TENNIS TIPS FOR TOASTMASTERS
Visual Aids SPEECH
STAGING:
Bag
of tricks including pie chart on clipboard (set on table next to lectern), coat of pockets full of balls, cellphone running
Toastmaster timer
INTRODUCTION
Once upon a time my friend Mary
A Venus
around whom I had orbited for years without hope of a touchdown,
said, you
should learn to play tennis!
I thought, oh
yeah, she wants me .... to play tennis.
On a hot,
sweaty asphalt court, I faced her perfection across the net, gave the ball a
little toss, and smashed it with all the hormone-laden power of million years
of male evolution.
It rocketed across the court, slammed against the far wall, and rolled back to the net.
I preened.
She said “Long”.
“What?”
“Randy, it
doesn’t matter how hard you hit it. If it goes too long, no score.”
No score.
Not then, not later.
Speaking
opportunities are like that. You have 5 minutes on a busy agenda, 2 minutes in a
public comment period,15 seconds in the elevator with the CEO. It doesn’t matter how hard you hit, if you
miss the timeframe: no score.
Have confidence that you can get your idea across in a short time. Abraham
Lincoln was preceded at Gettysburg by the most famous orator of his time, who
gave a two-hour speech and is, today, a trivia question. Lincoln’s Address was
ten sentences. Toastmasters helps us be like more Abe, speaking not just with
force but economy.
I thought of this when I analyzed the times of 40 speeches given recently in this Club
I found three ways
1.
Write
Short
If I wrote 7 minutes of material for this 5-7 minute speech, I
can’t afford for you to laugh. So don’t! If I wrote a five minute speech, I
could let you react, or have time for ad lib callback to a previous speech, or
even BLOCK PAUSE a pause to emphasize a particular point that just seems right.
When I
write, ideas appear BLOCK PULL OUT BALLS on the bus, in a store, in the
bathroom. Clever phrases, little jokes, all good. Pretty soon your arm is full
of balls. You can’t play tennis with a handful of balls, you must put most of
them back in the bag.
It’s the
same with this speech. I had to put most of the ideas back in the bag. There’s
nothing wrong with them, but you can only serve one at a time. Those clever
ideas are still there for the next speech.
2.
How
do you know the length of your speech? Practice with a timer
Tennis courts often have a line on the back wall at the height of the net. Players turn around and hit the ball over and over, just clearing that line so they know they targeting is on. Over and over and over. It’s not just practice, it’s a fun little mini-game in itself.
Speeches move in time, not space, so in place of a line on the wall we need BLOCK SHOW TIMER APP the Toastmasters timer app on your smartphone. Fire up the app once a day, and give your 5-7 minute speech, every day for a week or two. How long will that take you? 5-7 minutes. While you’re drinking your morning coffee. Don’t fret, this is not drudgery – it is a fun little mini-game. Your first tries will be off but the act of practice with feedback will make you hit your line.
Tennis courts often have a line on the back wall at the height of the net. Players turn around and hit the ball over and over, just clearing that line so they know they targeting is on. Over and over and over. It’s not just practice, it’s a fun little mini-game in itself.
Speeches move in time, not space, so in place of a line on the wall we need BLOCK SHOW TIMER APP the Toastmasters timer app on your smartphone. Fire up the app once a day, and give your 5-7 minute speech, every day for a week or two. How long will that take you? 5-7 minutes. While you’re drinking your morning coffee. Don’t fret, this is not drudgery – it is a fun little mini-game. Your first tries will be off but the act of practice with feedback will make you hit your line.
3.
How
do you end? Practice your killshot. That’s your conclusion.
It is fun to volley, I say something to you, you send back a laugh or a frown, we go back and forth. But at some point I have to hit it in with perfectly practiced conclusion. If you can practice only 2 minutes a day, practice your one minute conclusion twice – because that is your killshot.
Here is a little secret: if you forget half your speech because your mind gets fuzzy (and that happens to all of us) or if you run out of time BLOCK SHOW TIMER you can just jump right to your conclusion with total conviction, half of the audience will jump along with you. The audience does not know that they are missing if you go right to your conclusion like I am now.
It is fun to volley, I say something to you, you send back a laugh or a frown, we go back and forth. But at some point I have to hit it in with perfectly practiced conclusion. If you can practice only 2 minutes a day, practice your one minute conclusion twice – because that is your killshot.
Here is a little secret: if you forget half your speech because your mind gets fuzzy (and that happens to all of us) or if you run out of time BLOCK SHOW TIMER you can just jump right to your conclusion with total conviction, half of the audience will jump along with you. The audience does not know that they are missing if you go right to your conclusion like I am now.
I have not
seen Mary for 30 years, but what she taught in that short tennis lesson sticks.
1.
Write
short. Leave a few balls in the bag. BLOCK: PUT BALLS IN BAG. There will be
other games and other speeches
2.
Practice
getting your shot and your speech the right length, using training tools.
BLOCK: PUT TIMER IN BAG
3.
Conclude!
BLOCK: WHACK INVISIBLE BALL WITH CLIPBOARD PUT CHART IN BAG AND ZIP
EMPHATICALLY. Hit your conclusion before you go long.
You will
score – on the court and at the lectern.
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