I’ve been in Toastmasters since 1987. My husband joined Toastmasters recently. He is discovering public speaking basics.
Thanks to all Toastmasters meetings online, my husband decided to jump in and join. Since then, listening to my husband, Bruce, has been fun as he discovers some public speaking basics.
His first speech was an ambitious one, but he NAILED it. The club hosted a Tall Tales contest. A tall tale is a story with unbelievable elements, related as if it were true and factual. It is a short speech, just 3-5 minutes. Bruce crafted a Tall Tale about the famous Harvey rabbit giving a Tall Tale! Harvey is a character from the 1950 American comedy-drama film about a man named Harvey, whose best friend is a pooka. Harvey is a 6 foot 3.5-inch tall invisible rabbit.
Everyone, including myself, was blown away when Bruce delivered the talk. Completely animated with body language, facial expressions, and vocal variety, his tale and delivery were remarkable. Especially for a first speech!
He placed second in the contest. This caused him to analyze his talk. Here are four public speaking basics he discovered:
KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
Bruce did not reveal who his friend, Mr. H, was until the final line in his talk, complete with the Zoom filter features of bunny ears! Since the film is from 1950, it was plausible that some club members have never seen or even heard of the film Harvey. Therefore, some of his gestures and innuendos would have been confusing. To be sure ALL audience members understood the tale elements, he would need to alter the talk by including some obvious details he hid in his first delivery. He recognized the importance of knowing who you are talking to!
GESTURES
In the Harvey movie, star James Stewart holds the hand of his tall imaginary rabbit as he walks down the street. In his tall tale, Bruce also reaches up to hold the hand of Mr. H. BUT; he did not lookup. So many of us were confused about why Bruce held his arm. In the next delivery of the talk, he will add looking up to his gesture of holding Mr. H’s hand rather than mentioning his friend is tall. Gestures speak louder than words!
REHEARSAL/PRACTICE
Bruce rehearsed pieces of his Mr. H tall tale several times the week before giving his talk. Upon delivery, his gestures and body language were nearly rote. However, but he did lose his train of thought at one point. He looked down to his notes, but they were too dense to locate his next line. He did remember a few seconds later, but it was apparent, which probably counted against him winning first place. That bring us to the next important public speaking basics – notes.
NOTES
As said, Bruce had his entire speech written and printed next to him. But that did not help him when he needed to recall a critical “next line.” The best use of notes during a talk is to have main ideas and lines on bullet-point paper, printed in LARGE letters.
