How to Give a Better Speech: Talk to a Dog
The two undergraduates were acing their presentation. Good cadence. Sharp slides. Sunny dispositions. But it was a tough crowd.
As the first slides flashed by, one audience member got up and paced the room. The other, breathing with conspicuous heaviness, rested her head sleepily on the ground. The students inflected their voices and gestured with gusto to regain their attention.
So it goes when your audience is canine — specifically Teddy, a Jack Russell terrier, and Ellie, a Bernese mountain dog. The session was part of a pilot program pairing anxiety-prone business school students at American University with amiable, if unpredictable, dogs.
According to promotional material for the program: “Addressing a friendly and nonjudgmental canine can lower blood pressure, decrease stress and elevate mood — perfect for practicing your speech or team presentation.”
The audience dogs, as they are called, are a pet project of Bonnie Auslander, the director of the Kogod Center for Business Communications, which helps students hone their writing and speaking skills. Given “the whole fever pitch of dogs in therapy” — pettable pooches routinely show up before finals on some campuses — Ms. Auslander decided to use dogs to help students with speech anxiety. The center booked about a dozen sessions last semester and employed six “locally sourced” dogs, recruited for their calm personalities
For now, evidence of the benefits is mostly anecdotal.
“It makes you smile looking out at the dogs,” said Jessica Lewinson, a sophomore who practiced a presentation on corporate responsibility in front of Teddy and Ellie. “It kind of gives you a chance to step back from your presentation, to step out of that track you get stuck in.”
And, she added, a dog is no more distracted than your typical college student. You might even get a lick.
To Alleviate Anxiety, a Virtual Audience
Virtual reality has become a popular experimental treatment for a variety of anxiety disorders, including public speaking. Advocates say it is an efficient and safe form of exposure therapy, and a growing body of research backs them up.
At treatment centers, participants are immersed in a computer-generated 3-D environment, where a therapist guides them through contact with feared stimuli.
Thanks to a free app from VirtualSpeech, students can try this method at home. By plugging a smartphone into Google Cardboard or any VR headset, users will find themselves in a 360-degree virtual presentation room and have the option of uploading their own PowerPoint, which appears on the virtual screen as they address the virtual crowd.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/07/education/edlife/how-to-give-a-better-speech-talk-to-a-dog.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0 As the first slides flashed by, one audience member got up and paced the room. The other, breathing with conspicuous heaviness, rested her head sleepily on the ground. The students inflected their voices and gestured with gusto to regain their attention.
So it goes when your audience is canine — specifically Teddy, a Jack Russell terrier, and Ellie, a Bernese mountain dog. The session was part of a pilot program pairing anxiety-prone business school students at American University with amiable, if unpredictable, dogs.
According to promotional material for the program: “Addressing a friendly and nonjudgmental canine can lower blood pressure, decrease stress and elevate mood — perfect for practicing your speech or team presentation.”
The audience dogs, as they are called, are a pet project of Bonnie Auslander, the director of the Kogod Center for Business Communications, which helps students hone their writing and speaking skills. Given “the whole fever pitch of dogs in therapy” — pettable pooches routinely show up before finals on some campuses — Ms. Auslander decided to use dogs to help students with speech anxiety. The center booked about a dozen sessions last semester and employed six “locally sourced” dogs, recruited for their calm personalitiesFor now, evidence of the benefits is mostly anecdotal.
“It makes you smile looking out at the dogs,” said Jessica Lewinson, a sophomore who practiced a presentation on corporate responsibility in front of Teddy and Ellie. “It kind of gives you a chance to step back from your presentation, to step out of that track you get stuck in.”
And, she added, a dog is no more distracted than your typical college student. You might even get a lick.
To Alleviate Anxiety, a Virtual AudienceVirtual reality has become a popular experimental treatment for a variety of anxiety disorders, including public speaking. Advocates say it is an efficient and safe form of exposure therapy, and a growing body of research backs them up.
At treatment centers, participants are immersed in a computer-generated 3-D environment, where a therapist guides them through contact with feared stimuli.
Thanks to a free app from VirtualSpeech, students can try this method at home. By plugging a smartphone into Google Cardboard or any VR headset, users will find themselves in a 360-degree virtual presentation room and have the option of uploading their own PowerPoint, which appears on the virtual screen as they address the virtual crowd.
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BeGe's Upcoming Contest
- February 17th Evaluation Contest
- February 24th International Speech Contest
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International Speech Contest Rules
The International Speech Contest, follows all rules outlined in the General Rules section of the Toastmasters International Speech Contest rulebook. In addition, the following additions and exceptions apply.
1. The International Speech Contest begins at the club level, and proceeds through the area, division (if applicable), district, semifinal, and International levels.
A. Semifinals are to be held at the International Convention, and will include all district winners randomly assigned to separate contests.
1. All contestants’ briefings for the semifinal speech contests will be conducted simultaneously by World Headquarters staff.
2. All judges’ briefings for the semifinal speech contests will also be conducted simultaneously by World Headquarters staff.
B. Every participant in the World Championship of Public Speaking must present an entirely new and different speech than the one presented during the participant's semifinal speech contest.
1. Winners of each semifinal contest at the International Convention will prepare and deliver to World Headquarters outlines of their semifinal-winning speech, which will be given to qualifying judges before the judge’s briefing for the World Championship of Public Speaking. 2. Qualifying judges will also be given a Speaker Qualification Sheet (Item 1186). On this sheet, qualifying judges will indicate whether the speech being delivered at the World Championship of Public Speaking is entirely new and different from the speech given at the semifinal contest.
3. As the voting judges are completing their ballots at the end of the contest, the qualifying judges complete the Speaker Qualification Sheet, sign it, place it in the provided envelope, and hold it up for the ballot counters to collect.
4. In the ballot counting room, the chief judge will open and review all Speaker Qualification Sheets. If three of the five qualifying judges check (X) in the Disqualified column for a given speaker, that speaker is disqualified, and no protest may be made.
2. The semifinals and World Championship of Public Speaking will follow the version of the rulebook that was in effect when the contest cycle began on the previous July 1, approximately fourteen months before the World Championship of Public Speaking.
Evaluation Contest Rules
The Evaluation Contest follows all rules outlined in the General Rules section of this Toastmasters International Speech Contest rulebook. In addition, the following additions and exceptions apply.
1. At the beginning of this contest, a five- to seven-minute test speech will be presented.
A. The test speech shall be either a contest-type speech, or taken from one of the assignments in the Competent Communication manual.
B. Contestants are permitted to make preparatory notes during the test speech using the Evaluation Contestant Notes sheet.
C. It is recommended that at all levels of the contest, the Toastmaster giving the test speech is not a member of the same club as any one of the contestants.
D. The test speaker shall be introduced by announcing the speaker’s name, speech title, speech title, and the speaker’s name.
E. Neither the manual project nor any objectives that the speaker may have shall be made known to the contestants, chief judge, voting judges, tiebreaking judge or audience.
2. At the conclusion of the test speech, all contestants shall leave the room. They then have five minutes to prepare their evaluation using the Evaluation Contestant Notes sheet.
A. Timing and preparation supervision shall be under the control of the contest sergeant at arms.
B. Where it is not practical for contestants to leave the room, contestants will complete their five-minute preparation in the same room under the control of the contest sergeant at arms.
C. Contestants may not use digital or other devices during the contest to gain an unfair advantage.
3. After five minutes have elapsed, no further preparation shall be allowed and with the exception of the first contestant, who shall be called back as first evaluator, all others shall hand their copy of the Evaluation Contestant Notes sheet to the contest sergeant at arms. The Evaluation Contestant Notes sheets shall be handed back to contestants as they are introduced to present their evaluation.
4. Introduce each contestant by announcing the contestant’s name twice. Note that this differs from the standard name, speech title, speech title, name, because Evaluation speeches do not have titles.
Click here to access the complete Toastmasters International Speech Contest Rulebook
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Newsletter Submissions
Contribute to our Blog and Newsletter. Submit stories, ideas, articles, and experiences.
Send content to begestm@gmail.com
Content is needed for next's months newsletter.
Please Submit Content by January 29th
February's Focus- Effective Evaluations
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
International Speech Contest Rules
The International Speech Contest, follows all rules outlined in the General Rules section of the Toastmasters International Speech Contest rulebook. In addition, the following additions and exceptions apply.
1. The International Speech Contest begins at the club level, and proceeds through the area, division (if applicable), district, semifinal, and International levels.
A. Semifinals are to be held at the International Convention, and will include all district winners randomly assigned to separate contests.
1. All contestants’ briefings for the semifinal speech contests will be conducted simultaneously by World Headquarters staff.
2. All judges’ briefings for the semifinal speech contests will also be conducted simultaneously by World Headquarters staff.
B. Every participant in the World Championship of Public Speaking must present an entirely new and different speech than the one presented during the participant's semifinal speech contest.
1. Winners of each semifinal contest at the International Convention will prepare and deliver to World Headquarters outlines of their semifinal-winning speech, which will be given to qualifying judges before the judge’s briefing for the World Championship of Public Speaking. 2. Qualifying judges will also be given a Speaker Qualification Sheet (Item 1186). On this sheet, qualifying judges will indicate whether the speech being delivered at the World Championship of Public Speaking is entirely new and different from the speech given at the semifinal contest.
3. As the voting judges are completing their ballots at the end of the contest, the qualifying judges complete the Speaker Qualification Sheet, sign it, place it in the provided envelope, and hold it up for the ballot counters to collect.
4. In the ballot counting room, the chief judge will open and review all Speaker Qualification Sheets. If three of the five qualifying judges check (X) in the Disqualified column for a given speaker, that speaker is disqualified, and no protest may be made.
2. The semifinals and World Championship of Public Speaking will follow the version of the rulebook that was in effect when the contest cycle began on the previous July 1, approximately fourteen months before the World Championship of Public Speaking.
Evaluation Contest Rules
The Evaluation Contest follows all rules outlined in the General Rules section of this Toastmasters International Speech Contest rulebook. In addition, the following additions and exceptions apply.
1. At the beginning of this contest, a five- to seven-minute test speech will be presented.
A. The test speech shall be either a contest-type speech, or taken from one of the assignments in the Competent Communication manual.
B. Contestants are permitted to make preparatory notes during the test speech using the Evaluation Contestant Notes sheet.
C. It is recommended that at all levels of the contest, the Toastmaster giving the test speech is not a member of the same club as any one of the contestants.
D. The test speaker shall be introduced by announcing the speaker’s name, speech title, speech title, and the speaker’s name.
E. Neither the manual project nor any objectives that the speaker may have shall be made known to the contestants, chief judge, voting judges, tiebreaking judge or audience.
2. At the conclusion of the test speech, all contestants shall leave the room. They then have five minutes to prepare their evaluation using the Evaluation Contestant Notes sheet.
A. Timing and preparation supervision shall be under the control of the contest sergeant at arms.
B. Where it is not practical for contestants to leave the room, contestants will complete their five-minute preparation in the same room under the control of the contest sergeant at arms.
C. Contestants may not use digital or other devices during the contest to gain an unfair advantage.
3. After five minutes have elapsed, no further preparation shall be allowed and with the exception of the first contestant, who shall be called back as first evaluator, all others shall hand their copy of the Evaluation Contestant Notes sheet to the contest sergeant at arms. The Evaluation Contestant Notes sheets shall be handed back to contestants as they are introduced to present their evaluation.
4. Introduce each contestant by announcing the contestant’s name twice. Note that this differs from the standard name, speech title, speech title, name, because Evaluation speeches do not have titles.
Click here to access the complete Toastmasters International Speech Contest Rulebook
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Newsletter Submissions
Contribute to our Blog and Newsletter. Submit stories, ideas, articles, and experiences.
Send content to begestm@gmail.com
Content is needed for next's months newsletter.
Please Submit Content by January 29th
February's Focus- Effective Evaluations
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
OFFICER ROLES
Ever wonder what goes into making a Toastmasters Club run smoothly? The following
are descriptions of the officer roles.
President "C.E.O." of this club, responsible for fulfilling the club's mission.are descriptions of the officer roles.
VP -Education Second ranking club officer, responsible for planning, organizing and directing a club program meeting members' educational needs.
VP – Membership Official Third ranking club officer, responsible for planning, organizing and directing a program ensuring member retention and growth.
VP – Public Relations Fourth ranking club officer, responsible for developing and directing publicity informing members and the public about Toastmasters International.
Secretary Official Fifth ranking club officer, is responsible for club records and correspondence.
Treasurer Official Officer Sixth ranking club officer, responsible for club financial policies, procedures and controls.
Sergeant at Arms Seventh ranking club officer, responsible for club property management, meeting room preparation and hospitality. The sergeant at arms chairs the social and reception committee
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