What Shall I Do With My Tongue?

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• What Shall I Do With My Tongue?
• when you have to speak and
• you have no idea what to say
• Ruth Levitsky
• askgoddess_at_aol.com
• Region 7 Toastmasters Conference
• June 10-11, 2005

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• Relative to size, the strongest muscle
• in the body is the tongue.
• http//facts.300.ca/body/

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Who Told You You Had to Speak?

• What are the consequences??
• What does your audience want?
• What does your audience need?

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Are YOU wanted for failure to GET TO THE DARN
POINT?
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Developing your Speech with Others

• Getting opinions to find the hot topics
• Email
• Instant Messenger
• Starbucks

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Timing Is Everything

• We speak at a rate of 150-200 words per minute.
• You dont have to put EVERYTHING in
• your talk. How much time do you really have?
• Dont waste a lot of time playing with PowerPoint
• or the internet before you have developed
• your message! Remember what life was like
• before you had these toys!

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To Whom Are You Really Talking?

• How do you gain instant credibility?

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Table Topic

• Talk about your ______________________
  __________________________________
  __________________________________
• What makes _________________________
  __________________________________
  __________________________________

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Get Reliable Information

• Google.com doesnt have all the answers
• Let your local reference librarian help

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Tools for Figuring out What You Want to Say

• Free writing
• PowerPoint (index cards work well too)
• Idea Wheels/Mind Maps
• Roger Von Oechs Creative Whack Pack

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Dr. Bordens Formula 1. Ho hum! 2. Why bring
that up? 3. For instance! 4. So what?
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What Does Your Audience Need to Know?

• Audience management
• Set expectations up front
• Handouts

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The Art of Realistic Rehearsing

• Creating the rehearsal environment
• Rehearsing in a way that works for you

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Table Topic

• Do you _____________________________
  __________________________________
• In _________________________________
• Why is _____________________________
  __________________________________
  __________________________________

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Tongue Twister

• How many yaks
• could a yak pack pack
• if a yak pack
• could pack yaks?

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Be Inspired by Limits

• Can you live with projecting your PowerPoint
  slides on the stripped wall of a hotel?
• Is the support you have really YoYo?

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How Do You Know if the Audience Is Getting It?

• If the audience doesnt get it, its not the
  audiences fault.
• Know your evaluation criteria upfront.
• If its a contest, study a copy of the ballot.
• If its a workshop, get a copy of the workshop
  evaluation.

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Table Topics

• Does your ___________________________
  __________________________________
  __________________________________
• How can you ________________________
  __________________________________
• Have you ever _______________________
  __________________________________
  __________________________________
• Do you know ________________________

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If you cant be a good example

• youll just have to serve as a horrible warning
• (after Catherine Aird)
• Notice what good speakers do, too.