Summary from the Education Session on 24 Aug - TM Parada

Title : Topic of My Choice

In our club meeting this week(Monday 24^th August) in the education session, we got a lot of fun with substantial content from the very capable ACS Saengchai Lee under the title “Topic of My Choice”.

In Toastmasters when start to think about making a speech in each project level, I think the most difficult part is in the beginning process. For example, where the topic from and how to develop content to make the speech more interesting and impressive. Luckily, our guest lecturer ACS Saengchai has brought us those answers with good tips from his valuable experience.

The Techniques for picking the Topic and Content

To find a good topic, it can come from,…

• personal experience , interest

• personal values , social value

• philosophy

• everyday news , social news

• knowledge , information

• current issue , interesting issue

To write a fruitful and impressive speech, there are a few things to consider,…

• Speak to the heart (a speech that touch the audience’s feeling)

• Speak to the eye

• Speak to the brain (it is the speech that give food for the audience to think and then they would keep up the speech till the end)

• Use effective humor (it’s good to add a sense of humor, otherwise the audience may fall asleep)

Tips for speech writing,…

• Be focused on that speech story, and Not to confuse your own story.

• Be connecting with the audience and judges

• Use personal stories

• Don’t marry with your speech (it means after finish writing the speech, try to be open for comment or change in order to make it better and better. Don’t rely on just your own thoughts, but let yourself see your speech from other people view)

• Seek help from other members for example: a grammar check , a good punch line or structural organization etc.)

• Believe that YOU CAN DO IT

• Commit yourself to practice and practice

 During the 25 minutes of his prepared speech, we (Thai Airways Toastmaster members and guests) were fulfilled by his knowledgeable content, his valuable experience and especially, his effective humor that made this session so enjoyable.

 Last but not least, one important thing that I have learned from ACS Saengchai's speech is being a good public speaker besides a good content and taking away value, one more important thing is a sense of humor. As one who loves public speaking, making audience smile or laugh can really make that speech much more meaningful.