Tim Ferriss has established quite a reputation for himself as someone who accomplishes a lot, very quickly. Author of books like “The Four Hour Work Week” and “The Four Hour Body,” he explains how he plans his speeches. He admits his lack of speaking polish, but notes the prestigious speaking opportunities he’s had. It’s easy to...

It wasn’t until recently that I read about the “Dr. Fox Effect,” but I immediately thought “that explains so much!” The Dr. Fox Effect is a term for the phenomenon where even highly intelligent, educated people will consider someone to be a great speaker and their presentation to be a great and valuable presentation if they are lively,...

Have you ever wondered why we call our impromptu speaking exercises “Table Topics”? I have—so I asked Toastmasters International to get it straight from the horse’s mouth. Thank you for contacting us today. In regards to your questions, The Story of Toastmasters, written by Dr. Ralph C. Smedley includes a brief summary of the origin of Table...

One of the duties of the Vice President Education is running a mentoring program for people in the club. Here are some tips and answers to common questions on running an effective, high-quality mentoring program. The value of mentors lies, not just in providing expert guidance to help people learn, but in providing a friendly, encouraging connection that keeps people...

Your presentation handouts may be doing more harm than good, in a number of ways. They can be expensive. Each black-and-white page may cost 5-10 cents. Each color page may cost 25 cents to $1. Have a 20-page copy of your PowerPoint presentation? Expect 50 people to attend, but want 100 copies to be on the safe side? That could easily cost over $100. The ink is the...

Mandating the order of different meeting segments may seem silly and unimportant. It may seem strange that experienced Toastmasters can have very strong conflicting opinions on this—but the order in which you run parts of your meetings can make a difference in meeting quality. Broadly, there are three major segments to a meeting: prepared speeches, table...

Many of the clubs here in District 55 open their meetings with prayer and the pledge of allegiance. Some seem to feel that this is more than tradition–it’s How Things Should Be Done. On the other hand, there have been complaints about opening division- and district-level events with prayer. Some even say that prayer should never be used in a Toastmasters...