Time For Toastmasters: Maximize Your Toastmasters Involvement Despite a Busy Schedule

by Colette “Koko” Gjermundson, Queen City Toastmasters Club #1967

Eight tips to help you maximize your Toastmasters involvement despite a busy schedule:

Tip #1: Begin planning your next speech the moment you sit down from delivering your last one. Pick your topic. Jot down thoughts. Conduct online research. Page through a book. Keep any related information in a folder titled, “Speech-In-Progress.”
Tip #2: Practice your speeches. Practice on the treadmill. In front of your bathroom mirror. In the car. Tape record yourself giving the speech and then listen to it as you get ready for work, while you’re eating lunch and before you fall asleep at night.
Tip #3: Make your Toastmasters speeches count for work or some other commitment. Once you begin using advanced manuals, Toastmasters International allows you to earn credit for up to two outside speeches per manual. Of course, a key to maximizing this opportunity is picking advanced manuals that fit your life.
Tip #4: Set up files. Grab a small stack of folders and label one for each role you might play in a Toastmasters meeting such as “Table Topics,” “Grammarian,” or “Evaluator.” In each folder, file helpful information and articles that will assist you in successfully carrying out specific meeting roles. Keep job description sheets in each folder to remind yourself of specific duties.
Tip #5: Set up a meeting binder with pockets that correspond to your folders. Place one prepared item in each pocket, thereby storing one standby presentation to fill any Toastmasters role at the spur of the moment. This will help you feel organized and free to fully participate in any meeting, any time.
Tip #6: As you live each day of your life ask yourself, “What about this experience could I use in Toastmasters?” This question will help you develop a thinking pattern that quickly turns everyday life experiences into fodder for Toastmasters meetings.
Tip #7: Realize that all of life is an opportunity to practice your Toastmasters experience. Perhaps your evaluation skills – sandwiching constructive criticism between positive comments – will serve you well in your job. Maybe practicing table topics at the family dinner table will create lively discussions and make good memories. Or, try rotating home duties Toastmasters-style and see if family members develop new skills that they never knew existed.
Tip #8: Faithfully read, and then file, The Toastmaster magazine. Back issues of the magazine are a bountiful source of information to help you maximize your Toastmasters involvement.