Monday, September 5, 2016

An article from Toastmasters magazine summary

*Taken from Toastmasters magazine from Be Confident When Called on by Matt Abrahams as a synopsis. I own nothing, and this is simply meant as a helpful tool.

There were three steps suggested that you can practice during table topics. Get out of your own way, then see the obstacle as an opportunity,  and then leverage the structure. The first suggestion was to get out of your own way. Matt said that When starting to speak out, we tend to judge what we are going to say and wanting to say the right thing in a meaningful way. While thinking before speaking if good, this judging can be a bad thing because it stops us from accomplishing the task of answering a question or providing feedback. Instead of trying to make things perfect, we need to just focus on accomplishing the task.
The second suggestion given by Matt was to see the speaking as an opportunity and not an obstacle. If you look at answering questions as a opportunity, you can embrace and expand on the situation. This keeps you open to possibilities in both life and speaking that you might not have been able to have seen or taken advantage of.
Lastly,  leverage the structure by responding in a structured manner. This manner can help the audience process the information. In the article, "Be Confident When Called On", Matt suggested two structures, problem-solution-benefit, and what? So what? Now what? With the problem solution structure, you start by addressing the problem, then talk about a way to solve it. It is persuasive and effective. At the end of it, you describe the benefits of adopting the same outlook on the solution. The second one was talking about the question, then discussing why the audience should care about what you are saying. Lastly you explain what to do about your answer.
When you do these three things, "you can become a more compelling, confident, and connected spontaneous speaker" says Matt.

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