Wednesday, May 26, 2010

The Empty Chair

I think you will find this video of a Toastmasters International Speech contestant meaningful on several levels. Consider 'The Empty Chair' as it relates to your life and to your membership in Boca Raton Toastmasters.



John Schneyer
VPE

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Evaluate to Motivate

John Schneyer delivering 'Evaluate to Motivate' from the Successful Club Series

Click the black box to see the video


Would You Like to Break a World Record?

Fellow Toastmasters, a unique opportunity has come our way.  District 47 is organizing an attempt to set the world record for the longest, non-stop speekathon and we have been invited to be a part of the effort! Wouldn’t you like to hold a world record?

This will be a great way to publicize Toastmasters (hint, VPPR), sign-up new members (hint, VPM), gain experience in front of other audiences (hint, all members), etc.

Beginning Thursday 6/10 going through Sunday 6/13, we will be going for a target of 80 hours!

Here are some details:

We need to have someone speaking at all times during the attempt with no more than 30 seconds between speakers

All speeches must be at least 5 minutes long; that includes evaluations.  Speeches can be longer than that, way longer if you want an can.  This is a great opportunity to give some speeches from advanced manuals but, you don't have to do a manual speech.  You could give a training class, seminar, sales pitch, etc.

While you can give the same speech more than once, you can not give it more than once every 4 hours.

All speeches have to be logged in our official log book - speaker name, speech title, time

All speeches will be recorded with video to document the attempt
2 timers with stop watches must be present at all times

We need volunteers - speakers, evaluators, organizers, coordinators, promotion, publicity, etc. We need shifts of independent witnesses who are neither participating in giving speeches at all nor are related to anyone involved.

What I want from you:

Let me know right away how much you will contribute to this effort. How many speeches, how long, how many hours you can sit as an audience member.

If you are going to speak, we ask that you also contribute your time in another capacity. Remember that we need to go round the clock so, expect to be speaking and working sometimes in the wee hours of the night and early morning.

I suggest that we break this down a little and see how many hours we as a club can commit to and then fill them any way we can. We will need to be able to jump in if something happens and a speaker cannot go on (think looong table topics).

I am personally ready to provide several hours of speaking on a range of topics that I teach.

More information will be coming out shortly but, time is short and I need to know who is interested. Get back to me right away.

John Schneyer
VPE

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Successful Club Series- Setting the Stage for Success: Meeting Roles and Responsibilities

John Schneyer delivering the Successful Club Series- Setting the Stage for Success: Meeting Roles and Responsibilities to the Boca Raton Toastmasters 5/4/2010.

Click the image below to watch the video.

From Toastmasters 5-4-2010

Filling Meeting Roles

This is my weekly Vice President, Education post. You can find information on filling meetng roles on the Toastmasters International site here.

You are the Toastmaster for an upcoming meeting, how do you get the meeting roles filled? You expect everyone has joined because they buy into Toastmasters. They want to speak and lead and learn how to do both better. But does that mean they will volunteer? Does it mean they are available? Does it mean they communicate the same way you like to?

The answer to all three of these questions is often, No! As a Toastmaster, we all have to stretch from our comfort zones every once in a while. That applies to how we fill meeting roles as well.

Last night, Karen Novek approached everyone as they came into the meeting. She had a clipboard and roster for next week's meeting. She asked everyone to fill a role, gave choices, and information about the roles. Well done Karen! If you have ever felt overwhelmed by the number of e-mails you get looking to fill meeting roles, you will probably appreciate what Karen did last night. I expect I will get fewer e-mails this week as a result.

We seem sometimes to fall into the expectation that sending out an e-mail and having the roster available online should work all the time for everyone. We are a very diverse group in many ways. We come from different countries, speak different languages, and have different social norms. That's one of the big advantages I see from our club. It also means, we have to s-t-r-e-t-c-h sometimes in order to be effective.

If you send an e-mail and don't get a response, how about making a phone call? How about starting your planning early enough that you can get members to volunteer face-to-face at a meeting like Karen did last night?

When you take a little time, it's not hard to get the responses you want. Our club always comes through one way or another.

Knowing how many roles available each week makes it easy to find one that fits your needs. Don't wait for an e-mail, phone call, or personal visit, sign-up today using our online roster. Click here to reserve your place for future meetings:

Online Roster

Have a great week!

John Schneyer
Vice President, Education