After a lot of diliberation and discussion with others that I had a lot of respect for I decided that would take the challenge of presenting this issue on. Knowing that using some 4 letter words ie (fart) might be offensive to some people I decided to go with the word TOOT. It drew the picture of what I ment but was not in my mind offensive. In fact it was funny (based on audience reaction & my discussion with others). But as luck world have it, assigned to be a judge in that contest was an individual whose lack of flexability cost me the chance to win the speech contest. With all of the "obscence material in movies, in books, on TV and even in some TM speeches I thought I was on pretty solid ground. but this person found the use of the word "TOOT" offensive. They even went so far as to try to make a big deal of it during a judges training session a few months later. I found their reaction immature and childish to say the least. Have we gone to far with "political correctness and other moral issues that that we cannot discern acceptable from unacceptable. Some individuals cannot keep an open mind? Maybe they should excuse themselves from taking any position (like judging) that has an influence in other people lives. We cannot and should not force our opinions on others. These same people snicker at blue humor and gossip about others but cannot see the humor in something natural. I was presenting real issues that every person over the age of 50 has to deal with. And if we cannot make fun of ourselves we have no right to have opinions of,or make comments about others.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
There are prudes & hippocrites everywhere!
After a lot of diliberation and discussion with others that I had a lot of respect for I decided that would take the challenge of presenting this issue on. Knowing that using some 4 letter words ie (fart) might be offensive to some people I decided to go with the word TOOT. It drew the picture of what I ment but was not in my mind offensive. In fact it was funny (based on audience reaction & my discussion with others). But as luck world have it, assigned to be a judge in that contest was an individual whose lack of flexability cost me the chance to win the speech contest. With all of the "obscence material in movies, in books, on TV and even in some TM speeches I thought I was on pretty solid ground. but this person found the use of the word "TOOT" offensive. They even went so far as to try to make a big deal of it during a judges training session a few months later. I found their reaction immature and childish to say the least. Have we gone to far with "political correctness and other moral issues that that we cannot discern acceptable from unacceptable. Some individuals cannot keep an open mind? Maybe they should excuse themselves from taking any position (like judging) that has an influence in other people lives. We cannot and should not force our opinions on others. These same people snicker at blue humor and gossip about others but cannot see the humor in something natural. I was presenting real issues that every person over the age of 50 has to deal with. And if we cannot make fun of ourselves we have no right to have opinions of,or make comments about others.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Judging or Evaluation are they different?
Many Judges/Evauators base their decisions about how a good or effective a speech is based solely upon the entertainment factor. I have seen people win speech contests solely on the entertainment factor alone with no reguard to technical merit, skill, or standard judging criteria. When these speakers go on to the next level and do not do well we cannot figure out why?????
Speaking is a changing field, so must our judging/evaluation skills must change if we are to prepare the speakers in our clubs to be able to be effective speakers when speaking outside our Toastmaster Clubs.
Speakers can only grow if we give them some real time (based on current speaking techniques) suggestions for improvement. Many experienced toastmasters are stuck in a time warp. When we are judging speeches we are evaluating them at the same time. Our decisions are based on our personal biases, experiences and current skill levels. The World Championship of Public Speaking (both semi finals and final will take place in mid August. I will be there and will post my observations on some of the speeches. It should be fun.