Getting Used to Speaking
It may sound obvious, but it doesn’t seem so. At least, it doesn’t the first time you stand up and speak. But you will get used to speaking.
The way to become more relaxed or natural when speaking, is to make it second nature. You just have to speak a lot of times.
Toastmasters really helps. If you go along regularly, the (soon) familiar environment helps - the same four walls, the same faces. It becomes quite routine to get up there and speak. The more often you go, the more accustomed you become.
Taking an active part in the club helps - even if it’s just turning up each week. Being Sergeant at Arms has really helped me.
The job brings a chance to be a little more involved, and that’s good in itself. It’s good to help out by collecting voting slips, buying the milk and making the tea.
It also gives me the chance to say a few words at the start of the evening, and again after the break. I’m the warm-up guy.
Sometimes, I capture the mood, and get the audience really laughing - and there is no better feeling. And there are other times when my jokes don’t work, I stumble or have nothing to say.
Last Monday was the second kind of evening.
I had a joke ready - actually a funny headline I’d read outside a newsagent’s, last week. It was so odd, I had to read it twice.
DEADLY SKUNK
FLOODS LONDON
Well, I thought this was a great image - I mean, just imagine it. How big would this deadly skunk have to be? And what could he have used to flood London? I thought I could talk a bit about the massive skunk diverting the Thames.
Looking back, when I read it outside the newsagent’s, it took me several minutes to realise this skunk was drugs, not a smelly mamal. That’s what I thought was funny. And, of course, that’s why it fell flat. It took the audience just as long to understand me - I didn’t give them time to digest the image.
Then, of course, a lot of them were thinking about the actual meaning, and they thought it very serious - not something to be laughing at. Most of them just didn’t get it - a lot of them thought me completely nuts, I’m sure.
But that’s OK. It barely got a laugh - so what? I know I won’t get it right every time - and they’ve seen my sometimes idiosyncratic ways before. There was still a slight buzz of anticipation before, but afterwards I didn’t feel nervous or disappointed. I’m just not getting so worked up about it all any more. I’m getting used to it.
There were three great speeches and several Table Topics. The Toastmaster, Steve, made a point of telling us Toastmasters should be fun.
It was.
Michelle gave an amazing second speech on the Northern Rock banking crisis - really informative, and bang up to date. It could’ve been dry, but it captured my attention. She described it so clearly. Her lilting Irish accent is entrancing.
Tom gave a hilarious speech on, “You can tell the boss to take the job and … …I’ll let you finish the sentence”. Very, very funny - he had the audience rolling about.
And then there was Paul. Paul gave the last speech of his first 10 “Competent Communicator” speeches. And wow, didn’t he look comfortable and relaxed!
This was the same Paul, who’d given 9 previous speeches on serious topics, carefully chosen to match the speech brief. This was Paul who, on previous occasions, had started nervously, who’d conscientiously broken down each subject, who’d carefully held notes in his hand throughout.
This speech was more like a conversation with a friend than a lecture. He talked about holding your aspirations in the palm of your hand. He drew analogies with the trials of sailing, and of grasping the nettle. It was engaging and natural and very, very enjoyable.
I would love to have had a video of the first speech I saw Paul give, to compare it with last Monday night. It would be like night and day.
