Friday, May 2, 2008

Where does my next speech come from?

Most all of us have pondered where do I get my material for my next speech? Here is some food for thought. We all have stories to tell, none of us lives a life where nothing happens or has ever happened. Over the coming days sit down and create a list of headings. I did mine in Microsoft Word. Make as many headings as you feel you need there are no limit or right or wrongs here. Here are some examples of the headings/sub headings for events, people, ect in my life. 1. Before High School. (Schools, Teachers, Friends, ect) 2. High School.(I bet there are stories you have forgotten) A. Friends. B. Clubs C. Sports Teams (Football) D. Other stories or events 3. College (If you attended more than one name each). An example might look like the following. A. Orange Coast College B. Golden West College C. Cochise College - Arizona D. University of Alaska. 4. Military Service (list duty stations, training) A. Fort Ord, Calif B. Fort Benning, Ga C. Vietnam (places in country and stories for each) D. Redstone Arsenal - Huntsville Alabama E. Fort Wainwright - Alaska F. Fort Sill - Oklahama G. Fort Carson - Colorado H. US Army Recruiting Command - Garden Grove Calif I. US Army Induction Center - Los Angeles, Ca J. Fort Huachuca - Arizona E. Cal State University Long Beach. 5. Companies I have Worked For. A. Foodmaker Corporation B. Potlatch C. Franklin Ect 6. Places I have Lived. A. Hamilton Ontario Canada B. Gardena, Calif C. Westminster, Calif D. Montery, Calif E. Huntsville, Alabama F. Fairbanks, Alaska G. Lawton, Oklahoma H. Colorado Springs, Colorado I. Garden Grove, Calif J. Huachuca City, Arizona K. Corona, Calif L. Menifee, Calif ECT 7. Toastmasters. A. Club Name, Number, Location, Year, Offices Held, B. District Offices Held (ie Area Governor) C. Contests (Types, years, speech titles, where you placed, lessons learned). 8. Childern/Grand Children. A. Sean (Wife Joyce) 1. Son Jacob B. Marnie a. 1st husband - Earl Pappas 1. Helena Ann 2. Christian Bernard b. 2nd husband - Tony Squier 1. Jackee Levar C. Patrick (Wife - Kimberly Vandereyken) 1. Bradley 2. Amanda D. Megan 1. 1st husband - Michael Croxton a. Ashley 1. Holloween Candy - Pause. 2. Riding bike 5 yrs old - hot, brain melt, heart cry 3. How else train him 4. Its fat like yours. Cars you owned, Vacations (name places), Names of People who were significant in your life, Any other major event, person, or story that you remember as time goes on. One you have this list you can start adding additional heading/subheadings (key words that help you remember stories about each person or event). Keep a digital recorder with you or a small pad and pencil. Things will happen that will jog your memory or develop new memories. Now you have an outline for developing personal stories to support the main ideas that you want to deliver to your audience. By putting it on your computer you now have the flexability to update the list as events, new ideas, or stories from your past present themselves to you. Now you can expand each catagory as you remember people, lessons learned, or events from your life. I was amazed at the memories that came back to me as I wrote this list. And as time goes by my list continues to grow. As you can see this list could become quite large over time. But think of the possibilities. A second benefit of this exercise in that you now have an outline for a journal that can be passed down for future generations. I'm Bob Freel and this is: "What I've Learned".

Thursday, May 1, 2008

San Diego Northern Division Contest

On 4/11/08 I competed in the District 5 (San Diego) Northern Division Contest. Here are some of my observations. 1. The venue selected was one of convience and not one that was in any manner conducive to the Art of Public Speaking. It was outdoors only 50 yards from a 6 lane highway where trucks, cars and emergency vehicles roared up and down the road constantly. 2. The speakers did not get the opportunity to eat due to the fact that the speakers briefing was held just as the food was brought out. The briefing was held a 1/2 hour late and only 15min before the first contest. 3. The intermission between the Evaluation contest and the International was over a 1/2 hour long due to the lack of planning. 4. Being a seasoned competitor and a long time diabetic I should have known better that to have not eaten since 2pm. The International started at approx 8 pm . 5. During my speech my blood sugar crashed, you can see in the video I made 3 errors I would normally not make. And I began to babble during my closing. In addition when I took a hold of the hand held mike my right hand began to quiver. This is normal for me due to my femural tremors, but the shaking was more pronounced due to my low blood sugar. I grabbed the mike with both hands in order to keep it steady. Many of the judges took points away from me because of this action. All the problems caused by my blood sugar were my own fault. A lesson I learned the hard way. 6. The venue and the judging left a lot to be desired. When picking a venue the person in charge needs to consider the impact on the audience and competitors. Judges need to put their prejudices aside and find a way to compare the speakers against the established judging criteria and understand that the contest is not a popularity contest but a skill contest where all the judges scoring criteria must be considered. And until they do D5 and D12 will never have anyone finish in the top 3 of the WCPS. A good example of this is currently being played out on American Idol. I started watching the show this year for 2 reasons. 1. To see what the competition is all about. 2. To see how the judges rate the performers and compare it to what the possible popular vote shows. There is one performer out of the 4 finalist whom is being kept on the show by popular vote, not talent. His range is limited but he's "cute". While more talented people are being voted off he remains. I predict that the only remaining female will go next (syesha). Just like Dancing with the Stars popularity is more important than talent. Lets hope that in the end real talent will prevail. American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, Survivor, Toastmasters World Championship. It leads one to wonder did the "Real Champion" win or was it just the one with the most popular, cutsie or luck? Maybe in some instances a little of all 3. I'm Bob Freel and these are just my observations based on: "What I've Learned".