Page 9 - November 2017 Voices
P. 9

JUST SAYIN’ . . .





      A Toastmasters Thanksgiving


      by Donna Stark, DTM—District Director




      Season’s Greetings!  In Toastmasters terms that              feedback and
      means Fall Contest season is behind us and Club              less on potential areas for improvement.
      Officer Training season is just around the corner.           Now is not the time to make unfavorable
      There’s just enough time to tuck a little holiday            comparisons to Grandma’s giblets or Aunt
      in there!  If you attended the District Humorous             Patty’s perfect pies.
      Speech Contest (and if you didn’t, you missed a           •   The timer’s role can be especially valuable,
      good one!), you will recall a couple of our speakers         and not just to make sure the marshmallows
      talked about incorporating the structure of                  on top of the sweet potatoes don’t get overly
      Toastmasters into other life situations. Following           crispy. Do you have someone that starts
      that theme, I offer a few ideas to incorporate
      Toastmasters into your Turkey Day activities.                talking and goes on and on... and on?  The
         •   Have a Sergeant-at-Arms call the meal to              red card can be particularly helpful here.
            order. This may include herding children            •   Conversation can be the highlight of the day.
            away from their playtime to come to the                A good Table Topics Master insures that
            table. At our house the bigger challenge               everyone gets an opportunity to participate.
            will be getting the football fans away from            Ask leading questions that require more than
            the television. This person can also take the          a one or two-word response. If someone
            lead on set-up and clean-up, and make sure             seems to monopolize the conversation,
            all the necessary supplies are on hand and             invoke the timer’s red card.
            ready to go.                                        •   Have a Grammarian pick an appro-
         •   Our prepared speech (aka main dish) comes             priate word of the day, such as gratitude.
            out of the basic manual… turkey. Perhaps               Incorporate it into your speaking oppor-
            you prefer ham, prime rib, goose, or other             tunities early and often. I’m grateful that a
            options from one of the specialty manuals. I           coworker introduced me to Toastmasters
            hear Pathways offers vegan options and the             fourteen years ago.
            something-for-everyone turducken.                    I wish you the happiest of Thanksgivings. Enjoy
         •   Every speech deserves an evaluation. I will     your friends and family. Share your stories. And
            caution that when it comes to evaluating the     remember that holiday gatherings can be gold
            meal, it may be prudent to focus on positive     mines of potential speech material. Just Sayin’.


























      VOLUME 4 ISSUE 5 NOVEMBER, 2017                                                                          9
   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14