procrastination keeps you from getting your work done.

Younger workers understand this, and time management is becoming a topic of hipsters. One of the most popular blogs in the world is Lifehacker, edited by productivity guru Gina Trapani, and her forthcoming book by the same name is a bestseller on Amazon based so far on pre-orders.

In today’s workplace, you can differentiate yourself by your ability to handle information and manage your time. “Careers are made or broken by the soft skills that make you able to hand a very large workload,” says Merlin Mann, editor of the productivity blog 43 Folders.

So here are 10 tips to make you better at managing your work:

1. Don’t leave email sitting in your in box.
“The ability to quickly process and synthesize information and turn it into actions is one of the most emergent skills of the professional world today,” says Mann. Organize email in file folders. If the message needs more thought, move it to your to-do list. If it’s for reference, print it out. If it’s a meeting, move it to your calendar.

“One thing young people are really good at is only touching things once. You don’t see young people scrolling up and down their email pretending to work,” says Mann. Take action on an email as soon as you read it.

2. Admit multitasking is bad.For people who didn’t grow up watching TV, typing out instant messages and doing homework all at the same time, multitasking is deadly. But it decreases everyone’s productivity, no matter who they are. “A 20-year-old is less likely to feel overwhelmed by demands to multitask, but young people still have a loss of productivity from multitasking,” says Trapani.

So try to limit it. Kathy Sierra at Creating Passionate Users suggests practicing mindfulness as a way to break the multitasking habit.

3. Do the most important thing first.Trapani calls this “running a morning dash”. When she sits down to work in the morning, before she checks any email, she spends an hour on the most important thing on her to-do list. This is a great idea because even if you can’t get the whole thing done in an hour, you’ll be much more likely to go back to it once you’ve gotten it started. She points out that this dash works best if you organize the night before so when you sit down to work you already know what your most important task of the day is.

4. Check your email on a schedule.
“It’s not effective to read and answer every email as it arrives. Just because someone can contact you immediately does not mean that you have to respond to them immediately,” says Dan Markovitz, president of the productivity consulting firm TimeBack Management, “People want a predictable response, not an immediate response.” So as long as people know how long to expect an answer to take, and they know how to reach you in an emergency, you can answer most types of email just a few times a day.

5. Keep web site addresses organized.
Use book marking services like del.icio.us to keep track of web sites. Instead of having random notes about places you want to check out, places you want to keep as a reference, etc., you can save them all in one place, and you can search and share your list easily.

6. Know when you work best.
Industrial designer Jeff Beene does consulting work, so he can do it any time of day. But, he says, “I try to schedule things so that I work in the morning, when I am the most productive.” Each person has a best time. You can discover yours by monitoring your productivity over a period of time. Then you need to manage your schedule to keep your best time free for your most important work.

7. Think about keystrokes.If you’re on a computer all day, keystrokes matter because efficiency matters. “On any given day, an information worker will do a dozen Google searchers,” says Trapani. “How many keystrokes does it take? Can you reduce it to three? You might save 10 seconds, but over time, that builds up.”

8. Make it easy to get started.We don’t have problems finishing projects, we have problems starting them,” says Mann. He recommends you “make a shallow on-ramp.” Beene knows the key creating this on ramp: “I try to break own my projects into chunks, so I am not overwhelmed by them.”

9. Organize your to-do list every day.
If you don’t know what you should be doing, how can you manage your time to do it? Some people like writing this list out by hand because it shows commitment to each item if you are willing to rewrite it each day until it gets done. Other people like software that can slice and dice their to-do list into manageable, relevant chunks. For example, Beene uses tasktoy because when he goes to a client site tasktoy shows him only his to do items for that client, and not all his other projects. (Get tasktoy here.)

10. Dare to be slow.
Remember that a good time manager actually responds to some things more slowly than a bad time manager would. For example, someone who is doing the highest priority task is probably not answering incoming email while they’re doing it. As Markovitz writes: “Obviously there are more important tasks than processing email. Intuitively, we all know this. What we need to do now is recognize that processing one’s work (evaluating what’s come in and how to handle it) and planning one’s work are also mission-critical tasks.”