This blog post is an excerpt from my book “Toastmaster’s Secret”. Are you looking for help with project “Get to the point”?

Read on.

Did you ever get bored of something?

Have you heard people say, “that’s boring.”

Did you analyze WHY?

Well, majority of the times it is because they don’t get to the point.

It could be about a movie, a conversation, or an article.

Do you realize the importance of getting to the point? Would it be a good idea to master this skill?

I think “getting to the point” was a key for me to understand the core fundamentals of speech creation and speech writing.

For Toastmasters speech 3, “getting to the point” should be directly proportional to the clarity of your message.

The objectives are:

Select a speech topic and determine its general and specific purpose.
Organize the speech.
Ensure that the beginning, body and conclusion reinforce those purposes.
Project sincerity and conviction.
Strive not to use notes.

Let us see how you can come up with a general and specific purpose.

The Toastmasters Competent Communicator manual suggests the general purpose can be of four types:

Informational
Persuasive (or motivational)
Humorous (or entertaining)
Inspirational

How to select general purpose?

Actually it depends on your requirement. If you just want to inform the audience, then write down the key points and construct the speech accordingly. If you want to entertain the audience, then add humor to your speech. But practically, the general purpose is not something that is 100% Informative, or 100% entertaining, or 100% persuasive, etc. It is usually a combination of 2 or more different types in the above list.

What is Specific Purpose?

Specific purpose is the thesis or the one-line message of your speech. Craig Valentine, 1999 World Champion of Public Speaking, says you should be able to summarize your speech on the back of a business card. What he means is that your speech should have a clear purpose on what the audience should feel, do, or think after listening to your speech.

Speech Script and analysis for toastmasters speech 3:

The outline used here is:

Opening

Transition into topic

Engage the audience

Story 1

Insight or/and Opinion

Story 2 (you could continue story 1)

Insight or/and Opinion

Story 3

Insight or/and Opinion

Summary

Conclusion

Note: Analysis is in bold

Title: Embarrassments

My opening is a story with subtle humor. Observe that this story leads or transitions to my specific purpose, “Laugh at yourself during embarrassment.”

Last week, en route to office, my bike stuttered for a while and then conked out. After examining it, I found out that the vehicle had run out of fuel. Unfortunately, that day my sweet but dashing friend Neha was traveling with me. While I was figuring out my options to solve the issue, Neha fired a question: “Rama, what is your plan of action?” My manager usually asks a question of this nature. It was quite an embarrassing situation considering the fact that I didn’t have any action plan.

Introducing the theme of my speech.

I smiled at her and laughed at myself.

I am involving the audience so that they are hooked to my speech.

Mr. Toastmaster, fellow Toastmasters, and dear guests, most of us at one point or the other in our lives would have faced an embarrassing situation. And probably we ended up blushing and cursing ourselves or even others.

This transition poses a question to the audience to make them think.

But the million-dollar question is how many times did we laugh at ourselves?

Start of story 1. Use a story that has relevance to your main point. It can be a sub-point to the main point. But choose one that makes sense. (A little secret: Use personal stories. They can help you to easily connect with your audience.)

I distinctly remember my first public appearance, when I was in my 2nd grade. My English teacher Alma in her sweet and shrill voice announced, “Students, we have our elocution competition next week.” The class went abuzz. At that point, I did not have the slightest idea of what the competition was about or what you do in it. Just to show off, amidst the admiring glances of my classmates, I went forward and submitted my name for the competition. Later, my sister explained me about the elocution competition. The topic was “Time and tide wait for none.” Then I memorized the speech, which she wrote for me. The D-day arrived. The auditorium was packed to full house. I was called on stage. I held the mike and started my speech, “Time is a gift given by God. One has to use it as a tool and not a crutch and… Dei. Naaye. Sollrra. Naaye,” these whispers in English can be translated to “Hey idiot, dog! Come on, tell, just tell.” Instead of my speech, my whisper was amplified to the audience. What next? I had no option but to tell them “thank you” and disappear in sheer embarrassment. That was my first public appearance, rather a public embarrassment.

These are the insights (key point) from that personal experience.

Instead of accepting the fact that I was not prepared, I was trying to deliver my speech by swearing at myself. Subsequently, those swearing words were amplified to the audience. This proved to be more embarrassing than the fact that I forgot my speech. There I got my first lesson: “Attempting to force out of the situation would add more embarrassment.”

I am telling my current opinion of that situation. You see – just telling a story won’t help the audience. Your opinion and insight is what anyone wants to know. I had used this unknowingly but after research and watching great speakers – I can vouch for this point.

Today, when I recollect that experience, I cannot stop laughing at myself.

Story 2. The best way to transition here is to move to a different part of the stage. More on this in project 5 but it makes sense to practice this if you get an opportunity.

During my first year of my college another interesting thing happened. My English professor was explaining technical writing and giving practical tips to improve the same. I was sitting behind the topper of my class Nishaanti. Instead of listening to the class I was trying to catch a glimpse of the pictures on the magazine she was furtively reading. Suddenly: “Rama, what are you doing?”

Well, I was perplexed, how did ma’am figure it out?

Ma’am went on, “Are you a scholar in technical writing?”

Me: “No.”

Ma’am: “Then why are you not taking notes?”

I looked around. To my surprise, the whole class except me was taking notes. Gosh! My English ma’am went on, “Why do you come to my class? Why don’t you just stay out if you know everything?” Once the teacher went out of the class, my friends again took me for a ride.

An insight into my second story. A pun and a humorous touch always keep your audience engaged.

I was unhappy and furious at that point because my self-image had taken a beating. What would my classmates, especially the girls, think of me? These questions made me unhappy.

My current opinion on this theme.

Today I have learnt that accepting the embarrassing situation “as it is” is usually the best thing, rather than worrying about our self-image. I can’t stop laughing when I think about that incident.

Story 3. This is an excerpt from one of the greatest epics in the world. I love this example and the observation. I could very easily convey my third lesson relating to my specific purpose. Even if you do not know the epic Mahabharata, I think I have constructed the story so that anyone can understand the substance.

In the great epic Mahabharata, Kaurava prince Duryodhan fell into a water pond disguised as Rangoli art. In spite of the warning, he fell into the pond. Pandava queen Dhrowpathi laughed at Duryodhan referring to him as blind because of his stupidity. Duryodhan developed a doom and gloom or rather negative mindset to take revenge on Pandavas and Dhrowpathi. Duryodhan’s approach resulted in his defeat or rather the defeat of his kingdom. Instead, if Duryodhan had accepted his stupidity and if he had laughed at himself, who knows, maybe, the Kurukshetra war wouldn’t have been fought. The Mahabharata story tells us, “When caught in an embarrassing situation, developing a negative mindset would prove to be futile.”

I am summarizing the 3 lessons into a single specific purpose and making my message clear for the audience. More depth is added by playing with the quotation “To err is human.”

These 3 lessons point to one thing –“Laugh at yourself.” The simple reason why we don’t laugh at ourselves is we all want to be perfect. And in that quest for achieving perfection, we don’t want others to see our embarrassments. We all know the famous quote “To err is human.” By changing just two letters of this quote, what we have is “To err is humor.” Who knows when we might face another embarrassment?

In conclusion, I end the speech on a positive note by telling the audience about the benefits of following the specific purpose of the speech.

So accept the embarrassment lightheartedly and be excited and happy because you are getting a chance to laugh at yourself once again.

Since speech 3 focuses on speech writing and creation, I think you are good if you follow the delivery techniques outlined for CC Project 1 “How to come up with your icebreaker” and CC Project 2 “How to organize your speech.”

Please don’t forget to:

Practice, Practice, Practice.
Record your speech when you deliver your project before the audience.

Enjoy the whole process and all the best for your toastmasters speech 3!