Friday, April 7, 2006

What meeting. Melaney Shaum and Anna Ho both challenged me. Melaney got my attention with the name of her topic, "Paul Was Wrong." She explained that we don't really put away childish things because of our programming prior to the age of 5.

Then she told us how to put away old programming with three steps.

You should have been there.

Anna spoke defined "entertainment" for us in a fresh and meaningful manner settling on the possibility that love holds our attention more than anything esle in the world.

I was given the opportunity to prepare for tomorrow's speech contest and that was a big help.

Mel Cellini was a masterful first-time Toasmaster.

So ...

What other Toastmasters are blogging?

I found a few - actually quite a few, but I am only sharing a garden variety few here.

Sara Marks is a blogging Toastmaster. She is an instructional and reference librarian and has some excellent teaching materials of relevance to us on her blog. I especially liked her March 11 posting on Attracting Younger Members.

Blogspot gave me the Top 5

Toastmasters徒然草 updated 31 Oct 2005
Soundwaves Toastmasters updated 16 Mar 2006 District 37 - North Carolina Toastmasters update 28 Feb 2006
Toastmasters Carlsbad updated 22 Mar 2006
Titusville Toastmasters #3018 updated 4 Jan 2006

We may need Anna's help with the first on the list.

While not a Toastmaster's blog, Steve Pavlina lists Toastmasters as one of his reasons for getting up early. It sure works for us! He subtitles his blog, "Personal Development for Smart People.

Speaking of bloggers: Do you remember Guy Kawasaki of Apple fame? He is the guy (excuse the play on words, Guy) who introduced the concept of "evangelism" to the business world. Namely, you enlist your customer-partners (Never call them "consumers") as your best allies to tell your story everywhere. Guy has become one of the early prophets of the value of blogging for business. The big idea is that it creates two-way conversation between a company and its customers, beating focus group marketing by a country mile.

Well, Guy's January 18 entry was an addendum to an article on how to get a standing ovation. He puts in a guarded good word for Toastmasters as point number three:

"Toastmasters. Can't say I know much about them, but I hear nothing but good things. My father was a member in Hawaii, and he was a great speaker."

The link within the link is a first class ticket to the Toastmaster's International site.

One more resource is Bert Decker. According to his Amazon bio, "Bert Decker is the chairman and founder of Decker Communications, Inc. A major figure in the communications field, he has been featured on the Today Show commenting on the presidential debates of 1992 and 1996. He is the author of the best-selling book You've Got to Be Believed to Be Heard and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal and on ABC's 20/20. He lives with his wife in San Francisco, California."

Bert was in Fresno several years ago promoting his study, Speaking with Bold Assurance." I attended his workshop and sat with a judge and a few other high-powered somebodies. Publkic speaking is a hot topic and Toastmasters is on the cutting edge.


Speak with Bold Assurance