Simon Dannapfel, 7th speech: “Food Matters”

I have often been amazed by the quality of some of the speeches delivered during Toastmasters meetings and equally often sad that the most inspiring ones were not finding their way out of the meeting room. Simon’s “Food Matters” was one of these talks that reversed the traditional perspective we have on choosing our foods and it raised many questions we asked Simon after our meeting was over.

Here is a link to his speech on slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/Toastmastersfinland/simon-dannapfel-speech-7-food-matters?from=share_email Read his text or listen to it (podcast link here shortly) as if you were attending our meeting but above all, share your comments with him through this blog or slideshare: he is certainly the person to debate with when you want to make sense of health, food, exercise and ethics issues!

Simon Dannapfel

I am speaking about Simon and his speech for some time but I haven’t yet introduced him! Simon Dannapfel is a trained exercise physiologist, personal trainer and sport coach who, having completed his post-graduate education in New Zealand, moved to Finland to live and work. Simon is also a Toastmasters member and with this blog post, I would also like to showcase what Toastmasters is about to those who have not yet entered the exciting path of becoming a “competent communicator”: what we do and how we prepare for our “public speeches” at Toastmasters?

Here is his interview on how he prepared his 7thToastmasters’ speech – it could be you…

– Your 7th assignment on the path of becoming a competent communicator consisted in researching your topic. How and why did you pick up how to choose our foods as a topic?

Research your topic

I chose the topic of the importance of foods because it merges two broader topics that are of great interest to me: health and understanding the broader consequences of the choices I make. My professional background is in sport, exercise and nutritional science so from a research point of view I was already comfortable with the topic. There were also parts of the speech that required new information so the background work was a well-balanced effort.

– How much time did you spend researching your topic? Was the manual a good support in performing this task?

I didn´t keep track of the time I took to research my topic, however I did spend

Charlie Chaplin in "Modern Times"

several hours attempting to track down information more relevant to Finland. Unfortunately it led to a dead-end so I decided to simplify my efforts and get broader scope information.

The manual is always useful to focus my objectives with each speech…it is very easy to go off on tangents that are not important or best left for other speeches so I have found the manual very useful for avoiding this tendency and for providing tips to achieve objectives.

– Have you improved your ability to research a topic with this assignment?

Are steamed Norwegian mackerel and beetroot healthy?

I was already quite comfortable with researching based on my academic experience with my honours and masters theses, however it was a good exercise in distilling information for a concise speech as was required for this speech. I continue to learn with each speech how to focus on the essence of a topic rather than attempt to shower an audience with a lot of information. In researching and presenting an information-heavy topic it is easy to lose an audience by forgetting that they are not as familiar with the topic as the presenter…so I found that in the process of preparing for this speech I improved how I presented the information I had and indeed what I looked for to include.

– What have you gained with the presentation of your text to the TM audience last Monday?

With each speech I gain the invaluable practise of speaking in front of an

Addressing an audience at TM

audience…the great thing is that you only know how you have improved when you go up for more speeches. With each speech comes more and more speaking confidence; I have really been enjoying my speeches as I have been applying the techniques taught in the manual. With this particular speech it as great to know that the message of my speech seemed to come across to the audience more clearly than in speeches I have made prior to being a toastmasters member. One of the main reasons I joined in the first place was to improve my ability to communicate ideas that I found were important… I am sure I am not the only one who has found misunderstanding or lack of clarity in speeches frustrating.

– What is your next assignment? How are you proceeding?

using a projector phone

The goal of my next speech is to make use of visual aids…I am looking forward to this as I plan to make use of a presentation  visual aid tool that I have wanted experiment with for awhile as a variation to the standard powerpoint. I also want to talk about something entirely different from my previous topics in order to continue to improve my speaking variety. I have some background information gathered and will continue to prepare once I have a target date.

Now dear readers, I have a question to you: do you know why Simon joined Toastmasters in Finland? Surely speaking and good communication is a critical part of his work and guess what? “Toastmasters has been very useful in this regard” as well as for his personal projects says Simon.  What else could I say? If you want to improve your communication skills and have not yet attended a Toastmasters session, do it! We have plenty of meetings going around close to you! And you can make the difference by participating – as usual! http://www.toastmasters.fi to find about our next meetings.

Which brings one more detail about Simon to mind: he was one of the chartering members of Stadi Talkers and has been with the club since it was founded. Isn’t he… active!!!

Say it to me, as a friend

Few days ago, I saw Tom Hooper’s much acclaimed “The Kings’ speech”, the astonishing true story of King George VI who once feared being called George the Stammer wouldn’t he have found his “voice” thanks to the unconventional methods of an Australian “speech therapist” who gradually turned into a friend, Lionel Hogue.  This movie is a must-see not only because of Colin Firth’s (George VI) and Geoffrey Rush’s (Lionel Logue) outstanding interpretations and the uniqueness of their characters’ relationship, but also because it can only touch us in the heart of our communication and leadership aspirations. King George VI’s handicap was of such nature that it indeed required an adapted therapy for curing, but many scenes reminded me of the regular training provided by Toastmasters and the efforts we produce in order to ameliorate the quality of our lives as communication beings.

1) to improve your public speaking skills, listen to yourself

For improving our ability to speak, we have to listen first and listen to the only voice we would generally prefer not to listen to: our own. At times, it is a cruel exercise as it might reveal a person in which we do not recognize ourselves. Acknowledging own strengths and weaknesses is however a first and indispensable step in bettering our way of delivering speeches. “The King’s speech” shows it in the most dramatic way when Lionel Logue suggests the at the time Duke of York to tape his voice and listen to it.

I don’t want to reveal more about the result and subsequent challenges inherent to this exercise because the story is so appealing that you really should see the movie to discover what happened, but it stroke me that taping own voice was an incredibly innovative technology at the time, and that the wide availability and variety of affordable technologies for taping and videotaping  at our disposal nowadays have not equally prompted their use for the purpose of perfecting our persuasiveness and expressiveness (such technologies are supported by e.g. http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ or http://www.youtube.com)… Wouldn’t it be wiser to give it a try at least – and I address here to my fellow Toastmasters particularly?

2) to improve your public speaking skills, get feedback from your audiences

Listening is also the main task of any audience. George VI’s attempts to tame his tottering in such unusual situations as addressing a full Wembley Stadium during his first oration – broadcasted by radio to the entire British Empire involving thus an audience of several millions auditors – can only fill us with a sense of relief when it comes to our Toastmasters first public speech called the “icebreaker”… Unlike George VI, we are fortunate to have an emphatic and interactive audience at Toastmasters: people who share the same objectives (improving their communication and leadership skills) and who will give us feedback on every aspect of our performance in a structured and easy way (body language, eye contact, voice, tone, rhythm, grammar, structure, etc…).

Geoffrey Rush’s line as Lionel Logue “Say it to me, as friend” encompasses everything about the unique environment Toastmasters creates for us to meliorate this fantastic ability to tell things and have people listen to us!

3) to improve your public speaking skills, relentlessly train

There is no secret: to become a great public speaker, we have to train, and train again because by training we gain confidence from practicing rather than from absorbing all possible self help books on the topic. The result of such training is often perceivable in our renewed ability to catch an audience’s attention with the real us – rather than with a book formatted us. The movie “The King’s Speech” shows it beautifully as the King rehearses his speeches with the support of those who believe in him and he gradually grows into the person he was meant to be: serving his nation as a hero king, being an entertaining father and husband, forcing the admiration of all.

To conclude, I would say this:

1) GO and see the movie “The King’s speech” and if you recognize some areas in your public speaking you would like to improve, then…

2) JOIN a Toastmasters meeting to find a Toastmasters group in your town, use the locator function on www.toastmasters.org (Meetings in Finland are also taken on this blog and on www.toastmasters.fi) . Attending as a guest is free of charge and you will then be in a position to decide if Toastmasters can help you improving in the areas you are planning to improve and especially gain in terms of eloquence.

3) TAPE your training and post it on this blog for feedback: if you are preparing for a speech, tape yourself in the format you feel most comfortable with and ask for feedback on this blog. We will make sure some experienced Toastmasters will give you feedback on how to improve it… how does that sound?

4) Be the first to fully review this text and win a Finnkino movie ticket (valid for one person, one session, in Finnkino cinema’s in Finland until May 2011): as my text proves, I am not a native English speaker but I am always very pleased to receive suggestions for correction. If you are the first to suggest a full set of corrections to the above text (vocabulary,  grammar) in a comment to this post, you will get a ticket to go to the movies (and who knows maybe see “the King’s speech”?)…

Article by Ruxandra Balboa-Pöysti

Start the year by joining a Toastmasters meeting!

The great thing about our times is that, more than ever before, IF WE WANT TO, IT IS POSSIBLE! In the context of the beginning of the year, where we are pressed to produce our New Year’s resolutions list on the pattern of a strategical report we shall commit to all throughout the year, such sentence might sound phony – such resolutions being at best wishful thinking.

a Toastmaster (TM) in action

At Toastmasters it is made very easy to improve our communication and leadership skills, if we only take this first step of acknowledging how essential their improvement are in building of a successful professional career and a fulfilling life – and then act upon it. To those who share this belief, the different Toastmasters groups in Finland (see list at end of this post) are sending them the following invitation: JOIN a toastmasters meeting this year – for free as a guest – and form your own opinion about how this organization and its training in public speaking could support your aspirations. Wouldn’t it be fantastic it helps you to reach your self development goals in communication and leadership as it helped millions of people around the world? Wouldn’t it be fantastic you end up being a “competent communicator” at your own pace? The only think you need to do is try once and decide…

Group of TM members

So, here is a calendar of the Toastmasters sessions organized all throughout Finland in the beginning of this year. If you like the principle, you might consider joining Toastmasters as a member or implementing the scheme within your company or in your city. What is certain, is that you will find people who share the same goals as you and who are ready to help you reach yours!

• Helsinki

Group 1: Stadi Talkers, 10th January, 24th January, 7th February, 21st February 18:00-19:40 at the Dubliner’s, Mannerheimintie

To register and obtain more details about one of the above Stadi Talkers meetings, please go to: http://district59.eu/profile.php?mode=email&u=4966

Group 2: Helsinki Toastmasters, 20th January, 3rd February, 17th February 17:15-19:00 in Keiluranta

To register and obtain more details about one of the above Helsinki Toastmasters meetings, please go to: http://helsinki.toastmasters.fi/index.php?q=TM_attendance:

• Hyvinkää
  

  Annie Peng, Hyvinkää Toastmasters

   

13th January, 17th January, 10th February, 24th February 16:30-18:00 at KoneCranes

To register and obtain more details about one of the above Hyvinkää Toastmasters meetings, please go to: http://district59.eu/profile.php?mode=email&u=8670

• Tampere

13th January, 17th January, 10th February, 24th February 17:30-19:00 at TAKK – Tampere Vocational Adult Education Centre

To register and obtain more details about one the above Tampere Toastmasters meetings, go to: http://district59.eu/profile.php?mode=email&u=8167

• Nokia (company group)

TM Tuire

 

If you attend one of these meetings, do not hesitate to comment on this post and share your opinion about the benefits and possible improvements to the Toastmasters meetings!

Article by Ruxandra Balboa-Pöysti