Megan, our president at Peace Speakers, warmly opens our meeting in anticipation. She knows how tenacious members are about participating during meetings. (By the way, tenacious is our Word of the Day, meaning persistent in maintaining or adhering to something valued or habitual.) Members are asked to try and insert that word into verbal expressions throughout the meeting.
We're pleased to note that we have a visitor today, Sigga,
originally from West Africa. She's looking for a Toastmasters club
that will help her develop her confidence and speaking skills. We're hoping Peace Speakers is a good fit for her! Sigga is pictured looking at the items found in the gift bag that each visitor to our club is given.
Katie, volunteering to be our Toastmaster today for the very first time, adeptly steps to the podium to begin the educational portion of our meeting. This is where participation increases, and it's the best part of our experiential meetings. Katie's prepared a lovely agenda for our meeting, which pictures a well-tendered garden with neat rows. With "space fillers" as our theme for our meeting today, she notes that proper "spacing" in a garden allows for the biggest impact for producing food. In turn, if we are tenacious and strive to weed out space fillers in our language, we may create more impact when we express ourselves. 
The following is a summary of what Karen imparted on June 7th at our Peace Speakers meeting:
The speaking public often relies on space
fillers or words that are unnecessary. Everyone has done it at one time or another. Fillers are our effort to hold time or space,
but we don’t need to do that. Karen
says that when she has space, she just lets it go. That
space allows her to give what’s been imparted a moment to be ingested by the
listener. Her pregnant pauses serve a
valuable purpose!
It’s
important to know that fillers include our body language as well. We use filler words to fill space, but we
don’t need a constant barrage of words.
Instead, use your body and gestures. Keep your
hands in front of you…never hide them…as the former makes you more believable. When you’re nervous, place your hands in
front of you in a positive power stance: fingertips touching in a triangular
shape. Where your body goes your mind
follows, so this helps overcome your nervousness.
Karen
confessed that the way she presents herself doesn’t give away the fact she
didn’t finish college. She doesn’t use
filler words, unlike many who have college degrees. And if you don’t present well, people won’t
take your education seriously. And that
can be a huge problem!
When
do you use filler words such as uh, like, um and you
know? Pay attention to
that. When you hear one, stop! Pause
instead. When you start hearing them,
you’ll begin dropping those space fillers. And don’t be afraid to use
other acceptable words in place of those filler words.
Speak slowly enough so you can think about the message you want to
deliver.
Your
boss doesn’t want to hear a bunch of filler words when you pitch a proposal. It lessens the impact of the proposal! Use your body in the same manner. This leads Karen to think of the handshake,
which can set the tone of the whole conversation. Limp ones tell the other that they’re either
the weaker sex or weaker party. Then
there’s the bone crusher handshake, which kills the other. Another handshake pulls one person in closer,
which tells the other that they’re in control.
Sometimes handshakes include the other hand touching the upper arm,
which is meant to be warmer by implying a mental connection.
Karen
notes that it’s very important that you not only pay attention to the content
of what you say, but how you say it and the body language that goes along with
it. Body language is actually 40% of
what is actually said. Watch your eye
contact as well. Staring is creepy,
so instead, pause and look away occasionally.
As Toastmasters, we are exposed to valuable information that often the general public
doesn’t hear. We’re given the weekly
meetings, the conferences, and the Toastmaster Magazine to make us aware. The general public isn’t given this
opportunity to learn, which leaves them at a disadvantage.
One
of the things Karen’s most proud of as a Toastmaster is that we do not criticize each
other. Instead, we give gifts of improvement to one another. When her daughters start using a particular filler word,
she playfully throws that filler word back at them so they can hear what
they’re doing. That’s a great teaching
tool to make others aware.
Q & A Session
Q
– You speak slower than I do. Do you recommend this speed of delivery?
A
– There’s no one recommended speed. One
can speak faster and still do well, even though faster speakers tend to use
more filler words. However, when you
slow down your cadence, your articulation is better. People have an easier time
understanding you, too.
Perry, our Table Topicsmaster for the day, waves a bag holding prompts that relate to "space" in some way. He reminds us that our answers to these questions should stay between 1-2 minutes. He encourages us to use of the Word of the Day, tenacious, when we respond. This is one way that we practice thinking on our feet!
NOTE: The blogger was unable to obtain the original questions, but here is a summary of what each participant had to impart.
Sigga is a guest today and jumps right in by volunteering. She shares that she worked for OSHA in Chicago at a training institute during New York's 9-ll tragedy. She and co-workers were sitting at breakfast and saw the image of a plane going through a building. At first it didn't register. They wondered: "Is that real? Is that a stunt?" Then the second plane hit the other tower, and they were in shock. Just staring and stunned. She says she saw the worst and best of humanity that day. "We became one," she notes.
George grapples with the idea that there's life in outer space. On the surface, we say no there isn't. However, there's more we don't know than we do know. But we want to control things, so we keep searching. Months ago George had an empathizing experience. Someone struggling with fear and anxiety made him feel totally empathetic. It was a shot to his system...a kind of déjà vu. George does believe that the spirit lives on. Something more is going on out there, but we don't understand it, he concludes.
Malinda responds to this quote and the question that follows it: "Don't know what to say, be quiet." Is there a time when you didn't know what to do next? She replies with the saying, "I only open my mouth long enough to exchange feet." (That got a laugh!) She goes on to add that she's had an exciting life...done a lot...and has changed and adapted. In college she thought she'd become a teacher or go to the seminary. She came to Louisville to look at the Baptist Seminary, but the setting was ugly. In Indiana, however, there were trees and hills. Malinda notes, "The seminary campus was beautiful. There were violets on the lawn. It was like a message meant for me, so I chose seminary. It was an important step on my journey."
Pat is a first-time visitor to our club and agrees to participate. She talks about spaces where there's clutter and admits that her husband and she are thinking about downsizing. The children have moved on, so they're just now planning to do it. She's been moving things out of the basement and recently set gardening items outdoors. But her husband stopped her, thinking it was too much. "Wait until next week," he insisted. Pat admitted that it made her feel good to move stuff out and open up the space.
Afterwards, a vote is taken and Sigga is recognized as the winner of Table Topics. Katie, our Toastmaster, congratulates her with a chocolate bar. It's a sweet way to recognize her triumph!
And speaking of recognition, Megan, President of Peace Speakers, gives Karen a gift for being a guest speaker at our club today. Her willingness to share her expertise is greatly appreciated.
And now to top that off, Megan holds up the gold coin she was given a while back that exemplifies 4 characteristics of an outstanding Toastmaster member. It's her turn to pass it to another who has shown integrity, respect, service and excellence.
That honor goes to Eva, who has been a loyal member since the onset of our club. She's one of the reasons why our club is so solvent. She has completed her 10 speeches in the Competent Communication Manual and moved on to the Advanced Series Manuals. Throughout many years, Eva has often served as an officer and is willing to fill any role for our meetings. She's quite an asset to Peace Speakers!
And speaking of assets, I must commend Catherine. This is her at another meeting of ours. I just want to thank her for seeing a need at this meeting and filling it. While I was videoing our guest speaker's speech for Karen today, Catherine took my camera and carried on with the photographing of our meeting. She's a natural behind the camera, and I really appreciate her help, which provided needed shots for this blog.
Our Toastmaster, Katie, returns to the podium to conclude the educational part of our meeting. She's no longer a novice in this role and has handled her first-time experience with grace and ease. She ends with a quote from Mark Twain: "The word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a right-timed pause." Katie nailed it. We Toastmasters know the value of that!
And speaking of value, becoming a Toastmaster really kicked into high gear opportunities for me to practice expressing myself and taking on leadership roles. Having a welcoming and safe environment in which to practice is essential, and Peace Speakers seem tenacious about being thoughtful and kind.
If you're a visitor to this blog, don't stay a stranger! Drop in on one of our bi-monthly meetings, which last for 1 hour. You will be warmly greeted and will experience a Toastmaster meeting to see if it's a good fit for your desired growth.
Wed., July 19 - Conference Room B
Wed., Aug. 2 - Conference Room B
Wed., Aug. 16 - Conference Room B
That honor goes to Eva, who has been a loyal member since the onset of our club. She's one of the reasons why our club is so solvent. She has completed her 10 speeches in the Competent Communication Manual and moved on to the Advanced Series Manuals. Throughout many years, Eva has often served as an officer and is willing to fill any role for our meetings. She's quite an asset to Peace Speakers! 
And speaking of assets, I must commend Catherine. This is her at another meeting of ours. I just want to thank her for seeing a need at this meeting and filling it. While I was videoing our guest speaker's speech for Karen today, Catherine took my camera and carried on with the photographing of our meeting. She's a natural behind the camera, and I really appreciate her help, which provided needed shots for this blog. 
And speaking of value, becoming a Toastmaster really kicked into high gear opportunities for me to practice expressing myself and taking on leadership roles. Having a welcoming and safe environment in which to practice is essential, and Peace Speakers seem tenacious about being thoughtful and kind.
If you're a visitor to this blog, don't stay a stranger! Drop in on one of our bi-monthly meetings, which last for 1 hour. You will be warmly greeted and will experience a Toastmaster meeting to see if it's a good fit for your desired growth.
OUR NEXT 2017 MEETINGS:
Wed., July 19 - Conference Room B
Wed., Aug. 2 - Conference Room B
Wed., Aug. 16 - Conference Room B
Peace Speakers Toastmasters Club
1st and 3rd Wednesdays (usually)
1:00 - 2:00 p.m.
100 Witherspoon Street
Downtown Louisville, KY
Respectfully submitted,
Kay Chambers
Blogger for Peace Speakers
and VP of Education
