GIVING BACK … is a priviledge!

By Shirley M. Carolan, ATM-G

One of the true perks of being a long time member of Toastmasters International is that many civic groups get to hear about you and offer you the opportunity to judge high school contestants using their public speaking skills at the various levels of competition.

This is an opportunity I truly love. It takes me back to my teen years when I represented my high school, Queen of the Rosary Academy, Amityville, NY, in the Long Island Oratorical Championships. I was 15 ½ years old and had emigrated to America just one year earlier. I was a senior in high school. The nuns felt they had a winner in me because of my strong British accent. Alas, I came in second place because the judges said that the American students had to acquire “that accent” (British) in order to be heard distinctly all over the auditorium. Nevertheless, it was a wonderful experience.

February 8 was any opportunity to give back to my community again as a judge.. The Lions Club of Carlsbad held their local public speaking contest. It was wonderful and I was in awe of all the students who participated. They were all talented and unique in their content and delivery. I wrote the following article for local newspapers:

CARLSBAD LIONS CLUB HOLDS CONTEST

The Carlsbad Lions Club hosted its annual Students Speaker Contest on February 8, 2009 at The Granary, Magee Park, Carlsbad. Four students from Carlsbad High School participated. Their topic was “Water – Will California be Left High & Dry?” Each contestant researched, wrote material and spoke for 5 to 10 minutes.
Local Toastmasters, Pat Rarus and Shirley Carolan from Tick Talk Toastmaster Club, Carlsbad, were again invited to be part of the panel of judges and later gave feedback to the speakers.

The goal of the contest is to encourage youth involvement, develop self-esteem, confidence in public speaking and offer financial scholarships for the formal education of the students. For more information on this event contact Elaine Brammel at 760-753-1175, or EPBCMA@aol.com.

Students participating were: Ibriham Keyrollos, Natasha Maldi, Kathryn Allan and Yujia Pan. The winner was Yujia Pan who received $50 and each of the contestants received $25. Yujia will now go on to participate at the Zone level.


(Pictured above are, left to right: Toastmaster Shirley Carolan, Yujia Pan, winner, and Toastmaster Pat Rarus).

CARLSBAD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE BUSINESS JOURNAL

By Shirley M. Carolan, ATM-G

My Toastmaster club, Tick Talk Toastmasters of Carlsbad, California joined the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce last November. This is almost an unprecedented action for a non-profit, educational organization like us to undertake. We did so to boost our membership and attract local businesses and merchants to our club.

We were also asked to write a brief article on public speaking… or what steps to take when giving a speech, without actually mentioning Toastmasters or Tick Talk Toastmasters. I found this assignment challenging to say the least. The first two articles were rejected because they were considered blatant advertising for Toastmasters.

Finally, I attacked it through the eyes of an Evaluator giving constructive feedback to a speaker. Voila, that idea was accepted!. Following is the article I wrote which appears in the February 2009 Carlsbad Business Journal, entitled: “HOW TO STREAMLINE YOUR SPEECHES! “

"You know you’ve “arrived” when someone asks you to give a presentation to a live audience. Whether you talk about your business, products, services, new market trends, or hobbies, the rules are the same.

As a newbie, It is very tempting to want to tell your audience everything you know about your specific topic. But, a word of advice “Less is More!” It’s better to leave your audience clamoring for more than overdoing it with minutiae clichés, pet words, and jargon. The mind and the seat can only absorb so much. Better to save some material for a follow-up speech than to overdo it.

While the topic may be of utmost interest to you, if you’ve not engaged your audience, or given them something to think about, or take action on, then you run the risk of losing them!

Here are some tips, from a 28 year veteran of public speaking, to help you streamline your talk:

• Organize your material. Make sure it has a strong opening, body, and conclusion!

• Rehearse your speech! Make sure you “own the words” before getting in front of an audience. This will help you stay focused, handle nerves, stay within a specified time frame!

• Start your presentation with a quote, statistic, or controversial idea … it’s a good way to grab your audience’s attention.

• Use audio/visual aides: a handout, or miniature CD to give more details or examples.
Use slides, an overhead projector, flipchart, or music to create a mood.

• Wrap it up by asking your audience a question, e.g., “Before I conclude, are there any questions?”

• Tell your audience you’d be happy to send them more information, if they’d like to leave their name and email address at the end of your presentation.

The latter point is an excellent way to follow up with them and to assess if they have a genuine need of your products or services. It is a non-threatening way to market to a possible future client

These are just a few tools to help you streamline your presentation so that it flows, is interesting, and lets the audience know you are an expert on your subject. Hence, Less is More! If you’d like more information, please contact me at: 760-732-0663 or www.ticktalk.org."

Happy Speaking!

Shirley M. Carolan
Speaker Writer Artist
Phone/Fax: 760-732-0663
artistwithaflair@att.net
www.shirleycarolan.com
http://angelscross.blogspot.com
http://smcarolan.blogspot.com