Manual: AC - Persuasive Speaking
Jan 23, 2009[I gave this speech after a long break from "speaking" at Toastmasters due to other roles and responsibilities.]
It’s Friday evening … 5.30pm … our kith and kin are either getting ready to party or jumping with joy for a deserved weekend. But, we have decided to spend this time at Toastmasters. Why are we here? … to improve our communication skills – Good
… to enhance our listening skills – Excellent
… to hone our leadership skills – Fantastic.
Toastmasters help us to improve our communication, listening and leadership skills. Has this Toastmaster’s club helped to achieve these? Absolutely. But, have we realized that we need to take our club to the next level. In fact, I would state that like many banks, our club is in a crisis. Fellow toastmasters this mother, who nurtures our skills, is in need of our support.
You may be surprised or even shocked to hear that. However, the facts are that our club membership is declining and we are unable to convert majority of our guests into regular members in the recent past. The good news is that we do not need the government to bail us out. We can turn around this club. Yes! We can, but we need to step up and act now.
Today, I appeal before you on two simple, yet critical things that have profound effect on our club. First, Punctuality. Fellow Toastmasters, starting and ending our meeting on time exhibits our discipline and commitment to self-development. To begin the meeting on time, we must show up not at 6.10, but at least 10 minutes earlier.
How early do we go to airport? 1 hour for domestic flight and at least 3 hours for an international flight. If we can go hours early to catch a flight, then we can come few minutes early for Toastmasters meeting, where we improve our skills. Along the same line, imagine how frustrated and disgruntled we are if the boarded flight is delayed due to one or two passengers? Similar frustration prevails in almost all occasions where some activity is delayed. So, we must avoid delays and start our meeting on time.
Second one is responsibility. It is essential to understand our roles and responsibilities in the meeting. Remember friends this is a forum where we learn from each other and grow; the good gets better and better gets even better. Hence, we must strive our best to fulfill the roles. In addition, we should support other members to perform their duties to the best of their abilities.
Let me give an example. Imagine that you delivered a manual speech that focuses on vocal variety and eagerly looking for your evaluation. Your evaluator shows up and provides feedback about other aspects such as speech organization, preparation, and visual aids, but keeps mum about vocal variety. Now, how good is that evaluation? Do you love that? No way. Well, this is an exaggerated example. However, I wanted to stress upon the point that actions of a person, who doesn’t understand his/her role is worthless. Be an “Ah counter” or “Toastmaster” role, we must understand our meeting assignments and come prepared. I also recommend you to read “A Toastmaster’s promise” one more time and commit to that.
As citizens shape the destiny of the nation, members shape the destiny of the club. The names engraved on the trophy and the vibrant ribbons on the banner speak volumes about the members and our club performance in the past. If they could do it, then I am confident that we can. But, if we don’t act now, then the quality of our meetings will deteriorate. Making or breaking this club is in our hands. Everyone should step up to make this club stronger than ever. Folks, these two traits – punctuality and responsibility – not only help this club become better, but also take us higher in the success ladder. Can we all make a commitment to that now?
--
No comments:
Post a Comment