Dear Friends
In one of the units in the textbook New Progress to First Certificate there is a topic with the title:”Are you a good storyteller?”
Believe me or not, most of my clients always answered this question negatively”
Why is that so?
I think there are several main reasons for not being a good storyteller.
First. In many cultures speaking is a feature of something not serious and ability of speaking is often compared to the ability of doing. The first is a waste of time the second-the only one correct way of living.
“Yeh… You are speaking all right…How about doing?”
“Everyone can blah-blah-blah… To do it is always more difficult…”
Second. Starting from the earliest educational institutions, children are neither taught nor encouraged to express their opinions publicly.
And when they try to do so, their peers ridicule the brave unmercifully.
Third. Public speaking as a school subject is a rare phenomenon in the majority of high schools and universities. The same or very similar situation is with communication.
And the last. Most young people do not see the importance of learning and developing communicative and public speaking skills for their future employment and personal career. They believe that speaking on public should be in the form of entertainment and nice, jolly show, something to make us feel good and relaxed after a hard working day.
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But what if someone decides to study communication and public speaking seriously and use these skills for her future personal and business growth?
Are there any possibilities to become a good communicator and public speaker?
Of course, there are a lot!
There are numerous courses, seminars, webinars, workshops on and off-line where these skills are taught. A number of books, reports, tutorials, CDs, DVD, is being produced and introduced on the market in good numbers.
Everybody is free to choose what she likes more.
I personally vote for the Toastmasters International.
You haven’t heard about this world-wide organization yet?
That’s not a problem, you are not the one. In fact, you can go now straight to the website toastmasters.org and get to know as much as you can there, or listen to me.
Ladies and Gentlemen, here’s my story.
In November 2010 I joined the local toastmasters club Prague
The first meetings of the club made me think that I was not going to get as much as I had expected from the club, but suddenly I realized that the club was the only one place in my situation where I could and had the right to speak about what I loved and wanted to, and what is more, I could receive warm and friendly feedback and comments on my short speeches. I prepared my first 7minutes and discovered a lot of aspects that I could have performed better: the speakers receive feedback, short notes with comments on speeches. In addition to that one fellow toastmaster is assigned to evaluate a speech for two minutes in front of the club members and I must say, all these opinions are really helpful and supportive.
Another aspect of Toastmasters International is that anyone who wants to develop her career within the organization has a chance to grow from a position of regular member to a Competent Communicator and further awards that are given to a member who successfully delivered a certain number of speeches. A well-designed plan with a lot of supportive materials, such as manuals, magazines, newsletters, articles, educative sessions and so on and so forth is prepared for our growth and personal improvement.
In short, as soon as a member of the club decides to grow and develop her communicative skills and qualification, she has everything for that.
The second basic direction of Toastmasters International is becoming a competent Leader, learning leadership skills.
And again, the system of materials and learning criteria is designed for everyone who desires to be not only a good communicator, but an excellent leader as well.
As a result of hard work on both communicative and leadership skills, after several years a fellow toastmaster becomes an excellent leader with great communicative and public speaking skills.
Dear Friends,
In a short introduction it is not easy to tell you all about this amazing organization of enthusiasts of communicating, leadership and public speaking, and I could have told you much more…But,
Why don’t you come and see yourself?
Or, if you have any questions, send me a message?
Thank you for reading and I am looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Wishing you the best of success
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