USE METAPHORS IN A SPEECH

A well-deployed metaphor is a branding iron. Deployed effectively it can imprint a lasting impression in a listeners mind. It makes the message clearer, interesting and remarkable. But that is not all. What I like most about a metaphor is that it gives two stories for the price of one.

In the speech below, +Japheth Musau is discussing money issues. I found relating money to a spider extremely ingenious. It reduces a potentially boring money talk into an enjoyable narration. Alternately a boring scientific lecture is turned to an easy listening self-improvement elocution.

DANCE OR DIE

(By +Japheth Musau, +Kwanza Kenya Toastmasters club, for project 6 in the CC manual)

Dance or die! One mistake and he is dead meat! Literally!

When the male of the BlackWidow spider wants to mate, he has to dance for his prospect. This dance must be done right, with utmost dexterity and executed with the precision of a Swiss watch. Otherwise, the female will strike, kill and consume him instantly!

Fellow Toastmasters and welcomed guests money is like the female Black Widow Spider. If you don’t treat it right, it will crush your soul and pierce it with many sorrows and untold misery!

On the other hand, practising and using these money dance moves correctly will enable you to attract, multiply and protect the money that comes your way.

1.     Learn and use the right money vocabulary. The male black widow spider must dance not only to survive but also to achieve his divine mission. Dancing is hard enough when you have two left feet. The spider has eight! Yet he has to send the correct vibes to the prospective mate. The male spider initiates communication through the web by generating sporadic low-frequency vibrations. When this signalling is done right the ‘black widow’ sends back similar low-frequency vibrations. An elaborate exchange of courtship vibes ensues. The dance for survival slowly turns into a love dance.

Similarly, to court money use the correct money words. In the delicate web of finance, words have potent power. Profit! Capital gains! Break even! Bankruptcy, Risk, loss. These words are not the privilege or private property of accountants like Joseph (referring to +Joseph Muga our VPE) or bankers like myself. We all should learn these and other money words. According to money expert +Robert Kiyosaki, money is an idea. The greater your money vocabulary the more ideas you will have on how to make, multiply and protect your money.

2.     Instigate a total overhaul of your philosophy or attitude towards money. When the male black widow spider enters the domain of his prospect he must maintain the right attitude. Any signs of panic, hesitation or unbridled greed will have him dead in a flash. He must send constant vibes in a cool, calm and collected manner. He must focus on his goal without allowing the emotions such fear, haste and greed to drive him. Friends, you must have a clear reason for wanting money. Money is a tool whose purpose should be to help you achieve your lofty goals. If you allow fear or greed to drive you, you will soon find yourself marooned in a financial desert where you will starve and choke in the dust of your own gluttony. Be emotionally intelligent.

If you have a good command of the money language and have the right attitude towards wealth, you will attract, multiply and keep money that comes your way. Trillions of shillings circle the earth every day looking for a home. Like the black widow, they are listening out for the correct vibrations and looking for the right attitudes.

Will your dance moves make money eat you alive or choose you for a home?

If it does, will it be comfortable enough to stay?

TWEAK A FAMILIAR SPEECH TO FIT THE OBJECTIVES

When developing a Toastmasters speech, the temptation is often to study the objectives then come up with a speech that satisfies the objectives. That is good and logical, but sometimes it leads to a mental block. So how about a different approach?

 
Rather than starting with the speech objectives then looking for a speech topic to match those objectives, use a speech from a subject you are familiar with then adjust it to fit the objectives. There are advantages of speaking from a topic you are familiar.

1. The ease with which you can come up with the facts. Since you are already familiar with the subject, it takes less time to research on the facts and supporting material for your presentation.
2. Portability. You have spent time researching the topic. In fact you dug up more facts than are required for a (5 – 7 minutes) Toastmasters speech. The prudent thing then is to use a topic that you can carry with you out of Toastmasters to your career, hobby or side hustle. As such the time spent researching this Toastmasters project does not feel wasted after your presentation.
3. Passion: When delivering the speech you appear more natural. You are speaking from a subject you care about, therefore passion and enthusiasm come naturally.

 

 

HUMOROUS SPEECH CONTEST 2014

One of the things that make me a Toastmasters junkie is the numerous interesting people I meet there. This year’s humorous speech contest, hosted by Smart Speak Toastmasters club of  Nairobi - Kenya, was no different. I met many interesting people including the following

Bandage Head: He wears a bandage round his head to stop his intelligence from escaping. But it did not seem to be working since the IQ meter installed at the Goan Gymkhana hall would shoot up 10 scales when he entered the hall and fall 10 notches when he left.

Smart Alley: There is also this interesting fellow, I believe his name was Smart Alley who treats his car tires to fresh air every Sunday by removing the used air then inflating the tires afresh.

Colourvision: He cannot find a colour TV to buy because all the shops he has been to stock black ones, but he wants a green one. Any help to aid Colourvision find a colour Telly would be highly appreciated.

Kairerani: I had too the good fortune of meeting Kairerani the violin player and Karaoke Dj. Kairerani can bring eyes to your tears as the 12 year old poet found out.

The poet: 12 years old, as stated above, wrote a ‘persuade with poem’ letter to Kairerani that is available for download after sending a sh310 seed to +Job Mogire.

Leyong:  Oh! you should meet him some day. Leyong is 3 years old, single and not married or divorced before. He is still breastfeeding and therefore not sexually active.

Bunty: Accompanied +Komal Shah of Smart Speak Toastmasters Bunty Patel, risking his bread and butter, was there too but without his wife Babli. However we got to meet more of Babli through Bunty’s banter than we did Bunty himself. In fact I couldn't but wonder what would happen if Babli was to bump in to find Bunty bubbling on about Bablis battering ways.

The boys: Lovely lads! While others would device devious ways of snatching bicycles from their more affluent neighbors these were content to bet each other which one of the rich kids would fall off their bikes and how hard.

The Mud Man: Altitude sickness effects people in different ways. The milkman after leaving the city for the allure of a quick shilling in the highlands confidently tells his bosses that he knows the place. He knows it is muddy. Later he notices that the mud along his foot path was drying as fast as   he was making money. The Watchman: The Watchman at OFFICE OF THE CHIEF – RUTHIMITU (introduce to me by +Phillip Muhia) is such an inspiration with his shinny boots, trench coat and a World War II maroon beret. Many a boy want to be like him when they grow up.  Pastor Kanyari: was there reloaded and primed. The seed planters not only sowed, but were ready water the seed until  it matured

MBA generation: After his MBA thesis was approved nine months after valentine, he not only went on to learn critical thinking, resource and management skills, but was on hand to teach us vital communication skills. Accompanied +Harry Karanja of Early Birds

Building Membership - New Toastmasters Club

Once you decide to sponsor a #toastmasters club you will want to make sure it does not fail to charter. One pitfall to avoid is being stuck in a rut where you attract as many new members as are leaving. Attracting guests is not easy, getting them to join is harder and making sure they stay is even harder.   So what can you do? Three things;

Market your club and they will come.

• Make sure as many people as possible know your club meeting place and time.
• challenge each member individually to bring a guest.  When you ask one person to bring a guest, he or she will take it seriously.
• Encourage guests to mention who invited him or her and also encourage members to introduce their guests.
• Make sure you have an attractive, informative, and inviting web presence. Different members will have different electronic communication preferences. Have a footprint in each and encourage members to get active on it about Toastmasters.
• Contact speech lecturers and other speech trainers at your local colleges. They may be willing to direct students to your club.

Put on a good show and they will join.

• Run the meetings well. Stick to the agenda, fast pace the meeting and have not gaps between sections.
• Make meetings enjoyable, fun and devoid of tension.
• Let guests take roles such as hark master, joke master  and timer.
• Run on time in all sections of the meeting. Above all start on time and endeavor to end on time. Never wait for role takers to arrive. Instead replace any role taker who has not arrived five minutes to time.
• Never skip a meeting. Better have one speaker and evaluator than skip a meeting.
• Score highly on Moments Of Truth at every club meeting.

Meet their needs and they will stay.

• Make sure only manual speeches are delivered and evaluated in the meetings. 
• Let members receive positive support and recognition.
• encourage members to get involved in Toastmasters activities outside the club
• Ask the guests for comments at the end of the meeting.
• encourage members to set goals and mile stones such as purposing to achieve CC or CL in a given period year.

Toastmasters Speech Number 4 Hints

Toastmasters Project four will be 'judged' by the evaluator from two main angles: use of vivid words and use of rhetorical devices.

 

Use of vivid words: Be generous with adjectives and adverbs. Let no noun stand alone. For example if you have a man, make him a short man, tall man or fast man. Don't just say I was five years old. Instead, show whether you were slender, plump, dark, tall, cheerful, and happy or morose. How did you look during the holidays? Caked head to toe in black cotton soil, marinated in slimy red soil and looking every inch like pygmy warriors?

 

Rhetorical devices: I recommend you count how many of the devices you have employed in your speech. But space them well and don't over use them.

1. Similes: compare two items using the word like or as e.g.  sweet like honey; cunning as a fox; Bouncing and bumping downhill like a loaded spring.
   
2. Metaphor: compare two unlike things (without using like or as) e.g. at twelve I was a chef when I cooked.
   
3. Alliteration: is the repetition of consonant sound at the beginning of words in a sentence. e.g. petty pre-primary poets; cute clever Cate.
   
4. Triads: is to say things in threes. In the city, the roads were brightly lit, transport to school was provided, shoes were polished.
   
5. Repetition: I was never worried, I was never perturbed, I was never bothered by anything
   
6. Onomatopoeia is the naming of a thing or action by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it e.g after the meeting vroom! the MP left while po-po-po-po the teachers followed.
   

 

An entertaining speech of about six hundred words is good for this project.