I haven’t been a member of Toastmasters for many years, but I can spot a Toastmaster on one of our courses almost instantaneously (people who’ve done debating are even more obvious!) The Toastmaster program and culture tends to encourage people to develop a certain rather “stagey” style. When I made the transition from Toastmasters to real-world presenting I had to make the transition from my Toastmaster style to a more conversational style. If you’re in Toastmasters break out of the Toastmaster mould this year – start talking in a conversational style to individual members of your audience (see this post for more on How to get the most out of Toastmasters.)

Olivia Mitchell offers a tip for Toastmasters. The whole post has tips for many other kinds of presentations.

One of my all-time favorite sitcoms is/was the Cosby Show.  I'm a child of the 80's, so I grew up on the parenting of Cliff and Claire Huxtable. 

While there were 200 episodes, a few moments stick out in my mind: Cliff getting pelted with snowballs on the front stoop, Cliff and Theo learning economics with monopoly money where having a girlfriend takes all of Theo's remaining money [first episode], and of course, the Gordon Gartrell shirt.  I often find myself thinking of one particular episode where Vanessa introduces the family to her new boyfriend, Dabnis Brickey, who happens to be significantly older than her.  Not only that, but for the first time Vanessa divulges they've been engaged for six months.  You can watch the introduction here.  While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, Vanessa doesn't do that great of a job with the presentation of Dabnis, thus Cliff proclaims to Dabnis, "We just don't like you."

Watch this video to see how Cliff explains why the presentation is so important.  Click here to watch it on Youtube [embedding was disabled], but make sure you come back!.  If you want to go directly to the quote, fast forward to 1:15.

Jon Thomas draws an important lesson for speaking from an old episode of the Cosby show. While his concern is with preparation and rehearsal, I think you can also learn the importance of a good introduction from this clip.

Just how does one become a better public speaker? I mean let’s be serious here, you do want to get better, don’t you? Pretty much any book that you read on the subject or class that you attend in order to build up your skills will tell you the same time — if you really want to get better, then you’ve got to take the time to watch the pros at work. Great, just where do you find such pros and how can you get admitted to their speeches to watch them at work? Good news — I’m going to tell you how (and it’s free!) …

The Accidental Communicator shares a useful but easily overlooked tip and references some related posts that look interesting as well. Shared on Twitter by @JaniceTomich.

Do you listen and watch your recorded speeches? It can be a real challenge to do this, in part because all your assets and flaws are revealed in a recording.

A colleague and I recently started an online radio show. Of course, with any new technology there will be technical glitches that need to be smoothed out. Our first show aired in late December, and did have some glitches. Yet, I was eager to hear the recorded show, and I did that soon after the air time. Through the wonders of technology, we speakers can broadcast on a free radio network, and gain additional Stage Time. Then our shows are recorded and available on a website, which is convenient for listeners and a marketing tool for us. What a wonderful learning lab, too.

When I coach speakers I advise all to record their talks. It is the ultimate teacher. My verdict on show #1 was that content needs to be enhanced, and my voice sounded remarkably clear and strong. Here is the link to our show.

Haven't thought about this in a long time. Recording the outgoing message on voice mail gives a perfect opportunity to listen to yourself. I learned to listen to these to develop vocal qualities long ago from Mary-Ellen Drummond.

1.  I will construct all my speeches to focus on one main point, removing all information that doesn’t support that central point.

2.  I will streamline, condense, and eliminate most of the data from my presentations, replacing numbers with stories and anecdotes to illustrate my idea. 

3.  I will cut down on the number of slides I use in my presentations, averaging about 1 slide for every 3 minutes of talk – or fewer. 

4.  I will eliminate the agenda slide from any talk less than 100 minutes long.

5.  I will never, ever use clip art again in my slides.  Instead, I will use high-quality photographs and images to illuminate my talk. 

6.  I will deliver my presentations with energy and enthusiasm, but I will keep my feet under control and not wander randomly around the stage. 

7.  I will adhere strictly to my allotted time and end before it has run out. 

I know, we should have resolutions done by now, but this list could get appended to a Toastmaster's promise.