By Tom Otstot
A special Airpark Toastmasters THANK YOU goes out to our new friend, Kimberly Hundley, Editor of Scottsdale Airpark News Magazine, who recently did a fabulous cover story featuring our club! Airpark Toastmasters is committed to helping its members develop and build their own personal brand, and this is cutting edge strategy for anyone focusing on building a successful career. Airpark Toastmasters isn’t only about learning to become a great orator, it is about the personal and professional development of each and every member. Your brand is a promise, a promise of the unique attributes you bring to your relationships, your business, and your audience, and our promise is to be there to help you develop and fine-tune that brand. Many of our members have grown from novice speakers with a simple goal of conquering nerves in front of others to professional speakers, authors, workshop presenters, and entrepreneurs finding unique ways to offer themselves to the marketplace. If you are interested in finding out more about how Airpark Toastmasters can help you, click here for directions to one of our meetings!
Speak Up!
Airpark Execs Conquer Fear of Public Speaking
By Kimberly Hundley
Photo by Mark Susan
The notion of speaking in front of a group terrified financial analyst Jackie Das. In college, she’d go to her professors before class and beg them not to call on her. “I missed out on so many opportunities,” she says. About a year ago, Das decided avoiding the podium for three decades was enough, and she joined the Airpark Toastmasters club.
Today’s she’s the chapter president, and credits the public-speaking program with giving her a host of gifts, including the clarity and chutzpah to start a side business. “Once you conquer one fear, it gives you so much confidence in the rest of your life,” she says. “It’s just opened up my world, I would say.”
Das and many other professionals have found a nurturing environment in Toastmasters International, an organization dedicated to improving members’ public-speaking skills. Attendees make prepared speeches, participate in off-the-cuff “Table Topic” discussions, and constructively evaluate one another. It doesn’t take long for them to become not only better speakers, but better listeners. Members say they even think in a more organized and structured way.
“Toastmasters clarifies your thinking, gives you the confidence and skills and the tools you need to build that career, brand or start your own business,” says Tom Otsot, former president of the Airpark club and senior vice president of Grand Bonanza Enterprise. “It’s all about self-development.”
Just about every business depends on communication of some kind—from answering phones to delivering sales pitches. Yet few executives take the initiative to polish their oratory or encourage staff members to get training, a contradiction that baffles Otstot.
“Companies large and small too often overlook the value of public speaking,” he says. “I attend dozens of corporate events in my business each year and am stunned by the lack of investment in communication and presentation skills by the hosting companies. It’s like trying to read a billboard through a car windshield in the pouring rain without wipers: The message never comes across.”
The secret to improved communication isn’t magic. Public speaking is a skill that can be learned and that gets better with practice, like playing music or exercising a muscle, says Kirk Gould, an expert in business process management, who joined Toastmasters 10 years ago to help him overcome what he terms “engineering disease.”
“My brain is thinking how to fix things all the time at any given moment, but I only have one mouth. I couldn’t articulate my thoughts in a way that was working,” says Gould. “One of the biggest things Toastmasters has done for me is when I’m asked a question in a meeting, I can answer it.”
Gould honed his skills step by step, delivering five-minute speeches to the club and applying such tips as memorizing the beginnings and endings of presentations. “Toastmasters says you do have control over certain things,” he explains. “When you know how to start and finish, it takes the anxiety out of this amorphous blob. It makes things manageable, and you carry that over to other areas of your life.”
It’s hard to think of anyone in the professional arena who wouldn’t profit from better organizing and expressing their thoughts, says Otstot. Take, for example, senior-level executives who return from strategic-planning retreats but can’t communicate the company’s vision to staff, much less get their buy-in.
Job hunters and ambitious employees would also benefit, Otstot adds. Business owners looking to hire want to hear compelling and imaginative ideas from applicants who can build profits, he says. “With unemployment the way it is, you think people would be dragging themselves to these meetings, and they don’t. It amazes me.”
It’s Not All About You
The key to thought organization comes from the self-discipline of going through the public-speaking process, says Fred, who recently launched his own coaching business.
Preparation includes constant editing, practice and timing, and an emphasis on the message rather than yourself. “People paralyzed by fear of public speaking tend to disregard the dynamic process by focusing exclusively on themselves. I teach that you are not under the spotlight; what you are is the messenger.”
Talking effectively is about touching the hearts and the minds of the audience, Fred says. A frequent speaker himself, he spends half his preparation time studying his audience—sometimes before determining his topic. Then he identifies the overarching goal for his speech, crystallizes the message, and works backward from there to craft his presentation.
Clients come to him for a variety of reasons. They may have a presentation coming up at work, received a promotion that requires better communication skills, or found themselves at a professional plateau. Those who shy from public speaking are paying a high price, emotionally, financially and socially, says the pastor. “If you are avoiding meeting people or doing presentations—whether it’s client training or interaction—you’re losing opportunities and relationships, you’re losing the growing edge of your practice and income.”
Fred uses video as well as oral and written feedback during his one-on-one and group coaching sessions. “Excellence is your destination, perfection is your enemy. Excellence is achievable; perfection is not,” he says. “I’m always happy when I can do an Ivory Soap speech: It’s 99.4 percent pure and it floats.”
Otstot also urges speakers to be genuine and personable in order to connect with their audience. “They want to hear your story. Be authentic or your message won’t come across,” he says. “It’s also about the mindset of the audience. You have to create questions in their mind, and then you answer them.”
Personal Branding
Because there are so many businesses in the Scottsdale Airpark, the local club has a particularly high concentration of entrepreneurs. Club officers decided to tweak the Toastmaster mission statement accordingly, adding a focus on communication and leadership skills that foster personal growth.
“We are there for you to build your personal brand,” says Otstot. “In this day and age, everybody is a free agent. Your career is yours to manage, and development is up to you. You can’t go out and sit in a cubicle anymore, hide and not have an opinion, and expect to have job security.”
Several members of the Airpark club have launched new businesses since joining and working the program. It’s as though speaking thoughts aloud in front of witnesses unleashes an electric synergy.
“You’re thinking more clearly, listening better, and articulating thoughts better than before,” Otstot says, describing the spark. “You start to think, ‘I might like to start my own business.’ The process of getting your thoughts out there clarifies what you are all about.”
Otstot himself is a prime example. He joined Toastmasters just to stay sharp because he often works solo in his regular job. But the club experience spurred him to develop an entire new business speaking to such companies as JC Penney and Dial on how to foster a culture of innovation within their organizations. Das has followed her passion to assist women reentering the job market, founding HeadStart Career Services.
Anthony Kirlew, owner of (a.k.a.) Internet Marketing, joined Toastmasters last month to better master the art of public speaking. Each club has its own flavor, explains Kirlew, who researched several local groups before selecting the Airpark club for its blended professional and personable vibe. “I would recommend it to any business owner, because communications is such a huge part of what you do,” says Kirlew. “I drive all the way from the East Valley just to come.”
Otstot swears the program has transformed every single person who has worked it. “People will start off with knees shaking, voice quaking, visibly trembling, and then the process sneaks up on you,” he says. “And it doesn’t just work within Toastmasters, it works within everything you do.”
Make Your Elevator Speech Great
By Fred R. Doidge, Public Speaking Is Fun!
What do you say when someone asks, “What do you do?” Ready or not, you respond with what’s known as the Elevator Speech. Hopefully, you can give a brilliant response in 30 seconds. A poor answer can be a professional kiss of death, and none of us wants that kind of kiss. Here’s how to give a great Elevator Speech:
> Briefer is better – Keep it short and sweet.
> Simple structure – Start with a positive, focused opening of 4 to 6 seconds; follow up with a core message of 15 to 18 seconds, stating how you can help your listener (this is not about you); close concisely in 4 to 6 seconds as you offer your business card and mention how the person can connect with you.
> Passionate preparation – After you’ve written your speech, practice it. Set a goal to be clear and error free in 28 to 30 seconds. Use a stopwatch.
> Test it – Audition before 15-20 people and ask for their feedback. Take notes, and revise to improve.
> Personal presentation – Use a clear, warm voice and maintain eye contact. Though your Elevator Speech will be memorized, it can still be personalized, so use your best communication skills and, if possible, address the person by name.
Public Speaking Tips
1. Figure out what you want the outcome of your speech to be, then work backward from that goal: analyze your audience so you understand how to talk to them; determine what your message is; decide how you will deliver it.
2. Always be introduced—even if you have to do it yourself—and be sure to write your own introduction.
3. Know your material so well, you can focus on the audience.
4. Remember the I:You ratio. For every reference in your speech to yourself—“I”—include a “you” for the audience.
5. Don’t be perfect. Do be personable.
6. Focus on your message, not yourself.
7. People love to hear stories, so use them as an effective speaking tool. Tell a story and use it to make your point.
8. Keep a few index cards in your pocket noting interesting facts related to your topic. If you blank, buy yourself some time by pulling out a card and saying, “Before I go any further, did you know ….?”
9. Get the beginning and ending of your presentation down cold. If you know where you’re starting and where you’re ending, you’ll have less anxiety overall.
Compiled from suggestions by Tom Otsot, and Kirk Gould
Airpark Toastmasters
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> Keller Graduate School of Management
> 18500 Allied Way, Suite 150
Phoenix, (SW corner of Mayo Blvd. & Allied Way)
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> Guests always welcome
> https://airparktoastmaster.wordpress.com
Airpark Toastmasters (480) 269-5815 