Speaking Elevated

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  • 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!

  • 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.