What is a competent leadership manual?

Toastmasters International offers two beginning manuals, the Competent Communicator and the Competent Leadership. The Competent Leadership manual contains ten projects to help develop comprehensive leadership skills.
Leadership skills are learned in every meeting role, however you choose which roles you complete to finish the different projects. There are requirements for marking off a role for a project. Each meeting that you fill a role can only count for one project. Example: Critical thinking and giving feedback require the same roles, however if you are grammarian on August 9th you can only count that for one project not both.
Projects include skills such as listening, motivation, and time management. Some projects require meeting roles, such as being timer for time management. Others require you to help lead a extra role such as organizing a contest speech. Others, such as Mentoring, require you to help other members complete speeches or complete leadership projects.
Just like the Competent Communicator, once you have completed the ten projects Toastmasters International can send your employer a letter with your accomplishment. From there, Toastmasters has more manuals tracks that you can continue building your leadership skills. The Advanced Leadership Bronze and Silver. At the end of these manuals, including the communication series, you will receive the Distinguished Toastmaster award.

About the Competent Communicator

The Toastmasters program helps you through manuals such as the Competent Communicator, but is not a formal course such as Communications 111. There are no grades or tests, but instead you have Table Topics and the Ice Breaker Speech. Club meetings help you to work together to study and practice your communication and leadership skills.

You can work with introductions, perform roles during club meetings, and work on projects, such as the ten speech projects in the Competent Communicator. In this manual you build speaking skills with each new project. Most of the speeches are five to seven minutes focusing on a single skill. It works on everything from organization, to body language, to researching a topic. This will help you learn to speak with clarity and confidence.

With each speech you give, you will be evaluated to help you grow and learn. They will point out strengths and offer suggestions on how to improve the speech. This manual focuses on the basics of public speaking, and your evaluator will focus on the basics as well. If you are working on vocal variety for your speech, they will also focus on it when giving your evaluation. The manual will help you gain the skills through it's ten projects, then you will receive the Competent Communicator Award.

Want to learn more than just the basics? There are plenty more manuals for communication that you can work on, ranging from storytelling, to career related learning. After you have finished the manual, Toastmasters International will send a letter to your employer if you wish them to, notifying them of your achievement. This is especially nice if your work has a program to pay for you to be in Toastmasters.

We broke a record!

Congratulations!! We have gone over 1,000 views of this blog!

Next Weeks Schedule

4/4

Dave is the Toastmaster of the day being evaluated by Laurie. There is one speaker since it is a business meeting. Paul is speaking, and being evaluated by Brian. River is the Table Topics master of the day, with Peter as grammarian and Lee as timer. *No openings

April Fools Table Topics

Lee was in charge of table topics based on April Fools. He asked Brian what he would do with green jello as a practical joke and he said he could think of several morbid jokes he could do with it. Paul said that a practical joke that was played on him was being given a cake made of toilet paper that the group could not cut through. Laurie won Table Topics by using saran wrap in the bathroom as her practical joke, saying April Fools is a reminder that we should not take ourselves so seriously.

March 28th meeting

We would like to thank everyone who volunteered for a position, especially Laimons and Viki who were given jobs as they sat down to have breakfast.
Peter was the Toastmaster of the Day, giving us the history of April Fools day. He talked about how April 1st used to be the first day of the year, until we switched which calendar we used to make January the first month. Therefore people who had not changed over to the new schedule were fools. Paul was the general evaluator today, who commented on the nice tie in between table topics and the Toastmasters theme.
There were two speakers today. Brian gave his first advanced manual speech called Lost in Translation. He talked about his adventure as a manager for UPS where he had too much money to cross over into Mexico. During his speech, he talked about how usually the boarder patrol into Mexico is relaxed but that day they were alert, so he was searched then sent to another person to search him, then the boss's boss who opened all of his mail and searched through his car after Brian mistakenly said that he had his suitcase, mail and hooker in the car, instead of suitcase, mail and pillow (cohen). Laurie was Brian's evaluator, who asked if you can really evaluate stand-up comedy? She talked about how he brought in his life experience to the story to make it personal and fun. One suggestion Laurie did have was to start when he is ready so he did not use an audible pause to begin his speech.
Lauralee was the second speaker, who lead everyone through a guided imagery session set at the beach. In her speech, Lauralee invited everyone to lean back, relax as we enter into our vacation. She explained what the beach looked and felt like, then used the waves to allow the audience to let go of the worry and stress of life, and focus on the beach. Another thing Lauralee explained was the benefits of guided imagery, such as lowering the blood pressure and cholesterol levels, as well as relieving muscle pain. River was Lauralee's evaluator, who said the speech was very relaxing and painted pictures for everyone to go on a mental vacation.
Lee was in charge of table topics based on April Fools. He asked Brian what he would do with green jello as a practical joke and he said he could think of several morbid jokes he could do with it. Paul said that a practical joke that was played on him was being given a cake made of toilet paper that the group could not cut through. Laurie won Table Topics by using saran wrap in the bathroom as her practical joke, saying April Fools is a reminder that we should not take ourselves so seriously.
Laimons was the timer of the day, and Vicki was the grammarian of the day with the word bilik.

Division Contest

The division contest will be on April 22 at University of Oregon from 10-2

Christa and Dave will be competing from Newport Toastmasters! Please join us!

Princess Galilea giving her second speech

The last speaker was Galilea who talked about the bravery of our history, and how she looked at the past to give her an idea of our future. In her speech, she said that the pilgrims were literally going to a new world for their freedom. She then gave us several different examples of valor, including the civil rights movement, going to the moon and people volunteering to go on rescue missions for 9/11 and hurricane Katrina. Galilea then brought her story back to Newport with Sam Case developing the town called Newport. Avital was the evaluator for Galilea's speech, saying that she brought such a positive story to brighten everyone's day. One thing she suggested was to have a bigger font so that Galilea could lay her paper on the table.

Princess Sydney giving her second speech

Sydney gave her speech third, talking about PTSD and veteran unemployment. Her story was of going to Portland with her youth group to participate in a program called night strike. They went out and helped homeless people in Portland and she learned just how similar she is to the homeless people. In her speech, she talked about how some many of the people who fought for us to live comfortably, now live on the streets, and we need to bravely help them, the way they fought for us. Liamons was Syndey's evaluator, who said her speech had a great focus and was well organized. One thing he did suggest was to raise her voice to proclaim her call to action at the end.

Princess Chelsea giving her second speech

Chelsea was the second speaker of the day. She talked about how there are several immigrants who are brave enough to come to a country they know nothing about, and do not even speak the language of. During her speech, she talked about her parents who came here from a different country to provide a better life for their family. In her speech she said everyone is fighting their own battles, and we do not know what those are. Lee was her evaluator who suggested walking around a little bit to allow her to relax, and talk to the audience like a buddy. He complimented how well written and structured her speech was, and suggested that after practicing it, she could give it with only bullet points.

Princess Laura giving her second speech

Laura spoke first on how valor means to look beyond yourself. She gave examples such as a firefighter, a soldier, and everyday citizens. During her speech she talked about her coach who spends his free times giving soccer lessons to kids who cannot pay for them. Beto could not afford lessons when he was younger, but had someone teach him out of compassion. River was the speech evaluator for Laura. She said that Laura looked confident when she was giving her speech and had great stories to demonstrate her points. One thing she did suggest is to make sure to look at both sides of the room since Laura prefers looking to her left.

Loyalty Day's Second Speech

The Toastmaster of the Day was Brian. He turned the time over to Dee, the princesses chaperone, so she could practice announcing the princesses. Because of the four speeches, the meeting ran differently. There were no table topics, or theme. Brian introduced each of the evaluators by having the evaluators meet the princesses, each waving to each other.
Laura spoke first on how valor means to look beyond yourself. She gave examples such as a firefighter, a soldier, and everyday citizens. During her speech she talked about her coach who spends his free times giving soccer lessons to kids who cannot pay for them. Beto could not afford lessons when he was younger, but had someone teach him out of compassion. River was the speech evaluator for Laura. She said that Laura looked confident when she was giving her speech and had great stories to demonstrate her points. One thing she did suggest is to make sure to look at both sides of the room since Laura prefers looking to her left.
Chelsea was the second speaker of the day. She talked about how there are several immigrants who are brave enough to come to a country they know nothing about, and do not even speak the language of. During her speech, she talked about her parents who came here from a different country to provide a better life for their family. In her speech she said everyone is fighting their own battles, and we do not know what those are. Lee was her evaluator who suggested walking around a little bit to allow her to relax, and talk to the audience like a buddy. He complimented how well written and structured her speech was, and suggested that after practicing it, she could give it with only bullet points.
Sydney gave her speech third, talking about PTSD and veteran unemployment. Her story was of going to Portland with her youth group to participate in a program called night strike. They went out and helped homeless people in Portland and she learned just how similar she is to the homeless people. In her speech, she talked about how some many of the people who fought for us to live comfortably, now live on the streets, and we need to bravely help them, the way they fought for us. Liamons was Syndey's evaluator, who said her speech had a great focus and was well organized. One thing he did suggest was to raise her voice to proclaim her call to action at the end.
The last speaker was Galilea who talked about the bravery of our history, and how she looked at the past to give her an idea of our future. In her speech, she said that the pilgrims were literally going to a new world for their freedom. She then gave us several different examples of valor, including the civil rights movement, going to the moon and people volunteering to go on rescue missions for 9/11 and hurricane Katrina. Galilea then brought her story back to Newport with Sam Case developing the town called Newport. Avital was the evaluator for Galilea's speech, saying that she brought such a positive story to brighten everyone's day. One thing she suggested was to have a bigger font so that Galilea could lay her paper on the table.
The word of the day was eloquent given by Peter. Lauralee was the general evaluator, and Paul was the timer.

Christa's contest speech

 

In Christa's contest speech, her first one without any notes, she talked about how she moved from Alaska during a storm in the January. This was during a white out storm where it was so cold that the hair in her nose froze. While traveling, they had three flat tires, with one on their U-Hal and another on their car. During the speech, she also talked about how her back window shattered. Because of the window breaking, she had to strip in freezing weather to get all of the glass out of her clothes- Christa described this as mooning the wolves. While trying to repair the window, they went to a hardware store, and she was trying to convey that she needed plastic to cover the window to the locals, who did not understand what she needed. It took her hours to get back on the road and fix the window with packing tape and plastic. 

Speech evaluation contest

Lauralee was the test speaker for the Speech Evaluation contest, who gave her speech on the Soul of Spain. A test speaker gives a speech that is not a part of the contest. Instead, the speech is used as a way to show a person's ability to give an evaluation. She said that the soul of a culture can be seen through the music of a country. Her speech gave demonstrations of the music throughout this history of Spain, such as the flamenco music that started in the 1800's, the church music that came from the Greek influence and today's popular culture. 

Lauralee was evaluated by Dave, from our home Toastmasters, Lily from area 31 as well, Joseph from area 35, and Kathy from area 35. Dave suggested to sell the speech by using clothes similar to traditional Spanish attire, and to speak louder when referring to the PowerPoint, because Lauralee's voice trails off when directed at a different area in the room. He also gave several compliments including how well researched the speech was, and how the soul of Spain was a journey through their history. Lily gave several criticisms as to how to make the speech better including needing to move more around the room to engage the audience and gesturing more.

Joseph talked about how there were several technical difficulties that Lauralee had to overcome before giving the speech, but how she was able to work through them. He suggested next time, when technology is cooperating, to stand to the side of the lectern to be able to move around the room. Kathy complemented Lauralee about being able to get over the nerves from the multiple technology failures before the speech. She said that given the short time to prepare, and lack of materials needed for the speech, that Lauralee gave a good speech. Kathy talked about how, once the speech is more practiced and she has the materials she needs for the speech, that Lauralee should add demonstrations such as during the time when Lauralee says that the top half of the flamenco dance is from Greece, being more ridged, and the bottom half is more Arabic and is more flowing. Lastly, Kathy said that she liked that Lauralee added the soul of Spain to both the beginning and ending, but would have her add when Lauralee is talking about more to the introduction. 

Speech contest

Mary won first place for area 35 in the speech contest 

Christa won first place for area 31 speech contest

The contest speeches

Mary gave her speech on how people like to give advice on retirement

Joseph talked about how you can learn about yourself by other's perceptions of you

Christa gave her South From Alaska speech

Speech evaluators

Lily receiving her first place evaluation contest award for area 31

Dave receiving his second place award for area 31 evaluation contest

Kathy took first place for area 35 evaluation contest. Her president stood in to receive the award since she had to leave early.

Joseph won second place in area 35's speech evaluation contest

Contestant Interviews

Lucus interviewing Mary

Abraham interviewing Christa

Abraham interviewing Lily

Abraham interviewing Christa

Area Contest Reminder

Tomorrow at ten AM there will be the area speech contest at University of Oregon at the Straub Hall.

March 14th Speech Contest

Before the start of the meeting, Brian asked Lauralee to report on the 4H evaluation. Lauralee said that Lee and her listened to two of the speeches, and that we were invited to come to their official competition and be judges on April 22nd. Today's hot seat Toastmaster of the Day was Avital, who has never been a Toastmaster before. She was very humorous, adding statements like master some toast in to keep the meeting light. Avital did a great job for her first time as a Toastmaster.
Today was the speech contest, so the meeting ran differently than normal. There were two contestants in today's meeting, Dave and Christa. The speeches were on a topic of their choice, and had to be between 5 and 7 minutes, with a thirty second grace period. Christa was the first speaker today. Her speech was called South From Alaska, detailing her journey moving from Alaska in the winter. She talked about how they were driving through Canada when she got two flat tires in the middle of nowhere, but were lucky enough to find spares for both the tires allowing them to keep traveling towards her new home. The next mishap in her journey was the back window shattering, raining glass all throughout the car and finding it's way into her many layers of clothes. Because of this, Christa and her ex had to get out of the car in freezing temperatures, to moon the wolves guarding the tree line, in order for them to remove the glass from their clothes.
Dave was the second contest speaker today. He gave his speech called Half The Man I Used To Be. He started out talking about how a man is missing today, and that is the man who he used to be at over 400 pounds. Throughout his speech, Dave told the story about how people find the motivation to lose the weight, such as health reasons, shame and a desire to look more appealing. When Dave decided he was done enduring hip pain, he went to the doctor who told him he needed to lose a lot of weight in order to go through surgery. Dave then was told in order to have weight loss surgery he had to lose thirty pounds. Now he is half of the man he used to be, at under 200 pounds.
Peter was the Table Topics Master of the day, asking Brian what he thought about alternative facts. Brian said we think of facts as indisputable because they are proven unlike opinions. Avital was asked what her favorite food was by Peter. She told us a story about how her spiritual advisor noticed something was up and she explained that she did not love and trust in God enough. The advisor asked, "Do you like Thai food?" and when she said yes the advisor said "Then go eat Thai food."  The winner of table topics was Avital.
After everyone had voted for the winning speech, Brian, the general evaluator and vote counter, announced that Christa placed first in the club speech contest, and Dave came in second. 
Lauralee was the timer for the day, and Paul's word of the day was exuberant and ebullience. 

4H Evaluation

Today was the 4H club evaluation. We listened to two girls practice their competition speeches. Leanna went first, and she spoke about Lady Liberty. Her speech involved pictures she had taken on a trip to see the statue this last year. She talked about how the statue is made of very thin copper- only two pennies thick! Leanna also talked about how it was made and funded by the common people. At the end she talked about how seeing the statue was the highlight of her trip.
Lee and Lauralee evaluated Leanna to help her prepare for the competition that is coming up in a month. Lee complimented her on her organization of the speech, saying that it was wonderful. He also said that she gave us a lot of information very clearly. One thing Lee suggested for her to work on is looking at the whole audience. Lauralee said that she made really good word pictures, such as comparing the creation of Lady Liberty to doing a 3D puzzle. Another thing Leanna did really well was her use of the powerpoint to show what she was talking about, but not too much that we did not need to listen to her speech.
Avarie talked about her project that she is doing called Bag Ladies and Gents. This project takes plastic bags and turns them into sleeping mats for the homeless. She explained that she saw this project on Facebook, and decided to help her community by taking plastic bags that are being stuffed into corners and wasted, and transform them into sleeping mats. This is done by cutting strips of bags and crocheting them into about six feet by three feet waterproof cushions to sleep on.
Lee talked to Avarie about including more information about how the mats are made. He suggested that she bring in an example of what the bags look like after they are cut, then what they look like in the mat. He complimented her eye contact with the group, and how she connected her speech with a need in the community. During his evaluation Lee also mentioned how her speech was more off the cuff allowing her to sound more conversational. Lauralee talked about how Avarie had very nice gestures and more free movement during her speech. She also mentioned that Avarie does not have to rush through her speech because we came here to listen to her speech, and wanted to hear it.

Short Meeting summary

The Toastmaster of the day was Brian. Peter was the speaker of the day, who gave us three suggestions if we want to raise cats. They were to give them a scratching post, a friend, and remember that they are not your pet but more like your housemate. Lee was Peter's evaluator, and he said that he like Peter's gestures, but to make sure to freely move around when giving his speech.  Dave was the Table topics master, who asked Brian to define snollygoster. Brian won table topics by saying that snollygoster was the Norse word to describe when you step in a pile of smelly slimy fish. Avital was the general evaluator, who suggested being more open and engaging with the audience, by moving the podium and having more open gestures that would allow for more body language to be expressed. The word of the day from our grammarian Laurie was buzzkill. The timer of the day was Lauralee.

Snollygoster

Dave was the Table Topics Master of the day, who had the participants define a crazy word no one had heard of before. Avital defined Dave's mystery word snollygoster as the deodorizer the fishermen's wives made for their husbands who had been fishing all day and they were tired of the smell of fish. River, today's guest, pretended to be exasperated by the vastly incorrect use of the mystery word, defining it as a drink that was very smooth, and made you smile, but had an odd smell to it. Brian pretended to be "offended" by the misuse of the Norse word snollygoster. He won table topics by saying that snollygoster was the Norse word to describe when you step in a pile of smelly slimy fish.

March 7th meeting

The Toastmaster of the day was our president, Brian, who ran the business meeting and then the regular meeting. The business meeting included an update from Lauralee on the Facebook page, which broke 1,000 people reached again, and a reminder from Laurie that dues are coming up. There were also a few announcements. Brian reminded us of our involvement with the 4H club speech evaluation on March 12th at 2 PM. Lee also announced that the chambers of commerce is meeting on April 7th, and we are going to present a meeting to them.
Peter was the speaker of the day, giving a speech from the humorous advance manual, talking about the Lions of South Beach, Oregon. In his speech, he talked about his two and a half cats, one being his neighbors that visits him quite frequently. His two cats are different in behavior, with one of them being more standoffish and the other constantly in his lap. With his neighbors cat, Peter talked about how his cats did not like to hunt mice, so he allowed the other cat to walk through his garage to prevent rodents. During his speech, he made sure to give us some tips if we wanted to get a cat as a pet. The first suggestion he had was for us to get more than one cat so that they could entertain each other, so they do not get into as much trouble. Second, he told us we need to get a scratching post so our furniture does not become one. His last piece of advice was that while a dog to human relationship is a master to dog relationship, cats are your associates, meaning everything is negotiable. Lee was Peter's evaluator of the day, who complimented all of Peter's gestures, such as the cat's nighttime running, and his use of the podium to engage the audience. One of his suggestions would be to practice certain sections of the speech where he is not as certain about since he paused at times to see where he was on his outline. 
Dave was the Table Topics Master of the day, who had the participants define a crazy word no one had heard of before. Avital defined Dave's mystery word snollygoster as the deodorizer the fishermen's wives made for their husbands who had been fishing all day and they were tired of the smell of fish. River, today's guest, pretended to be exasperated by the vastly incorrect use of the mystery word, defining it as a drink that was very smooth, and made you smile, but had an odd smell to it. Brian pretended to be "offended" by the misuse of the Norse word snollygoster. He won table topics by saying that snollygoster was the Norse word to describe when you step in a pile of smelly slimy fish.
Avital was the general evaluator of the day, who complimented our organization and involvement in the community, as stated in the business meeting section. One of her comments was about being more open and engaging with the audience, by moving the podium and having more open gestures that would allow for more body language to be expressed. By moving the podium you could see from the torso up instead of from the upper chest to the head. She also commented that for people that are shorter, having the podium blocks more body language and gives the appearance of having to compete with the podium to be seen.
The word of the day from our grammarian Laurie was buzzkill. The timer of the day was Lauralee.

Mark your calendar

Dates for your calendar!

March 14th- Club speech contest
March 21st- Loyalty Day's princesses second speech