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Step 1: Show up In 2010, my first experience with attempting to get better at public speaking was a disaster. I was too scared to attend my first Toastmasters meeting, so half-way there I turned my car around and went back home! The next week I followed through and attended, even though opening the door…
“I eventually got used to speaking without butterflies, but it took a lot of speaking with butterflies to do it.”
It’s hard enough maintaining good eye contact while you’re speaking to an audience. It’s 10 times harder after you’ve forgotten what you were going to say next. Places to practice making good eye contact: Cashiers at grocery stories, department stories, gas stations Baristas Wait-staff at restaurants Bartenders Table Topics section of a Toastmasters club meeting…
When I first joined Toastmasters in 2010, I thought I’d learn how to mentally force myself to have zero butterflies before getting up to speak. But that never happened. Speaking while nervous is how I got through the 10 prepared speeches in my Toastmasters Competent Communicator speaking manual.
I use a 1-2-3-punch combination of: inhale + square shoulders + smile It’s important that the combo starts with inhaling. This combo acts as a re-set back to confidence.
Each speech does not have to be perfect. You can mess up your next speech too. Your speaking path is an arc of fumbles that leads to self-confidence. When it comes to practicing public speaking in front of your Toastmasters club, feeling the feeling of feeling awkward is your goal. Flip the script on your…
In a Toastmasters speech contest, you can disqualify yourself by going under-or-over-time! Toastmasters’ International (inspirational/motivational) speech contest allows you to speak for 5-7 minutes – with 30 seconds of leeway. IE: you’re technically good from 4-minutes-and-30-seconds to 7-minutes-and-30-seconds. But if you end your speech at 4:29 or 7:31, you’re disqualified. I’ve seen it happen to my…