What I liked and disliked about Toastmasters. In the beginning I thought it was great. Humor and Inspiration are the keys.

Table Topics (Favorite Aspect): You found this to be the "greatest thing about Toastmasters," appreciating the skill of great speakers to ad-lib under any circumstance. You personally found you could be funny when doing Table Topics naturally.

Skill Improvement & Education: You recommend Toastmasters to anyone who wants to improve their public speaking, noting the tremendous transformation of members (like the lawyer who overcame stuttering). You enjoyed watching the "experts in action."

The Power of Humor and Inspiration: You state these two elements are the keys to a good speech and the key to enjoying Toastmasters.

Helpful Feedback: You found the comments from other Toastmasters to be very helpful, especially for seeing mistakes you couldn't spot yourself.

Off-the-Cuff/Video Rehearsal Success: You found you did well when speaking off the cuff or when rehearsing by videotaping and watching yourself.

Positive Uplifting Experiences: Your short, charitable speech to 75 students was a highly rewarding and "uplifting experience."

Toastmasters Magazine: You enjoyed reading some of the stories published in the magazine.

What I Disliked & Found Problematic

Competition and Division: You strongly disliked the competitive nature, stating that the ribbons pit one member against another and can destroy the core Toastmasters goal of "Bringing People Together."

You called the expensive silk ribbons "childish" and questioned the practice of "rubbing it in the nose of the loser."

You noted that eliminating this practice would save money for local groups.

Politics and Hierarchy: You felt the entire foundation of Toastmasters seems to be based upon politics due to the titles (Presidents, Governors, etc.) and witnessed competition for recognition (the Monterey Language Institute ribbon incident).

Speaking Constraints: You felt the environment was a Controlled Speaking Environment which did not fully prepare you for speaking to strangers. You cited the President who excelled at the club level but failed to duplicate the speech at a contest.

Content Restrictions: You stressed the need to avoid politics and religion to prevent being blacklisted. You had a negative interaction with a Governor after pointing out the large number of ribbons won by one group.

Over-Preparation: Your personal fault was being too prepared and trying to read your speech verbatim, making the information hard for the audience to digest.

Physical Nerves: You advised against drinking coffee before a speech due to increased nervousness.

Sgt. at Arms Responsibility: You disliked the cost of ordering the ribbons and the feeling that members were hurt or cheated when they didn't win.

Your Advice for Improvement

Seek Variety: Visit different clubs and speak in front of different people every week, as speaking to the same group for too long is not as helpful.

Keep it Simple: Don't over-prepare or try to give too much information; keep it simple and practice.

Use Video: Rehearse by videotaping yourself and rewatching your expressions and mistakes.

Avoid Divisive Topics: Stay away from politics and religion in your speeches.

Skip the Coffee: Do not drink coffee before delivering a speech. Depending on the person it can help or hurt you're delivery.

If you have any questions please email me at bca@got.net