SPEAKER_01 0:12

Hi, my name's Brendan O'Sullivan, a Toastmaster from Brisbane, Australia. Welcome to my Toastmasters World Tour podcast. Please join me as I travel virtually around the world and chat to Toastmasters from different countries and all walks of life. Let's explore the story. Shelly, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_00 1:05

Thanks, Brendan, for having me.

SPEAKER_01 1:07

I'm so delighted you could join me today, especially being Christmas Eve. What a sterling effort. I'm sure you're in demand.

SPEAKER_00 1:15

Thanks for that. Not much going on today at all.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

Well, you're better organized than I am, let's say that. So recently I, you know, I gathered that you had some interest in joining Toastmasters. Could you tell me a little bit about what has sparked your interest?

SPEAKER_00 1:33

So I was lucky enough to be invited to take part in a speechcrafters course. And so Speechcrafters apparently is Toastmasters on steroids. So we had five Zoom sessions and we crammed a lot into them, but we were given um guidance into how to write speeches, how to deliver speeches, what's important when delivering a speech. And we had five sessions where we would give prepared speeches, give impromptu speeches, and be evaluated on our speeches. And so it was like nothing I've ever done before. And it was very much outside of my comfort zone. But at the end of it, um the uh it was discussed about how it was a really good introduction into Toastmasters itself, and if I wanted to keep on going, that Toastmasters would be an appropriate pathway.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

Had you heard of Toastmasters before the speechcraft course?

SPEAKER_00 2:46

I had years and years ago. Um I had been um doing talks for local community groups, and I think I vaguely remember someone mentioning it, but it would have been five or ten years ago, and I didn't then sort of go and look into it particularly at that time.

SPEAKER_01 3:07

So you'd never had any exposure to Toastmasters before at that point? No, no. Okay. So if you were to join Toastmasters, what do you think you would expect to gain from it?

SPEAKER_00 3:20

Well, just going on how much I've gained already from the five sessions that we did, um, I think that I would gain a lot more self-confidence while speaking in front of an audience or over Zoom. Um, I think that I would learn a lot more about how to deliver an engaging and interesting speech and how to write in such a way that you draw people in and make them want to listen to you rather than switching off and falling asleep.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

And how do you think a meeting would be differ like a club meeting? How do you think that would differ from the speechcraft course that you did?

SPEAKER_00 4:05

Um, so I have had a little, I have done a little bit of Googling about Toastmasters since we've finished the speechcrafters course. And um my local club puts um part of its meetings online, and I had a little watch. So it's in a room, and there's people sitting down, and people go up to the front and they speak about topics. So I think that it would be similar to the Zoom meetings in that you need to prepare a speech or be thinking about what you're going to talk about. But I think it would be um a lot better in that you would get a lot back from the audience, so you'd be able to see people's expressions and be able to see whether or not they were, you know, what you were saying was interesting and that they were engaged. So I actually think it would probably be more enjoyable than doing it online.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

Sure. And do you see any barriers to joining Toastmasters?

SPEAKER_00 5:07

Um, so I think the barriers are, you know, getting the time to get out of the house. If you've got dependent children, you know, being able to have someone else look after them while you go and do that. Um, and then the cost for some people I guess would be a barrier too.

SPEAKER_01 5:25

Sure. And and look, I totally get that. Life can get in the way, and uh, you know, it can be quite difficult. Sometimes it's just something you're sort of put aside, and I'm going to do that later when you know life circumstances are a bit more conducive. What about an online club? Have you visited that?

SPEAKER_00 5:41

Yeah, I I know that um there are online clubs out there, and I do think that would be fun. Um, and particularly to sort of keep the momentum going when I've started exploring, you know, how to speak and how to write speeches and things like that. It would be good to keep that momentum going. So online would be a good way to do that. Um, but I definitely think I would miss getting the reactions because I know with Zoom online you only have sort of small thumbnails of people, and it can be quite hard to read their face and see whether they're enjoying your speech or not.

SPEAKER_01 6:23

Yeah, no, I get that totally. I I guess one of the advantages of online, and I'm not a big advocate for it. I mean, obviously speechcrafter is online, but it's it has definitely has its drawbacks as well. You know, both of them have their pros and cons. The other aspect of online is you know not having to get into a car and you know, travel to a physical site when you've got kids. And you know, I've realized that, you know, because there's X amount of online clubs around Australia, and you know, there may well be you know something that suits you know someone, but equally there's nothing to stop you going to an overseas one if that if that suits the time zone, you know, because sometimes with kids, time zones are not just your daytime, but your night time is a is a crazy time looking after kids, isn't it? So sometimes there can be a time zone outside that that's not necessarily one that an Australian club might have, but maybe an overseas one might have. Would you consider that?

SPEAKER_00 7:12

Um yeah, definitely. Um, absolutely. You're right, in that the evenings are kind of the crazy time, and you get home from work and everyone's like, Mum, mum, mum, mum, this happened, mum, that happened, you know, and you're kind of like, so trying to fit something in then is uh quite tricky. Um, but yeah, definitely overseas um options would be, you know, certainly something I'd think about. Absolutely. A brush up on my Spanish.

SPEAKER_01 7:41

Yeah, that's right. You mentioned, you know, one of the benefits is you know being face to face and getting people's reactions. What about feedback? Have you thought about the benefit of feedback?

SPEAKER_00 7:52

Oh, I loved the feedback.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:55

I thought the feedback was brilliant. I mean, the only way you get better at something like this is to know where you can improve. And the feedback was awesome because it was very gentle. So, you know, it was the sandwich, wasn't it? You know, say something good, say something you need to improve, end with something good. So for people who, you know, don't have much self-confidence, it was an excellent way to feel like you were building but also getting information to help you.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

Yeah. I mean, I've lectured with you, Shelly, and you know, I was amazed at how good you were from the get-go, you know, very well paced, very clear with your speech. And I I was, you know, I thought you must have done this before. But equally, like, we don't evaluate each other, do we? You know, we can encourage each other, but no one, you know, no one has ever come up to me and said, Brendan, that was terrible. What the hell are you doing? Particularly at the start. I was quite conscious, you know, my own worst critic. I mean, I was very totally uh self-aware of my shortfalls. But no one sort of gives you tips on how to correct them. And and you know, you could easily, I think the trap is that you could easily get, you know, carried away with, you know, get more because we're going to get plenty of experience, you and I, at lecturing. And I think as the more that you do it, the more you get comfortable with it. But then you don't know what you don't know. And we're not telling each other. And we're not even necessarily aware unless you do Toastmasters and you become aware of actually look at what these world champion speakers are doing, you know. This is what we should be aiming for. And you know, how can we tweak that? And I think you lack, you know, I'm I'm aware of my shortcomings, but equally, unless you watch a video of yourself, you lack your a bit of self-awareness. You know, I don't realize I'm putting my hands in my pockets sometimes. I've been pulled up for that. Uh and the ums and ahs, I mean, that's a bit of a a bit of a stumbling block for me. So you know, I think that for me, that you know, that's become one of the most valuable valuable things is those insights that you know really experienced Toastmasters can give you.

SPEAKER_00 10:02

Oh, absolutely. A hundred percent.

SPEAKER_01 10:05

But I think you know, speechcraft has been a massive dose of you know, things to mull over, think about, put in practice, and maybe sort of when you've taken that that advice as far as you can take it, you know, one day when you're more ready, you might be able to come back and look for some how am I going? Look for some feedback. But but I think you you were telling us, Shelley, that you were you were doing some lectures with some other people that uh didn't know you were doing the speechcraft course and they noticed. Is that right? Did you want to tell us a bit about that?

SPEAKER_00 10:34

Yeah, so I've delivered um in-person workshops for about nine years now and consistently with the same other people. And so we went to do a workshop in the middle of the speechcrafters course, and um, one of them came up to me and said, What have you done? What have you done? You're speaking so differently, you look so much more comfortable. And I was like, It's speechcrafters.

SPEAKER_01 11:04

I'm glad it wasn't one of those euphemistic things where it's what have you done, is it a good thing or a bad thing? They taught you wrong, you know, it's a bit of a joke.

SPEAKER_00 11:14

But no, the the other presenter, one of the other presenters, said it was absolutely noticeable that I'd done something different. So yeah, that was great feedback in a good way. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

So, Shelly, thank you so much for coming along today. Is there anything else you'd like to share?

SPEAKER_00 11:36

Um, I just uh feel that if anyone's considering doing um speechcraft or Toastmasters, um, just give it a go because the people are really welcoming and you'll get a lot more out of it than you would think that you might get out of it. Um I was really nervous and not sort of um feeling like I'd be very good at it, but I've just got so much more confidence now because of the feedback that I've been given, and I just found it so worthwhile. So I would just strongly encourage people to take it up. I think it's fabulous.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

I was going to use the same word, Shelly. I think uh you were fabulous in the speechcraft course, and you've been fabulous again today. So thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 12:25

Ah, thank you, Brendan, and Merry Christmas.

SPEAKER_01 12:28

Merry Christmas to you too. Thanks for listening to today's show. One of the key elements of Toastmasters is evaluations. This is how we grow and improve, both by encouraging comments for things we got right and points for improvement. We all learn and benefit from these evaluations, not just the person being evaluated. So any feedback in the comments is greatly appreciated. If you have a Toastmasters story you'd like to share or would like to be on the show, I'd love to hear from you. You can reach me at Toastmastersworld tour at gmail.com. Thanks for listening.