Speaking Elevated

Author: Samuel Santana

  • Toastmasters Table Topics: Make it Interesting

    Toastmasters Table Topics: Make it Interesting

    Table Topics is entertaining when there is a new style. It’s fun when table topics are delivered in jeopardy style or are picked from a grab bag. When combined with silly topics, Table Topics is a blast.

    My style of giving table topics is presenting topics in Jeopardy’s Style. I have a board presented with a computer that has categories and dollar amounts. I pick a ‘contestant’ and he chooses the category and dollar amount to see his Table Topic. Aside from the visual presentation for selecting topics, we don’t use any other rules from Jeopardy. These visuals allow me to act as a game show for my delivery.

    To make it interesting you don’t need so much flair either. One member brought in two Christmas stockings with words. One stocking contained nouns. The other stocking contained adjectives. Members are challenged to use both words on top of the word of the day. This would’ve been a great moment to hand out Christmas candy.

    Table Topics don’t have to follow the regular format. Use an idea here or come up with your own. By adding twists and a little flair you’ll create more fun and memorable Table Topic sessions.

  • Should I Join an Online or In-Person Toastmasters Club?

    Should I Join an Online or In-Person Toastmasters Club?

    You start your search on finding a Toastmasters Club to attend. When searching, you will notice there are clubs that meet in person and clubs that meet online. Is one experience better than the other? Which one do you choose?

    In-Person clubs are generally the better experience. What makes this better is the actual human contact. You can socialize before and after meetings easily. Do you have questions for improvement or want to request more feedback? Did you hear learn about someone’s activities during table topics and now you want to follow up? You can do this in online clubs too, but there’s something missing. Its that human connection.

    That human connection makes performing speeches more authentic. You condition yourself to speaking in front of an audience. You practice moving around the front of the room and make eye contact with people. You’ll feel the presence of others, and in return they’ll feel your presence. With practice you learn to make better connections with your audience.

    If you miss, out on the in-person human interaction then should you even consider online meetings? Yes, you should. Online meetings are for those who want to improve public speaking, but can’t find the time to meet at a local club. Maybe there isn’t a local Toastmasters club, or maybe the local Toastmasters club wasn’t a good experience for you. This is where Online Clubs shine, because you still get a place to practice your public speaking skills.

    In conclusion, look at in-person Toastmaster clubs first to get the full experience. If attending your local Toastmaster club doesn’t work for you than try a few online clubs.

  • The Best Accessory for a PowerPoint: A Logitech Presentation Remote

    The Best Accessory for a PowerPoint: A Logitech Presentation Remote

    The members in my Toastmasters club have had awkward ways of changing the slide in their presentation. Members have walked over to their laptop every time to change the slide. One person even brought a full wireless keyboard to change the slide. This changed once I started bring in my presentation remote.

    A presentation remote is a remote that allows you to go forward and back in your presentation slides. A presentation remote should also be easy to connect, work with the most common slide presentation software (ex: PowerPoint, Google Slides, Keynote), and be reliable. With these minimum requirements, I only recommend buying Logitech remotes.

    My top pick is Logitech’s entry remote, the Logitech Wireless Presenter R500s for under $35. To connect you simply plug the included USB to your Windows, Mac, or iPad. Once your finished presenting the USB receiver is stored within the remote. Logitech has other remotes, but the major difference is an increased wireless range from 20m to 30m.

    A note on other presentation remotes

    Why only Logitech remotes? As of writing, the only other remotes I find on Amazon are generic Chinese remotes. You may find Chinese remotes work reliably, but when I’m giving a presentation I’d rather have a presentation remote from a brand that’s trustworthy and has been making PC accessories for decades. With Logitech, I know I will have a reliable product whose USB receiver will work on any Windows or Mac laptop without additional setup.

  • What do I do after I join Toastmasters?

    What do I do after I join Toastmasters?

    Have you joined Toastmasters? Congratulations! You are on your way to becoming a better speaker and leader. Now that you have joined, you should understand what direction you will take to improve. Your first two priorities should be mastering the roles and becoming a better public speaker with Pathways.

    Let’s start with roles. Every role serves a purpose. Beginner roles such as Grammarian and Ah-Counter require you to explain your role and present reports in a concise manner. The Evaluator role teaches you how to give feedback. Advanced roles such as General Evaluator and Toastmaster will teach you how to manage transitioning and introducing sections of of the meeting. Master the roles to be ready for business meetings and leading groups of people.

    While you start mastering the meeting roles, you should also work on a Pathways course. Joining Toastmasters gives you access to one Pathways course that will forge you into a better speaker. Level 1 of Pathways teaches you the fundamentals of giving speeches and how to improve. Level 2 has you exploring your style of leadership. As you go through each level you will find the projects will require you to push yourself. The difficulty will rise, but trust the pacing of Pathways. Push through, and you’ll become a speaker you could’ve only imagined before.

    By practicing these roles and public speaking, you’ll apply the skills you acquire in your business and personal life. You’ll organize, transition, and speak outside of Toastmasters like a Toastmaster!

  • Speak Louder for Clarity and Confidence

    Speak Louder for Clarity and Confidence

    Many people aren’t commanding. When these people speak up, they don’t sound confident. It’s hard to hear what they are saying. It could be because they worry what others may think. Maybe they don’t want to impose on others by being too loud. To be the speaker you want to be you need volume.

    How loud should a person’s default volume be when speaking to a group? It should be right below yelling. If it’s right below yelling, your words will be clear. At that loudness, your volume won’t convey a lack of confidence, but you’ll be perceived as someone with conviction.

    Keep your desired energy when you speak loudly. When people working together try to speak louder for clarity, their vocal tone can sound like anger. Avoid this, and try to keep your energy positive or neutral. Choose to exert the energy of a motivational speaker, a professor, or a singer.

    By speaking loudly with the right energy, you will be heard and understood.

  • Focus on one area each speech

    Focus on one area each speech

    When a person speaks in front of the Toastmasters club, they want it to be incredible. They want strong eye contact, a good flow in speech, a passionate voice, and masterful gestures. Rookies who try this all at once, end up flopping because they get overloaded. Reaching this level of mastery takes time. We can cut the time needed by being efficient. By focusing on less instead of more.

    Focus on improving on 1 or 2 items

    If you try to focus on all the fundamentals at once, your improvement will be slow. Its to better focus on improving at one item at a time.

    If you have you have extra 2 hours to practice for a speech which will have more gains? 2 hours on practicing body gestures or splitting those 2 hours on 6 different fundamentals (20 min per fundamental?) The answer is 2 hours on body gestures.

    With 2 hours on practicing body gestures, You will have time to investigate what gestures you can use, as well as practice the motions. Just like practicing free shots in basketball, you ingrain the motions into your body each minute you practice. The motions become more natural. The more natural it is, the more you perform without even thinking.

    Bonus: Master more skills at once

    In the NBA, a basketball player practices all the fundamentals and skills required for their position. Can’t we do the same? Yes, but there is a catch. You need the time. You want to focus on a skill 2-3 hours per week, to improve. That’s enough to give a small noticeable gain per skill.

  • Become a Better Public Speaker through Toastmaster Roles

    Become a Better Public Speaker through Toastmaster Roles

    If you want to be a good public speaker, then you should also strive to be a good leader in meetings. Toastmasters has roles in its meetings to build a leader in you. Learn to host meetings, transition to others, give reports, and give feedback. By performing these roles you’ll get to level up your skills.

    Look at the responsibilities of these Toastmaster roles:

    RoleResponsibilities
    PledgeDirects everyone to stand, prepare and start the pledge in sync
    GrammarianTake notes of key phrases and grammatical feedback. Reports on this at the end.
    EvaluatorWrites a mini-speech to give feedback to a speaker. Makes the evaluation a learning process for everyone.
    Table Topics MasterLearn to give interview questions to several members, and transition between each
    General EvaluatorGives feedback on how members can make future meetings productive
    ToastmasterFinds replacements for missing members. Introduces and concludes the core meeting. Transitions through all the parts of the meeting.

    By looking at the list of responsibilities you get to see the skills you gain by performing the role. Running meetings, giving on the fly feedback, reports, and transitioning to other members. These are skills that are necessary whether your in a company, organization, or running parties for traditions. If you want to be the person who is worthy of a promotion, gain leadership skills with Toastmasters.

  • Your Fast Track to Public Speaking: Toastmasters

    Your Fast Track to Public Speaking: Toastmasters

    Practicing public speaking skills alone is inefficient. Fighters, Athletes, and Professionals turn to others for coaching, mentoring, and feedback. If you want to do the same with public speaking then join Toastmasters.

    Toastmasters is an international organization dedicated to helping people become better public speakers and leaders. People come together at Toastmasters clubs to practice public speaking. A club meeting gives members the opportunity to perform various roles in a meeting environment. Learn to present speeches, present speeches, run meetings and more.

    By regularly attending Toastmasters meetings you will not only get to practice but learn how to evaluate yourself. By evaluating others, you also learn to evaluate yourself. The feedback you give others will be ingrained into your knowledge. You will know if your body language, vocal variety, or eye contact is lacking. You will go from being an apprentice learning to a partnership where all sides of the party work together to overcome their weaknesses.

    If you’re ready to improve, head over to the Toastmasters’ Find a Club online tool. Try out a few clubs (preferably in person) and pick the best club suited to you!

    Should you join Toastmasters?

    Join Toastmasters if you want to:

    • Build Confidence by practicing with a supportive crowd
    • Challenge your speech writing skills
    • Learn to recover from speaking slip ups
    • Become a leader
      • Motivate others
      • Evaluate others
      • Teach others
      • Onboard new members

    Do not join Toastmasters if:

    • You don’t want to get better at public speaking
    • You don’t want to face a fear of public speaking
    • You don’t want to support fellow members
    • You don’t like constructive criticism

  • Start with a Punch: Your Speech’s Hook

    Start with a Punch: Your Speech’s Hook

    Don’t you want your audience to want to hear more from the start? The first few sentences of your speech need to captivate your audience. If you fail to do so, you may lose their attention. You need to use a hook to capture their attention.


    The hook should immediately allow you to reel them into your speech. It solves the problem of convincing your audience why they should care. The hook needs to signal the audience that they will be entertained, that I have a solution to their problem, or that they will gain valuable information.


    To entertain an audience, I started a weight loss speech by stating my old weight and giving the caloric breakdown of my old regular meal. When I graduated high school, I weighed 245 lbs. A normal meal for me was a double cheeseburger, large fries, a large drink, and a drink refill. I also ate part of my dad’s fries and burger. The room was shocked. The audience was in disbelief at my old weight as they looked at my moderate figure. The audience was mine.


    I hooked the audience in a couple of ways. From this point, the audience expected to receive more shock value as I spoke about the challenges of my weight loss journey. If anyone wanted to lose weight, they hoped my speech could help them solve their problem.
    By hooking your audience, you can immediately capture the audience like I did. It’s simple. Ask yourself, “Why should they care?” Once you make them care, it’ll be easier to keep their attention. They’ll be yours.

  • Write Your Speech Introduction Last for Creativity

    Write Your Speech Introduction Last for Creativity

    This might sound insane to you but it’s better to write your introduction at the end of writing your speech. Writing your introduction first makes you take longer to write your speech.


    If you follow my guide for writing an outline, then you’ll already know the direction in which your speech’s story will flow. As you adapt the outline into written paragraphs, more parts of your speech are uncovered. As you write these paragraphs you’ll write new arguments that weren’t in your outline. Each newly added idea or removed will change your speech’s story bit by bit.


    When you finish writing your body, you’ll realize you’ll need to change your introduction. As you write more you’ll realize it always happens. Leave writing your introduction till the end of the process. It’ll make you a faster and more creative writer.