Serve, Learn & Lead with Raymond Tay

Fear of Table Topics?

Today, I took part in my club’s Table Topics Contest. I did some preparation and practices on the previous day and felt that I was quite confident. Amazingly, I was the first to speak. However, the topic/question surprised me as I didn’t have much information or stories to share. When I got back to my seat, it was a bad feeling for me as I knew that I did not perform well. But that did not stop me from learning and listening to other competent speakers. The topic was “The more we know, the more we don’t know.” What will you say? Although I did not win, it is still a great learning exposure for me. I shall practice more. Let me share with you my discoveries.

Two of the speakers spoke about researching and “google” where the more we find, the more we know that we need to find out more. This is true to me esp. whenever I visit “Wikipedia”, there will be always something new that I do not know. Our club has a reputable member, a Language Trainer and speech champion of many contests, who is taking part too. One technique that I have never thought of is by challenging the topic, asking whether it is logical or true. So he commented that the topic is a fault as the more we learn, the more we know. How can we say that when we know more, we don’t know? It is like a contradiction or paradox. An interesting position that he has taken. Also we have another contestant who shared about his learning journey in communication and aerobic.

Below is a funny view about table topics:

Speaking like President-elect Obama

It has been sometimes ago but it is always on my mind to learn & write about the charismatic leader, President-elect Obama. I have also read about an article, “How Do the Candidates Communicate?“ by Linda McGurk and she has provided an in-depth analysis on Mr. Obama’s art of communication. We must learn & model from the experts in order to be a better person. 

The Message or Words

Obama has started off his campaign on these two broad words, “CHANGE” & “HOPE” and it turned out to be an ingenious move. Although they are vague, Obama later explained further in his speeches. One of his strengths is his ability to match his conversational style to his audience. When he was speaking to college students, he used slang and casual phrases. Furthermore, Kathleen K. Kendall, a research professor in the University of Maryland’s department of communication, said, “Obama uses a lot of words like you, us, our troops, and all of us, and that makes people identify with him.”

Personally, I like these words that Obama used:

• “Not a collection of Red States and Blue States, we are and always will be the United States of America.”
• “We can’t solve every problem but I will always be honest with you on the challenges that we face, I will listen to you especially when we disagree“
• “Above all, I will ask you to join in the remaking of this nation…“.

They truly reflect the value & role of leadership.

The Delivery

Republican media consultant Alex Castellanos on CNN’s The Situation Room: “He is the guy who can stand on top of the mountain top and say, ‘We’re going to go over here.’ And he lifts people that way.” He is skillful in using pauses to give people a chance to digest his message, applaud and sometimes passionately chant one of his slogans. Also, his energy and friendly appearance captivate thousands or millions of followers. Obama won as he has a more enthusiastic voice and has more vocal variety than McCain. Obama knows how to move gracefully, comfortably and confidently, and even showed off some dance moves.

Also, I like his voice tone because it helped him to portray very well as a Firm, Respected and Commanding Leader for Great CHANGE.

Project 7: Energy

I just completed another project in my Competent Communicator manual. Its theme is to research your topic and I chose ENERGY as my focus in this speech. My speech is derived from my learning & discoveries and you can find the references in my previous posts (Hidden Messages From Water and Healing Power of Music). I felt honoured that I won the Best Speaker in my club. Below is the short clip of my speech:

Feel free to drop me your comments about my speech and I can learn from your feedback too.

Let me cheer you on to be a person full of energy, love & gratitude!!

Fun with Impromptu Speech

Today, it is a great learning exposure on Impromptu Speech as one of my Toastmasters’ friends, David, who had won numerous Best Table Topics Speaker awards in our club, is sharing his discoveries and experience on giving impromptu speech in the Speechcraft workshop. I am going to share with you what I have learnt from him.

It is important for all of us to be able to speak fluently without prior preparation in these occasions: meetings, job interview, press conference, etc. A suggested approach is:

• Control your fear and excitement
• Search your knowledge and personal experience
• Decide on the Message to convey

Here are some techniques to structure your speech:

1. PREP – Point, Reason, Elaboration/ Example, Point
2. Time-Sequence/ Chronological – Past, Present, Future
3. Pendulum – Issue, Pros, Cons, Conclusion
4. Spatial - Examine the issue from different angles.
5. Story-telling – Tell a short story/ anecdote and give the moral of the story.

I have discovered that there is no best technique as there can be many possible questions that we will encounter. Therefore, it is more wise to be skilled with all these techniques.

Mislearn, Unlearn, Relearn Language

After attending the Language Evaluation Workshop, it is another mind-opening session. One of my favourite quotations shared is, “A smile is the best makeup you can wear.”

The Power of 3: “Visual, Vocal, Verbal”, “Clear, Correct, Confidently”, “Attentively, Actively, Intently”, “Induce, Reduce, Seduce”, “Wonderful, Wrongful, Wasteful”.

The Elegant of Alliteration: “Gems & Germs”, “Glitz & Glitch”, “Illuminate & Eliminate”.

The Simplicity of Acronym: “CAMP – Creative, Abuse & Misuse, Pronunciation”, “BABEL – Beauty & Best English Language”, “SMILE – Speak more in learning environment”.

Contrasting Words: True Lies, War Games, Working Vacation.

Some commonly mistakes made (redundancy): New Innovation, Free Gift, Free Complimentary, Blink your eyes, See your smile on your face.

The Beauty of Language

Today, my experience in the Joint Toastmasters meeting is a very enriching session as I got a chance to give my P4 speech, participate in Table Topic and able to learn a lot from language evaluation by Elizabeth (Ngee Ann Poly English lecturer). From the lanuage evaluation, I have learnt about Imagery, Alliteration and common mistakes made by Singaporeans.

Imagery: descriptive language that deals with any of the five senses (sight, touch, smell, hearing, and taste). E.g. ‘The big bad wolf howled at the silvery moon.’

Alliteration: the repetition of a leading vowel or consonant sound in a phrase. Alliteration can take the form of assonance, the repetition of a vowel, or consonance, the repetition of a consonant. E.g. for assonance: ‘shrouds & clouds’. Eg. for consonance: ‘Tick Tock went the ticking clock.’

Another interesting phrase from “Born Standing Up”, by Steve Martin: ‘I went from a wild & crazy guy to a mild and lazy guy.’

Common words that are pronounced wrongly: ‘Priorities’, ‘Gigantic’, ‘Library’, ‘Woman’, ‘Women’. No such thing as: in my mind, into my mind. Also, don’t use Tech language, e.g. delete.

How to Give an Impromptu Speech

I have always been trouble in giving an impromptu speech as I don’t think I have spoken well and most of the time, I did not have much ideas. Now, I am trying to improve my impromptu speech skills and below are some useful ideas that I have found:

- Be prepared with a second presentation.
- Be willing and able.
- Organize your thoughts.
- Take the platform with enthusiasm and confidence.
- Never, never apologize or make excuses.
- Avoid the common blunders.
- Enjoy the appreciation!

Other steps to organize our thoughts:

1) Listen.
2) Focus.
3) Buy Time/Don’t Rush to Respond.
4) Pick a Theme for Your Response…or if you can’t think of a theme, begin to address the topic and free associate until you find a theme on which you’d like to expand.
5) Build the Body of Your Speech.
6) Conclude Confidently.

Further details can be found in the following websites:
- How to Give a Successful Impromptu Speech
- SIX STEPS TO IMPROMPTU SPEAKING SUCCESS