Three reasons I'm not a Toastmaster
by Jeanne Trojan on Feb 27, 2011
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There are better ways to improve your business presentation skills than joining Toastmasters. Find out why in this slideshow!
There are better ways to improve your business presentation skills than joining Toastmasters. Find out why in this slideshow!
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Pavel Binar
I have one criticism of your presentation. Yes, Toastmasters know how to criticise, too. It's a darned shame you stooped to trying to elevate your own credentials by putting down a competitive organisation. This marketing strategy is never a good one. My suggestion - quit the dirty tactics. 2 months ago Reply
Degree of confidence is unrelated to intelligent preparation, which I assume means the ability to think about and prepare the structure and content of a presentation/speech. I've met brilliant writers who suffered paralyzing fear. They could prepare (except rehearse), but they could not speak.
However, I have also met a few souls who had what I will call an arrogant, mythological confidence. They espouse ideas that are untrue, but do it with such confidence such that they repel new ideas. Take the 'rule' that a lectern cannot be left unattended. In front of a training group, I demonstrate leaving the lectern and ask the audience whether my breaking that rule detracted from the presentation. It doesn't, depending on how it's done. Yet some people will remain arrogantly certain that a lectern must not be left unattended, a sadly narrow view.
Be well; be open. 6 months ago Reply
Toastmasters is a venue for people to overcome their fear of public speaking. It is also a venue for accomplished speakers to practise their craft in a place where the results of the speeches and presentations don’t matter. It is surprising how many professionals practice in front of prospects and clients.
If timing is urgent and money is no object, I highly recommend hiring a trainer/coach to increase skills quickly (I have steered a few budding politicians away, usually a couple of months before their election). After professional training, I recommend people join Toastmasters for a venue for continuous improvement. These two forms of training are complementary.
Toastmasters peer-to-peer training is based on projects, each with specific requirements. At our club, we encourage members to practice their business presentations. Why else are they there? They do, and they receive straight-up feedback and suggestions without the candy coating. New speakers just get the candy - it depends.
Audience interaction is highly encouraged, depending on the intended outcome for the audience. We accomodate a wide range from one-way speeches to fully interactive training and workshops. Granted, new speakers tend to do one-way speeches.
Your presentation made be smile benevolently. It is easy to see how one could arreive at its misunderstandings. Many navel-gazing Toastmasters forget that the real purpose of membership is not to speak AT Toastmasters, but to speak outside Toastmasters.
There IS a tendency to speak one-way. The Toastmasters speech contests are as much a service and a disservice.
One programmed drawback in the Toastmasters program is that we wait until the end of the speech/presentation before we give feedback. In-line coaching is unheard of, but speakers would benefit greatly from being interrupted and given new direction. We could break habits more quickly. At our club, we allow interjection, e.g. 'You just said 'scared'. Show me scared!' In the Table Topics (impromptu) exercise, I facilitate speakers who are stuck by asking open questions. After they speak, we suggest that they can facilitate their speaking by thinking of their own questions.
Another, let's call it a custom, is to present a speech or presentation only once, unlike a professional speaker who perfects a few presentations, tailoring for particular events and audiences.
Another tendency is to belabour the idea of preparing speeches and presentations. 'One hour of preparation for every minute of presentation!' they chide. A risk of script is to sound scripted. Another is to fear forgetting the script, which causes speakers to forget their script. I enourage people to speak about subjects they know so that they can be called on to speak anytime.
Many people leave Toastmasters (~18 months) before they get into the business/workplace-oriented projects. Because membership is so short and many member tend to speak only at the club, they tend to develop the same talkinghead sound, which I call the Toastmasters sound. It takes a while to go beyond surviving a presentation to enter into what Lee Glickstein calls ’Relational Presence.’ There, we hear the authentic voice - the real voice - of real people. That IS the aim of Toastmasters. The aim just gets a little lost sometimes...
Have you considered becoming a member of Toastmasters and prospecting by speaking at training events, conferences, the International Convention, and writing articles for the magazine? Even professional speakers suggest the money is at the back of the room. Just ask the Champs.
Enjoy contra-complementary articles at our Toastmasters Club's web site
http://messagemasters.squarespace.com/articles/ 8 months ago Reply
I'm a public speaking and presentation coach in Toronto and I've had prospective clients react with surprise when I've suggested they consider Toastmasters instead of hiring me. They expect me to act in my own best interest and try to convince them to use my services. But my services aren't for everyone, just as Toastmasters isn't for everyone. Presentation training for business purposes and delivering a speech at Toastmasters is like comparing apples and oranges. They're just not the same thing.
Sure, Toastmasters evaluators are a lot 'nicer' than professional trainers. But there's good reason for that. As you point out, the professional needs to hear all the negatives a business audience will react to but not comment on. If that same kind of tough evaluation were used on Toastmasters speakers it would probably be counter-productive. Many people go to Toastmasters to learn to cope with their fear of public speaking. They need positive support and they find it, along with some gentle criticism. I've known people who went from terror to a love of presentation because of the support and guidance they'd received from Toastmasters. And that's a very positive thing.
Toastmasters is aimed at ordinary people who want to develop some speaking skills. Is it the best place for people who want to become professional speakers? Well, I've known some who came up that way, but it certainly isn't a replacement for professional training. They both have their place.
And now, if I may offer a little professional critique on your slides: I loved your use of powerful images to support your comments but you really need to do something about that yellow font on the final slide, when you make your pitch for your services. Yellow on a white background simply doesn't work. Either outline the type with black or choose a contrasting colour.
Thanks for starting this discussion. It's a good one. 9 months ago Reply
And, thanks, Courtney for the praise - always makes my day! 10 months ago Reply
1. Toastmasters help your presentation and speech skills through providing a person with an interactive environment to enhance their communication abilities which are essential to success of any medium, written or spoken.
2. The image and quality of each Toastmaster group is based on the core mission of that particular club. Some clubs are professional for the sake of building polished presentation skills whereas others are more like social clubs that provide people with a platform to speak and exchange ideas.
3. The same tools that you use to create an effective presentation for business clients are used to construct a good speech.....which may be even delivered as a Power Point Presentation.
4. Toastmaster also are encouraged to provide members with feedback that highlights what they did well, areas for improvement, and the key points that were covered in the speech regarding the objectives that should have been met.
5. Nice is too easy a word....I think it should be replacement with the fact that Toastmaster exude courtesy that is both given and expected to both guests and seasoned veterans.
6. Last but not least, we don't have to agree on all the negatives of positive of being a Toastmaster ...because yes Um's, And, So, You know may be counted among the tons of other verbal jargon...but it is only in an effort to help speakers to sound a bit more polished in their presentations to keep the audience focused on the quality of the speech and not distracted by the elements that diminish the speaker's image. 10 months ago Reply
In the end, it's just my opinion. We obviously don't agree and that's ok. I wish you luck in your future presentations! 1 year ago Reply