Speech Planning: In the Beginning

Much of what I know about speech planning comes from my experience with the Athabasca Landing Toastmasters Club (ALTC). ALTC is a chartered club with Toastmasters International.

When I joined ALTC, more than 26 years ago, I joined with a purpose: I had a story to tell and I wanted to get some training and practice in telling it.

That was so many years ago! My Toastmaster goals have changed over the years, but my underlying purpose remains the same: I still have things I want to say and I still have beneficial communication and leadership lessons to learn. Toastmasters provides the training and the coaching to help me on my journey.

So, what WAS my original purpose? Well, a few years before I stumbled upon Toastmasters, I was involved with a network marketing company where I had to do group presentations to inform people about the products and the marketing plan. I was inexperienced and so far out of my comfort zone, I can’t even believe that I actually did what I did back then! It’s amazing what you can do if you are willing to step up, step out, and take a chance.

I think I performed reasonably well, despite the nerves and not yet having developed any Toastmasters skills, but looking back, I can see that there were so many ways I could have improved my speeches and presentations. Long story short, one day I learned there was a new Toastmasters club (ALTC) in my town. I attended a meeting, found out how it worked, immediately recognized the value it had to offer, and joined the club the following week!

Not long afterwards, the marketing company that I was involved with faded away and I was no longer doing those public presentations. However, the value of the Toastmasters education program continued to appeal to me with respect to other areas of my life, so I maintained my club membership and have continued with our local club to this day.

One reason for starting this blog site is to share some of what I learned over the years. Various elements of speech planning that I will highlight in upcoming blog posts include knowing your audience, choosing the right topic, the value of focus, organizing an effective presentation, presentation styles, engaging the audience, when humour may or may not be appropriate, and more.

This blog site promises to be an interesting journey for me. I hope you will tag along and find some value and inspiration in the information that I share!