Madam Toastmaster, Fellow Toastmasters, and Honored Guests…..
Table Topics is the time when we practice extemporaneous speaking.
We do not prepare speeches or even know in advance about what we will speak.
This can be frightening. Extemporaneous feels like “unprepared”. To dislike being unprepared is not a bad thing.
But, my friends and fellow Toastmasters, extemporaneous speaking is something we have all done. Our first words ... "mama" or "papa" or - in the case of my 3rd ex, "forsythia" - were all unplanned.
And ever since, every day we have spoken extemporaneously with family, friends and co-workers.
You are good at this.
For example, at last Saturday’s Toastmaster’s picnic I heard brief talks - chiefly stories - by everyone there. None seemed rehearsed or prepared. Each arose spontaneously and organically from the inspirations of the moment.
(Maybe John had something prepared, I don’t know …)
Drawing on the happy success of that event, I bring this bag of picnic inspirations.
I ask you to bring out of this bag a picnic object. Then, talk for one to two minutes about a memory it may evoke, a plan it may inspire or simply about what it may be.
Come step up!
Who will take the first picnic table topic?
No comments:
Post a Comment