Princeton Toastmasters » Speaking Tips

Words to Avoid

Lou Arango — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 18:09:00 +0000

Using the correct words is important in ensuring that the proper meaning of the speaker’s message is communicated correctly. However, it is easy to misuse word usage. First, there are words that are similar in sound, spelling, or meaning. Secondly, there are words that are loaded with political, social, historical, aesthetic, or moral values. Finally, there are words that are just simply overused or misused. For example, words such as fantastic, awesome, and incredible are commonly misused and have strayed away from their original meaning. For more information on words to avoid, please see http://www.dailywritingtips.com/10-intensifiers-you-should-really-absolutely-avoid/

Princeton Toastmasters Explores Web 2.0 with Evaluation Webinar

Ed Andriessen — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:44:04 +0000

Monday March 1, 2010 was a first in more than number. Jack Levitt, DTM hosted the first Princeton Toastmasters webinar titled, "The Do's and Don'ts of Evaluation".

With so many new communication channels available today, web video, email, web conference, it's inevitable that Toastmaster projects will begin to move "online".

For the benefit of the club and potential evaluators, click on either the picture or the link above to enjoy the presentation.

Getting Past The Fear

Ed Andriessen — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 21:50:17 +0000

There are many reasons people come to Toastmasters — improve communication, build leadership skills, get encouragement from a supportive group. The number one reason though is to get past the fear of public speaking. Here’s a real life testimonial from someone who got past the fear. Most people do, you can too.

Table Topics Strategies: How to create a speech in 5 seconds

Ed Andriessen — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:09:41 +0000

Recently, one of the people I have been mentoring asked me to prepare for their first Table Topics. They asked what I did to become more comfortable with Table Topics and I shared some strategies that have helped me become more comfortable both at the club and in the boardroom. Here’s the e-mail I sent. If you have any strategies of your own, please share them for the good and benefit of the club.

Dear Fellow Toastmaster,

I’m really pleased to hear you are practicing for table topics. I find table topics very challenging because I have a strong preference for control. Table topics does not offer a lot of control, which I guess is how life really is.

However, I have developed some strategies that are useful for table topics that I call frameworks. Frameworks allow you to place any type of content into a frame so it has some logical organization. This helps reduce the thinking needed to plan what to say and helps increase confidence.

Here are some of the frameworks:

- Past, present future
– Why, what, how
– Situation, action, result
– Accomplishments, obstacles, next actions
– I believed this before, but I don’t think that way anymore because
– What I like and don’t like about this
– Dreamer, realist, critic

If you apply the frameworks to any topic, you can quickly communicate for 1 to 3 minutes about that topic without having to give much thought.

For example, using past, present and future if someone were to ask me what I think about grass (lawn grass) I could say:

In the past, I hated grass because my Mother made me mow a huge front lawn every week.
Presently, I watch the people I pay mow the grass for me, and enjoy the fact that I’m not mowing it.
In the future, I look forward to lying in the grass and enjoying the sun while not caring if it is mowed or not.

I just typed in quickly what came to mind because I used the past, present, future framework.

Give it a try. Just select some random words or subjects. Write them in index cards and then select (or have someone else select) a random card. Then practice using some of the frameworks and see how it works for you.

Again, thanks for your support and I’ll talk to you soon.

Kind regards,