Today is the final session of our Speechcraft Workshop. However, it is not the end of your learning journey because the next step is for you, Speech-crafters, to join us for our regular Chapter Meetings to both contribute to your club, Toastmasters@Hope, as well as to continue to improve your public speaking skills.
District Officers, Fellow Toastmasters, and especially, Speechcrafters
In Toastmasters, although our primary focus is on speaking, particularly public speaking, listening is the other side of the same coin in communication, without which real communication could not take place.
Being a good listener is more than being there while someone is speaking. Being a good listener means hearing and understanding the message that’s being sent through their vocal and body language. This simple habit of listening to others can have profound effects. Listening shows respect and builds trust. Listening also increases knowledge, generates ideas, and thus builds self-confidence. Listening touches and moves people, and is also a great way to learn. In Toastmasters, you have ample opportunity to do so – by taking on the role of Toastmaster-of-the-Day, Pause Filler Counter, Project Evaluator, Language Evaluator or General Evaluator, during our normal chapter meetings.
All of us have our reasons for joining Toastmasters, and one main reason is to connect with and move other people. If we truly want to do that, the choice of words and language is of utmost importance. This is why in all our Chapter Meetings, we have a Language Evaluator, who will highlight the good and bad use of the English Language and to help us to be more conscious of the words and phrases we use to craft our speeches. Come 17 Dec 2011, at our next regular chapter meeting, you, Speechcrafters, will have your first taste of it.
Finally, in Toastmasters, we can succeed. We succeed by doing our best in preparing our Project Speeches and carrying our meeting roles conscientiously. We succeed by inspiring one another and bringing out the best in our fellow Toastmasters. We succeed by learning from each other and helping each other grow.
Ladies & Gentlemen, I’ll leave you with this: Your Toastmasters journey provides you with many opportunities to learn, and learning is a lifelong process. There is a Chinese proverb that says: “Learning is like rowing upstream - not to advance is to drop back.” Unquote.
We can learn from what goes right as well as from what goes wrong. The beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take it away from you. As another Chinese proverb says “Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.” Unquote.
Therefore, do make a commitment to come for our regular Chapter Meetings to continue to improve your listening, thinking, and speaking skills.
Toastmaster-of-the-Day!"
No comments:
Post a Comment